THE CULTIVATOR. 
190 
June 
fluence of light that they are able .to digest their food. 
They take in carbonic acid and water, but by the aid 
of light, they decompose the carbonic acid, giving off 
the oxygen, and retaining the carbon to form their tis¬ 
sues.* This influence of light is quite surprising. If a 
plant is placed in a dark room, and a ray of light is ad¬ 
mitted on one side, the ends of the branches are soon di¬ 
rected towards the'light, and the plant seems to strug¬ 
gle to reach that part of the room where the light is 
strongest and its influence most direct. If a small tree 
be plantecTunder or near a large one, or on the side of 
a forest, it soon begins to lean to the side nearest to the 
light, and will continue to grow in this direction, put¬ 
ting out but few or no branches on the side most affect¬ 
ed by the shade of other trees. 
These facts are cited to show the necessity of giving 
plants sufficient room. If they are crowded too thickly 
together, the sun is too much excluded from the soil, 
and from the want of sufficient circulation of air, the 
plants are less healthy, being more subject to blight; 
and the light is prevented from coming in contact with 
the stems and leaves in such a manner that the sap can 
be properly elaborated. Where plants stand so thick 
that the light strikes them mostly on the tops, they are 
drawn into slender stalks, having but little substance. 
But in cedar and pine forests, where it is sometimes 
desired that the trees, in order to make timber for cer¬ 
tain purposes, may attain a great height in proportion 
to their circumference, a dense growth is an advan¬ 
tage. 
NEW DISEASE AMONG NEAT CATTLE. 
On a fine morning in June, 1838, a neighbor of mine 
requested me to examine the bodies of two fat steers 
which he had just found dead in his pasture field, and 
which he suspected had been poisoned. He said that 
having driven one from the field late the previous after¬ 
noon, he had observed the two that were now lying 
dead before us, quietly grazing about, apparently in 
perfect health. As their hides had been removed, my 
attention was first attracted by the bloodless appear¬ 
ance of the flesh, like that of well dressed butcher’s 
meat. There was no offensive smell, nor any disten¬ 
sion of the abdomen. On laying open that cavity no 
gas escaped, and the stomach, or maw, the part first 
exposed, presented a perfectly healthy appearance. On 
cutting into this organ, it was found well filled with 
grass, which had a very fresh and natural appearance, 
as if the animal had fed in perfect health until within a 
few minutes of its death. On raising up flaps with the 
knife, a thin pellicle was seen to detach itself by its own 
weight and that of the. gi-ass adhering to it, leaving the 
villous coat of the stomach perfectly clean, and appa¬ 
rently healthy. The maw being now removed, brought 
into view the liver, the spleen, and small intestines. 
Hitherto every thing bad presented nearly a natural as¬ 
pect, but this was now no longer the case. The liver, 
indeed, appeared healthy, with the exception of a some¬ 
what unnatural paleness:, but the spieen was much dis¬ 
tended with black blood, and the small intestines were 
found filled, entirely filled with the same fluid ! So in¬ 
tensely did this dark colored blood show through the 
thin coats of the bowels, that the bystanders mistook it 
for mortification; but after letting out their contents 
the membranes assumed their natural color. It seemed 
that all the blood in the body had found its way into the 
bowels, and this view of the matter was strengthened 
by examining the viscera of the chest. The lungs were 
very pale and bloodless, and upon slitting open the 
heart across the septum, so as to lay open both ventri¬ 
cles; the right was found to exhibit some bloody stains, 
but the left was as clean as if it had been wiped out 
with a wet cloth. The animal had evidently died 
of bleeding, and that without the escape of a drop 
of blood from the body. It had probably fed un¬ 
til dark, wholly unconscious of its impending fate, and 
then quietly laid itself down to sleep the sleep of death. 
Nearly all the blood in the body, by some unknown pro¬ 
cess, had been suddenly transferred from its natural re¬ 
ceptacles into tlie intestinal tube; and so suddenly had 
this been accomplished, and with so little previous in¬ 
disposition, that all the animal functions had been per- 
*■ Carbonic; acid consists of carbon and oxygen ; 6 lbs. of carbon 
and 16 lbs. of oxygen forming 22 lbs. of carbonic acid.— Johnston. 
formed in apparently the most healthy manner until 
within a few moments of dissolution. But how, Or by 
what channel had the blood been so transferred, was a 
question for the anatomist. By what unknown, what 
miraculous process had such a state of things been 
brought about? How.could the animal live until the 
blood-vessels, and even the heart itself could be entirely 
emptied? No butcher ever accomplished a feat like 
this. Slit open the heart of the most thoroughly bled 
animal from the slaughter house, and it will be found to 
contain large clots of blood. No human means can sus¬ 
tain life until the heart squeezes out the last drop of its 
contents. No poison known to man—no chemical know¬ 
ledge, however profound, could concoct a poison capa¬ 
ble of producing a death like this ! To him alone who 
created, is it reserved to slay in a manner so wonder¬ 
ful. 
It may well be supposed that I felt a deep interest 
in this strange discovery, and lost no opportunity in its 
further investigation. Many deaths of the same kind 
occurred in the town of Rye that season, but I could 
learn of only one instance in which any indisposition 
was noticed before death. Most of the animals must 
have died in the night, as they were found dead in the 
morning, without having exhibited any evidence of. 
disease the previous clay. One alone was seen in the 
day time for a few minutes staggering about, but it 
soon settled upon the ground and quietly expired. All 
the examinations made that season, presented precisely 
the same appearances. 
There was the same bloodless appearance of the 
flesh, the absence of fetor and gaseous distension of the 
abdomen; the same fresh and natural condition of the 
herbage in the stomach, as if the animal had fed until 
the last hour of life; the intestines presenting the same 
dark purple appearance, in consequence of the whole 
tube, through all its doublings and convolutions, being 
entirely filled with blood; 'while the heart, in every 
instance, was found entirely empty. 
I heard nothing more of this disease for a space of 
eight years, until last summer, (1846,) when a gentle¬ 
man one morning requested me to examine the body of 
a cow he had just lost, in the hope that I might be able 
to detect the poison with which, as he supposed, she 
had been destroyed. He stated that she had been 
brought from the field in the morning with other 
cows for the purpose of being milked, and was at, 
that time apparently as well as any of them. When 
about half milked she stepped away and laid down under 
a tree; the milker coming into the house, related the 
fact, and complained that she could not get her up 
again. On going out himself he found her dying., and 
