624 
GANGRENOUS DISEASE AMONG CATTLE. 
But to return from this digression. The remedies which have 
been resorted to in the disease that I have attempted to de- 
scribe, have been — bleeding at the point of the hoof, in its first 
stages — the application of blisters and setons to the diseased 
parts— and various indescribable “ drinks” and “washes.” In 
the first instance which fell under my observation I attempted to 
rouse the circulation by stimulating applications and active blis- 
ters, and to determine the morbid secretions which I fancied to 
exist by rowels smeared with the most acrid substances. I might 
as well have attempted to rouse action in the limb of a dead 
animal ! This was a natural result — the part was actually dead. 
I ascertained this, subsequently, by finding that deep incisions 
in it with a knife were unnoticed by the animal. Pott admi- 
nistered opium to human subjects, with decided success, in cases 
of dry gangrene : I shall try its effects on brutes in the next 
cases of this malady which come under my observation. 
After all, in such a disease, must we not look rather for pre- 
vention than cure ? And to decide on the preventive, we must 
know the cause and nature of the malady. I have brought the 
subject before you, Sir, to ask if you are acquainted with this de- 
structive epizootic and its treatment. If you can suggest any 
thing which will stay its ravages, you will confer an incalculable 
benefit on the agriculturists of the United States. 
You will not confound the disease with the common “hoof-ail,” 
or “ fouls,” which assaults all the feet equally; which usually 
makes its appearance at a different period of the year; which is 
uniformly attended with inflammation and suppuration between 
the claws of the hoof; and which is readily cured by the appli- 
cation of any caustic, or the less humane but common method 
of drawing a rope between the claws of the hoof. 
J, in common with many others in this country, have consi- 
dered this disease analogous to the “dry gangrene,” which, as you 
are aware, has prevailed at various times in different countries 
among human subjects; and that it is produced by the same 
cause, viz. ergot. This substance is stated by the ablest medical 
writers to produce this specific effect (gangrene of the extremi- 
ties) when taken into the stomach in too large quantities. It 
much abounds in the “ spear-grass” (poa pratensis) of this coun- 
try, and it is thought that it has appeared in larger quantities 
in those years in which this epizootic has committed its greatest 
ravages*. 
Your opinion as to the probable origin, nature, treatment, and 
prevention of the disease, would be regarded with deep interest 
* I should remark, that it does not appear every year, nor often, gene- 
rally, in any one year. It is local and irregular in its visitations. 
