Chapter VII: Poisoning (2)

=The symptoms= of lupine poisoning are so well known in Europe that chronic lupine poisoning has been given the name _lupinosis_. It is characterised by loss of appetite, fever, dyspnœa, constipation, and yellowness of the visible mucous membranes. Diarrhœa, sometimes of a sanguinolent type, appears later. The urine becomes albuminous, tinted with bile products or stained red by hæmoglobin, and the head shows œdema. Death occurs in a few days. In America the chronic form has not been observed. In cases of lupine poisoning in Montana there was noted acute cerebral congestion, accompanied with mental excitement. The sheep rushed about in different directions, butting one another and other objects. The first stage of frenzy was soon followed by a second stage, characterised by pronounced irregularity of movement, spasms, and falling fits. In the majority of cases death occurred in from one-half to one and one-half hours. In extensive cases of lupine poisoning it was uniformly observed that a number of the sheep lingered on from two to four days before they died. The muscular convulsions resembled those caused by strychnine. The excretion of the kidneys was much increased and frequently was bloody. Post-mortem examinations of sheep poisoned by lupines revealed conditions similar to those in acute forms of loco disease, with the addition of a congested condition of the kidneys.

No remedies have been tried in cases of poisoning from American species of lupine, but it seems reasonable to suppose that potassium permanganate would probably destroy the lupine alkaloids in the stomach if administered promptly after the first signs of poisoning. Experience and observation indicate that lupine hay is always dangerous for sheep if cut at a time when the seeds are retained in the hay. The evidence thus far collected regarding this matter indicates that the seeds are the most poisonous part of the plant.

POISONING BY VETCHES (LATHYRUS SATIVUS): LATHYRISM.

In the horse this disease is due to feeding on grain containing the seeds of vetches, but in the ox to eating the green portions of the plants. Feeding has to be continued for at least a month to produce accidents.

The earliest =symptoms= consist in suppression of milk secretion, and somnolence. Nervous symptoms—from which alone the horse suffers—soon make their appearance. The neuro-muscular system is attacked. Interference with the nervous system is followed by inco-ordination of movement, and later by paraplegia of the hind quarters. Roaring is not noticeable, probably because the patients rarely move rapidly.

=The lesions= have been little studied, but appear to consist in congestion and infiltration of the meninges, cord, and roots of the lumbo-sacral plexus.

=Treatment.= If the animals are paralysed, treatment is rarely of value; otherwise it is sufficient to remove the cause and to administer purgatives and diuretics, with the object of eliminating toxic products. Recovery follows in three to four weeks.

=Robinia pseudacacia.=—The common locust tree is native in the central and eastern parts of the United States, and is extensively cultivated for ornamental purposes throughout the Union. The bark and leaves contain a powerful poison, and persons have been killed by eating these parts.

* =Sophora secundiflora.=—The beautiful bright-red beans of the frijo-lillo, or coral bean of southern and western Texas contain a powerfully poisonous alkaloid. The plant is said to have poisoned stock in Texas and in northern Mexico.

LINACEÆ (FLAX FAMILY).

=Linum rigidum.=—The large-flowered yellow flax is reported from Pecos Valley, Texas, as poisonous to sheep. An investigation made by the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S.A., showed that the plant is poisonous.

MELIACEÆ (UMBRELLA-TREE FAMILY).

* =Melia azedarach.=—The Chinese umbrella-tree is much cultivated for ornament, and sometimes grows wild in the South. A correspondent from Arizona stated that three of his hogs were poisoned by eating the seeds, which were ignorantly offered to them for food.

EUPHORBIACEÆ (SPURGE FAMILY).

=Euphorbia.=—There are many species of spurge native to the United States, nearly all of which contain an acrid milky juice. Stock generally avoid them, but cattle have been poisoned by drinking water into which the plants have been thrown. The juice of _E. marginata_ and _E. bicolour_ is used to some extent in Texas to brand cattle, it being held to be superior to a red-hot iron for that purpose, because screw worms will not infect the fresh scar and the spot heals more readily.

