chemical analysis. As a result, it has been found that 

 poisonous seeds in injurious quantities have been included 

 with great frequency in our commercial feeds, giving rise 

 to fatalities and disease, the cause of which was hitherto 

 unsuspected. The loss in Canada has been so great that, 

 after thorough investigation, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture has designed a new feedstuffs act with a view to its 

 prevention, and established a micro-analytical laboratory 

 for the enforcement of the statute. In the fourth Section 

 are grouped the plants that, although poisonous, rarely 

 cause the death of animals. It comprises by far the larg- 

 est number, including some that are the source of medic- 

 inal drugs, others that have large amounts of virulent 

 poison, and many that are poisonous only if taken in 

 quantity all not sufficiently attractive to animals to be 

 the source of much danger. Previously considerable con- 

 fusion resulted from bulking, without discrimination, all 

 the plants that contain poison. It is hoped that the 

 arrangement followed in this book will be found of prac- 

 tical value, by avoiding this difficulty and rendering the 

 determination of the plant easier. The medical profes- 

 sion should find Section IV of most interest since the 

 plants that are mainly responsible for poisoning in man 

 are collected here. (See p. 109.) 



The illustrations are from photographs and drawings 

 made especially for the book. By means of these and by 

 the classification into the groups above referred to, it 

 should be possible for an amateur to identify the plant 

 responsible in an ordinary case of poisoning. No key 

 based on botanical characters has been included, since 

 such a key would be impracticable because of confusion 

 with the numerous non-poisonous forms. At the end of 

 the book, however, a "symptoms" key has been added. 

 Such a key cannot, in the present state of our know- 

 ledge, be made precise. Its purpose is merely to facili- 



