Chapter XII: Part 12

Bichromate of potash is used extensively in dyeing, calico printing, in the manufacture of porcelain, in chemistry and photography, and to a slight extent in medicine, while lead chromate (chrome yellow) is a valuable pigment. Chromic acid is one of the most potent caustics, at a moderately high temperature dissolving all animal products that may be subjected to it. The chromate and bichromate of potash are only less violently caustic, producing deep and fistulous sores on the hands of the dyers, and acting in a similar manner on the mucosa of the alimentary canal. Twenty-eight grains of the bichromate given by the stomach killed a rabbit in two hours, while 45 grains of the chromate had no such effect (Gmelin). Pelikan found that the bichromate acted like arsenic or mercuric chloride, producing violent irritation of the stomach and intestines, followed by albuminuria, hæmaturia and emaciation: 1 to 5½ grains proved fatal to rabbits and dogs.

Workmen inhaling the bichromate dust, have inflammation, ulceration and finally destruction of the nasal septum, together with skin eruptions and ulcerations.

Horses working at the factories have intractable ulcers of the skin and sometimes shed the hoofs (B. W. Richardson).

_Symptoms._ Taken by the mouth the bichromate causes colicy pains, emesis in vomiting animals, diarrhœa, great prostration, cold extremities, vertigo, stiffness or weakness of the hind limbs, dilated pupils, weak pulse and death. If protracted the urine may be bloody and albuminous.

_Lesions._ There is more or less intense congestion of the stomach and intestine, yellow shrunken mucosa, abrasions, sloughs, and ulcers, and congested kidneys with yellow cloudiness of the epithelium of the convoluted tubes and congestion of the glomeruli.

_Treatment._ Wash out the stomach by emesis or the stomach pump and use albuminous and mucilaginous agents freely.

POISONING BY CARBOLIC ACID.

Susceptibility of cat and other animals. Fatal dose. Effect of
dilution and gastric plenitude. Concentrated is corrosive. Symptoms:
Salivation, dysphagia, anorexia, thirst, emesis, colic, arched back,
odor of the acid, dark, greenish brown, albuminous urine, tremors,
lowered temperature, debility, stertor, stupor, coma. Lesions:
Whitened corroded mucosa, inflammation, ecchymosis, dark, liquid
blood, brain effusions or extravasations, nephritic congestion.
Treatment: Vinegar, alcohol, emesis, demulcents, Glauber salts.

The cat is the most susceptible to this poison. For dogs, cats and rabbits from 3 to 4 drops per pound, is the minimum fatal dose. For an ordinary dog the lethal dose is ½ to 1 drachm. The horse has taken 3 ounces without fatal results, and 15 ounces in a week (Munk). Much depends on the dilution of the agent and the plenitude of the stomach. In a concentrated state it acts at once on the mucosa as a caustic abstracting the water and forming a white eschar.

_Symptoms._ The concentrated acid causes salivation, dysphagia, anorexia, thirst, emesis in vomiting animals, colics, arched back, retracted abdomen, odor of the acid in the breath, dark or greenish brown albuminous urine, trembling, lowered temperature, debility, stertorous breathing, clonic or tonic spasms, paralysis of the hind limbs, stupor, coma and death.

_Lesions._ In the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines are whitish, cauterized patches, with active inflammation beneath and around them, and ecchymosis. The blood is fluid and dark colored, extravasations or effusions on the brain or in the lateral ventricles, with pulmonary congestion and parenchymatous nephritis.

_Treatment._ If available, give vinegar proportionate to the amount of carbolic acid taken. Alcohol is a good substitute. Emesis should be encouraged when available. Next mucilaginous agents and bland oils to dilute the acid are required. Glauber salts may assist in neutralizing and expelling the acid.

POISONING BY CREOSOTE.

Irritates, coagulates albumen, and blood, arrests heart, colic,
emesis, salivation, labored breathing, vertigo. Lesions: Congestion,
corrosion, dark clotted blood, odor. Treatment: Mucilaginous agents,
emesis, oily laxatives.

On the mucous membrane creosote has a very irritant action, coagulating the albumen, causing violent inflammation. It also coagulates the blood and when injected into the veins, stops the action of the heart. Taken by the mouth it causes violent colics, emesis in vomiting animals, salivation, laborious breathing, convulsions, vertigo and death. At the necropsy the stomach is found congested of a dull red color, and corroded, and the vessels contain dark clotted blood. A dog died from a dose of 2 drachms. The odor of creosote is marked.

_Treatment._ Emesis, white of eggs, mucilaginous liquids, and oily laxatives.

POISONING BY SEEDS OF RICINUS COMMUNIS.

Superpurgation. Poison in seeds. Diluents, demulcents, stomach pump,
laxatives if necessary.

An overdose of castor oil may kill by gastro-intestinal congestion and superpurgation. Apart from the oil however the seeds contain a very active poison, which has been fatally ingested by horses with grain or otherwise. Five and a half ounces of the seeds have proved fatal. (Pelletier. Wende).

The _symptoms_ are those of acute colic and gastro-enteritis. The indications are to wash out the stomach by abundant demulcents and the stomach pump, and if necessary to hasten the expulsion of the offensive matters by bland laxatives (olive oil, Glauber salts).

POISONING BY CROTON SEEDS AND OIL.

Fatal dose without water. Vomiting animals. Superpurgation. Lesions.
Treatment: diluents, demulcents, stomach pump. Opiates.

One drachm of croton seeds given to a horse, without water proved fatal in 24 hours (Morton); 2 drachms followed by all the water the horse would drink produced most violent catharsis followed by recovery (Hughes). Twenty to thirty drops of croton oil proved fatal; 8 drops in the jugular vein caused death (Hertwig). It is much less fatal to cattle. Dogs and pigs vomit it so readily that they usually survive with profuse catharsis.

The _symptoms_ are profuse watery diarrhœa with tenesmus, congested mucosæ, rapidly increasing weakness and small pulse, becoming imperceptible.

The _lesions_ are violent congestion of the mucosa of stomach and intestines, concentrated very largely on the cæcum and colon.

_Treatment_ consists in abundance of mucilaginous liquids, which the animal readily drinks, and washing out the stomach with the stomach tube or pump. Opiates may be demanded to calm the pain.

POISONING BY EUPHORBIA.

In Europe _euphorbia lathyris_ has been found to produce in animals, colic, constipation, tympany, followed by bloody diarrhœa, stupor and hæmaturia. In America the euphorbia corollata (large flowering spurge) and euphorbia ipecacuanhæ (ipecacuanha spurge) though less potent have a similar action. _Treatment_ consists in favoring elimination by emesis, and abundant mucilaginous and demulcent agents.