* =Jatropha stimulosa.=—The seeds of the spurge nettle of the Southern States are extremely poisonous. Stock avoid the plant on account of its stinging hairs.

* =Ricinus communis.=—The castor oil plant is quite commonly cultivated in the warmer portions of the United States, and grows wild in the South. The seeds have been accidentally eaten by horses with fatal effect, and they have been strewn on pasture lands in the North-West for the purpose of killing sheep that were trespassing thereon. A Frenchman has discovered a method of making cattle immune to the effects of the toxalbumin contained in the seeds, so that they may be fed to stock without causing any apparent ill effect. A note on poisoning by castor oil cake will be found hereafter.

BUXACEÆ (BOX FAMILY).

* =Buxus sempervirens.=—The leaves of the common box, cultivated for hedges, are poisonous to all kinds of stock.

ÆSCULACÆ (HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY).

=Æsculus californica=, California buckeye: =Æ. glabra=, Ohio buckeye; fœtid buckeye: =Æ. hippocastanum=, horse-chestnut: =Æ. pavia=, red buckeye.—The leaves and fruit of these species are generally regarded as poisonous to stock. The fruit may be easily converted into food by washing and boiling. It is believed that a small quantity of the unprepared fruit of the California buckeye will cause cows to slip their young.

HYPERICACEÆ (ST. JOHN’S WORT FAMILY).

* =Hypericum perforatum.=—The common St. John’s wort is commonly believed to cause disagreeable eruptions on cows’ udders and on the feet of white haired animals. This species and the spotted St. John’s wort (_H. maculatum_) were brought into the United States Bureau of Agriculture by Dr. G. W. Bready, from Norwood, Maryland, who stated that five horses were poisoned in May, 1898, by eating meadow hay which contained nearly 50 per cent. of these plants. One horse died from the effects of the poison, and two were killed to prevent their further suffering.

POISONING BY ST. JOHN’S WORT.

The ingestion of St. John’s wort produces excitement followed by dulness, interference with vision and hearing, and by visual hallucinations with a tendency to lean backwards, the front limbs remaining fixed in position. The patient often sits down on the hind quarters like a dog.

APIACEÆ (CARROT FAMILY).

* =Cicuta maculata.= This is the water hemlock (spotted hemlock; beaver poison; cowbane), which grows most abundantly throughout the United States. It is one of the best known poisonous plants. Stock are not infrequently killed by eating the fleshy roots or hay with which the plants are mixed.

* =Cicuta vagans.=—Cattle are frequently killed in Oregon and Washington by eating the large fleshy rootstocks which have been washed, frozen, or dug out of the soil, or by drinking water in marshes where the roots have been trampled upon. The roots of the other species of _Cicuta_ are undoubtedly poisonous, but cases have been reported against one other species only, namely, _C. bolanderi_. It grows in marshy land in California.

* =Conium maculatum.=—The well-known poison hemlock, or spotted hemlock of Europe, is an introduced weed not uncommon in the north-eastern section of the United States and in California. The plant is generally avoided by stock on account of its bad odour, but animals have been killed by eating it in the fresh state. Since the poisonous constituent is volatile, the dry plants are not so dangerous.

POISONING BY HEMLOCK AND WILD CHERVIL (ANTHRISCUS SYLVESTRIS).

Poisoning only results from ingestion of the green plants. It is characterised by salivation, nausea, dyspnœa, generalised trembling and vertigo, paraplegia, and symptoms of gastro-enteritis.

POISONING BY FENNEL.

This disease, seen in Algeria, and recently studied by Bremond and Bojoly, need only be mentioned. The information at present available is indefinite, and the symptoms so closely resemble those of Texas fever that there seems a possibility of confusion having arisen.

=The lesions= are those of hæmorrhagic gastro-enteritis.

=Treatment= consists in giving tannin, opium, and emollients.

