PREFACE 



The primary reason for this publication is the long- 

 felt need of a text-book to accompany the course on pois- 

 onous plants which is given the students of the Ontario 

 Veterinary College. This object has been kept constantly 

 in mind. It has necessitated the preparation of a book at 

 a price within the reach of every student, and yet one 

 that contains in easily available form an up-to-date 

 knowledge of our common poisonous plants, the charac- 

 teristics by which they may be recognized, the symptoms 

 produced by them and the remedial treatment required. 

 It is hoped that the book will also prove useful to the 

 veterinarian who is in practice, the farmer, the stockman 

 and, to a more limited extent, the medical practitioner 

 and the public generally. 



In arranging the work, a departure has been made from 

 the usual practice. To facilitate the determination of the 

 plant responsible in a given case of poisoning, the book 

 has been divided into four sections. In the first three 

 are included the plants that are mainly responsible for 

 fatalities among animals. These are grouped on the basis 

 of their source in the animal's feed, whether found in hay 

 (Section I), in pasture (Section II), or in concentrated 

 feedstuffs (Section III). A word may be added regarding 

 Section III, since so far as the authors are aware this i? 

 the first time that the importance of poisonous plant con- 

 stituents in concentrated feedstuffs has been given recog- 

 nition in a text-book. Micro-analytical methods have 

 lately been extended to determine the presence in such 

 feedstuffs of poisonous material that eludes the ordinary 