POISONING BY BOX LEAVES.

The leaves of buxus sempervirens, used as a border in gardens, contains an acrid principle. After eating 1½ lb. a horse had colic, tympany and enteritis. After death the lesions of gastro-enteritis were found (Weiss). _Treatment_ would be by stomach pump, laxatives, demulcents and anodynes.

POISONING BY DAFFODILS. (NARCISSUS POETICUS, AND NARCISSUS PSEUDO
NARCISSUS).

These common denizens of gardens produce intense gastro-enteritis, profuse diarrhœa, spasms, stupor and weakness. _Treatment_ will not differ materially from that advised in box poisoning.

POISONING BY RANUNCULUS.

The _ranunculus acris_ (tall crowfoot), _repens_ (creeping crowfoot), _sceleratus_ (cursed crowfoot), and _bulbosus_ (butter cup), are all more or less acrid and liable to produce gastro-enteritis when taken in quantity. They are usually avoided by animals but will sometimes be taken by accident with other vegetation. Sheep are said to eat ranunculus bulbosus with impunity (Daubenton). Both cattle and sheep suffered from the other species (Delafond, Lipp, Brugnone, Delplanque). There were salivation, colic, emesis in vomiting animals, diarrhœa, vertigo, spasms, grinding of the teeth, arched back and staring coat. _Treatment_ would be emesis or the stomach pump when available, mucilaginous drinks and enemata. Johnson (Medical Botany of North America) had a herd of cows abort for years on a field thickly set with ranunculus acris, but which ceased to abort when removed to a field from which this weed was absent.

POISONING BY VERATRUM. VIRIDE. AMERICAN HELEBORE.

Used in the early days by New England farmers to destroy birds in the cornfields (Osgood). Taken internally it reduces the fullness and frequency of the pulse, and if the dose be large excites nausea, vomiting and purging with great prostration. In the horse I have found anorexia, irritability of the bowels, and frequent retching. The action is primarily on the heart and nervous system and incidentally as an irritant on the gastro-intestinal mucosa. _Treatment_ consists in evacuation of the stomach and the free use of mucilaginous drinks and diffusible stimulants. Helleborus Niger, viridus and fœtidus have analogous effects.

POISONING BY CICUTA MACULATA.

The American water hemlock is an energetic poison acting not only as a narcotic but as a violent irritant to the gastro-intestinal mucus membrane.

POISONING BY COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE.

This agent expends its energy mainly on the digestive and urinary systems. The symptoms are suppression of appetite and rumination, thirst, ptyalism, grinding of the teeth, colic, emesis in vomiting animals, profuse, watery fœtid and often bloody diarrhœa, the frequent passage of a clear urine, abortion in pregnant females, with short difficult breathing, weak pulse, pale mucosæ, coldness of the extremities, trembling, muscular weakness, sunken eyes, dilated pupils, spasms and death. The activity of the plant is greatest in July and August. On post mortem examination the gastric and intestinal mucosa are violently congested and the lumen of the bowel filled with a thin bloody mucus. Congestion of the kidneys and bladder is usually present.

_Treatment._ Evacuation of the stomach, and abundance of demulcents.

POISONING BY SAVIN.

The tops of the juniperus sabina when powdered and given to dogs produce violent colic, vomiting, bloody fæces and urine, spasms, paralysis, and death, with lesions of gastro-intestinal and uro-genital inflammation. In cattle and sheep they caused tympany, anorexia, colic, hyperthermia, and constipation followed by a bloody diarrhœa. Horses took 4, 8 and even 12 ozs. twice daily for eight days without any ill effect (Sick).

_Treatment._ Evacuate the stomach and give demulcents.

OTHER VEGETABLE IRRITANTS.

List of gastro-intestinal irritants. Common Symptoms. General
treatment: emesis, stomach pump, diluents, demulcents, laxatives,
enemata, anodynes, antiseptics, tannic acid. Prevention.

Among vegetables which produce more or less disturbance of the digestion, or congestion of the digestive organs Cadeac names the following: =Acorns= in horses (Morton); =tares=; =bird’s trefoil= (lotus corniculatus, Colin); =vetches= at ripening (Gerlach); =laburnum= (cytissus) horse and ox (Cornevin); =hybrid= and =sweet trefoil= (Pilz); =officinal melilot= (Carrey); the =field poppy=, =digitalis= and =snapdragon= often mixed with wheat and rye (Cornevin); =conium maculatum=, =cicuta virosa=, =yew leaves=, =lolium temulentum=, and other forms of =ryegrass when ripening=; =chickweed= (stellaria) killed 60 horses in 200 (Semmer); =clematis=, =aconite=, =tobacco=, =male fern=, =aloes=, =horsetail= (equisetum) when full of silica; =mercurialis annua=, =wild radish=, =resinous plants=, =potato tops=, =potatoes in excess, or green= from exposure to the sun; =Œnanthe Crocata= (water dropwort); =giant fennel=, =anemone=, =phytolacca= (poke root); =buckwheat= in flower (Moisant); =St. John’s wort=, various species of =lathyrus=, =rhododendron=, =artichokes= in excess, =spurry seeds=, =galega=, =bryony=, the fruit of =melia azedarach= (in pigs) (Dreux); =nux vomica=, =podophyllum=.

It may be added that the plants credited with causing the “loco” disease (=Astragalus mollissimus=, =Hornii=, and =lentiginosus=, the =oxytropis Lambertii=, =mutifloris= and =deflexa=) cause diarrhœa and sometimes ulceration of the intestines.

The farina of =mustard= is sometimes mixed with linseed cake and (developing the active principles of that agent) produces a severe or even fatal gastro-enteritis in cattle and sheep. The wild mustard of the fields, being allowed to grow with the flax, or rape, the seeds mingle when harvested and thus the cake comes to contain an injurious quantity of the mustard.

_Symptoms._ These will vary much according to the predominating action of the individual poison on other organs, but when they irritate the gastro-intestinal mucosa they have this in common, that they impair appetite and rumination, produce colicy pains (perhaps salivation and vomiting), and constipation or diarrhœa of varying intensity.

