Jan. 14, 1918 Gossypol, the Toxic Substance in Cottonseed 93 



GENERAL DISCUSSION 



For the first few days of the experiment all the pigs ate well, and all 

 gained in weight. Pigs i and 2 occasionally left part of their feed. In 

 two weeks' time all except pig 3 began to show loss of appetite and reg- 

 ularly left a portion one-half to one-fourth of their feed. On the 

 twenty-fifth day the pig 2 (fed gossypol) was quite sick and not able to 

 walk well. At this time pig 3 was the thriftiest of the four, while the 

 rations of No. 2 and 3 were reduced on account of refusal to eat. On 

 the twenty-ninth day the ration of pig 4 was changed to i part of cotton- 

 seed meal and 2 parts of bran. On the thirty-second day the feed of 

 pig 2 was changed. The wheat bran was replaced by middlings, for which 

 the pig had a better appetite. On the thirty-ninth day the wheat bran 

 in the ration of pig 4 was replaced by corn meal, the pig getting equal 

 parts of cottonseed meal with corn meal. At that time this pig was 

 leaving one-half to two-thirds of the wheat-bran mixture. For three or 

 four days he ate the new mixture with much better appetite, but then 

 refused a large part and died on the forty-fifth day. Pig 3 maintained 

 perfect appetite up to the forty-ninth day, when she did not clean up 

 the last trace of feed as usual. When removed to the yard to be photo- 

 graphed, it was noted that she had an abnormal gait in walking, the 

 forelegs showing a tendency to double under her. This animal seemed 

 to have a great desire to eat dirt, manure, etc. However, on being 

 allowed the freedom of a large lot, the animal soon recovered. She 

 was given a little ferrous-sulphate solution, chalk, and milk on the 

 fiftieth day. Her normal appetite returned, and in three or four days 

 she was able to trot. At no time did this pig show the rough coat and 

 lack of appetite that characterized the others. On the fifty-second day 

 the feed of cottonseed was increased slightly, and the pig received about 

 one-half pint of milk daily for the following nine days. Whether this 

 pig was suffering from deficiency of some sort in the ration, from lack of 

 exercise, or from the daily intake of a small amount of gossypol in the 

 kernels, we are not able to say. Even granting that this pig had a slight 

 attack of beriberi, we can reasonably conclude from the experiment 

 that the deficiency factor is one quite secondary to the toxicity factor. 

 Plate I shows the condition of these pigs at various periods of the ex- 

 periment. 



This preliminary experiment was originally planned to run for a short 

 period, but as the pig on the extracted kernels seemed to be in a path- 

 ological condition, in that the forelegs tended to double under her when 

 she attempted to run, it seemed desirable to continue the animal on this 

 diet. At this time, when pig i, which had been given the diet most 

 closely resembling that of pig 3 in chemical composition, had died in a 

 rather emaciated condition, pig 3 was a plump, very-well nourished 

 animal (PI. i, B). It is quite possible that the above-mentioned condi- 



