Aprils, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 271 



to move. An interesting feature in connection with this was that if the 

 animal, whilst these mental symptoms were being shown, was placed in anj 

 other position for the pui'pose of being examined, it would make violen. 

 •efforts tc regain its original position, and when released would take up 

 exactly the same attitude as at first. As the disease increased in.intensit)', 

 the ears, nostrils, and around the eyes became greatly swollen, their surfaces 

 Toeing rendered quite raw by the continued rubbing against solid objects. 

 The surfaces often bled freely, and later were covered with a crust of dried 

 blood and serum, only to be removed again by rubbing or biting. 



On the thirty-fourth day of feeding, the eyes, nostrils, and ears of the 

 animal were swollen, and the former almost closed up ; the wool had been 

 removed from the skin in places, leaving raw ulcerated surfaces. The 

 wool on the upper parts of the limbs had been removed by biting, raw sur- 

 faces, each about a handbreadth in area, remaining. Some of these 

 were bleeding, others were covered with scabs ; the wool along the back and 

 loins (considerably matted together by exuded plasma) showed signs of 

 having been rubbed, but there were no excoriated surfaces. The skin on the 

 upper surface of the body was distinctly reddened and covered with small 

 hard masses of dried plasma. Urination was very frequent and profuse, and 

 mental depression very pronounced, the animal refusing to move except to 

 bite or rub a portion of its body. 



As the plant grew older, it became more woody and more distasteful to 

 the animal, which ate very little at the last even when other food was with- 

 held ] the actual amount of plant consumed was determined daily, but it is 

 •not necessary to go into details here. The feeding was discontinued on the 

 thirty-fourth day, as sufficient evidence for the purpose (that is, to convince 

 f*tockowners of the injurious action exerted by St. John's Wort when eaten 

 by animals) had been accumulated. Three weeks afterwards most of the 

 wounds had healed up and only scars remained. There was, however, still 

 some skin irritation — shown by the gratification of the animal when its back 

 was rubbed and its habit of nibbling at parts of the skin, or even pulling 

 small locks of wool out with its teeth or rubbing against posts, &c. About 

 a month after cessation of feeding the plant, all symptoms had disappeared, 

 and only the eflfects of the trouble remained, viz., scars where the wounds had 

 been, ragged fleece, and poor condition of body. Two months later the sheep 

 had entirely recovei-ed, the only evidence of the former trouble being the 

 appearance of the fleece, which w ould not regain its normal appearance, of 

 course, until after the next shearing. It is to be noted that after the 

 experiment was discontinued the animal was kept under exactly the same 

 living conditions as those obtaining during its progress ; that is, it lived in 

 the open, was exposed to sunlight during the day, and was permitted to go 

 iinder shelter during the night. 



Conclusions. 



The experiments, of which the foregoing is a condensed account, confirm 

 the deductions arrived at elsewhere, namely, that St. John's Wort contains 

 fi principle (most abundant in the flowers and flowering stems) which, when 



