ENZOOTIC ABORTION IN COWS. 121 



No positive connection could be discovered between the 

 existence of ergotized gi'asses ;ind abortion. 



Some cases have been reported in veterinary journals, 

 which, taken by themselves, would seem to indicate that er- 

 got can cause abortion in cows. 



Heusinger says : " Ergot that is gathered with grains or 

 grasses in an extremely hot and dry harvest season, not only 

 falls out easily, but is of a very pale color and inactive, 

 while in wet summers, the ergot is black, not easily detached, 

 and possesses its active properties to the fullest degree." 



An outbreak of ergotism is reported in " The Academy," 

 Jan. 9, 1875, as having occurred in New Zealand, which 

 largely interfered with the productivity of the sheep and cat- 

 tle. It came to pass in the fall ; the afflicted animals were 

 lame and had convulsions. It ceased upon their being 

 changed to other pastures. Hazelbach reports a like case 

 in cows fed upon wheat in which were large quantities of 

 Ustilago Maidis — rust. No further case occurred among the 

 cows, when this food was taken from them. I have already 

 alluded to that singular outbreak in Kansas that one veteri- 

 narian declared to be the *' Contagious Foot and Mouth 

 Disease," while two others said it was " Ergotism" and a 

 fourth that it was " Foot-rot," which is an indefinite term for 

 another malady of which we know nothing etiologically, 

 except that it is contagious. Foot-rot also occurs in ergotism. 



The description of these authors fully calls to mind the 

 saying about the doctors disagreeing ; in reality foot-rot, 

 or necrosis of the extremities, is about the only thing they 

 agreed upon. This is a characteristic of chronic ergotism, 

 though denied by one of these authorities for animals, on 

 account of a misquotation from an author whom I will soon 

 quote. Speaking of the action of ergot in large and pro- 

 longed doses, in animals, Finlay Dun — " Veterinary Medi- 

 cines" — says : " Gangrene of the extremities is not, how- 

 ever, so readily produced as in man. Mules fed on it 

 (ergot) lose their hoofs, and fowls lay eggs without shells." 



It is especially to be noticed that even those veterinarians 

 that looked upon the Kansas trouble as ergotism, do not men- 

 tion a single case of abortion as having occurred, nor do 

 they appear to have had a suspicion of it. 



