30 Painlionacese [ch. 



and White Lupine {L. alhus) may also be toxic. L. luteus has caused 

 lupinosis in Germany since 1860, and Cornevin states that in 1880 no 

 less than 14,138 out of 240,000 sheep fed upon it (or 5-89 per cent.) died. 

 Of 44 horses affected 11 died. 



It must not be thought that all crops of lupine are poisonous, as 

 lupines are extensively grown on the Continent for fodder purposes and 

 are usually harmless. Even where Lupinosis occurs, considerable 

 quantities of the lupine must be ingested to cause poisoning. The 

 toxicity appears to vary according to soil and certain indefinite con- 

 ditions, and sometimes even a kilogramme (2-2 lb.) of the plant would 

 sufi&ce to kill a sheep. Poisonous symptoms may sometimes be observed 

 after a single meal. Desiccation does not render the plant innocuous, the 

 seeds and hay being poisonous. 



In the United States species of Lwpinus have caused great loss. In 

 1898 no fewer than 1,150 of a flock of 2,500 sheep died from eating one 

 species ; one sheep farmer lost 700 sheep from the same cause ; and 

 1,900 out of 3,000 sheep died from Lupine poisoning in Montana in 1900. 

 Lupine hay is found to be less harmful to horses and cattle, and Chesnut 

 and Wilcox suggest that this is possibly because as a rule they avoid 

 the pods, while sheep eat them. Lupines in America are very rapid 

 in their action on sheep, which may often die in one-half to three-quarters 

 of an hour after eating a quantity of the pods. Further, there is evidence 

 that sheep may gradually become immune to the poison by eating 

 Lupines regularly, since sheep fed regularly on hay nearly half lupine were 

 unaffected, but others eating the same hay for the first time died in 

 considerable numbers. The lupines are certainly far the most dangerous 

 when they bear ripe seeds — cut and made into hay before the pods form 

 they are much less dangerous. 



In regard to L. luteus Lander says: "According to the German 

 authorities a daily ration of 1 pound of the whole plant, f pound of 

 empty pods, or i pound of seeds, will produce poisoning." 



Various means have been tried to render Lupines harmless, and 

 success is stated to follow heating with steam under a pressure of 2 to 

 2| atmospheres. 



Toxic Principle. A very full account of Lupine poisoning is given 

 by Pott, and from this a brief summary may be made. Siewert and 

 Wildt (1879) found two substances very like the alkaloids of Conium 

 maculatum — one like Coniine and the other Hke Conhydrine, the former 

 only being proved to be very poisonous. Baumert states that in L. 

 luteus there are only two bitter alkaloids, Lwpinine (CioHigON) and 



