258 GRAZING CATTLE POISONS 



poisons of a physiological origin, and they have a diametri- 

 cally opposite action to that of the poison, or they may 

 have in other cases a chemical action, turning a soluble salt 

 into an insoluble salt. Poisoning by absorption from the 

 body surface is treated by washing the agent off." 



Mineral Poisons. Arsenic, derived from sheep-dip, is 

 one of the commonest. 



"The best antidote is hydrated sesqui-oxide of iron, 

 which can be prepared in an emergency by adding ammonia 

 to perchloride of iron, washing the precipitate, and administer- 

 ing every ten to fifteen minutes in doses of a teaspoonful 

 added to water. Other less effective antidotes are sulphur 

 and sulphate of iron, also white of eggs and mucilaginous 

 drinks, followed by tonics, as sulphate of iron in small doses, 

 oleaginous purgatives being avoided. A chronic form of 

 arsenical poisoning occurs in the neighbourhood of smelting 

 furnaces in Cornwall and Wales. In this case there is blue- 

 ness of the gums, swelling of joints, indigestion, and gradual 

 emaciation. The animals should be removed to fresh pastures 

 and tonics should be given." 



Lead poisoning usually occurs among cattle grazing over 

 rifle ranges and picking up the spattering from the bullets, 

 or after licking out paint tins on refuse heaps, or from 

 drinking water from newly laid lead-pipes. 



" Cattle grind their teeth, have occasional fits of colic, and 

 an unthrifty, staring coat ; the abdomen is tucked up, and 

 eventually wasting of the extensor muscles of the limbs 

 comes on. Treatment. Give small doses of Epsom salts, 

 which forms insoluble sulphate of lead, and follow with an 

 oleaginous purgative to remove it from the system." 



Vegetable Poisons. Hemlock, Cowbane, etc. 



u Four plants of the natural order Umbelliferas are 

 responsible for a great many cases of cattle poisoning 

 hemlock, Coniuin maculatum ; fool's parsley, ^.thusa cyna- 

 pium ; water dropwort, CEnanthe fistulosa ; and water hem- 

 lock, or cowbane, Cicuta virosa ; the two latter plants growing 

 in running water and swampy places. When cattle go out 

 in early spring on bare pastures, they seek green herbage 

 near the edges of streams and in marshy ground, and browse 

 off these plants with fatal results. The cattle stagger, then 

 become paralysed in the hind quarters ; the eyes become 

 dilated and glassy in appearance ; finally they become coma- 

 tose, and death is painless. Treatment. Apply cold water 



