134 
ACORN-POISONING. 
temperature exceeded 102°, and in some of the sick cattle to 
which we have just referred the thermometer registered 98° ; 
these were, however, within a few hours of death. The 
mucous membrane was always pale in colour, except in those 
parts where spots of congestion or abrasions existed. 
Post-mortem examinations which were made during the 
last outbreak did not add anything of importance to the in- 
formation which we obtained in 1868. The lesions which 
were observed included discoloration or abrasion of portions 
of the buccal membrane, congestion of portions of the mem- 
brane lining the digestive canal, and frequently the pouring 
out of large quantities of spoiled blood into the intestines, or 
the areolar tissue in the lumbar region. A few instances 
of extensive emphysema of the lungs came under our notice, 
but generally these organs were healthy, or at worst only 
congested. No important changes had taken place in the 
structure of the heart, liver, or kidneys of any of the animals 
which we examined. 
Death resulted in the majority of instances from the 
poisoned condition of the blood ; in very few cases were the 
lesions sufficiently serious to destroy life in an animal whose 
reparative functions were in an active state. 
Microscopic examinations of the blood, milk, urine, and 
secretions from the mucous membrane were made in several 
instances, and the important fact discovered that even in the 
most prolonged cases of the disease the blood was free from 
bacteria or other active organisms. White granular cor- 
puscles (leucothytes) were present in considerable numbers, 
and the red discs were frequently stellate. 
It might have been expected that the digestion of large 
quantities of acorns would exert some influence upon the 
form of the blood corpuscles similar to that which tannin 
in solution exercises upon the red discs, as pointed out 
by Dr. Roberts some years ago. On adding a drop of 
a weak solution, three grains to the ounce of water, of 
tannic acid to healthy blood, under the microscope the 
discs first of all swell up and become globular, then a 
minute bud appears from one side of the globule, and gradu- 
ally increases in size, until in many instances it exceeds the 
bulk of the corpuscle from which it arose. The project- 
ing body becomes dark in colour from its opacity, while the 
disc gradually gets more transparent. 
The addition of a drop of water in which acorns had been 
steeped did not cause a change of the kind which is induced 
by tannic acid, but it produced very remarkable alterations 
in the form of the red discs. 
