POISONOUS PLANTS 285 



toxic principle not being destroyed by heat of an 

 ordinary oven in baking. Bread containing Corn Cockle 

 has proved fatal. Although farm live stock are unlikely 

 to touch the plant when growing, the seed may be 

 ground up and mixed with feeding stuffs, and Cornevin 

 states that poisoning has occurred in the case of man 

 and all domestic animals. In 1874, evidence in a 

 case at Lyons showed that there were then merchants 

 sufficiently unscrupulous to add 45 per cent of Corn 

 Cockle flour to meals intended for the feeding of stock. 

 Cornevin was unable to state the amount of the flour 

 necessary to cause death for animals other than calves, 

 pigs, dogs, and poultry, and for these the amounts 

 are 



Calf . . . .25 Ib. \ 



P*> ' ' * 10 " I per 100 Ib. live weight. 



Fowl . . . .25 " J 



Since that date numerous experiments have been 

 made with Corn Cockle, and a variety of conclusions 

 have been recorded. We summarise from The United 

 States Experiment Station Record various notes which have 

 appeared for many years past, the experiments referred 

 to being conducted in Germany. In experiments at 

 the Vienna Experiment Station l bread containing 40 

 per cent of Cockle seed meal was eaten by both adults 

 and children, and gave negative results. In 1892 

 Kornauth and Arche found 2 by feeding trials that Corn 

 Cockle was not poisonous to pigs, a conclusion which 

 is contrary to general belief. They found that albumi- 

 noid metabolism was diminished, but fat production 

 increased ; with 70 per cent of Corn Cockle in the food 

 the growth of the animals was diminished, but the 



1 Exp. Sta. Rec., vol. iv. p. 91. 



2 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 90 ; vol. v. p. 228. 