=Oxypolis rigidus.=—The cowbane is natural in swamps throughout the eastern half of the United States. The leaves and roots are reputed to be poisonous to cattle.

=Sium cicutæfolium.=—The leaves of the hemlock water parsnip, which is more or less common throughout the United States, are said to be poisonous to stock.

ERICAEÆ (HEATH FAMILY).

=Andromeda polifolia.=—The wild rosemary, or moorwort, is a plant native to the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America, entering the United States only in the extreme north-east. The leaves, which have been eaten by sheep with fatal effect, contain a narcotic poison known as andromedotoxin. The plant is not very dangerous in its native habitat, because it grows in bogs which are inaccessible to stock.

* =Azalea occidentalis.=—The California azalea is very much dreaded by sheep men who drive their flocks into the southern Sierras for pasture. Investigation has shown that the leaves contain a poisonous substance.

* =Kalmia angustifolia.=—The narrow-leaf laurel is abundant in the north-eastern section of the United States, where it is also well known as sheep laurel and lamb-kill. The leaves contain andromedotoxin, and sheep and calves are frequently poisoned by eating them.

* =Kalmia latifolia.=—The broad-leaf laurel is native throughout the greater part of the eastern half of the United States, and is known by a great variety of common names, the most important of which are laurel and ivy. The latter name is most commonly used south of Maryland. Scores of cattle and sheep are poisoned annually by eating the plant. It is probably the most dangerous of all the shrubs belonging to the heath family.

* =Leucothoë catesbæi.=—This is the branch ivy, hemlock, or calf-kill, of the Allegheny Mountains. It is well known in that region to be fatal to all kinds of stock.

* =Leucothoë racemosa.=—The swamp _Leucothoë_ of the Atlantic and Gulf States has been reported from New Jersey as especially fatal to calves.

* =Pieris mariana.=—The stagger bush of the Atlantic Coast region, Tennessee, and Arkansas is commonly known to be poisonous to calves and to sheep. The name stagger bush was applied to the shrub on account of the peculiar intoxicating effect of the leaves.

* =Rhododendron californicum.=—The California rhododendron is native on the Pacific Slope from San Francisco to British Columbia. The plant is reported from Oregon as poisonous to sheep. It is quite probable that the leaves contain andromedotoxin, but they have not been tested.

* =Rhododendron maximum.=—The great laurel (rosebay; mountain laurel; rhododendron) is a large evergreen bush or small tree which is quite commonly cultivated for ornament, and is found native in the Allegheny Mountains. The leaves contain andromedotoxin, and they are occasionally eaten by stock with fatal effect.

PRIMULACEÆ (PRIMROSE FAMILY).

=Anagallis arvensis.=—The pimpernel is a European plant which has obtained a specially strong foothold in California, where it grows luxuriantly and is sometimes known as poison weed. It is suspected of having caused the death of a horse at Santa Ana. Chemists have isolated a powerfully poisonous oil and a strongly active ferment from the plant.

OLEACEÆ (OLIVE FAMILY).

=Ligustrum vulgare.=—The privet, or prim, is a garden shrub, introduced from Europe and Asia, which is much used for hedges, and has escaped from cultivation in western New York and southward to North Carolina. Accidents have been occasioned in children both by the fruit and the leaves. The plant is to be suspected in cases of poisoning in animals.

APOCYNACEÆ (DOGBANE FAMILY).

=Apocynum androsæmifolium=, spreading dogbane: =A. cannabinum=, Indian hemp.—These plants are generally distributed throughout the United States. Stock generally avoid them in pasture fields on account of their acrid milky juice. When dry they are not so poisonous as when in the fresh state.

=Nerium oleander.=—The oleander is a common house plant throughout a large portion of the United States. It grows freely out of doors in the Southern and Western States, and has probably escaped from cultivation in some places. It grows wild in northern Mexico. The leaves are well known to be most powerfully poisonous, and stock are occasionally killed by eating them.

ASCLEPIADACEÆ (MILKWEED FAMILY).

