BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



237 



ful marasmus. The experiments not having been pressed to the end. the phenomena 

 of dry gangrene could not he observed. 



6. Fou-ls. — These little animals are most exposed to the poisoning under considera- 

 tion, because they often receive for»nourishment the residue from cleaning grain 

 which always contains more or less ergot. The first signs of this poisoning are loss 

 of liveliness, indifference to surroundings, and great dullness ; then there is vertigo, 

 drooping of the wings, ttc. : linally appear more characteristic signs — a bloody dis- 

 charge from the nostrils is seen : the crest becomes black, shrunken, 'and mummified : 

 the beak dries and is detached ; the same course is soon followed by the tongue; the 

 feathers lose their luster and fall out. Death results soon after these symptoms are 

 seeu. 



To recapitulate, the most ordinary signs of ergotism with the various animals are 

 as follows: Dulness, fixed expression, vertigo, dilated pupils, intoxication, coma ; 

 in the beginning muscular tremblings, then convulsive shocks, tetanic attacks, par- 

 ticularly in the posterior members which afterward become weak and paralyzed, un- 

 steady position while standing, slow aud difficult walk, &c. ; general weakness, pro- 

 gressive emaciation : pulse slow and weak, skin cold ; hair dull, limbs, ears, horns, 

 and tail lose their natural warmth ; sero-niucdus and sometimes bloody dischargo 

 from the nostrils, cold swelling of the limbs: black spots, livid patches, gangrenous 

 sores; dry gangrene of the crest, of the kgak and of the tongue of birds, and of the, 

 ears, the tail, the p"halanges. the limbs, which become detached little by little aud 

 piece by piece from the trunk without inflammation or pain, &c. 



Lesions. — The digestive tube is more or less intensely irritated, the viscera are flabby 

 and softened, the muscles semi-gelatinous, the blood fluid, violet colored, the interior 

 of the vessels red as in putrid diseases &c. 



If. Verheyeu, in his article on ergotism in the Souvcau Dictionnairc 

 yratique de Medicine^ dc Chirurgic et W Hygiene Vcterinaircs, gives the 

 following account of the effects of this poison: 



Symptomatology. — In spite of the numerous experimental studies of which the 

 ergot of rye has been the object, its effects on the organism are far from being suffi- 

 ciently understood to enable us to write in a complete and connected manner the 

 part of the medical history of ergotism relating to the symptomatology and patholog- 

 ical anatomy. The mode of action of ergot on the economy is only presented so far 

 in a fragmentary state ; the acquired knowledge does not permit the tracing of a 

 phj'siological chart of all the phenomena produced by this agent. A large number of 

 experimenters, particularly among the modern ones, have only produced an acute 

 intoxication, of rapid progress, which leaves in obscurity the evolution, the gradua- 

 tion, and the succession of the morbid jmenomena j in a word the progress of natural 

 ergotism resulting from the introduction into the economy of small but long continued 

 doses of the toxic substance. History mentions destructive epidemics," and otbers 

 which have been relatively mild ; This difference can only be due to predisposition 

 and to the abundance of ergot. Rye is rich in it in the calamitous years ; the high price 

 of cereals, and of all kinds of provisions, prevents the poorer classes from procuring 

 sufficiently nutritious food. There, consequently, follows a constitutional debility 

 aud anemia. Avhich singularly favors gangrenous and convulsive disorders. The obser- 

 vation, so precise, of M. Decoste, as regards the hygienic diet to which the cow, which 

 was the subject of it, had been submitted, the conditions under which the epizootic 

 of the State of Xew York appeared, proves that misery constitutes a predisposing 

 cause not less energetic for animals than for man. The experimenters have not taken 

 into account these constitutional modifications which increase the susceptibility to 

 the poisouous agent, and give to ergotism a new symptomatic expression. Here, it 

 appears to us, is found the key to the numerous contradictions that are noticed when 

 the experiments are compared with each other. To cite only a single example con- 

 cerning the bovine species, we see that Riemann did not succeed at the end of eight 

 days in provoking the least abnormal phenomenon, and that YVahliu produced no 

 other noticeable symptom than constipation. The authors who have observed cases 

 of ergotism with animals during the course of an epidemic may be correct when they 

 mention the fact very summarily, and limit themselves to a statement that the 

 phenomena were absolutely similar to those presented by man. This identity justi- 

 fies, to a certain extent, their laconism, and the epidemic conditions explain the 

 differences obtained by experimenting during the epidemic periods and out of these 

 periods. During the epidemics tiie rule relative to the gangrenous form in the south 

 aud the convulsive in the north is applicable to artificial ergotism. A final remark, 

 perfectly justified, and which has been little if at all considered by the experimenters: 

 Tessier, who brought, a high order of intelligence to the elucidation of the history of 

 ergotism, asserts that all animals show a very gn at repugnance to take ergot volun- 

 tarily; this is so insurmountable for some individuals that they will die of hunger 

 rather than touch it. Consequently all were far from being assured that the ergot 

 offered was really consumed. 