_Treatment._ Apart from the individual treatment demanded by the special symptoms of disorder of other organs, it may follow the same general line for all: Unload the stomach by tepid water, ipecacuan, with tickling of the soft palate, or by the stomach pump or tube, and follow this by abundance of mucilaginous drinks. In cases attended by constipation a laxative of Glauber salts, or aloes may be demanded, or assiduous mucilaginous injections. With an excess of irritation anodynes may be indicated. When there is tympany and fœtor of the discharges these must be met by non-irritant antiseptics, such as naphthalin or salol. For many of the vegetable poisons tannic acid proves advantageous, being at once an antiferment, and fitted to unite with organic alkaloids, rendering them less soluble and otherwise often changing their properties.

_Prevention_ should be sought by removing all such poisonous plants from pastures, or land used for raising fodder crops.

POISONING BY CANTHARIDES AND OTHER INSECTS.

Action on genito-urinary and alimentary tracts. Dysphagia, congestion,
retching, diarrhœa, with mucus and blood, diuresis, enuresis,
albuminuria, retracted testicles, prostration. Lesions: urinary and
gastro-intestinal congestion, ecchymosis. Treatment: emesis with
ipecacuan, demulcents, avoidance of oils, alcohol and chloroform.
Other vesicant beetles and larva.

Spanish flies have a primary physiological action on the genito-urinary organs, but when introduced by the stomach they prove direct and violent irritants to the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane. They cause redness of the buccal mucous membrane, difficulty of swallowing, retching, emesis in vomiting animals, diarrhœa with mucus and bloody fæces, diuresis or enuresis with albuminous urine, retraction of the testicles, prostration, perspiration, paresis and death.

_Lesions._ Active gastro-intestinal congestion with ecchymosis, marked congestion of the genito-urinary mucosa especially that of the bladder.

_Treatment._ Emesis with ipecacuan and tepid water, followed by abundant mucilaginous or albuminous liquids. Flaxseed tea, gum arabic, and white of eggs are useful. Avoid oils, alcohol and chloroform which dissolve the cantharides.

Among other insects which act as vesicants may be named the =cockroach= (blatta orientalis) and the =potato beetle= (cantharis vitatta), also the _cantharis cinerea_, _cantharis marginata_, _cantharis atrata_, and _cantharis nuttalli_. The larvæ of various lepidoptera, thus =army worm=, =Cnethocampa primivora=, =Cnethocampa processionea=, =liparis auriflua=, =lithosia crinola=, and the =larvæ= of the =artica cassus ligniperda=, and =pieris brassica= are covered with stinging hairs charged with formic acid and perhaps an enzyme, which are shed with the skin in passing into the state of chrysalis, and getting mixed with fodders produce violent stomatitis, hemorrhagic gastro-enteritis and nephritis.

POISONING BY FUNGI, BACTERIA AND THEIR PRODUCTS IN FOOD.

Poisons in spoiled food: Moulds, rust, smut, bacteria, toxins. Action
of moulds on rabbits, on alimentary and nervous systems. Smuts, ergots
and their congeners. Tetanizing and paralyzing products. Duration of
symptoms.

Food is usually spoiled by the growth of moulds, rust, smut, bacteria and the toxins which they produce.

Kaufman has experimented with moulds on rabbits. He found that =aspergillus glaucus= (green mould) grown on bread produces a fatal infection in the rabbit even in very minute doses (⅒ milligramme); that it will attain this in a neutral or even slightly acid medium as well as in an alkaline one; and that the spores retain this pathogenic activity for six months at ordinary temperatures. The aspergillus glaucus, penicillium glaucum, and mucor mucedo affect the intestinal organs only, while ascophora oidium aurantiacum affect the nervous system as well. The =smuts= (ustilago) and =ergots= (claviceps purpurea) vary considerably in their potency according to the conditions of their growth and the stage of their development, yet experiment has shown a special action on the vaso-motor nerves leading to nervous disorders, circulatory troubles, and trophic disease. In connection with =ustilago maidis= (corn smut) there are usually found bacteria, such as =bacillus maidis= and =bacillus mesentericus fuscus=, and the combined products of these and the ustilago have been studied by Lombroso, Dupre and Erba. These observers isolated a red oil with the tetanizing action of strychnia, and oleo-resinous substances having bases which they named maïsine and pellagrozeine, and which had a paralytic action on the nerve centres. Pellizi and Tirelli cultivated the bacteria of damaged maize and found that the sterilized cultures, introduced into rabbits hypodermically or intravenously caused muscular jerking, exaggeration of the reflexes, tetanic spasms and paralysis which lasted for fifteen days after the injection. This is exactly in line with the causation of contagious bacteridian diseases in which the ptomaines and toxins are, as a rule, the immediate pathogenic factors.

CRYPTOGAMIC POISONING IN SOLIPEDS.

Prominent symptoms, asthenia and vertigo. Vary with cryptogam, merge
into zymotic diseases. Causes: grain harvested damp and moulded,
bluish or greenish, hay greenish white, brown or black, clover
reddish, musty fodder, and diuresis, indigestion, gastric intestinal
and systemic paresis, somnolence, delirium. Rusts, spring and summer,
their evolution. Bunt, smut, produce fever and paralysis, spasms,
abortions and dry gangrene, buccal erosions; evolution of ergot, honey
dew on leguminous plants causing skin disease, bacterial ferments,
diplococcus, streptococcus from foul water, causing enteritis.
Symptoms: _adynamic_, dullness, blunted sense, pendent head, ears,
eyelids, congested, yellow, ecchymosed conjunctiva, fever, tympany,
colic, constipation, dung small, round, coated masses, vertigo,
sometimes fatal diarrhœa, or colliquative diuresis; _vertiginous_:
fever, anorexia, yellow mucosæ, tardy breathing, costiveness colics,
stupor, somnolence, giddiness, heavy steps, stumbling, delirium, push
head against wall, clinch jaws, grind teeth, make walking or trotting
or plunging motions, or pull on halter and fall, amaurosis, paralysis,
coma. Remissions. Death in one day or upward. Resumption of functions
and recovery. Diagnosis: from meningo-encephalitis. Lesions:
gastro-intestinal congestion, infiltration, ecchymosis, fermenting
ingesta, congestion of mesenteric glands, liver, brain and meninges.
Leucin and tyrosin in urine. Treatment: stomach pump, antiferments,
potassium iodide, purgatives, enemata; for brain, bleeding, sedatives,
ice, snow, elevation, derivatives, prevent mechanical injury.

The most prominent features of cryptogamic poisoning in these animals are asthenia and vertigo. In dealing with such poisoning, however, we must bear in mind that we have in hand, not one particular disease but a group, differing among themselves according to the cryptogam and its products which may be present:—a group moreover which overlaps more or less the true zymotic diseases.