* =Asclepias eriocarpa.=—This is the plant with broad mullein-like leaves which is known as milkweed in California. Several authentic accounts of the poisoning of sheep have been secured against the plant in Mendocino County. It is especially feared on very warm days by sheep men when they are compelled to drive their flocks through dry, barren valleys. It sometimes grows on cultivated land, and is cut with hay.

* =Asclepias syriaca.=—This is the common milkweed, or silkweed, of the north-eastern quarter of the United States. Experiments show that the milky juice so abundant in all parts of the plant is very acrid and poisonous. It is listed among the poisonous plants of Europe.

SOLANACEÆ (POTATO FAMILY).

* =Datura stramonium=: =D. tatula=.—These two species very closely resemble each other, and are most commonly known in the United States by the name of jimson weed. They are European plants which have become weeds in waste grounds and about dwellings throughout the greater portion of the country. One or two instances are recorded in which cattle have been poisoned by eating hay containing the young leaves.

* =Hyoscyamus niger.=—The black henbane is an ill-smelling plant, a native of Europe, now naturalised in Michigan, and from New York northward. One or two cases are recorded in European literature in which stock have been poisoned by eating the plant of their own accord, but there is very little danger from it, on account of its ill odour and harsh texture.

* =Nicotiana tabacum.=—This is the tobacco most commonly cultivated in the United States. It is native to South America and has escaped from cultivation to some extent in the Southern States. According to some authorities stock are not always disposed to shun this plant on account of its characteristic ill odour and taste, but, on the contrary, will eat a small amount of the leaves with apparent relish, especially when they are somewhat fresh. Stock have, however, been poisoned by eating leaves which were placed within their reach to dry, and also by eating food contaminated with the juice of the leaves. Considerable precaution should be used in applying tobacco juice to fresh cuts or bruises in stock, as the poison is easily absorbed into the system and may prove fatal. There are several native species of tobacco in the western half of the United States, all of which are undoubtedly poisonous if eaten even in moderate quantity.

TOBACCO POISONING.

Tobacco poisoning may be produced by baths or lotions containing tobacco juice, which is often used as a parasiticide. The ingestion of tobacco leaves in forage may also produce poisoning. Doses of 1 ounce in the goat and 10 ounces in the ox are toxic.

=The symptoms= consist in salivation, vomiting, nausea, diarrhœa, cardiac palpitation and dyspnœa.

=The lesions= are those of gastro-enteritis with cerebral congestion.

=Treatment= consists in giving tannin, black coffee, etc.

=Solanum dulcamara.=—The bittersweet, or climbing nightshade, is a European weed, now introduced in the north-eastern quarter of the United States. The leaves are suspected of being poisonous to stock.

* =Solanum nigrum.=—The black nightshade (common nightshade; garden nightshade) is a common weed in cultivated fields throughout the greater portion of the United States. Cattle seldom eat the plant, but a few cases of poisoning are recorded for calves, sheep, goats, and swine.

* =Solanum triflorum.=—The spreading nightshade is a native of the Great Plains (United States), and also a common garden weed from Arizona and Texas to British America. Complaints of the poisoning of cattle by this plant have been sent to the Department of Agriculture from Nebraska. Experiments show that the berries are poisonous.

=Solanum tuberosum.=—The small, immature tubers of the common cultivated potato and those that have turned green from exposure to the sun are slightly poisonous. The green fruit and the white sprouts from mature potatoes are likewise poisonous. In all of these cases the deleterious substance may be removed or destroyed by thorough boiling.

SCROPHULARIACEÆ (FIGWORT FAMILY).

=Digitalis purpurea.=—The purple foxglove is a common garden plant which has sparingly escaped from cultivation and is naturalised to some extent on Cape Breton Island. Horses are occasionally poisoned in Europe by nipping the plants from gardens or by eating hay contaminated with it.

=Gerardia tenuifolia.=—The slender gerardia is native to the eastern half of the United States, and has been specially reported as poisonous to sheep and to calves in the Southern States.

