402 



THE MUSTARD CROP. 



for damages sustained was raised against the vendors, 1 

 when it was proved that the cake was made from mustard 

 seed, in which a peculiar principle, known to chemists by 

 the name of "myrosine, ' exists. This in itself is a harm- 

 less compound in the seed, but when macerated in water 

 it is immediately converted into a highly acrid and irri- 

 tating oil the oil of mustard (ol. sinapis) to the pre- 

 sence of which our table mustard owes its stimulant pro- 

 perty. In this case the fatal effects were due to the ex- 

 cessive irritation of this oil, generated by the process of 

 mastication and salivation, acting upon the coats of the 

 stomach of the animals, who swallowed it without diffi- 

 culty, as the action was not set up until it had passed 

 down the oesophagus. When mustard powder is mixed 

 with boiling water, this curious change in its constituents 

 does not take place, as the albuminous ferment, by which 

 the action is set up, is coagulated and thus rendered inert; 

 this should be remembered in mixing mustard for use, 

 either for the table or local application. In the black 

 mustard this peculiar property exists in a much greater 

 proportion than in the white, and consequently for all 

 purposes in which this is valued the former is the most 

 valuable to cultivate. 



The composition of the "cake" has been determined by 

 Dr. Voelcker and by Dr. Anderson, and is thus given: 



1 Details given in Agri. Qaz. for 1835, pp. 42, 73. Another case of poisoning 

 by mustard-cake took place last year, and was again the subject of an action at 

 law. The details will be found in Agri. Oaz., 1859, p. 730. 