_Causes._ Oats, barley and other grain or fodder which has been put up damp, and especially ground feed, becomes speedily overgrown and permeated with moulds, especially =penicillium glaucus=, =aspergillus flavus= and =glaucus=, =mucor racemosus=, and =ascophora mucedo= which give a bluish or greenish color and heavy odor, rob it of its nutritive constituents and charge it with toxic products. On mouldy hay it is common to find =aspergillus candidus=, =botrytis grisea=, =torula herbariorum=, and =eurotium herbarium= which form a greenish white or brownish dust. The =spœria herbarium= is characterized by small black or brown spots with yellowish, brown or black spores. The peronspora trifolium attacks growing clover (clover sickness) and =isaria fuciformis= the fescue grasses. The latter has a red color and mucous consistency and is charged with producing fatal poisoning in cattle.

=Mouldy= or =musty= oats, or other grain or fodder have long been notorious for producing diuresis in horses with excessive elimination of phosphates, extreme emaciation, weakness and death. In other seasons, and probably because of a difference in the fungi or their products they have caused widespread enzootics of indigestion with paresis of stomach and bowels, and of the systemic muscles. Paraplegia is a common manifestation, suggesting lesions of the spinal cord, and in other cases there are general paresis, somnolence and delirium suggesting cerebral lesions, (Staggers).

Gillespie records an enzootic of gastro-intestinal indigestion and tympany among the horses of a battery of artillery in Afghanistan from eating mouldy grass. Fröhner, Martin and Varnell have seen cases of poisoning by moulds without digestive, urinary or febrile troubles.

Of =rusts= growing on grain crops there are two chief varieties; the =spring rust= (_uredo rubigo vera_) which commences as light yellow patches on the leaves and stems, which change to black as the fungus approaches maturity; and the =summer rust= (_uredo linearis_) which grows to a larger size and assumes a browner color. Each of these passes through an evolutionary cycle, the small preliminary patches (=uredo=) passing into the mature fungus (=puccinia rubigo vera= and =puccinia graminis=.) Then it must pass through an alternate generation on another family of plants before it can again grow on the gramineæ.

=Bunt= produced by the _tilletia caries_ attacks the grasses and small grains. The growing seed (wheat especially) is changed into a black or olive colored powder, having a fishy odor. If the stems are attacked the leaves become pale, withered and dry. It can only be detected by carefully examining the individual seeds.

Other forms of smut are the =ustilago carbo= and =ustilago maidis= the familiar black smuts of small grains and maize. These develop by preference in the growing seeds, but also in the stem and leaves. The _tilletia caries_ is as a rule more poisonous than the _ustilago_ the effects being mainly hyperthermia and paralysis. There is, however, a tendency to spasmodic contractions, and abortions, and dry gangrene will occur from smut. The author has seen a large herd of cattle attacked with gangrenous sores around the coronet, which were promptly stopped when the light, smutty ears of corn were no longer given. In other cases the hoof was in part separated from the quick and creaked when the animal walked.

In connection with the gangrenous ergotism of cattle, the author has found on the same farms and feed, horses with ulcers on the buccal mucosa and gastro-intestinal indigestion. =Ergot= affects the seeds in nearly all the small graminaeæ and is produced by the _claviceps purpurea_ which first attacks the ovary of the seed (_sphacelia_ stage), then it invades the whole seed which grows out from the glumes as a hard, dark or purple spur-like process (_ergot_ stage), then falling on the ground it grows up as a minute stalk with rounded head containing spores.

=Honey dew= growing on leguminous plants is reputed to cause skin disease in white horses and on the white spots of dark horses, from which those not eating the diseased plants escaped.

_Bacterial ferments_ have an equally bad reputation. Bastin records the poisoning of five foals by fermented rye; Dieckerhoff describes an acute gastro-enteritis with congestion and swelling of liver, spleen and kidneys, as the result of microbes and their products in the fodders. Galtier traced a pneumoenteritis in the horse to two cocci, a motile _diplococcus_ and non-motile _streptococcus_. Both stained in aniline colors, and were bleached by iodine. They grew in ordinary culture media above 50° F. but most freely at 98° F. The animals were infected by drinking putrid water or spoiled fodders in which the microbes were contained. The change to boiled water in the former case led to their prompt disappearance. Reynal, Cailleux and Foucher have also adduced instances of severe enteritis in the horse from drinking putrid water. These animals showed active congestion of the intestinal mucosa with abundant infiltration of the submucosa.

Bouley found 14 cases in one stable, the owner of which had marketed the good fodder and kept the spoiled for home use. Barthelemy, Alasonniere, Lombroso and Hausmann, Clichy, Rey, Gamgee and others give similar examples.

A large number of observations show the dangerous results on the horse of mouldy bread, inducing colics, vertigo, profuse sweating.

_Symptoms_. When =Adynamia= prevails there is great dullness and depression, the senses are blunted, the head depressed resting on the manger, the eyes sunken, weeping and half covered by the drooping upper lid, the conjunctiva is congested, sometimes yellow or marked by petechiæ. The mouth is hot, the lower lips pendent, the tongue furred, the abdomen somewhat tympanitic, with slight colics, but with little rumbling or indication of peristalsis. There is a primary constipation, a few small, hard pellets being passed with effort. The temperature may be 102° to 104°, breathing short, pulse small, weak; the walk unsteady, the animal preferring to stand, completely apathetic. In some cases a profuse diarrhœa sets in and may prove fatal.

In the cases attended by diuresis, the weakness is extreme, emaciation advancing rapidly, but the other symptoms of nervous depression are less marked, the poisons being apparently eliminated by the kidneys (see _diuresis_).

In the =Vertiginous form= the disease may set in with more or less hyperthermia, anorexia, a dislike particularly of the spoiled fodder, yellowness of the visible mucosæ, slow breathing, small accelerated pulse, costiveness, tympany, colics more or less intense, tenderness of the belly, and sooner or later marked nervous disorder. This may be in the form of stupor, the head resting in the manger, the senses are manifestly clouded, the animal walks unsteadily, staggers, steps heavily, striking the feet against obstacles, and stumbling. At the end of a variable number of hours (2 to 6 or 8 after feeding) nervous excitability and vertigo may supervene. He may push the head against the wall, the jaws clenched, grinding the teeth, the eyes fixed, pupils dilated, facial muscles contracted, respirations hurried, heart palpitating and the skin perspiring. He may continue in this position, moving his feet as if walking, or he may rear plunging his feet into the manger or fall back over, and rising push anew against any object he may come in contact with. Coulbaux speaks of rabiform symptoms such as attempts to bite but any such deliberate purpose is rare.

