580 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.36 



Cases of poisoning in cattle by feeding on meal from soy bean after extrac- 

 tion of the oil, S. Stockman {Jour. Cornpar. Path, and Titer., 29 (1916), No. 

 2, pp. 95-107). — A report of deaths among cows receiving a ration of soy bean 

 meal or calie in a district in the south of Scotland in which 54 of 67 affected 

 cows on nine different farms died led to an investigation of the cause. The 

 symptoms and post-mortem appearances are described and data collected on 

 eight of the farms are reported in tabular form. With these data as a basis, 

 laboratory feeding experiments were conducted with cattle and other animals 

 and are here reported. 



The feeding of extracted soy cake and meal produced symptoms and post- 

 mortem lesions which were identical with those occurring in the field among 

 cattle fed on similar material. The extracted soy in no case, in practice or 

 laboratory, produced a sudden effect, considerable amounts being consumed and 

 a considerable time elapsing before signs of illness appeared. Tbe smallest 

 amount consumed at the laboratory before the disease appeared was 172 lbs. 

 in 36 days. The shortest time in which the disease appeared was 29 days, 

 during which period 201 lbs. were fed. No animal other than cattle suffered 

 from feeding on this meal or cake, either in practice or at the laboratory. 



It is pointed out that the very higli temperature (106 to 109° F.) accom- 

 panying the illness seems to exclude the ordinary poisons but does not ex- 

 clude a poison of the ricin class. Specific bacterial infection was excluded 

 by test inoculations, microscopical and bacteriological examinations, and by the 

 sterili.-Jng temperature which was used in the process of manufacture. No 

 castor seeds could be traced in the meal. 



A wide inquiry shows that the whole soy bean is not poisonous and an in- 

 quiry among manufacturers shows that there is plenty of evidence that soy 

 extracted with naphtha does not cause poisoning; thus it appears that the 

 trouble was caused by the use only of soy extracted with trichlorethylene, 

 although this is not poisonous when given to cattle ir. from 1 to 3 oz. and for 

 long periods. It is suggested (1) that the products from trichlorethylene ob- 

 tained by heat may be poisonous, (2) that the trichlorethylene in contact with 

 soy and heat to drive off the former may form a poison, or (3) that some of 

 the trichloi'ethylene was impure and contained other bodies. Thus it is 

 inadvisable to use trichlorethylene as an extractor. 



A disease resembling " forage poisoning " in horses and mules wherein oat 

 hay incorporated the primary factor, R. Graham, L. R. Himmelbergeb, and 

 R. L. Pontius (Rept. U. S. Live Stock Sanit. Assoc., 19 {1915), pp. 22-42, 

 figs. 2). — Previously noted from another source (E. S. R., 34, p. 681). See 

 also a note by Graham and Himmelbei'ger (E. S. R., 36, p. 280). 



Studies on forage poisoning, R. Graham and L. R. Himmelbebger {Jour. 

 Infect. Diseases, 19 {1916), No. S, pp. 385-894, fiffS- 5).— The first part of this 

 paper (pp. 385-388), which deals with the pathologic changes in a disease in 

 horses resembling forage poisoning, is based upon studies of tissues secured from 

 seven horses fatally affected in consequence of feeding on an oat hay in the 

 experiments above noted. " While the pathologic presentations in the various 

 tissues examined are not diagnostic, since no pathognomonic importance can be 

 ascribed to them, the changes found collectively are suggestive of a toxemialike 

 condition in so far as the type of the disease we have studied is concerned." 



The second part of the paper (pp. 388-394) relates to a pathogenic bacillus, 

 isolated from the same oat hay as was the Bacillus coli-Uke organism above 

 noted, which grew readily under laboratory conditions. Feeding and inoculation 

 experiments indicate that the bacillus is nonpathogenic for rabbits, guinea pigs, 

 white rats, chickens, cats, dogs, and swine. Horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and 

 goats do not succumb to a single intravenous injection, except in rare instances, 



