iv] Solanacem 55 



this was probably because man (1) eats only the part poorest in the toxic 

 principle (see below), (2) does not eat the skin, (3) always cooks the 

 tubers, and (4) rarely subsists only on potatoes for a considerable time. 

 He found accidents among animals, however, not rare. In fact, elimina- 

 ting cases possibly due to changes caused by weather, cryptogams, and 

 ferments, he found poisonings every year unquestionably due to Solanine, 

 chiefly among cattle. Cows will eat the haulm without trouble in times 

 of scarcity of green fodder, but to the detriment of their health if such 

 feeding is prolonged. 



Macfadyen showed some time since that old sprouted Potatoes, 

 even after boiling, are poisonous to horses. In 1896 eleven horses died 

 from eating in most instances small quantities of spoiled and somewhat 

 sprouted Potatoes, and two test-horses fed on the Potatoes died. In 

 this case, however, it was conjectured that the poison was probably 

 some organic substance generated by the bacteria or fungi growing on 

 the Potatoes, 



Chesnut and Wilcox (1901) recorded the death of six pigs due to 

 eating sprouted uncooked Potatoes ; after cooking the potatoes did not 

 cause poisoning. With sufficient boiling most of the poison appears 

 to remain behind in the water and might be thrown away. 



Cases of poisoning of stock by Potatoes appear to have occurred 

 more or less frequently in Germany. Two such cases were noted in the 

 Berliner Tierdrztliche Wochenschrift in 1909, in one of which 64 cows 

 developed symptoms of poisoning after being fed on a large quantity of 

 raw tubers, while in the other instance two cows became ill after 

 eating Potato parings— which, as shown below, contain more Solanine 

 than the "flesh." 



In the case of two children who died, F. W. Stoddart, Public Analyst 

 of Bristol, after a post-mortem in one case, gave a very guarded opinion 

 that death was probably due to Solanine poisoning, due to eating raw 

 Potato peel, but was not confident. A most interesting case of severe but 

 not fatal poisoning is described in The Lancet (1899). No less than 

 56 soldiers in Berlin were badly affected, until the supply of Potatoes 

 was stopped, but the men recovered. 



Pammel (1911) states that some persons cannot eat Potatoes because 

 poisonous to them, but such persons must be extremely rare, and 

 hypersensitive to minimum quantities of Solanine, which is almost 

 if not quite absent in the "flesh" of Potatoes. 



Toxic Principle. The Potato plant, like the other species of Solanum 

 mentioned above, contains Solanine, which occurs not only in the 



