b 



Loco Poisoning. Oxytropis Laviberti. 137 



sunken and have a flat, glass}' look, and his coat is rough and 

 lustreless. In general the animal appears to perish from starva- 

 tion and consequent excitement of the nervous system, but some- 

 times appears to suffer acute pain, causing him to expend his 

 strength in running wildh^ from place to place, pausing and 

 rolling, until he falls and dies in a few minutes." (O. B. Ormsby, 

 Report Dept. of Agriculture, 1874.) 



" Animals are not fond of it at first, or don't seem to be, but 

 after they get accustomed to the taste they are crazy for it and 

 will eat little or nothing else when loco can be had. There seems 

 to be little or no nutrition in it as the animal invariably loses flesh 

 and spirit. Even after eating of it they may live for years, if 

 kept entirely out of its reach, but if not, they almost invariably 

 eat of it until they die." (Mrs. T. S. Whipple, San Luis, Cal. 

 Report Dept. of Agriculture, 1874). 



"Cattle, after having eaten it," Oxytropis L,amberti, "may 

 linger many months, or for a year or two, but invariably die at 

 last from the effects of it. The animal does not lose flesh appar- 

 ently, but totters on its limbs and becomes crazy. The sight be- 

 comes affected so that the animal has no knowledge of distance, 

 but will make an effort to step over a .stream or an obstacle while 

 at a distance off, yet will plunge into it or walk up against it on 

 arriving at it." (Dr. Moffat, U. S. Army.) 



'■ The term /cTf, simply meaning foolish, is applied because of 

 the peculiar form of dementia induced in the animals that are in 

 the habit of eating the plant. Whether the animals (horses 

 chiefly) begin to eat the plant from necessity (which is not likely) 

 or from choice, I am unable to say. Certain it is, however, that 

 when once commenced, they continue it, passing through a tempo- 

 rary intoxication, to a complete nervous and muscular wreck in the 

 latter stages, when it has developed into a fully marked disease, 

 which terminates in death from stavation or inability to digest more 

 nourishing food. The animal, toward the last, becomes stupid or 

 wild, or even vicious, or again acting as though attacked with 

 blind .staggers." (Dr. Rothrock. Report of Dept. of Agricul- 

 ture, 1884J. 



Dr. Isaac Ott, of Easton, Pa., gives the following as the 

 physiological action of the Astragalus Mollissimus : "It decreases 

 the irritabilit}' of the motor nerve, greatly affects the .sensory 



