American Veterinary Review, 
NOVEMBER, 1884. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
REPORT ON THE RECENT CATTLE DISEASE IN KANSAS, 
By Pkof. James Law, of Cornell University. 
(Continued from page 297.) 
NATURE OF ERGOT. 
Ergot was at one time supposed to be the seed altered by dis¬ 
ease, but the researches of De Candolle, Queckett, and mere re¬ 
cently of Tulasne demonstrated that it is a distinct product, a 
fungus, which fixes itself on the pistil of the grass and destroys 
the seed while taking its place. The fungus is known as the 
Claviceps purpurea, and Tulasne has traced it through the three 
successive stages of its life history. 
The first stage commences with the development of the pistil, 
as a parasitic growth on the outer membrane of the ovary of the 
grass, which it completely replaces, growing upon the inner mem¬ 
brane and obliterating the cavity of the ovary. This product—the 
sphacelia of Tulasne—is an oblong fungous mass, soft, tender, al¬ 
most homogeneous, and covered witli sinuous furrows. The ex¬ 
ternal surface, and that of irregular cavities hollowed out in its 
interior, are covered by linear parallel cells, from which grow out 
oval cells—conidia, the spermatie of Tulasne—from five to seven 
thousandths of a millimeter in length, which spread themselves 
on the investing glumes. A mouldy product seen on the summit 