=Gratiola officinalis.=—The hedge hyssop of the Southern States contains an acrid poison. The same plant grows in Europe, and is there regarded as poisonous to stock.

=Pedicularis.=—The plants of this genus are commonly called lousewort. In Europe several species are suspected of being slightly poisonous to stock. One of these, _P. palustris_, occurs in Labrador, and there are over thirty species native to the United States, largely Western. They should all be suspected of being poisonous.

CAMPANULACEÆ (BELL-FLOWER FAMILY).

=Lobelia inflata=, Indian tobacco: =L. kalmii=, brook lobelia: =L. spicata=, pale-spiked lobelia: =L. syphilitica=, great lobelia.—All of the species in this genus contain an acrid and usually milky juice, and are poisonous. None has been specially reported as poisonous to stock, but the above-named species are to be suspected, because they frequently occur in grass and are sometimes found in meadow hay.

AMBROSIACEÆ (RAGWEED FAMILY).

=Xanthium canadense.=—The young seedlings of the American cocklebur are reported from Texas as being rapidly fatal to hogs.

=Xanthium spinosum.=—The spiny clotbur is suspected of being poisonous, but few cases have been definitely recorded against it. The seeds apparently contain a toxic compound.

=Xanthium strumarium.=—The young seedlings of the broad cocklebur are reported from Georgia as being fatal to hogs. Experiments seem to show that the seed is poisonous.

CARDUACEÆ (THISTLE FAMILY).

* =Helenium autumnale.=—Sneezeweed (sneezewort; autumn sneezeweed; stagger weed; false sunflower) is found throughout the greater portion of the United States, being most abundant in the Southern and Eastern States. Sheep, cattle and horses that are unfamiliar with the plant are often poisoned by it when driven to localities where it is abundant. Stock avoid it, as a rule, but it is claimed that they sometimes develop a taste for the plant, and are killed quickly by eating it in large quantity.

=Senecio jacobæa.=—The tansy ragwort, or stagger wort, is a European plant which grows as a weed in ballast about New York and Philadelphia. Farther north, in Nova Scotia, it has become extensively naturalised, and it is there regarded by stock men as poisonous. It is interesting to note that _S. guadalensis_ of Mexico is also considered fatal to stock.

COLCHICUM POISONING.

Fodder of bad quality often contains leaves, flowers, and particularly seeds of colchicum, which produce nausea, vomiting, colic and diarrhœa. The colchicine acts particularly on the kidney and heart, producing specific disturbance, indicated by hæmaturia, polyuria, and cardiac palpitation, with lowering of the body temperature.

Even when poisoning is not fatal, it is very apt to produce abortion.

POISONING BY ANNUAL MERCURY.

Annual mercury given in green fodder is stated to produce indigestion, diarrhœa, vesical and intestinal hæmorrhage, and early death. Some authors, however, deny that it has such toxic properties.

POISONING BY BRYONY.

In large doses all parts of the bryony plant are toxic—the root, stalk, and leaves.

Bryony is sometimes used as a purgative. Poisoning is characterised by nausea, sweating, diuresis, frequent action of the bowels, and, in grave cases, by tetaniform convulsions followed by death.

POISONING BY CASTOR OIL CAKE.

=Causation.= Excessive use of this form of cake is the usual cause of such poisoning, though bad quality is also an important factor. The castor oil beans are often insufficiently crushed and compressed, so that a considerable amount of oil is contained in the cakes as sold; but the most dangerous constituent is undoubtedly the material known as ricin, which, in some specimens of cake, may exist in highly dangerous quantity.

The oil contained in the cake, like every other fatty substance, favours intestinal peristalsis and the onward movement of the digested food. The laxative principle excites secretion, and if the cake be given for considerable periods, the most serious consequences may ensue.

Cakes prepared from mixed rape seed and castor beans act in a similar way, though in a longer or shorter time, according to their richness in ricin.