There may follow complete amaurosis, insensibility to pricking of the skin, and even paralysis or coma. Hyperæsthesia may also be temporarily present.

_Course._ Remissions and exacerbations usually alternate, the duration of the former furnishing some criterion by which to establish a favorable prognosis. Death may take place in 24 hours or it may be delayed for several days. Recovery is usually heralded by the resumption of defecation and urination, and the return of appetite. It is liable to be at first only partial, some of the senses remaining dull, or a general stupor persisting.

_Diagnosis._ In all such forms of poisoning there is the history of the ingestion of the toxic matters, and in any suspicious looking cases a careful examination of the food should be made. From meningo-encephalitis the presence of the abdominal disorder will serve to identify and to incriminate the food.

_Lesions._ These vary much with the poison. There is always, however, inflammation of the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, usually with ecchymosis, and infiltration of the submucosa. The contents of the bowels are imperfectly digested, the mesenteric glands congested and enlarged, the liver congested and softened, and the brain and its meninges hyperæmic or infiltrated. The leucine and tyrosine present in the urine during the acute attack is said to disappear when improvement sets in (Pellagi, Azzaroli).

_Treatment._ The first object must be the removal or neutralizing of the poison. In some instances the stomach pump or tube might be tried. Usually one must fall back on antiferments such as naphthol, naphthalin, salol, salicylic acid, and above all iodide of potassium. The last checks the growth of the fungi or bacteria and favors elimination of the toxins. It may be given freely to act on the kidneys. Creolin, 1¼ drachm, repeated three times a day has been found effective (Albrecht). In addition the action of the bowels may be solicited by full doses of sulphate of soda and abundance of water.

When the brain is implicated Cadeac recommends bleeding as an eliminating as well as a sedative measure. In any case use cold water, snow or ice to the head, elevation of the head, and purgatives which may as a rule be doubled. Potassium iodide or other antiseptics should be pushed, and diuresis as well as a relaxed condition of the bowels maintained. Counter-irritants such as mustard may be applied to the abdomen, and enemata used at frequent intervals. It is important to fix the patient to a ring in the centre of a box stall or barn to keep him from injuring himself.

CRYPTOGAMIC POISONING IN RUMINANTS.

Moulds and bacteria in brewer’s grains, or the marc of beet sugar or
cider factories derange digestion, or cause abortion. Spoiled potatoes
cause enteritis, vertigo, palsy, in sheep, nephritis and cystitis.
Mouldy bread causes indigestion, urinary and nervous disorder. Mildew.
Musty grain and fodder as in the horse. Ergot causes winter and spring
gangrene of skin, feet, limbs, ears or tail, lethargy, palsy, spasms,
delirium, abortion; variation in toxicity with stage and condition of
growth, privation or liberal supply of water, or succulent vegetables.
Symptoms: varying, mouldy bread causes digestive and urinary trouble,
with marc or ensilage, develops slowly, impaired appetite, salivation,
tympany, colic, diarrhœa, debility, paresis, spasms, delirium.
Duration, 5 hours to 2 weeks. Gangrenous ergotism, necrotic sore,
slough hard, dry, leathery, black, living parts at demarcation line
pink or purple, puffed up, tender, necrosis involves all soft tissues
and bone; nervous form: abortion form. Lesions: congestion of stomach,
bowels, mesenteric glands, brain and meninges, petechiæ. Diagnosis,
from anthrax, from coccidian hemorrhagic dysentery, from foot and
mouth disease, from rinderpest. Prevention, stop or regulate the
injurious fodder, salt and pack the fresh grains or marc. Treatment:
antiferments, potassium iodide, saline purgatives, stimulants, oil of
turpentine, injections, derivatives.

_Causes._ The growth of =moulds= on or in brewer’s grains, which have been preserved without salting and close packing, has at times rendered them dangerous poisons (Duvieusart, Wehenkel, Schütz). The refuse or marc of beet sugar factories, or of cider works may act in a similar manner. These products, at first neutral or only slightly acid, undergo an acid fermentation, with an abundant production of acetic, lactic or butyric acid which adds materially to their action in deranging digestion. These agents usually require a large amount to prove deleterious, about 150 to 200 lbs. a day. Arloing found three active microbian ferments in the pulp of the sugar factories, and four in that of the distilleries. The marc of apples has even caused abortion (Cornevin).

=Spoiled potatoes= have caused adynamic enteritis, with vertigo and paralysis (Zimmermann, Grabin, Holme) and in sheep symptoms of nephritis and cystitis as well (Kloss).

=Mouldy bread= has been found to cause indigestion and cerebral disturbances in cows (Cagny) or nervous disorders without digestive, urinary or febrile trouble (Fröhner, Martin and Varnell).

=Mildew= on the leaves of a grapevine has also poisoned six cows (Bisseauge).

=Musty= grain and fodder has the same general action as on the horse and produces paraplegia and other nervous disorders with or without digestive troubles.

The =isaria fuciformis= has caused the death of cattle which ate the grasses infested by it.

When we come to the ergots and smuts we find even more evidence of poisoning than in the horse. Toward the end of our long winters in the Northern States we occasionally find widespread =gangrenous ergotism= from eating infested hay, the lesions varying from simple sores around the top of the hoofs, in the interdigital spaces or on the teats and mouth, to loosening of part of the sole or wall, shedding of the entire hoof or sloughing of the entire limb—just above the hoof, at the fetlock, or in the metatarsal region. Portions of the tail or ears will similarly slough. This appears to be mainly due to the lessening of the calibre of the capillaries by contraction of their walls, under the action of the ergotin and secalin, seconded by the cold of the season. Cold is, however, by no means essential to its production. The other most common form of ergotism is the action on the nervous system. The contraction of the cerebral capillaries and disturbance of the circulation lead in some cases to a condition of lethargy and apathy in which the animal fails to eat or ruminate and gradually falls into marasmus, or paralysis may be induced, or delirium and spasms. Then finally there is the familiar form of abortion induced apparently by the contraction of the involuntary muscles of the womb and of its capillary vessels.

There is, however, a great difference of opinion as to the deleterious action of ergot. Various experiments with large doses of ergot on pregnant animals have failed to produce any sign of abortion. The agent, however, varies in its nature according to the conditions under which it grew and the stage at which it was collected, so that the failure to produce the expected result in a given case can by no means be accepted as disproving its pathogenic properties under other conditions.

