CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATFLV ANIMALS. 101 



the hypothesis that such a gangrene is of an inflamm.itoiy 6h'jira'*,t^r-jaue^. a'jprloH \^& 

 rejected. When we further reflect that there is no fever at the outset, the second hy- 

 pothesis becomes still more probable. Exclusion of an extremity from its ordinary 

 blood supply is quite conceivable from our current views of the action of ergot on the 

 vessels and the distribution of blood. 



Oil the lOtli of April 1 was requested to go 8 miles north of Sterling 

 to the residence of Mr. John Kratz, who said that he had a number of 

 cattle affected with lameness and sore feet. I proceeded to his place 

 at once, and examined his herd of cattle, numbering 30 head. I found 

 11 cows and heifers more or less affected with excoriations in the clefts 

 of their feet. In several cases I found these excoriations to extend 

 around the bnlb of the heels, causing a separation of the horny walls 

 at the corouet from the fibrous structure of the foot. In one cow, twelve 

 years old, I found considerable ulceration at the bulb of the heels of 

 both fore feet; the matter burrowiug beneath the horny wall caused a 

 destruction of the wall to the extent of 1 inch downwards, and the im- 

 perfect formation of an inch of the horn at the front part of the feet 

 indicated that she had been affected for two months or longer. These 

 excoriations discharged a semi-liquid matter, which gave off an odor 

 like to that of thrash in horses' feet. Mr. Kratz stated that two of the 

 cows walked with difficult}" for several weeks, and that for a week or 

 more previous to their lameness he detected the peculiar odor arising 

 from the feet while milking. On the 13th of March he bought a thor. 

 oughbred short-horn heifer, and one week after he brought her home 

 she also became lame. When I saw her she was affected in all four of 

 her feet, and was exceedingly" lame. All of his cattle, with the excep- 

 tion of two that were over two years old, were affected. In none of the 

 feet was there any swelling, but they were extremely sensitive to hand- 

 ling. The disease appeared as frequent in the fore as in the hind feet, 

 and in several cases three or all four of the feet were affected alike. The 

 majority of them became lame while the ground was yet frozen up. Mr. 

 Kratz has one of the finest bank barns in the county, and takes excel- 

 lent care of his stock. He stables his cattle at night and on stormy 

 days; thej^ have good bedding at night, and the stalls are cleaned 

 daily. In pleasant weather the cattle were turned into the barn-yard. 

 This yard is covered almost daily with clean straw to be worked into 

 manure. The yard is sloping and well drained, and the cattle drink 

 well water from a trough laid in the yard. During the M'inter the cat- 

 tle received ground feed, timothy, and clover hay, but about the 1st of 

 March he began to feed rye bran and second-crop meadow hay ; the 

 latter contained a large proportion of blue or June grass, and an exam - 

 ination of it revealed that it was ergotized ; almost every seed capsule 

 contained the fungus. If the ergot in the hay did not produce the dis- 

 ease I am unable to account for its origin. The cattle were not in a 

 plethoric condition ; the yard was free from mud, and they were well 

 housetl, and the stables. kept scrupulously clean. 



