THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



31 



excellent treatmeni of repeated liming and ma- i 

 nuring, until he has brought his (arm into a state 

 of improvement lor grazing, and indeed lor any \ 

 other purpose, equal, perhaps, to the best land J 

 in the country, lie has led this year upwards ol 

 40 head of cattle; and as an evidence of the | 

 capacity of his larm to produc* grain, his field oli 

 corn, containing about ten acres, averaged about j 

 85 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. In speak- j 

 ing of the powerful effects of lime as a (eriillizer, | 

 Mr. G. made the remark that " if lime pat a man 

 in jail, it would soon take him out again." Thus 

 conveying a good deal in lavorof ihat valuable 

 mineral in a lew words. But is it saying loo 

 much"? Every experienced agriculturist in this 

 section of country, I am inclined to tiiink, will 

 unite in opinion vviih my neighbor G. ; and I be- 

 lieve that if the truth conveyed in ihe remark 

 were impressed more generally, we should find 

 through the country. more good land, and hear 

 less complaint of hard times. We now have the 

 case presented, ol an investment of ^4300 in ag- 

 riculture, and a successful and judicious pursuii 

 of the same for 17 years ; and what is ihe rrsult? 

 First, a good living lor a large family. Second, 

 an increase of the value of the larm from ^30 

 per acre so ^90 per acre. Third an increase in 

 ihe value of stock and larming wiensils, from $400 

 to from SIOOO to $1200. Fourth, several thou- 

 sand dollars at interest, as profit from the farm on 

 good security — not bank stock — besides suiiabie 

 marriage portions to several of his cliildren. I 

 have now drawn (he contrast, and without com- 

 ment, would conclude by observing that Mr. G. 

 is worth from $15,000 to $20,000, without a 

 creditor; and is now enjoying his otium cum dig- 

 nitate in the character of " Gentleman Farmer." 



POA ViRIDIS. 



Goshen, Chester county, Dec. 9th, 1841. 



HINTS ON POISONS. 



By Thomas D. Mitchell, M. D., Professor of Materia 

 Medica and Therapeautics in the Medical Depart- 

 ment of Transylvania University. 



From tlie Kentucljy Farmer. 

 Lexington, Ky., January Ath, 1841. 



Dear sir;— Hoping that the hinis and facts 

 herewith communicated, may lead to further and 

 more stable conclusions on the subject of milk 

 sickness, than any that have yet been formed, 

 I extract them from a manuscript work on poisons, 

 in which I have been for some time eno-ao-ed! 

 You will perceive that they have no clafms to 

 methodical arrangement, and have not the charm 

 of novelty to commend them to public notice. 



That milk may be poisoned, even without crimi- 

 nal design, is now well understood. The milk 

 pans in use in Europe, and to some extent in this 

 country, have often imparted a deleterious qua- 

 lity to cream, and consequently to butter. Many 

 facts directly in point could be cited from the best 

 authorities. 



But the most fruitful source of injury to milk 

 IS that agent, whatever it be, that gives rise to the 

 disease eo common to (he western country, and 

 caWtid mtlk sickness. This unexplained source of 

 nnschief has perplexed not only the common peo- 



ple, but men of science, all over our own coun- 

 try, and not less the learned and utdearned of 

 Europe. Hence, the inaugural dissertations, that 

 have been repeatedly written by candidates lor 

 graduation in medicine, the numtrous essays of 

 practising physicians, in various sections of the 

 union, and the elaborate disquisitions ot eminent 

 Germans and Frenchmen, on this recondite ques- 

 tion. And yet, the darkness that envelopes it is 

 dense as ever; and we see not that science pro- 

 mises much to dissipate ilu> gloom. 



C7irisitso7i justly remaiks, as others had done 

 beiore, '' that the milk ol ihe tow, the ewe and 

 the goat, may act like a virulent poison, alihougti 

 no mineral or other deleterious impregnation could 

 be delected in it; and these ellecis have been 

 vaguely and variously ascribed to the animal hav- 

 iiay been diseased, or to its having been led on 

 acrid vegeiables, which enter the milk without 

 iiijuiing the animal, necessarily." And Orfila, lo 

 whom in conjunction with Marc was entrusted 

 the examination of goat's milk that had proved 

 poisonous to many persons, reported, " that no 

 mineral poison could be detected ; that none of the 

 usual explanations were saiislaciury, and that the 

 poisonous change in the milk should be ascribed 

 to new principles, formed or developed by a vital 

 process.''^ 



The conclusions just staled are, it may be, cor- 

 rect ; yet there is reason to believe that the poi- 

 son may be derived from some kind of vegeta- 

 ble matter, which could not be detected by chemi- 

 cal tesis. Dr. Westrumb, who wrote on the poi- 

 son of cheese, held this opinion ; and conjectured 

 that the milk was poisoned by the cuttle par- 

 taking of a species of spurge, {Euphorbia esula,') 

 which, agreeably to Viridet, caused certain fields 

 in the neighborhood ol Embrim to be abandoned 

 by the shepherds, because it rendered the cows' 

 milk useless. The same writer also observes, 

 " that the cows would not touch this plant so long 

 as wholesome pasture was within their range." 



The eympioms, in the cases already reierred 

 to, as having occurred in France, were those olten 

 seen in violent cholera. At Herelord Westpha- 

 lia, vvhere, according to Rusfs Magazine, for 1828, 

 a woman and her 5 children were poisoned with 

 goat's buttermilk, sent to them by a charitable 

 neighbor, the symptoms were violent j)uking, di- 

 lated pupils, the eye-lids half closed, pulse small, 

 hard and slow, epigastrium turned, abdomen con- 

 tracted, bowels unmoved. These, as will be seen, 

 were not unlike the symptoms of milk sickness, 

 in this country. Lukewarm water was given, to 

 increase the vomiting, after which two ounces of 

 medicated soap, dissolved in a pint of water, with 

 the addition of an ounce of almond syrup, were 

 administered, and the bodies of the patients were 

 washed with vinegar and spirits. In ten hours, 

 all the patients were recovered. 



The most careful examination of a portion of 

 the buttermilk that had poisoned the family, failed 

 to detect any trace of mineral poison ; and the 

 physician attributed the mischief to some narcotic 

 herb, probably the Ethusa cynapium, or fool's 

 parsley. 



I have been at some pains to compare a thesis, 

 written by Dr, Read, of Ohio, who graduated at 

 the Medical College of Ohio, in 1832, with ano- 

 ther thesis, written by Dr. Simpson, of Kentucky, 

 1 who graduated at Transylvania University, in 