The earliest =symptom= consists in purgation, which gradually develops into super-purgation, and is followed by direct irritation of the mucous membrane, indicated by serous, fœtid, and sometimes sanguinolent, diarrhœa. The symptoms may appear in twenty-four hours. They are usually accompanied by a rise in temperature of 2° to 3° Fahr. Secretion of milk ceases, and animals heavy with young sometimes abort. In exceptional cases death follows.

=The lesions= are those of hæmorrhagic enteritis.

=Treatment= is principally of a preventive character. The cakes should be examined, and if they contain insufficiently crushed seeds or beans should be discontinued or given in smaller quantities. The proportion of ricin in mixed rape and castor cakes should be determined.

Curative treatment consists in removing the cause and treating the enteritis. The latter is best controlled by giving emollients, diuretics, and mucilaginous drinks prepared from linseed, marsh-mallow, barley, etc.

POISONING BY COTTON CAKE.

Cotton cake forms a rich food, which fattens animals very rapidly, but given in excess may produce true poisoning, and if prepared from undecorticated seed may produce mechanical irritation ending in obstruction of the bowel.

The latter accident occurs only in the sheep. It consists in obstruction of the omasum (œsophageal gutter), and particularly of the abomasum, by the woody seed covering, the fibres of which become agglutinated and close the pyloric opening, just as do the fragments of wool or the hairs in animals affected with the licking habit (pica, depraved appetite). The mass thus formed passes into the intestine, and is apt to become fixed at some point and to cause death.

In the ox, as in the sheep, true poisoning may result from the action of an injurious principle which Cornevin discovered in the seed and particularly in the meal. The relative rarity of such accidents is explained by the composition of the cakes, which are rich in husks but poor in meal.

In the first series of accidents the =symptoms= resemble those produced by the intestinal obstructions peculiar to the licking disease; in the second they appear about the eighth to the fifteenth day, and are indicated by sensitiveness of the abdomen and by efforts to pass urine. The urine is albuminous; at a later stage it becomes darker in colour, reddish, and stained with hæmoglobin. The mucous membranes exhibit a sub-icteric tint.

=Lesions.= The liver shows interstitial hepatitis, consequent on changes in the hepatic cells due to the poisonous principle. The kidney first shows lesions of interstitial, but afterwards of epithelial, nephritis; the endothelium of the tubes appears to be undergoing proliferation.

=Treatment= should only be undertaken when the organic lesions seem trifling, and suggest the possibility of cure without excessive outlay. Under such circumstances it is sufficient to remove the cause and to supply proper diet.

POISONING BY MOLASSES REFUSE.

Molasses refuse is much used about Paris and in the department of Le Nord for fattening or simply for feeding animals. Added to rough fodder, even of poor quality, the refuse renders it palatable, and thus forms an economic food; it also improves the condition of animals with broken wind. Its poverty in nitrogenous materials (the refuse consists of 60 per cent. of hydrocarbons; 10 to 12 per cent. of potash and soda salts) renders it necessary to enrich it in this respect. Moreover, only a limited quantity should be given. If given in larger amounts than 2 to 2½ parts per 500 parts of body weight it may produce bad effects. In this case the earlier symptoms point to interference with the urinary apparatus, the digestive apparatus being affected later; both accidents are due to the potash and soda salts present in the refuse, and may become so well marked as to constitute true poisoning.

=The symptoms= consist in abundant diuresis, resulting from the excess of potash and soda salts, and are followed by albuminuria. Superpurgation is usually present.

=Lesions.= On post-mortem examination one finds lesions of irritant gastro-enteritis, and of chronic nephritis.

=Treatment= consists in withdrawing the molasses refuse, and giving milk, mucilaginous fluids, barley-water, and cereals, which soothe the kidney.

DISEASES PRODUCED BY DISTILLERY AND SUGAR FACTORY PULP.

This disease, which is very common in France and Germany, results from feeding on distillery and sugar factory residues, consisting for the most part of beet pulp.

