140 Veterinary Medichie. 



The one fed loco acquired the loco disease with the symptoms 

 described above while the other, eating ordinary food only, re- 

 mained healthy. 



Subcutaneous injections of the concentrated decoction thrown 

 into frogs and chickens at the Michigan Laboratory of Hygiene, 

 under direction of Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, caused nervous twitch- 

 ing and in large dcses, death in i or 2 hours from heart paralysis. 

 The same symptoms were produced in frogs by injection of an 

 alcoholic extract of the residue left after evaporation to dryness 

 of the decoction. 



The loss of appetite, acquired liking for the " loco-iveed'\ rough 

 coat, emaciation, peculiar expression, rearing, plunging, and a 

 staggering uncertain gait are among the symptoms given in the 

 earliest published observations on the loco di.sease, and agree with 

 the statements universally made by ranchmen. An ulcerated 

 condition of the intestines was also pointed out by Professor 

 Sayre in a locoed cow upon which he made a necropsy (Dodge 

 City Times, July, 1887) : but the diarrhoea which was so marked 

 a symptom in the cats experimented on, is not mentioned as a 

 characteristic symptom in horses and cattle. 



"From the close agreement of the symptoms in the cats with 

 those universally recognized in locoed horses and cattle, I con- 

 clude that the cases described above were genuine cases of the 

 "loco disease" and are, so far as can be ascertained, the first 

 that were ever experimentally produced." 



"The craving for the "loco" is soon acquired. The kittens 

 would beg for it as an ordinary kitten does for milk, and when 

 supplied would lie down contented. To determine whether a 

 herbivorous animal would easily acquire tlie "loco habit" a 

 young "jack" rabbit was captured and fed a few days on milk 

 and grass ; then fresh ' ' loco ' ' was substituted for the gra.ss. 

 At first the "loco" was refused, but soon it was taken with as 

 much relish as the grass had been. After ten days of the milk 

 and "loco" diet the rabbit was found dead, with the head 

 drawn back and the stomach ruptured." 



" With reference to the character of the plants at the different 

 seasons of the year, I am convinced by numerous experiments, 

 on material gathered in different months, that the greatest 

 amount of poison is present in the autumn and winter." The 



