90 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



and examined. Tlie means at pi^^sent Rupi)lic'd i)y Congress are entirely 

 iiiiulcquatc. It is lio])od also that the iiroviiigs instituted by Mr. 

 Wentz may be ready for report iu the next annual report of this depart- 

 ment. 



PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE HERB OF OXYTROPIS LAMEERTI. 



Received from L. F. Dyrcnfortli, CLicago, 111. 

 The following is a proximate analysis : 



1. Moisture G.70 



2. Asli, soluble iu Avater 1. 00 



Ash, soluble in ncidH y. 89 



Ash, combined silica 37 



4.32 



3. Sand 3.12 



4. Chloropbyl, wax, resin, trace organic acid 4.36 



5. Tannili, iron greening 1.90 



6. Glucose l.Gl 



7. Sucrosa 1.31 



8. Resin, insoluble in ether ..54 



9. Extractive (not bitter) and color 6. 16 



10. Gum 3.90 



11. Starch isomers 9. 61 



12. Substances, not nitrogenous, extracted by acid and alkali 20. 04 



13. Albuminoids 10.85 



14. Cellulose 24.66 



99.68 



Water removes from an alcoholic extract of this plant a number of 

 substances (i>'o8. 5, G, 7, 9), which, taken together, have a sweet, not 

 unpleasant taste, which may account for the preference shown by animals 

 for this weed over the various grasses which grow with it. The extract- 

 ive (No. 9) seems to contain a very small amount of an alkaloid, agree- 

 ing, so far as examined, with the one present in Astragalus molUssimvs. 

 Miss Catharine M. Watson,* in 1876, examined this alkaloid of Oxytropis 

 Lamberti and reported it to be a brownish, waxy substance, sparingly 

 soluble in water, readily dissolved by dilute acids, and readily soluble 

 in alcohol, chloroform, and ether. "Its ethereal solution had a dis- 

 agreeable odor, a yellow color, and a deep-blue fluorescence." Its .solu- 

 tion in dilute acids " gave precipitates with potassic murcuric iodide, 

 metatungstic acid, phosphomolybdic acid, and solution of iodine in iodide 

 of potassium." For full particulars see the original paper. Some physi- 

 ological experiments then made led to the conclusion that the " dried 

 ground root possesses no poisonous properties." 



From the additional w^ork done at this department it seems probable 

 that the deleterious eliects observed from animals eating this plant may 

 be due principally to the fact "that the sweet taste causes cattle to reject 

 more nutritious food, and strive to subsist ui>ou the Oxyiropis only. 

 This plant is 'mechanically a very unfit substance for food, being of a 

 tough, fibrous, and indigestible character. It is possible that, when the 

 animal becomes somewhat enfeebled by lack of proper nourishment, the 

 small amount of alkaloid may have a direct poisonous action. Again, 

 it seems probable that the plant may contain much larger proportions 

 of alkaloid at certain stages in its development than at others, or the 

 seeds may prove to be the most injurious portion. 



Much light might be thrown upon this subject by the obseA'-ations of 



*Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, December, 1878, p. 565. 



