204 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



Tenth group. Comprising some of the most interesting products 

 of decomposition : 1, Schmiedeberger and Bergmann's sepsine, the 

 most common ptomaine and principal agent in septic gastro-enteritis ; 

 % ptomatocurarine, a cadaveric alkaloid which paralyzes the terminal 

 motor plaques, exactly like curara (paralytic vitulary fever); 3, 

 ptomato- atropine or atropine of the cadaver, which plays an impor- 

 tant rôle in poisoning from tainted sausages, and produces phenom- 

 ena identical with those observed in intoxication through atropine, 

 dilatation of the pupil and impaired vision included ; 4, mydaline, 

 possessing the properties of atropine and muscarine ; 5, ptomato- 

 morphine, whose properties are similar to those of morphine 

 (Panum) ; 6, ptomatodigitaline, which, according to Selmi, pro- 

 vokes all the symptoms of digitalis poisoning in the animals. The 

 anthrax alkaloid is also classified in this group ; HofiPa extracted it 

 from bacteria cultures. This basis has been extracted by the Stas- 

 Otto process ; in animals in which it is injected it produces, after 

 a short period of excitement, somnolence and a bloody diarrhea, 

 followed by death. Numerous ecchymoses are found at the post- 

 mortem upon the pericardium and peritoneum ; the blood is black, 

 and devoid of microbes. 



MYCOTIC GASTRO-ENTERITIS OF CARNIVOROUS AND OMNIVOROUS 

 ANIMALS, AND OF POULTRY, PROVOKED BY INGESTION OF 

 DECOMPOSED MEAT. 



This gastro-enteritis offers the greatest similarity to the poison- 

 ing produced by tainted meat in human beings. It is probable 

 that this was the affection which has been described under the name 

 "typhus of dogs'^ (Hertwig, Bruckmuller), and also as the "typhus 

 of pigs.'' 



Etiology. As a rule, it is caused by meat in a more or less 

 advanced state of decomposition, or by sausage, and sometimes by 

 old herring-brine. Shepherd dogs are the most frequently affected; 

 it has also been observed in poultry after the ingestion of putrid 

 meat (Rosenkranz). The specific agents of the disease are the 

 micro-organisms contained in meat in the process of decomposition, 

 and the ptomaines which they generate. The history is rarely pre- 

 cise enough to enlighten the veterinarian, and in most cases the 

 observed conditions are ascribed to an intoxication through mineral 

 poisons or " rough on rats." 



Symptoms. They are similar to those of poisoning through 



