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The Cunntij Goiilcman's Magazine 



laid down as the infollible and only proper 

 mode of examination, since many of the 

 most able veterinarians commence by noting 

 the condition of the various organs of the head, 

 then pass to the chest and abdomen, and 

 finish with the organs of locomotion. This 

 last proceeding, however, is to be considered 

 as requiring much more skill and experience 



than the other, as it should be borne in mind 

 that it is important to know the condition of 

 every apparatus in the body, as well as that 

 particular one in which the disease is located. 

 For this reason it is always considered pre- 

 ferable to have a plan of examination, to be 

 followed regularly, so that nothing may be 

 foreotten. 



SUPPOSED CASE OF POISONING A COW Bl 



BALSAMII. 



By Professor Whai.lev, Veterinary College, Edinburgh. 



' POPULUS 



ON the morning of April 9, a cow and 

 a heifer were turned into a small 

 field for the first time. About 5 P..\f. they 

 were brought into the yard with tlie intention 

 of housing them for the night. While wait- 

 ing for the man they strayed into a patch of 

 grass land close to the stables ; the cow was 

 observed gambolling and playing with the 

 heifer, when almost instantaneously she 

 bellowed, ran backwards, and fell prostrate, 

 after which she never wholly regained her legs. 

 When I first saw her, at 9 p.m., she was 

 tympanitic, and presented all the symptoms 

 of poisoning by a narcotico-irritant poison. 

 The progress of the case and the post-mortem 

 appearances confirmed my first suspicions. 



I examined very carefully the herbage and 

 the various trees in and around the field, but 

 could detect nothing poisonous in the her- 

 bage ; neither had some yew trees, which 

 were growing in various parts of the field, 

 been interfered with. I, however, observed 

 that several branches had been lopped off a 

 - specimen of the Populus Balsamii, wliich 

 branches were partially v/ithered by the heat 

 of the sun, and exhaled a very penetrating 

 odour, very similar to that of Rhuma Pal- 

 matum. This odour at once attracted my 

 attention, and as I had not seen a specimen 

 of the tree before, I thought it highly prob- 

 able this might have been the cause of the 

 cow's death, an impression probably strength- 



ened by the presence of a large quantity of the 

 leaves and young shoots of the tree in the 

 animal's stomach, as revealed at the post- 

 mortem examin.ution, and by the strong odour 

 proceeding therefrom, when the organs were 

 laid open. 



Now, although, so far as I can find in any 

 work in medicine or botany in my posses- 

 sion, it is not known that this species of 

 Poplar possesses poisonous qualities. I 

 am firmly of opinion that in this instance it 

 was the cause of death. ' The strong odour 

 and the gummy exudation in the young shoots 

 and buds lead to the conclusion that the tree 

 possesses more than the ordinary qualities of 

 others of the same genus. Possibly, chemical 

 action may have altered tlie natural secretion 

 and rendered it poisonous, as it is known to 

 do in the yew, which, as your are doubtless 

 aware, is much more poisonous in its par- 

 tially withered state. Furthermore, I find in 

 Hooper's " Medical Dictionary," that a sub- 

 stance called Tacamahaca was (or perhaps 

 is now) found in commerce, extracted from 

 the " Fagona Octandra" and the " Populus 

 Balsamifera," which was supposed to possess 

 several medicinal properties, particularly 

 nervine. 



I have prepared a tincture from some of 

 the green leaves, and intend at the first op- 

 portunity administering it to some small 

 herbivorous animal. 



