DISORDERS FROM ERGOT, 103 



it may be applied medicinally with great suc- 

 cess. But it should never be made use of, ex- 

 cept when prescribed by those who are, from 

 profession and practice, well aware of its pro- 

 perties, and skilled to apply them when 

 required. 



The whole range of our physiological know- 

 ledge does not afford a more wonderful instance 

 of a natural chemical transmutation, under cer- 

 tain circumstances, than the present. By the 

 agency of some unknown cause the nutri- 

 tious corn is changed into an altered unsightly 

 form, and endued with properties perfectly 

 the reverse of its original wholesomeness. 



It is more than probable that many disorders 

 have been produced by this curious abortion, 

 the origin of which has hitherto remained un- 

 suspected. Let search be made for it in local- 

 ities where gangrenous diseases of the limbs 

 abound, with a view to prevention. Moreover, 

 it is well worthy of the farmer's attention, in- 

 asmuch as his cattle may have suffered much 

 from the same cause, when he has never even 

 dreamed of its existence. The author knows, 

 at this moment, of certain low meadows, where 

 all the cattle that were turned into them at one 

 time, were sure to be taken ill. They have been 



