POISONING BY COTTON CAKE. 257 



Bryony is sometimes used as a purgative. Poisoning is characterised 

 by nausea, sweating, diuresis, frequent action of the bowels, and, in grave 

 cases, by tetaniform convulsions followed by death. 



POISONING BY CASTOR OIL CAKE. 



Causation. Excessive use of this form of cake is the usual cause 

 of such poisoning, though bad quality is also an important factor. The 

 castor oil beans are often insufficiently crushed and compressed, so that 

 a considerable amount of oil is contained in the cakes as sold ; but the 

 most dangerous constituent is undoubtedly the material known as ricin, 

 which, in some specimens of cake, may exist in highly dangerous 

 quantity. 



The oil contained in the cake, like every other fatty substance, 

 favours intestinal peristalsis and the onward movement of the digested 

 food. The laxative principle excites secretion, and if the cake be given 

 for considerable periods, the most serious consequences may ensue. 



Cakes prepared from mixed rape seed and castor beans act in a 

 similar way, though in a longer or shorter time, according to their rich- 

 ness in ricin. 



The earhest symptom consists in purgation, which gradually de- 

 velops into superpurgation, and is followed by direct irritation of the 

 muscous membrane, indicated by serous, foetid, and sometimes san- 

 guinolent, diarrhcea. The symptoms may appear in twenty-four hours. 

 They are usually accompanied by a rise in temperature of 2° to 3° Fahr. 

 Secretion of milk ceases, and animals heavy with young sometimes abort. 

 In exceptional cases death follows. 



The lesions are those of hafimorrhagic enteritis. 



Treatment is principally of a preventive character. The cakes should 

 be examined, and if they contain insufficiently crushed seeds or beans 

 should be discontinued or given in smaller quantities. The proportion 

 of ricin in mixed rape and castor cakes should be determined. 



Curative treatment consists in removing the cause and treating the 

 enteritis. The latter is best controlled by giving emollients, diuretics, 

 and mucilaginous drinks prepared from linseed, marsh-mallow, barley, etc. 



POISONING BY COTTON CAKE. 



Cotton cake forms a rich food, which fattens animals very rapidly, 

 but given in excess may produce true poisoning, and if prepared from 

 undecorticated seed may produce mechanical irritation ending in ob- 

 struction of the bowel. 



The latter accident occurs only in the sheep. It consists in ob- 

 struction of the omasum (uesophageal gutter), and particularly of the 



B.C. S 



