58 PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL BOTANY 



by coma and death without convulsions. In cattle the symptoms 

 observed one hour after eating are grinding of the teeth, restlessness 

 and abundant flow of the saliva with colic and coughing, a state lasting 

 five to eight hours followed by coma, fetid diarrhoea, rapid respiration 

 and pulse, a gradual loss of motor and sense powers and a progressive 

 decline of the temperature. In twenty-four hours the cattle are dead. 

 Pigs are also susceptible. Young pigs especially so. 1 A chronic form of 

 the disease is known as githagism. 



Poisonous Principles. The poisonous principle in cockle seeds is a 

 glucoside known under different names as githagin, saponin, agrostemin, 

 sapotoxin, smilacin (CiyH^eOio). Seeds contain up to 6.56 per cent, of this 

 principle which is soluble in water and froths like soap when shaken up. 



Aconite (Aconitum columbianum) . This is the only native American 

 species which may be considered dangerous like the European plant 

 Aconitum Napellus, as the other three American species are very local and 

 not very poisonous. The western American aconite, or monkshood, 

 grows at an altitude of 5,000 to 10,000 feet in low grounds near brooks 

 and springs from Montana, Wyoming and Colorado to the sierras. 



Symptoms. Prof. V. K. Chestnut says of this western species: "All 

 of the parts are poisonous, but the seeds and roots are the most dangerous. 

 The active principle is not well known, but chemical and physiologic 

 experiments point to the existence of one or more alkaloids which resemble 

 aconitin. The effect of the poison is characteristic. There is first a 

 tingling sensation on the end of the tongue which gives rise shortly to a 

 burning sensation, and is rapidly followed by a very pronounced sense of 

 constriction in the throat. The choking thus produced is made the more 

 alarming by the retarding effect which the poison has upon the respiration. 

 The tingling and prickling over the entire body is also characteristic. 

 Besides these symptoms there are generally severe headache, abdominal 

 pains, confused vision, vomiting and diarrhoea. Delirium is usually 

 absent. Death ensues from a stoppage of the respiration in from one to 

 eight hours." 



Nature of Poisons. Horses, cattle, sheep, pigs have been poisoned in 

 Europe from eating Aconitum Napellus. Cows have died in Victoria. 

 Linnaeus states that it is fatal to cows and goats when eaten fresh, but 



1 The writer had some seeds sent to him on August 23, 1916, from Dr. W. C. Reeder 

 of Rising Sun, Md., which had been taken from the "chop"' feed of hogs, that had 

 been poisoned as a result and were vomiting and showing other signs of debility. 