The same remarks apply largely to the action of the smuts, which are often eaten in large quantities with impunity, especially if plenty of water or succulent vegetables are allowed, whereas under other conditions as in winter, under the action of cold, with the usual water supply frozen up, and no succulent food, it proves very destructive.

_Symptoms._ These vary with the particular poison: With mouldy bread the symptoms may come on promptly with indigestion, tympany, constipation, marked irritation of the urinary organs, and it may be nervous disorder. Sometimes, as noted above, the narcotic action is shown with paresis or paralysis and stupor without any manifest disorder on the part of the digestive or urinary functions.

Most commonly with mouldy fodders, grains, marc, or ensilage the results are tardily developed and only after long continued use of the spoiled food. There is then loss of appetite, and rumination, drivelling of saliva, some tympany, and abdominal pain shown by frequent movement of the hind limbs, lying down and rising. The bowels may be costive at first, but this early gives place to a fœtid diarrhœa, with weak rapid pulse (100 per minute) palpitations and hurried breathing. The walk becomes weak, unsteady, staggering or stumbling, and there may appear marked paresis especially of the hind parts. When nervous excitement sets in there may be twitching of the muscles of the neck, shoulders or thigh; the eye rolls or becomes fixed and the pupils are dilated; the muscles of the face are contracted and the jaws clinched, with grinding of the teeth. Bellowing or pushing of the teeth and nose, the forehead or horns against the wall or other obstacles, or the dashing violently against obstacles is occasionally observed, and indicates in most cases an unfavorable termination.

The duration of the malady is uncertain. It may not be over five or six hours in acute cerebral cases, and especially in sheep, and again it may be prolonged for one or two weeks. Death often takes place in convulsions.

In =gangrenous ergotism= a necrotic sore with more or less surrounding swelling may be seen, and a line of demarcation forms of a pink or purplish aspect along which the separation of the dead tissue takes place. The slough is usually of a dark red or black color, the red globules having apparently migrated into the tissues and piled up in the capillaries in the early stages of stagnation. When the line of separation is higher, the line of demarcation completely encircles the limb, the inflammation and swelling is very marked just above this line, the skin and soft tissues beneath drying and withering up into a dark red leathery mass, and this is gradually separated by the formation of a granulating surface above. The process of separation takes place much more slowly through the bony tissues, and not unfrequently the soft tissues having become detached, the lower part of the limb is separated at the first joint below the line of demarcation and the bone from that line down to its free end remains as a projecting necrosed stump. In the ear or tail the necrotic portion withers up into a stiff rigid shrunken slough which becomes detached sooner or later by mechanical violence.

In the =nervous ergotism= the symptoms are largely those of the adynamia, paresis and convulsions already described.

In =abortion from ergotism= there are usually few premonitory symptoms, and the occurrence is to be explained by the number of victims in a herd eating ergot or smut.

_Lesions._ These vary greatly. Usually the congestion and inflammation are most prominent in the abomasum and small intestine, complicated by ecchymosis and even extravasation which may so thicken the mucosa as to block the intestine (Walley). The mesenteric glands are usually gorged with blood and of a deep red. The brain may be nearly normal or violently congested and with its meninges covered with petechiæ.

_Diagnosis._ From anthrax this affection is distinguished by the absence of the specific large bacillus in the blood and of the marked enlargement of the spleen, by the great prominence of the nervous symptoms in many cases, and by the history of a dietetic cause.

From the coccidian hemorrhagic dysentery it is diagnosed by the absence of the coccidia in the stools and the predominance of the nervous systems.

From foot and mouth disease, the gangrenous ergotism is distinguished by the facts that the sores are in the nature of sloughs, and not vesicles, and that some members of the herd are almost certain to show sloughing of the limb at some distance above the hoof. More important still is the fact that the daintily feeding sheep and the pig kept in the same yards do not suffer from the ergotism.

From rinderpest it is differentiated by the fact that the sores on the mouth (when present) are not of the nature of epithelial concretions, and they do not appear on the vulva, and more significant still there is no indication of the introduction of the disease by contagion nor of its rapid progress from herd to herd. The immunity of sheep from gangrenous ergotism is another significant feature.

_Prevention_ consists in putting a stop to the supply of the altered food or, if it must be given, in giving it in small quantities only with abundance of water or fresh succulent aliment. In the case of grains or marcs the fermentation may be checked by adding ¼ per cent. of common salt and packing the material firmly in a close box or silo.

In ergotism, succulent food, water ad libitum, stimulants, poultices,
fomentations or wet bandages, a warm building and pure air are all
important. Usually ergot and smut can be safely fed in relatively
large amount with a liberal ration of potatoes, turnips, beets, green
food or ensilage.

_Treatment_ does not differ materially from that advised for the horse. Antiferments including potassium iodide, and saline purgatives stand at the head of the list. Stimulants may be demanded to rouse the torpid bowels and nervous system and unless contraindicated by gastro-intestinal inflammation oil of turpentine offers itself as at once stimulant, antiseptic and eliminating. Injections and counter-irritants are of use. Then cold (ice, snow, water) to the head, and the confinement of the patient so that he cannot injure himself or others are not to be neglected.

CRYPTOGAMIC POISONING IN SWINE.

Spoiled foods. Toxic rye. Botulism. Brine poisoning. Flesh of
overdriven (leucomaines). Symptoms: from mouldy bread, brain disorder,
gastric, urinary, hæmatic: from brine, restlessness, convulsions,
eructations, vomiting, weakness, paresis. Lesions: congestion of
stomach, bowels and mesenteric glands; with brine, heart and skin
charged with black blood, congestion of brain, kidneys and bladder.
Petechiæ. Treatment: empty stomach, emetics, purgatives, potassium
iodide, antiferments, sedatives, cold to head, enemata,
counter-irritants. Prevention.

_Causes._ Spoiled foods of all kinds such as mouldy bread, musty meal, spoiled grains of all kinds, or rotten potatoes, or apples are common causes of poisoning. In specimens of toxic rye Woronin found four fungi:—=fusarium roseum=, =gilberella Sanbinetti=, =belminthosporium=, and =cladosporium herbarium=. Prilleux and Delacroix have obtained a fifth, =endoconidium temulentum=. Rye so affected produced nervous disorder in swine, dogs, birds and even in man. Pigs often die from botulism, being fed flesh in a more or less advanced stage of putrefaction. Old meat brine is also a source of toxin and ptomaine poisoning since its toxic property increases with age which is not the case with a mere solution of common salt. Yet this is very deadly to the pig, a half a pint often proving fatal. Kuhnert records that the flesh of an overdriven horse proved fatal to the pigs that ate it.

