BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 427 



definite period according to tlie amount eaten. A one year calf ate U lbs. of 

 leaves per day with other food, and showed symptoms on the seventh day; another 

 ate 4 lbs. per day with wheat chaft', and became ill on the eleventh day. The 

 author could thus induce the disease at any time and had no doubt as to the 

 cause. After the second week the disease became thoroughly established. It 

 did not produce death, but resulted in starvation. Edwards fed cattle with the 

 leaves, nuts, the mucilaginous secretion, and aqueous extracts of all parts of the 

 plant. These mucilaginous juices and extracts produced, in cattle, congestion of 

 the fourth stomach, intestines, liver and kidneys. He concluded that the dele- 

 terious effects were due to the extremely indigestible nature of the plant, and not 

 to any organic poison (12, 13). 



Lauterer, who was experimenting in a similar way in Queensland, doubted 

 the conclusion of Edwards, and set out to prove his assertion of the existence of 

 a direct poison in the Macrozamia. In 1898, he published his results, and de- 

 scribed the symptoms he observed of spinal meningitis or progressive paralysis 

 (18). 



Bancroft, after many trials in searching for micro-organisms in the animals 

 affected with "wobbles," obtained invariably negative results. He described the 

 disease as Zamia paralysis. 



Lauterer stated that the leaves of M. spiralis, at certain times of the year, 

 contained a considerable amount of a poisonous resin, soluble in ether. The 

 time corresponded to the period of flowering and fruiting. The resin existed in 

 greatest amount in the nuts, and was also present in the half subterranean stems 

 or bulbs and the leaves. 



In guinea-pigs and cats the feeding produced gastro-enteritis and death. 

 The author could not produce "wobbles" in any animals, but stated that enteritis, 

 through inanition, might lead to it. 



Lauterer and Pound then continued their experiments, by feeding calves with 

 chaff mixed with the cut-up leaves of Macrozamia in the flowering stage. The 

 first calf ate 8 lbs. of Macrozamia leaves per day for 3 days, then refused to eat 

 more, and died on the fifth day. The second calf refused to eat Macrozamia 

 on the fifth day, ate lucerne for 2 days, and died on the tenth day. The third 

 calf ate for 6 days before refusing, and lived on green pasturage till the tenth 

 .day, when it, too, died. All these animals walked slowly, and staggered from 

 weakn'Bss. Post-mortems revealed symptoms of gastro-enteritis only, with in- 

 flamed membranes of stomach and alimentary tract (18) . 



Lamb, in 1895, recorded the death of a great number of cattle in North 

 Queensland from paralysis of the hindquarters, attributed 4o the eating of young 

 shoots of 31. Miquelii (17) . 



Poisoning by BI. Fraseri is recorded by Crawley in Western Australia, 1898. 

 Twenty-four bullocks died after eating the leaves. Owing to a gradual loss of 

 vitality, the animals lay down for a few days in a helpless and semi-paralysed 

 condition, and finally died. On post-mortem examination, the contents of the 

 omasum were found impacted with ingesta, which were abnormally dry. The 

 abomasum and intestines were empty. The spinal cord and meninges were in an 

 abnormal condition (19) . 



Dr. Himt, of Queensland, carried out a series of feeding experiments in 

 1899. He observed that cattle fed on leaves, stem, bulb, and male and female 

 fruits, became affected after 14 days, the ration being 2 to 4 lbs. per day. Of 



