70 DEATH OF HORSES FROM OATS AFFECTED WITH FUNGI. 
sitic bodies. This determined me to have recourse to the expe¬ 
riment of feeding a horse upon them, and for this purpose, 
as previously stated, an old but healthy mare was purchased. 
The result I have before described, and which we see so closely 
agrees with the experiments carried out at Leeds, that I did 
not deem it necessary to procure another subject for the pur¬ 
pose. To still further carry out, however, the investigation, 
portions of the oats were handed to Professor Tuson for his 
examination, the result of which he has kindly placed in my 
hands, illustrated with several beautiful engravings by his 
brother, Mr. H. B. Tuson, and to which I would now espe¬ 
cially refer the reader. 
PROFESSOR TUSON’S REPORT ON THE CHEMICAL AND 
MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF SOME OATS SUP¬ 
POSED TO POSSESS POISONOUS QUALITIES. 
The following report embodies the results of the chemical 
and microscopical examination of some oats that were sup¬ 
posed to have caused the death of several horses that had 
partaken of them as food. 
My first object was to prove the presence or absence of 
mineral poisons, but chemical analysis failed to detect any 
deleterious matteF whatever. 
The structure and general physical characters of the oats 
were then carefully studied and compared with those pos¬ 
sessed by oats of good quality. 
General characters of the Oats. 
The oats had what is commonly known as a musty odour. 
When examined by the naked eye, they were found to be 
coated more or less completely by a grayish pulverulent 
matter which could be easily detached, and by minute specs 
having a drab colour, and sometimes a silvery white appearance. 
By referring to B, Fig. I, one can observe the appearance 
presented by many of the oats. On the left side of this 
drawing is represented the grayish deposit in great quantity. 
It there appears to be convoluted or folded. On making 
longitudinal sections of some of these oats, the white fari¬ 
naceous matter contained in oats of good quality was some¬ 
times partially and sometimes completely replaced by a 
dark-coloured, hard, horny mass. C, Fig. I, represents a 
vertical section of an oat of this description, in which the 
horn-like body has been partially developed. A, Fig. I, is a 
section of a healthy oat, and is placed by the side of C for 
the sake of comparison. 
