Cryptogamic Poisoning in Solipeds. 301 



hard pellets being passed with effort. The temperature may be 

 102° to 104°, breathing short, pulse small, weak ; the walk 

 unsteady, the animal preferring to stand completely apathetic. 

 In some cases a profuse diarrhoea sets in and may prove fatal. 



In the cases attended by diuresis, the weakness is extreme, 

 emaciation advancing rapidly, but the other symptoms of nervous 

 depression are less marked, the poisons being apparently elimi- 

 nated by the kidneys (see diuresis). 



In the Vertiginous form the disease may set in with more or 

 less hyperthermia, anorexia, a dislike particularly of the spoiled 

 fodder, yellowness of the visible mucosae, slow breathing, small 

 accelerated pulse, costiveness, tympany, colics more or less 

 intense, tenderness of the belly, and sooner or later marked ner- 

 vous disorder. This may be in the form of stupor, the head 

 resting in the manger, the senses are manifestly clouded, the 

 animal walks unsteadily, staggers, steps heavily, striking the 

 feet against obstacles, and stumbling. At the end of a variable 

 nnmber of hours (2 to 6 or 8 after feeding) nervous excitability 

 and vertigo may supervene. He may push the head against the 

 wall, the jaws clenched, grinding the teeth, the eyes fixed, pupils 

 dilated, facial muscles contracted, respirations hurried, heart pal- 

 pitating and the skin perspiring. He may continue in this posi- 

 tion, moving his feet as if walking, or he may rear plunging his 

 feet into the manger or fall back over, and rising push anew 

 against any object he may come in contact with. Coulbaux 

 speaks of rabiform symptoms such as attempts to bite but any 

 such deliberate purpose is rare. 



There may follow complete amaurosis, insensibility to pricking 

 of the skin, and even paralysis or coma. Hyperesthesia may 

 also be temporarily present. 



Course. Remissions and exacerbations usually alternate, the 

 duration of the former furnishing some criterion by which to 

 establish a favorable prognosis. Death may take place in 24 

 hours or it may be delayed for several days. Recovery is usually 

 heralded by the resumption of defecation and urination, and the 

 return of appetite. It is liable to be at first only partial, some of 

 the senses remaining dull, or a general stupor persisting. 



Diagnosis. In all such forms of poisoning there is the history 

 of the ingestion of the toxic matters, and in any suspicious 



