CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 99 



divided from the yard which held the yearling cattle by an ordinary 

 rail fence. None of the yearlings became affected. The large cattle 

 had been fed on coru-fodder and Avild hay. and the yearlings in addi- 

 tion received millet hay and oats. The Avild hay on this place contained 

 a great amount of wild rye which was extensively ergotized. 



On the 20th we saw the cattle at Beard's, Keith's, and Goodrich's, and 

 found the conditions as herein described. After making these inspec- 

 tions, it was decided by Drs. Salmon, Stalker, Faville, and myself that 

 we believed the origin of the disease among these four different herds 

 of cattle to be due to the consumption of the ergotized grasses contained 

 in the hay. But in order to more fully satisfy myself, I requested Dr. 

 Salmon to accompany me to a farm lying adjoining that of Mr. Keith ; 

 therefore, on the next day, we drove out to the farm of Mrs. Dipple, 

 which is situated west of Keith's. We there examined the hay and 

 found it to contain a very small amount of the ergot. We also exam- 

 ined several of the cattle and found slight discolorations of the mouth, 

 yet the cattle had never shown any lameness or indisposition whatever. 

 We then looked over the well cattle on the Goodrich farm, which had 

 been separated from the sick by me on the 14th, but found no new cases. 



During the course of my investigations I killed 3 animals for the 

 purpose of examination into the condition of the internal organs. In 

 one I found enlargement of the heart and softening of the muscular 

 walls ; in another I found an infiltration of a purplish-colored fluid into 

 the mesenteric glands, and in the third one I found no abnormal condi- 

 tion of any organ to be present. In all of these 3 I examined the 

 alimentary canal very closely, but failed to find any pathological changes 

 in its membranes or glands ; these animals had each lost both hind feet. 

 In carefully considering the conditions presented by all of these diseased 

 cattle, and well weighing the value of the histories as given by the 

 owners, I firmly believe that the disease may be called the "chronic" or 

 '' gangrenous form of ergotism." 



Ziemssen says: 



It is not certainly known why in the one case the ergotism assumes the spasmodic, 

 in the other the gangrenous form. But it seems remarkable that the spasmodic form 

 formerly prevailed chiefly in Germany, while the gangrenous form was found princi- 

 pally in France, and there particularly in the Sologne. But this difference does not 

 hold universally, for epidemics of the gangrenous form have appeared also in Ger- 

 many, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. It is not known whether this variety depends 

 upon the difference in the activity of the ergot in difl'erent seasons, or whether such 

 changes are the result of some i)eculiar property of the ground in which the corn 

 grows. In the Sologne it was generally the ergot of maize which produced the 

 poisonous symptoms, whereas in Germany the ergot of rye was almost exclusively men- 

 tioned as the cause of the disease. It is, however, very improbable that the difference 

 between these iihiesses is dependent on the different parent phmts, because at least 

 therapeutically the same effects can be produced by the ergot of nuiize as by that of 

 rye, when the quantities are equal. It is most probable, then, that there is a simple 

 quantitative difference in the absolute and relative quantity of the i^oison taken into 

 the system. 