In 1860 Guionnet described it under the name of disease of the abomasum, and more recent work by Butel, Rossignol, and Arloing has thrown a great deal of light on its exact nature.

=Causation.= Guionnet attributed the injurious action of beet pulp, etc., to excess of acidity, due to the addition of sulphuric acid during manipulation in the factory; but it has since been shown that this acidity, if existing, is specially due to various fermentation products, the results of lactic, butyric, and acetic fermentation, etc.

Rossignol regarded the symptoms as wholly due to the excessive proportion of water, viz., 90 per cent.; but this does not explain the general symptoms of poisoning.

The real cause is to be sought in the manner of preserving the pulp in simple earth silos or in cemented silos, where it undergoes fermentation and putrefaction. The contained liquid is then extremely toxic. Filtered through porcelain and injected under the skin, it produces vaso-motor and vaso-paralytic disorder, identical with that seen in acute forms of the disease; in other cases it excites abnormal secretion, and leads to permanent diarrhœa and chronic gastro-enteritis.

This liquid, if injected intravenously, may prove toxic in doses of 2 to 3 cubic centimètres per kilogram of bodily weight. Its injurious effect is due to toxins secreted by special bacilli, which were isolated and studied by Arloing. The toxicity diminishes as the pulp becomes older, and can be avoided by adding antiseptics like common salt, which prevent fermentation. These experiments of the Lyons professor are certainly very interesting, and, although perhaps not identical with what occurs in practice, sufficiently indicate the way in which poisoning occurs.

Pathological disturbance only follows the use of decomposed pulp.

Animals reared on farms where distillery and sugar factory pulp is regularly given become accustomed to it, and are rarely affected. The chief sufferers are those recently imported, or recently placed on such food; in them the disease may assume either the acute, nervous, subacute, or chronic form.

=Acute form: Symptoms.= This form is exceptional in the ox, but is more frequent in the sheep. In oxen the earlier symptoms point to digestive disturbance, and consist of dulness, loss of appetite, colic, sensibility of the abdomen, cessation of rumination (without tympanites), and constipation. The excreta are hard, coated, and blackish in colour, but not blood-stained.

Diarrhœa follows, is accompanied by aggravation of the general symptoms, the temperature rises to 104° or 106° Fahr. (40° or 41° C.), and exhaustion is pronounced. Other, less characteristic, symptoms, such as grinding of the teeth and mastication without food being present in the mouth may accompany the above and arouse fears of peritonitis. In sheep the dulness and prostration shown at first suggest the existence of anthrax—a view strengthened by the fact that the respiration becomes very frequent and the fever intense, whilst death may be rapid, and may sometimes occur with startling suddenness.

=Lesions.= Bacteriological examination, or even a naked-eye examination, made immediately after death enables one easily to differentiate between the two conditions. When the animals have died very rapidly—in one night—lesions of enteritis alone are present. More marked cases exhibit thickening and intense congestion of the mucous membrane of the abomasum, which may be of a deep mahogany colour.

The intestine itself is affected, and even though the glandular epithelium is little changed, the intercellular spaces show ecchymoses and multiple hæmorrhages, which give the contents of the digestive tract the appearance of wine lees.

The abdominal viscera scarcely present any characteristic lesions. The liver has the appearance of having been boiled, as in many forms of poisoning. The kidney is congested and blackish; the spleen only appears hypertrophied when post-mortem examination has been delayed and microorganisms from the intestine have invaded the circulatory system. After death the kidneys and spleen very rapidly undergo softening.

=Nervous form: Symptoms.= Whilst in the first form the symptoms appear especially due to diastatic ferments present in the pulp liquid, in the nervous form they appear rather to result from the convulsing and paralysing action of ptomaines.

