304 Veterinary Medicine. 



digestive, urinary or febrile trouble (Frohner, Martin and Var- 

 nell). 



Mildew on the leaves of a grapevine has also poisoned six cows- 

 (Bisseauge). 



Musty grain and fodder has the same general action as on the 

 horse and produces paraplegia and other nervous disorders with 

 or without digestive troubles. 



The isaria fuciiormis has caused the death of cattle which ate 

 the grasses infested by it. 



When we come to the ergots and smuts we find even more 

 evidence of poisoning than in the horse. Toward the end of our 

 long winters in the Northern States we occasionally find wide- 

 spread gangrenous ergotism from eating infested hay, the 

 lesions varying from simple sores around the top of the hoofs, in 

 the inter-digital spaces or on the teats and mouth, to loosening of 

 part of the sole or wall, shedding of the entire hoof or sloughing 

 of the entire limb — just above the hoof, at the fetlock, or in the 

 metatarsal region. Portions of the tail or ears will similarly 

 slough. This appears to be mainly due to the lessening of the 

 calibre of the capillaries by contraction of their walls, under the 

 action of the ergotin and secalin, seconded by the cold of the 

 season. Cold is, however, by no means essential to its produc- 

 tion. The other most common form of ergotism is the action on 

 the nervous system. The contraction of the cerebral capillaries 

 and disturbance of the circulation lead in some cases to a condi- 

 tion of lethargy and apathy in which the animal fails to eat or 

 ruminate and gradually falls into marasmus, or paralysis may be 

 induced, or delirium and spasms. Then finally there is the 

 familiar form of abortion induced apparently by the contraction 

 of the involuntary muscles of the womb and of its capillary 

 vessels. 



There is, however, a great difference of opinion as to the dele- 

 terious action of ergot. Various experiments with large doses of 

 ergot on pregnant animals have failed to produce any sign of 

 abortion. The agent, however, varies in its nature according to 

 the conditions under which it grew and the stage at which it was 

 collected, so that the failure to produce the expected result in a 

 given case can by no means be accepted as disproving its patho- 

 genic properties under other conditions. 



