Abstract
Of 189 grazing cattle on an artificially constructed grassland, 28 cattle with petechiae on the visible mucous membrane and two without hemorrhagic changes were selected for examination of physical properties and coagulation of blood. On this glassland, a cow was anticipated to have ingested such amount of bracken as corresponding to 0.025%of body weight during June when bracken throve.
The petechiae shown in the 28 cattle closely resembled those of spontaneous and experimental bracken poisoning previously reported in character. These cattle, however, presented clinical symptoms and the results of tests of physical properties and coagulation of blood which were completely different from those reported in the conventional case of bracken poisoning. In them, there was no statistical correlation between the change of blood and the intensity of hemorrhage. Therefore, it was difficult to conclude that the ingestion of bracken played a main role in the etiology of petechiae on the visible mucous membranein the cattle studied.
