POISONOUS PLANTS 273 



held as probably due to a highly indigestible food, and not 

 necessarily to a specific toxic effect of fern. 



An editorial article * draws attention to important features 

 of bracken disease, which further serve to distinguish it 

 from anthrax. The main points relating to bracken disease 

 are : The absence of bacilli in the fresh fluids and tissues ; 

 spleen quite normal ; subpleural and subperitoneal haemor- 

 rhage; considerable effusion of blood in the large in- 

 testine ; a temperature of 106'8° to 108-4° P. ; the disease 

 lasts a few days ; abundant bloody discharge from nose 

 and rectum ; occurs only in cattle. 



Storrar t later noticed unusual symptoms of the disease 

 in a bullock, consisting in effusion and haemorrhage in the 

 vicinity of the larynx, and the formation of numerous 

 hsemorrhagic patches on the surface of the body, the 

 cutaneous vessels being congested with black tarry-looking 

 blood. 



More recently bracken poisoning has been the subject of 

 inquiry by the Board of Agriculture, and useful information 

 is contained in the chief veterinary officer's reports of 1909 

 and 1910. 



The Symptoms summarised in the 1909 report are : Terti- 

 perature, 104° to 107° F. ; loss of appetite ; blood-tinged 

 discharge from the mouth and nose ; blood from the bowels ; 

 pallor of the membranes of the eye ; great depression, coma, 

 and death in from twelve to seventy-two hours after the onset 

 of symptoms. 



The Lesions include : Congestion of the pulmonary mem- 

 branes and small haemorrhages in the substance ; congestion 

 of the stomach and intestine, the walls of the latter being 

 in certain parts deep red and thickened by infiltration of 

 blood ; blood may also be present in the lumen of the in- 

 testine ; areas of diphtheritic inflammation and distinct 

 ulceration may be present in the stomach and intestines ; the 

 serous membranes show hemorrhages in their substance; 

 and there are haemorrhages in the heart and body muscle, 

 and under the skin. 



* Jl. CompJPath., 1894, p. 165. f I^id-> 1899, p. 254. 



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