232 REPORT OF TITE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



how severely they were affected. It is also impossible to say, at this 

 time, ou what they had been fed previous to their purchase. This diffi- 

 culty, however, does not compare with that felt at first in regard to the 

 Goodrich herd, and as the latter was satisfactorily explained at the last 

 minute, it is not at all improbable that there are some unknown facts 

 in regard to the 8 cattle in question that would explain this case just 

 as satisfactorily. 



I have reviewed above the chief objections that have been advanced 

 to show that the disease in Kansas could not be ergotism. It is unnec- 

 essary to add that they are mostly of the nature of captious criticism. 

 The malady had been pronounced foot-and-mouth disease by some and 

 foot-rot or foul by others, and these gentlemen found it desirable to 

 make out at least an apparent case against ergotism. In other sections 

 of this report I have given abundant evidence to show that it could be 

 nothing but ergotism, and the plates herewith presented, which were 

 carefully prepared by a competent artist, are sufficient to prove this 

 beyond doubt to any one who understands the pathology of these differ- 

 ent diseases. . 



THE NATURE, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, AND ACTION OF ERCOT. 



The substance known as ergot is one of the stages in the life history 

 of a fungus which has been named Claviceps purpurea. The term ergot 

 was applied to it by the French from its fancied resemblance to the spur 

 of a cock. The place which this fungus occupies in the plan of nature 

 may be understood from the following table, which is taken principally 

 from the classification proposed by Sachs : 



B 



o 



"5 Group. Class. Order. Family. Genus. 



.S 



W fProto phyla. ( Gymnoascus. 



« J Zygospores. | Diseoinyretes. f Claviceps. 



5 [ KST ^ 0Sp0rea '- 5 Containing Chlorophyll. ( Ascomycetes. \ Ersiphea>. I Cordy.eps. 



~ |Musune.e. [ Carpospore;p. ^ yyjthout Chlorophyll. \ Aecidmn.y.-etes. ™>erare : e ! BySSOthmum. 



S? i Vascular Cryptogams. " ( Basi.Uomvcetes. Py renomycetes. ^ t uiimgo. 



> I Phanerogams. t Lichens. Pleospora. 



* • | Sphaerella. 



L Laboulbenia. 



The growth of the claviceps begins by the germination of conidia or 

 spores of this fungus, which have been carried by currents of air or other 

 means to the flowers of the grasses favorable for its development. These 

 conidia or spores, as the case may be, germinate in contact with the ex- 

 ternal surface of the ovary while this is still in an early stage of its 

 growth, and form a mycelium which penetrates the walls of the ovary, 

 and, as a rule, respects' only the summit. It thus by degrees substitutes 

 itself in place of the tissue of the ovary, and, consequently, preserves to 

 a considerable extent the form of this organ. It bears on its summit 

 the stigma, while its external coat is traversed by deep grooves and 

 irregular cavities. (In Plate VIII, Fig. 1, is seen the normal ovary of 

 the rye plant; Fig. 2 shows the same invaded by the claviceps.) 



In this stage of its existence it has been called the sphacelia. As it 

 develops it takes entire possession of the ovary, obliterating its cavity, 

 ' and preventing the development of the ovule. The ovule may be either 

 entirely absent or it may be present in an imperfect form, but does not 

 develop into a seed. The mycelium produces at the surface of the ovary 

 a large number of oval corpuscles, which are called conidia, and which 

 falling upon other flowers may germinate and again produce the my- 

 celium or sphacelia form of the fungus. (PI. VIII, Fig. 3, which is a 

 cross-section of the ovary, now called sphacelia, shows these conidia 

 at its borders.) 



