54 | Loco Weeds. [ZOE 
Dr. Isaac Ott, in the American Journal of Pharmacy, tells of his ex- 
periments on frogs and other lower animals with an alkaloid which 
he obtained from Astragalus mollissimus. He formulates its action 
as follows: “1. It decreases the irritability of the motor nerves. 2. 
It greatly affects the sensatory ganglia of the central nervous sys- 
tem, preventing them from receiving impressions. 3. It has a 
spinal tetanic action. 4. It kills mainly by arrest of the heart. . 
It increases the salivary secretion. 6. It hasa stupefying action on 
the brain. 7. It reduces the cardiac force and frequency. 8. It 
temporarily increases arterial tension and finally decreases it. 9. 
It greatly dilates the pupil of the eye.” Professor Sayre tried the 
effect of a concentrated solution of this drug upon himself, com- 
mencing with a small amount but increasing to a dose of an ounce 
every three hours. He perceived no effects except a slight stimu- 
lation of the stomach and circulation. During the summer of 1887 
and 1888 he traveled through Indian Territory, Kansas, Colorado 
and New Mexico, inspecting the herds, but did not find a single an- 
imal having the symptoms commonly ascribed to the locoed. Pro- 
fessor Sayre is strongly of the opinion that the effects attributed to 
loco must come from some other cause. 
Dr. Mary Gage Day, in an article in the New York Medical 
Journal, describing a series of experiments carried on fora year and 
a half, arrives at a different conclusion. She made a decoction of 
roots,.stems and leaves, and daily gave sixty or seventy cubic. cen- 
timeters to a half-grown vigorous kitten while plenty of milk and 
other food was also supplied. She thus describes the results: “The 
kitten became less active, the coat grew rough, appetite for ordina- 
ry food diminished and fondness for the loco increased, diarrhcea 
came on and retching and vomiting occasionally occurred. The 
expression became peculiar and characteristic. Emaciation and 
the above symptoms progressively increased until the eighteenth 
day, when periods of convulsive excitement supervened. At times 
the convulsions were tetanic in character; frothing at the mouth and 
throwing the head backwards as in opisthotonos were marked. At 
other times the kitten would stand on its hind legs and strike the 
air with its fore paws, then fall backward and throw itself from side 
to side. These periods of excitement were followed by perfect 
quiet, the only apparent sign of life being the respiratory move- 
ments. After a short interval of quiet the convulsive movements 
