ACORN-POISONING. 
139 
From December l^tli to the present time the steer has con- 
tinued to eat acorns every day without suffering any return 
of the serious symptoms ; the animal’s condition, however, is 
extremely miserable, very different from that of the other 
animals of the same age which were fed in the ordinary 
manner, without acorns, but otherwise were treated in the 
same way as the steer. 
A reference to the account of the symptoms which were 
observed in animals affected with the acorn disease in 1868 
and also in 1870 will show that the most characteristic signs 
were developed in the steer during the time the experiment 
was being carried out, and this result was obtained notwith- 
standing the fact, which has been remarked, of the acorns 
being perfectly ripe and dry. 
The sheep which was the subject of experiment in feeding 
with acorns continued to eat them readily from November 
21st without suffering any ill effects. None of the symp- 
toms which were observed in the steer were detected in this 
animal ; in fact, the food, instead of acting as a deleterious 
agent, had a beneficial effect. 
Taken together, the results of the two experiments, are 
quite in accordance with what has been observed of the effects 
of acorns upon the two classes of animals, although they do 
not contribute anything towards the solution of the question, 
why sheep eat with impunity food which is injurious to cattle, 
whose digestive organs are similar in structure and arrangement. 
Remedial and Preventive Measures. 
Treatment directed to the cure of the acorn disease cannot 
be said to have resulted satisfactorily in any instance in 
which the disease has been well defined at the time the 
medicines were employed. Concurrent professional testimony 
from various parts of the country establishes the fact that in 
the early stage of the affection, or in mild attacks, that is to 
say in those instances where animals have not eaten sufficient 
to produce very important derangement of the organism, the 
administration of laxatives and alkalies has been beneficial. 
In our experiment of feeding with acorns the recovery occurred 
independently of medicines, and there is every reason to 
believe that spontaneous recovery would have resulted in all 
those cases of a mild type, which in reality owed their 
benign character to an insufficient dose of the poison having 
been taken. 
When the signs of blood poisoning became well marked all 
the medicines which were used were equally impotent to 
