PURPLE LARKSPUR. 75 



\wolor) was fatal to a yearling lamb, and the nature of the other evi- 

 dence therein adduced is such that no room is left to doubt the toxic 

 character of the plant, at least in its earlier stages of growth. In 

 neither investigation were any experiments made to test the plant at 

 more than one stage of growth. The following experiments were 

 made with the view of ascertaining whether the permanganate of pot- 

 ash, which it was proposed to use in many cases of plant poisoning, 

 could ])e used with satisfactory results as a chemical antidote in case 

 of this plant, and also of determining which parts of the plant were 

 most toxic. During some seasons the purple larkspur causes extensive 

 poisoning of sheep and calves. Cattle and horses, on the other hand, 

 seem to eat it less frequentl}^ than tall larkspur. In the season of 

 1900 conclusive evidence against this plant was obtained in only one 

 ]ocalit5\ This was derived from two cases among calves in the Flat- 

 head Valley. The calves were about 5 weeks old, and at the time when 

 the poisoning occurred, were running in a native pasture where the 

 purple larkspur grew sparingly. The symptoms of poisoning in these 

 two cases were similar to those alread}^ outlined from poisoning in the 

 tall larkspur in cattle, with the exception that a slight bloating was 

 to be observed in the case of the calves. The respiration and heart 

 beat became exceedingly rapid as the symptoms of poisoning increased 

 in severity. The body temperature was slightly lowered, and this 

 was accompanied by profuse sweating. The increased perspiration 

 may have been due in part to the violent spasms in which the animals 

 linaih" died. Death occurred about four hours after the appearance 

 of the tirst symptoms. No remedy was applied in these cases. 



Post-mortem examination made on the two calves just mentioned as 

 having died from larkspur poisoning disclosed the following condi- 

 tions: No cerebral congestion was observed, nor had the larkspur pro- 

 duced any noticeable effect on the walls of the stomach. The blood 

 was largely found in the venous side of the circulation. The veins in 

 the mesenteries of the small intestines were much distended with 

 blood. The same was true of the. right auricle of the heart. The 

 lungs were extremely heavy and full of blood, being in a condition 

 similar to that which was found in post-mortems made on sheep which 

 had been poisoned b}' death camas. In general the symptoms exhibited 

 by these calves were closely similar to those which were observed dur- 

 ing previous seasons in sheep which died from the same cause. The 

 post-mortem findings indicated that the blood was insufficiently aerated, 

 and the sjnnptoms manifested by the animals just before death showed 

 plainlj' that the respirator}^ centers were paralyzed and that respira- 

 tion was for that reason shallow. When the respirator}^ movements 

 are so rapid and shallow as they were observed to be in these cases the 

 air is not renewed in the lungs, the breathing movements being merely 

 sufficient to pump the air up and down in the trachea. 



