30 Papilionacese [OH. 
and White Lupine (L. albus) may also be toxic. L. luteus has caused 
lupinosis in Germany since I860, and Cornevin states that in 1880 no 
less than 14,138 out of 240,000 sheep fed upon it (or 5-89 per cent.) died. 
Of 44 horses affected 11 died. 
It must not be thought that all crops of lupine are poisonous, as 
lupines are extensively grown on the Continent for fodder purposes and 
are usually harmless. Even where Lupinosis occurs, considerable 
quantities of the lupine must be ingested to cause poisoning. The 
toxicity appears to vary according to soil and certain indefinite con- 
ditions, and sometimes even a kilogramme (2-2 Ib.) of the plant would 
suffice to kill a sheep. Poisonous symptoms may sometimes be observed 
after a single meal. Desiccation does not render the plant innocuous, the 
seeds and hay being poisonous. 
In the United States species of Lupinus have caused great loss. In 
1898 no fewer than 1,150 of a flock of 2,500 sheep died from eating one 
species; one sheep farmer lost 700 sheep from the same cause; and 
1,900 out of 3,000 sheep died from Lupine poisoning in Montana in 1900. 
Lupine hay is found to be less harmful to horses and cattle, and Chesnut 
and Wilcox suggest that this is possibly because as a rule they avoid 
the pods^ while sheep eat them. Lupines in America are very rapid 
in their action on sheep, which may often die in one-half to three-quarters 
of an hour after eating a quantity of the pods. Further, there is evidence 
that sheep may gradually become immune to the poison by eating 
Lupines regularly, since sheep fed regularly on hay nearly half lupine were 
unaffected, but others eating the same hay for the first time died in 
considerable numbers. The lupines are certainly far the most dangerous 
when they bear ripe seeds cut and made into hay before the pods form 
they are much less dangerous. 
In regard to L. luteus Lander says: "According to the German 
authorities a daily ration of 1 pound of the whole plant, f pound of 
empty pods, or i pound of seeds, will produce poisoning." 
Various means have been tried to render Lupines harmless, and 
success is stated to follow heating with steam under a pressure of 2 to 
2| atmospheres. 
Toxic Principle. A very full account of Lupine poisoning is given 
by Pott, and from this a brief summary may be made. Siewert and 
Wildt (1879) found two substances very like the alkaloids of Conium 
maculatum one like Coniine and the other like Conhydrine, the former 
only being proved to be very poisonous. Baumert states that in L. 
luteus there are only two bitter alkaloids, Lupinine (C 10 H 19 ON) and 
