BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



239 



nsnal length, and tlio weight is supported on the back of the fetlock. In this situa- 

 tion tbe animals pass a miserable existence until the owner, from pity, sends them to 

 the butcher (Randall). The more benign form seems to us to have a resemblance to 

 convulsive ergotism; the position of the posterior limbs has perhaps for its orign a 

 contraction of the extensors. 



In the records of epidemics of ergotism there are found but few references to 

 the disease in the horse, and these aro of no use in tracing the symptomatology. 

 We are then reduced to a recapitulation of experiments to the number of two, one 

 made by Hcrtwig and the other by Parola. 



Hertwig administered to a horse within twenty-four days 3,552 grains [about 7 

 pounds] of ergot of rye. The phenomena observed were slight colics, loss of appetite, 

 which disappeared within a lew hours, drowsiness, which also soon passed away, di- 

 lation of the pupils, slight spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the skin and 

 diminished tcmperaturo of the surface of the body The pulsations of the arteries 

 were retarded from 40 to 28 to the minute. The day following the administration of 

 the last doso all abnormal phenomena had disappeared. 



Parola experimented on a vigorous and lively mule affected with a nasal discharge. 

 During six days he gave it, in addition to its ordinary ration, ergot of rye in progres- 

 sive doses of from 20 to 64 grams [f to 2 ounces j a day. The tiisfc day, the pulse was 

 from 56 to 58, with lowering of the external temperature. The second day, pulse 58, 

 respiration difficult, tearful eyes, loss of appetite, dullness, beating of, heart insensi- 

 ble. The third day, -coldness of the skin, general tremors, difficult respiration, spas- 

 modic trouble of the cardiac and arterial pulsations, absence of appetite, apathy, 

 dullness, suppression of the nasal discharge, which returned after the use of irritating 

 injections. From the fourth to the seventh day. development of these symptoms, un- 

 steady and difficult walk, trembling, inclined to lie, painful swelling of the knee;;, 

 the nasal discharge definitely arrested. After having taken in all 284 grams [0.6 

 pounds] of ergot, the mule, which had continually lost in flesh and liveliness, became 

 insensiblo and was destroyed. 



It maybe concluded from these facts that the horse escapes the pernicious effects of 

 ergot no more than other animals, and tha t, placed under favorable conditions, one of 

 the two forms of the disease may be clearly manifested, as the result of long and con- 

 tinued use. Ergot is also a poison for insects ; in Poland they kill Hies by giving as 

 a bait powder of ergot mixed with honey. Leeches, plunged into an infusion of ergot, 

 X)erish instantly (Lorinser). 



Anatomical characters.— Studied for centuries, ergotism presents, in regard to its patho- 

 logical anatomy? lamentable deficiencies as well with mankind as with animals. Con- 

 sidering- the variation of symptoms it is useless to insist that the auatomical lesions 

 cannot in all cases be the same. Those which we are about to enumerate all belong 

 to either artificial or experimental ergotism. 



The rigor mortis is never excessive; the flabby muscles are softened, the bones en- 

 gorged with blood, particularly near the articulations. The venous system is dis- 

 tended by a black, pitchy, semi-fluid blood'; the arteries, sometimes empty, contain 

 in other circumstances a red fluid blood. In the thoracic cavity the lungs are found 

 hepatized in the posterior portion; the heart flabby, small or voluminous, contains 

 fibrous coagula and a black, viscid, semi-fluid blood ; in tho left side of the heart, 

 which is often empty, there is nothing found but fibrinous concretions. The mucous 

 membrane of the small intestine is pale, yellowish, infiltrated, and softened, some- 

 times covered with red striae or black points. These black points aro compounds of 

 fat and pigment (T. O. Hcusinger). The mucous membrane of the large intestine 

 shows hyperemia, which is far from being constant. Tho proventriculus of the gal- 

 linaceans has a gray or a wine-red appearance ; its mucous membrane is ulcerated or 

 covered with granulations ; tho gizzard is black (Millet). Do not the granulations 

 depend upon the ulceration of the pepsine glands? The cerebral envelopes, princi- 

 pally at the base, are congested, engorged with a black blood resembling that found 

 in the veins; a section of the brain shows sometimes a very apparent punctation ; in 

 other cases, much more common, it is anajmic. Analagous changes are met with in 

 the spinal cord. 



The local disorders of gangrenous ergotism are those of dry gangrene (see Gan- 

 grene). 



Physiological action. — The symptoms of gangrenous or convulsive ergotism, as a 

 whole, indicate incontestably that the nervous system fills the principal role. Tho 

 phenomena observed by Hoppe when he placed ergotiue in contact with the isolated 

 organs of the frog or the rabbit would remove all doubt if any could exist. Ergotiue 

 causes a marked stimulation of the heart, followed by a weakening and a retardation 

 of its movements; the intestine contracts, but the contraction is not renewed after a 

 second application ; the blood vessels dilate; soon follows a contraction with conges- 

 tion of the rasa vasorum which sw r ell and cause the walls of the veins and arteries to 

 become rigid ; the sensitive nerves are partially paralyzed ; later their sensibility is 

 increased ; a general intoxication congests the brain and spinal cord. This last effect 



