Journal of Agriculture. [lo Feb., 1909. 



closely resemble those exhibited by cattle affected with coast disease or 

 "cripples" in Victoria (see October, 1906, Journal). A series of ex- 

 periments were very ably conducted by Mr. H. H. Edwards, then Go- 

 vernment Veterinary Surgeon of Western Australia in 1894 with the view 

 of ascertaining the nature of the disease in cattle locally known as 

 '"wobbles," and by many regarded as a form of rickets. The result 

 of his inquiries proved conclusively that zamia poisoning and rickets were 

 different diseases. The latter exists in the southern part of the colony, 

 but its characteristics are, he says, entirely dissimilar to those of wobbles. 

 Mr. Edwards fed some healthy cattle on chaffed zamia leaves and other 

 food, and they soon showed all the symptoms of wobbles in a pronounced 

 degree. The intensity of the disease so produced was in direct 

 ratio to the amount of macrozamia given and to the length of 

 time the feeding of it was persisted in. The disease causes very little 

 systemic disturbance, and when the zamia ingesta has left the system and 

 the partial paralysis is not too severe the animal will fatten as well as- 

 ever. The meat of animals suffering from zamia poisoning is quite whole- 

 some, and the milk shows no appreciable difference from that of sound 

 cattle. The poison seems to attack the terminal branches of the arteries, 

 particularly those which run through the foramina of the vertebrae. In 

 old-standing cases several of the arteries become dried up, but still retain 

 a red colour. These dried vessels have a worm-like appearance, and have 

 l>een mistaken for dried up parasites by some who have suggested that 

 they are the cause of the disease. Mr. Edwards found that an injection 

 prepared in the following manner proved quite effective: — i^ gr. of 

 eserine dissolved in 2 dr. rectified spirit, and i| gr. of nitrate of pilo- 

 carpine dissolved in 2 dr. of water. The two solutions having been 

 mixed are injected in a downward cut made through the skin of the side 

 a little behind and above the elbow. 



Later Dr. Lauterer in Queensland was successful in separating from 

 the leaves of macrozamia, when in the fruiting stage, a poisonous resin 

 which produced fatal gastro-enteritis in guinea pigs and cats when ad- 

 ministered internally, and local irritation and suppuration when injected 

 subcutaneously. Lauterer looks upon the disease as a Spinal Meningitis 

 and failed to produce its symptoms by feeding with macrozamia. Post- 

 mortem examination of his experimental animals repealed pronounced 

 appearances of gastro-enteritis (inflammation of stomach and bowels) but 

 as all the animals died within a few days it may be suggested the deaths 

 were due to a pronounced or acute effect of the poioon and that if the 

 animals had been given smaller doses, such as they would get naturally 

 when nibbling the plant in the bush over an extended period, the chronic 

 symptoms which Edwards was able to produce might have been developed. 

 Later experiments bv Dr. Tilley of Gladstone, Queensland, supported 

 the conclusions arrived at by Edwards in Western Australia; and Mr. P. 

 R. Gordon, late Chief Inspector of Stock for Queensland, informs me 

 that since Til ley's demonstration of the f)oisonous effects of the young 

 zamia shoots, " large areas of country have been abandoned on account 

 of the growth of zamia, while paddocks in the heart of the worst Zamia- 

 infested country have been completely cleared of the plant and with their 

 removal the disease has disappeared." 



In view of the varying character of the results of zamia-feeding ex- 

 periments the author is inclined to speculate that the disease may be only 

 produced by the eating of zamia when that plant is itself attacked by 

 disease — possibly by a fungoid character. The instance of ergotismal 

 abortion and other derangements being produced by the eating of rye 



