THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XLIV. 
No. 519. 
MARCH, 1871. 
Fourth Series. 
No. 195. 
Communications and Cases. 
ACORN-POISONING. 
By Professors Simonds and Brown. 
(Continued from p. 63.) 
History of the “ Acorn Disease. 5 ’ 
When the disease which was subsequently traced to the 
consumption of acorns by young stock was first detected in 
Kent, in the autumn of 1868, considerable alarm was ex- 
cited in the minds of stock-owners, not only on account of 
the remarkable fatality of the malady, but even more from 
the resemblance which was perceived to exist between the 
symptoms and some of the post-mortem appearances to those 
of cattle plague. 
The first cases of the disease which came under observa- 
tion occurred among twenty-eight yearling steers and heifers, 
which were at pasture at Langley Park, Beckenham. These 
animals, with nine cows, had been sent to Langley on Sep- 
tember 30th, 1868, and on their arrival were placed in a part 
of the park known as the Lower Park. They were in good 
health at the time, but rather low in condition. On October 
7th one of them was observed to be seriously ill, and several 
others to be somewhat out of health. By the following day 
the diseased state of the herd was fully established, and, case 
succeeding case, by October 15th sixteen yearlings and one 
cow had become affected. Of this number six had died, and 
several of the others were in a precarious condition. The 
suddenness of the attack, together with the rapid spread and 
great fatality of the disease, Ted to the belief that the animals 
were the subjects of cattle plague. The circumstances, how- 
ever, connected with the history of the outbreak disproved 
such opinion, and clearly indicated that the disease had arisen 
XLIV. 10 
