100 CODTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 

 Of the action upon the hiiinau system the same writer sajs : 



Tho poison of this drug (ergot) lias a special and most powerful action upon the 

 skin. Besides very abundant perspiration, pustules often break out, or even larger 

 furunculi. The exanthemata sometimes resemble scabious eczema. They appear in 

 the later stage of the malady; as, e. g., in Aschotf's case, fourteen days after the first 

 appearance of symptoms of poisoning. But other disturbances of nutrition in the 

 peripheral organs are also reported, as, e. g., whitlows on the fingers, occurring as 

 late as the fourth and fifth week, and diseases of the finger nails, which are encir- 

 cled by a dark ring. Cardiac contractions ai'e generally slow and feeble, the arteries 

 are constricted and contain little blood. The respiration is very labored during the 

 spasms, but tolerably regular in the free intervals. When death supervenes it is 

 usually not until after a fortnight or later ; the convulsions may have ceased, yet 

 loss of sight and hearing, with violent headache, stupor, and delirum, may set in, 

 attended with diarrhea ; and thus the fatal stage may assume the form of typhus and 

 general collapse. Death is generally ushered in by either convulsions or paralytic 

 symptoms. The whole form of the illness, therefore, is very variable, and its course 

 highly irregular. The illness may last four to eight weeks, and even longer. 



The symptoms which characterize gangrenous ergotism as such, often appear within 

 from two to seven days, but are frequently delayed for two and three weeks. An 

 erysipelatous redness shows itself on some spots in the periphery, most frequently 

 on the toes and feet, but also on the fingers and hands, more rarely on the ears and 

 nose ; soon after, the epidermis is raised like a bladder by serous exudation ; the 

 ichorous contents of this are soon discharged, and a gangrenous spot more or less 

 large is left. Then dry gangrene develops very rapidly at the affected spot. 



The part affected is very painful while the redness is invading it ; but later on it be- 

 comes quite insensible. The gangrenous sjiot may exhibit either the dry or moist form, 

 according to whether the discharge was checked or encouraged; upon this also de- 

 pends the greater or less intenseuess of the odor or putrefaction. In some cases the 

 gangrene was limited to one or more toes, sometimes only to single phalanges; iu 

 other cases, however, the entire foot or hand was affected; not infrequently the gan- 

 orene extended to the trunk; it was possible for the patient to lose both feet or both 

 arms. Indeed, a few cases are reported in which all four extremities were lost. The 

 gangrenous parts become separated from the healthy tissue by a well-defined line of de- 

 markation, and the affected part may fall off itself or must be removed by an opera- 

 tion. This process of demarkation is often attended with serious disturbances of the 

 general condition of the patient; sometimes a modified form of continued fever is de- 

 veloped followed by phthisical changes; in a few cases, from absorption of ichorous 

 matter, pya;mia and septiciBmia set in, and are, of course, fjital. When the gan- 

 grene was confined to parts of minor importance, the patients usually recovei-ed ; 

 greater losses were naturally more frequently fatal. In some cases obstinate diarrhea 

 brought on marasmus and death, even when the extent of the gangrene was not very 

 considerable. We must mention, however, that in many cases the diseased process 

 did not advance beyond the erysipelatous redness ; marked cyanosis may be observed^ 

 and yet a separation may take place and the circulation be restored. The duration 

 of the entire illness varies, and may be protracted through several months. In favor- 

 able cases the course is ended iu a few weeks. 



This form of gangrene, like all other forms, depends on the fact that the part af- 

 fected is deprived of its blood supply, and its nutrition thereby arrested ; consequently, 

 it must pass into a state of decomposition. The only question which can be advanced 

 here is whether it is inflammation which leads to gangrene, or whether the process is 

 of a non-inflammatory character, resembling that which occurs when all the vessels go- 

 ing to a limb are ligatured. When we consider that the initial, so-called erysipela- 

 tous redness is simply dependent on the cyanosis, and that these spots are not, as in 

 a case of inflammation, hot and swollen, but, on the contrary, they become very cold, 

 and warmth cannot be restored iu them, and that the affected limb is not at all swollen, 



