584 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Feeding experiments with nilibits showed coacluslvely that the plant is 

 poisonons but there is a tendency for the rapid excretion of the poisonous prin- 

 ciple through the kidneys. The urine of rabbits fed on larkspur was shown 

 by tests on guinea pigs to contain the poisonous principle of the larksi)ur. 

 Brief uieutiou is made of antidotes which have been tested by various inves- 

 tigators in counteracting the effects of larkspur poisoning. 



Experiments with inhalation of atomized solutions, A. Freunu {Berlin. 

 TicnirztL Wchnschr., 1907, No. 31. pp. 575-580, figs. 2).— A review is given of 

 the literature relating to the Inhalation of powdered, volatile, and atomized 

 medicines in the treatment of live- stock. The author used several kinds of 

 apparatus for atomizing solutions. For this purpose methylene blue was 

 chiefly employed. The experiment showed that the coarser the particles of 

 medicine the less deep the penetration into the air [passages and the nearer the 

 nostrils they became deposited. Very finely atomized solutions penetrate into 

 the pharynx, trachea or even into the finer bronchi and alveoli. 



Radioscopy of pulmonary lesions in the horse, H. Martel (Bui. ^(jc. Cent. 

 Med. Vet., S.'i (1907), Mo. 16, pp. 398-JfO.'f, flffs. 7).— Illustrations are given of 

 the value of the radioscope in diagnosing pulmonary diseases. By this means 

 parasites such as flukes, Filaria, and Sclerostomum may be detected and also 

 the lesions of glanders and broncho-pneumonia. 



The use of suprarenal glands in the physiological testing of drug plants, 



A. C. Crawford (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 112, pp. 3Z).—\\\ the 

 standardization of drugs the physiological test is recognized as being of the 

 greatest importance. The author proposes to study the action of ergot, and 

 since ergot is to be standardized against a known preparation of adrenalin it 

 is necessary first to standardize adrenalin. The extensive literature relating to 

 this subject is critically reviewed. The increase of blood pressure after the 

 administration of adrenalin has been carefully studied. 



It appears that the lethal dose of adrenalin for frogs is more than 0.5 mg. 

 per kilogram. Guinea pigs are killed by subcutaneous injection of 0.01 gm. 

 per kilogram, and rabbits by 0.02 gm. per kilogram. Adrenalin causes death 

 by pulmonary edema and interference with the cardiac action. 



RURAL ENGINEERING. 



Lining of ditches and reservoirs to prevent seepage losses, E. Mead and 



B. A. Etcheverry {Valifornia Sta. Bui. 188, pp. 385--'f20, figs. 15). — Measure- 

 ments made for this Olfice on a large number of ditches show an average loss on 

 main canals of about 1 per cent of the water entering the ditches for each mile 

 of ditch, while measurements of laterals show losses as high as 10 or 12 per 

 cent per mile. The prevention of such losses is the object of the experiments in 

 lining ditches and reservoirs carried on in California in cooperation between 

 this Office and the California Experiment Station, the results of which are 

 given in this bulletin. 



The bulletin contains descriptions, with specifications and costs, of ditch 

 linings in use in California, and the results of a series of experiments to deter- 

 mine the efficiency of various linings. The linings used were cement concrete, 

 cement mortar and cement plaster, cement lime concrete, clay puddle, and I'oad 

 oil in different quantities per square yard of surface. The ditches were filled 

 each morning and the rate of subsidence of the water was measured and com- 

 pared with the results from an unlined ditch alongside. The following table 

 gives the comparative efficiencies of the various linings, the actual cost at 

 which the work was done, and the estimated cost on a large scale: 



