58 
O. C. FAVILLE. 
them have been in the least sick. So there can be no evidence of 
the disease being contagious, except the fact of a large number of 
cases breaking out on different farms as well as upon the same 
farm so nearly at the same time. There is not the slightest evi¬ 
dence to show that this disease was carried from one of these 
farms to the other. There is no evidence, that I have been able 
to find, to show that the disease was carried into Osborn County, 
for no cattle have been taken into that county since June 6th, 
last. There is no evidence to show that the disease was carried 
from Keith’s farm to Beard’s, for the Keith cow was not the first 
cow sick. This, with all other things taken into consideration, 
causes me to say most positively it is not the foot and mouth dis¬ 
ease, nor any other contagious disease. We find in all the farms, 
without exception, the whole of the hay is cut from wild meadow, 
growing on bottom land ; that this hay is largely made up of 
wild rye and allied grasses, and that this rye is badly infested 
with ergot. In short, so much so, that in many heads of grass 
every seed shows the ergot spur. The well-known effect of ergot 
upon animals as well as man, when being continued, and in not 
overdoses, is to produce dry gangrene of the extremities, or the 
parts farthest from the centre of circulation. I have seen this 
same disease in Storey County, Iowa, in connection with Dr. M. 
Stalker, Professor of Veterinary Science in the Iowa Agricultural 
College in 1879, and at that time we pronounced it ergotism, and 
subsequent facts confirmed our diagnosis. Since that time, Prof. 
Stalker has had similar cases each year. 
The same trouble broke out not long since, in Hon. J. P. 
Maxwell’s herd at Boulder. At Neosho Falls we met with Dr. 
D. E. Salmon, of the Department of Agriculture, at Washing¬ 
ton ; also Dr. M. Stalker of Iowa, and Dr. M. R. Trumbower, of 
Sterling, Illinois, and this diagnosis of the case is fully confirmed 
by these gentlemen. When sustained by such eminent counsel, 
it is not possible that I should have erred in my diagnosis. 
In conclusion then, I would say, there is no danger of the 
disease spreading. It is quite as liable to attack cattle that are 
fed upon wild rye ” in Colorado as Kansas, because this grass 
is grown under conditions favorable to the growth of ergot. 