The ox seems more particularly susceptible to the action of the latter. It shows symptoms resembling those of horses suffering from a severe abdominal form of influenza: profound depression, mahogany-coloured conjunctiva, lachrymation, infiltration of the cornea, high temperature (104° to 106° Fahr.—41° to 41·5° C.), strong action of the heart, but small pulse. The cerebral symptoms are especially marked. The animal suffers from vertigo, and when excited, or when attempts are made to administer medicine, it thrusts its head against the wall, as though suffering from a cerebral tumour. It also shows hyperæsthesia, slight colic, and sensitiveness of the abdomen.

In sheep the symptoms consist in alternate extreme depression and extreme excitability.

In both species the termination is always rapid: death occurs in a few days.

The abdominal =lesions= are identical with those of the acute form. They consist in gastro-enteritis, or, rather, intense congestion of the abomasum and intestine, with extravasation of blood around the acini of the glands and beneath the mucous membrane, etc., and in more or less marked desquamation of epithelium.

The annexed organs sometimes present secondary changes: in the nervous centres the lesions are more marked; the meninges are congested, in some cases inflamed, and cerebro-spinal fluid is present in increased quantity.

=Subacute or Chronic form: Symptoms.= This form is equally frequent in the ox and sheep; it develops insidiously, and for a time may escape detection.

The symptoms are those of slight gastro-enteritis without tympanites; but this condition is succeeded by serous, fœtid, uncontrollable diarrhœa, which weakens the animal and causes death from excessive wasting and hydræmia.

The sensitiveness of the entire right side of the abdomen, the special diarrhœa, the cardiac disturbance, and the widely distributed œdema, usually suffice to prevent confusion with the ordinary forms of gastro-enteritis. In sheep the diarrhœa is blackish, sometimes blood-stained, and is accompanied by a sub-icteric or icteric tint of the mucous membranes, of the skin, and of all the tissues. The intensity of coloration affords a guide to the rapidity of development of the disease. The urine is also bile-stained, and there appears to be an exchange of functions between the two great depurative organs, the liver and kidney. The urine may become sanguinolent, because it contains either unchanged blood or simply dissolved hæmoglobin.

=The lesions= are similar to those previously described, but with modifications of intensity. When diarrhœa has been marked and persistent, the digestive mucous membrane is hardened, indurated, and appears as though tanned. This is due to chronic inflammation, probably to the gastro-enteritis with which the condition begins. The liver appears as if cooked; the fat, the majority of the tissues, and especially the conjunctiva, exhibit a light yellow tint, pointing to hepatic disturbance.

=The diagnosis= is generally easy in all three forms, provided that the food be examined.

=The prognosis= varies; the acute and nervous forms are usually fatal. But when the disease develops slowly, recovery may occur.

=Pathogeny.= Practical observation and laboratory researches show that the above conditions result from poisoning. Histological examination of livers from sheep which have died rapidly shows complete degeneration of the hepatic cells, which become incapable of performing their function. The biliary acids, no longer being withdrawn from the circulating blood, produce general intoxication, destruction of the blood corpuscles, and the appearance of hæmaphæic icterus and hæmoglobinuria.

=Treatment.= Being convinced that acidity alone caused this disease, the older practitioners suggested the administration of salines. In reality it is necessary to check fermentation. Drainage of the silos in which beet pulp is stored is often sufficient for this purpose; but if badly arranged, drainage rather assists the growth of moulds and various organisms in the mass, which affords a medium favourable to their multiplication. Complete desiccation would undoubtedly give much better results, but cannot economically be effected. The best practical measure consists in storing the pulp in special silos, divided into compartments by lattice work partitions. The escape of liquid is facilitated by forming the floors of the silo with a sufficient slope. Preservation, however, is not perfect, and some compartments are always found damaged. Excessive fermentation can be checked by adding ordinary salt to the pulp in the proportion of ·2 per cent.

Curative treatment comprises restricted diet for several days, and the administration of milk, carbonate of soda, and stimulants, which favour excretion of the toxins. Some patients may be saved by subcutaneous injections of large quantities of normal salt solution. When poisoning is pronounced, and the viscera are clearly injured, it is more economical to slaughter the animals, provided that the icterus does not render the flesh useless for sale.