_Symptoms._ From mouldy bread the pig becomes dull, stupid, sluggish, stiff, stilty and staggering in his gait, and usually costive. There are usually signs of colicy pains, inappetence, frothy lips, champing of the jaws, yawning, retching and vomiting. The mucosæ become yellow and the urine red and albuminous.

The symptoms caused by old brine are more violent. There are dullness, prostration, and inclination to lie, but at short intervals the animal gets up and wanders round, moving stiffly, is seized by tremors and finally convulsions, in which he falls to the ground, dashes his head from side to side, champs his teeth, rolls his eyes and froths at the mouth. There are usually eructations and often vomiting which does not, however, give the desired relief. The animal becomes rapidly weaker and though unable to rise has frequent paroxysms of trembling and other nervous symptoms.

_Lesions._ With mouldy bread the congestion of the gastric and intestinal mucosa, and of the mesenteric glands are marked features. With brine there is in addition the heart gorged with black, tarry blood, the skin and subcutaneous connective tissue shows a similar dark congestion, also the brain and its membranes and the kidneys and bladder. Petechiæ are abundant on the serous membranes and other parts of the body.

_Treatment._ Evacuate the stomach by tickling the fauces, giving tepid drinks, or ipecacuan. Follow with purgative of sulphate of soda and diuretics especially potassium iodide. Potassium bromide, sodium salicylate or salol may be given to calm nervous excitement and check fermentation. Degoix recommends chloral hydrate, enemata, cold to the head, and counter-irritants and in very prostrate conditions stimulants may be employed.

The most important measure, however, is the cutting off of the supply of the poison and the administration of a wholesome diet. Medicinal treatment is too often unsatisfactory and will seldom pay for the trouble; prevention is the one rational and economical measure.

CRYPTOGAMIC POISONING IN CARNIVORA.

Botulism. Racial immunity. Acquired immunity. Gastric secretions,
protective. Bacteria in septic beef, old brine, stale fish, privy air.
Symptoms: sudden onset, colic, nausea, retching, vomiting, septic
vomit, fever, tender abdomen, bloody, fœtid, mucous diarrhœa,
prostration, death in three to twenty-four hours. Lesions: of
gastro-enteritis, ingesta fœtid, congestions and petechiæ of other
organs. Treatment: emetic, laxative, diuretics, potassium iodide,
antiseptics, demulcents, stimulants.

_Causes._ What is called _botulism_ in man is not uncommon in carnivora. Eating carcasses of animals that have died of disease, of poisoning, etc., in a raw condition and too often in an advanced state of putrefaction, they are liable not only to infection by the pathogenic or poisonous microbes, but also to direct poisoning by the ptomaines and toxins. There are however certain protective conditions. Accustomed as this class of animals is to the consumption of such food, they have by selective evolution acquired an insusceptibility to many such poisons which would prove deadly to the herbivora. Again the mature dog or cat has already been subjected to many of these poisons and having survived them has acquired an immunity which renders it comparatively safe for the future. The antiseptic power of the gastric secretion of the dog may be easily shown, by letting him bolt a moderate piece of putrid meat, and killing him ten or fifteen minutes later when the mass will be found in the stomach without odor of decomposition. He succumbs to the poison either when the quantity ingested is too large, or when the digestion is from any cause deranged and the gastric secretion impaired. Anthrax flesh may produce pharyngeal or intestinal anthrax in the dog. In the animal with temporarily impaired immunity the more virulent septicæmias may prove infecting. From putrid beef the following pathogenic bacteria have been isolated: 1. Gärtner and Basenau have independently isolated =bacillus bovis morbificans= which forms clear colonies on the surface of peptonized gelatine, and brownish ones beneath the surface, and coagulates milk in 24 hours. This is short with rounded ends, very motile, non-liquefying, and capable of surviving the freezing temperature. Its toxins are not destroyed by boiling. It causes enteritis, or, subcutem, debility, somnolence, and stupor. This bacillus was pathogenic to mice, rats, guinea-pigs, rabbits, goats and calves but had little effect on dogs or cats. 2. The =bacillus of Poels= which produces paralysis. 3. The =bacillus of Gatky= which performs very rapid gyratory movements only, and is not found in the muscles.

=Old Brine= is as poisonous for the dog as for pigs. Six to nine ounces proved fatal, (Reynal).

=Stale Fish= has been known to prove poisonous in the same way.

Three dogs that were made to breathe the air over a foul privy were seized with vomiting, fever and diarrhœa.

_Symptoms._ These usually develop six or more hours after a feed. The earlier symptoms are those of digestive disorder. There is colic, nausea, retching, vomiting of septic or bilious matter, ardent thirst, dry mouth, furred tongue, redness of the buccal mucosa, and tenderness of the abdomen. Diarrhœa sets in early and may become bloody, fœtid and dysenteric. There is usually much prostration and debility so that apart from his compulsory movements under the colics the animal remains most of the time curled up. Fever is usually slight but the temperature may rise to 105° F. Death may take place in 3 hours, or may be deferred 24 hours or longer.

_Lesions._ There is usually gastro-enteritis, the mucosa being congested, red œdematous, with petechiæ, and congestion and swelling of Peyer’s patches, the solitary glands, the mesenteric glands, the liver and kidneys. The contents of the bowel are brownish red, and an effusion into the peritoneum is common. The spleen is often engorged and enlarged. Congestions of the lungs and brain are common.

_Treatment._ Evacuate the stomach by ipecacuan, etc., and the bowels by a purgative. Next seek elimination of the toxins by potassium iodide and other diuretics. Antiseptics (calomel, salol, naphthalin) to counteract the further formation of toxins, and demulcents by draught and enema are indicated. In cases of great prostration, heart and nerve stimulants may be useful.

DIARRHŒA, SCOURING.

Definition. Concomitant of other affections. Causes: Congestion,
effusion from small and large intestine, irritants in bowels, or
blood, chill or other shock acting as reflex, cold drink and violent
exercise, aqueous food, cooked, pulped; irritants, feculent
concretions, parasites, fermentation products, diseased teeth, jaws or
salivary glands, drink after grain, gastric hepatic or pancreatic
disease, spoiled food, purgative agents in food, fever products,
purgative waters, rains, dews, damp stalls, etc., fear, “washy”
horses, nervous animals, root diet, œstrum, hepatic torpor, equine
susceptibility. Symptoms: with root diet, with much or little bile,
slight cases do not affect system, in severe cases, tympany, pawing,
straining, fœtor, in infective diseases; complications, laminitis,
enteritis, pneumonia. Treatment: remove or expel cause, demulcents,
laxatives, anodynes, antiseptics; chronic cases, iron, bitters,
antiseptics, astringents, dietetics, rest.

_Definition._ A frequent discharge of fluid or semi-fluid evacuations from the bowels without excessive griping or painful straining.

This is a common condition attending many diseases, rather than a specific disease of itself yet it is such a prominent feature of these various affections, and one so very characteristic that it seems well to give it a special place, even at the risk of repeating much of what must necessarily appear elsewhere.

The immediate cause of diarrhœa is a congestion of the intestinal mucous membrane and a profuse secretion into the intestinal canal. When such congestion occurs in the small intestine alone, it may be counterbalanced by increased absorption in the large, so that the secretion must be excessive to produce liquid alvine discharges. When on the other hand it occurs in the large intestine or in both large and small, the product is likely to escape in the liquid form.

In its turn the congestion of the intestinal mucosa may result from irritants in the bowels, from the presence in the blood of irritant agents which being secreted stimulate the intestinal glands to excessive secretion, and from reflex nervous action, starting from a distant point as in chilling or irritation of the skin or other organ.

Among direct irritants of the intestinal mucosa may be named a full drink of cold water especially if the horse is trotted or galloped for twenty minutes immediately after;—soft, juicy, rapidly grown green food, to which the animal is unaccustomed, as the first grasses of spring;—cooked or pulped food or ensilage in hard worked animals;—many irritant and acid plants;—accumulations of hard feculent masses in the intestines;—irritation caused by intestinal worms especially the blood-suckers;—the presence in the intestines of undigested matters, and resulting fermentations, the result of diseased teeth and jaws and imperfect mastication, of disease of the salivary glands or ducts and imperfect insalivation, of a drink of water after a grain feed, washing a part out of the stomach in an undigested condition, of disease of the stomach, liver or pancreas interfering with their proper functions; unwholesome and fermenting food like spoiled grain, or fodder, or decomposed potatoes, apples, turnips, pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, etc.;—stagnant and putrid water;—tumors, ulcers, volvulus, invaginations, adhesions and other serious lesions of the bowels may act in the same way.

As examples of the secretion of irritant matters from the blood may be mentioned almost all the different agents used as purgatives, and purgative agents accidentally taken in, these being as a rule absorbed and later secreted again on the intestinal surface, increasing the secretions in their passage:—also the morbid products of fevers which irritate the intestinal mucosa and glands as they are thrown out by them (rinderpest, lung plague, Southern cattle fever):—the purgative waters on certain “scouring lands” act in a similar way. Under the head of reflex action may be named the chills from exposure to cold rains, night dews, damp stalls or beds, and damp, hot buildings, seasons and localities. Under the head of nervous causes must be included strong emotions as excitement, fear, etc., which lead to increase of both secretion and peristalsis. Some horses are very subject to this and are known as “washy”. These have usually a slim abdomen and long loin, and scour whenever they are put to hard work. Other nervous animals with good conformation, but which fret under saddle or in harness will scour under specially severe work or under excitement. This is especially common in young colts while being “broken”, and will occasionally show in mares which are in _heat_. Cattle that have been on a specially succulent diet (turnips, beets, ensilage, grass) are liable to scour profusely if driven far or fast, and stock men seek to obviate this by feeding some dry bran, meal, and above all fresh dry brewer’s grains just before starting. Cows running at large when in heat are very liable to scour. An exclusive diet of turnips or beets will keep cattle in a chronic condition of mild diarrhœa, though not enough to interfere with rapid improvement in flesh. Chronic diseases of the liver by obstructing the flow of blood through the portal vein, cause intestinal congestion and predispose to diarrhœa.

Of the various domestic animals horses are the most liable to superpurgation, from an undue dose of aloes acting on the very large colon and cæcum. Hence the importance of using such an agent carefully in the young, fat or debilitated especially, of the avoidance of cold drinks or exercise to excess after the aloes has been given, and of keeping from work during its operation or immediately after.

_Symptoms._ These are of all degrees of severity from the frequent pulpy evacuations of animals fed exclusively on roots, (beets, turnips, potatoes), to the excessive and almost constant discharge of a dark colored liquid mingled with more or less mucus. The discharge may be of a light color and fœtid, indicating deficiency of bile, or of a dark yellowish brown and odorless.

Slight diarrhœa does not affect the appetite nor general health, nor check improvement in condition. In the more severe and continued forms there is loud rumbling in the abdomen, loss of appetite and condition, a rapid small pulse, accelerated breathing, pallid mucous membranes, sunken glassy eye, and increasing debility even to an unsteady gait. Distension of the abdomen with pawing and other indications of abdominal pain may appear in bad cases. In the milder cases due to simple irritation and congestion there is no tenesmus, no excess of mucus, no formation of bubbles or froth in the stools, as occurs in active intestinal fermentation and dysentery. In symptomatic cases on the other hand there are superadded the marked symptoms of intestinal inflammation, or fermentation, and the fæces become putrid and offensive, which they do also in the different infectious diseases (influenza, contagious pneumonia, rinderpest, lung plague, hog cholera, swine plague, canine distemper, fowl cholera), when the toxins and waste matters of the food and decomposing tissues are being thrown off by the bowels.

Diarrhœa may be complicated with other diseases and especially in the horse with laminitis.

In mild cases it tends to a spontaneous recovery, and is followed by some slight costiveness, and if this should prove extreme there may be some danger of complicating sequelæ such as indigestion, enteritis, pneumonia or laminitis.

_Treatment._ The first consideration for the practitioner is to discover if possible the immediate cause of the diarrhœa. If this is found to reside in some infectious or other disease aside from the bowel, the attention must be directed to that even more than to the diarrhœa. If it depends on an overdose of some purgative agent or of acrid purgative plants taken with the food, any further laxative is to be avoided, and yet astringents and other agents which tend to lock up the offending material in the alimentary canal must be equally guarded against. An abundance of mucilaginous and demulcent liquids (mallow, flaxseed gruel, boiled starch, etc.) may be given both by the mouth and anus, to sheathe and protect the irritable mucous membrane and to dilute and carry off the irritant contents. Moderate doses of opium may be required to allay the violence of the spasms and peristalsis, but this should not be pushed to the extent of locking up the irritants. Sometimes antiseptics (naphthalin, salol) are useful to check fermentation, and pepsin may be given to assist digestion.