SPERMATOPHYTA GRAMINEAE GRASSES 347 



ported. Dr. Peters speaks with authority as he examined the cases at first 

 hand: 



In response to one of these calls, I reached the farm of Mr. Bert Foss, near Aurora, 

 at 7:30 A. M., on August 3, 1901. Two days previous, fifteen head of his cattle had broken 

 into a sorghum field, where they had remained twenty minutes. They were then driven 

 into another field and were not seen again for several hours. When seen, three were 

 sick, all of which died within a few hours. The symptoms were drowsiness, running at 

 the eyes, twitching of the muscles, numbness of the limbs, staggering gait, inability to 

 stand, involuntary passing of urine. On August 2d, two more cows broke through the 

 fence and were on the sorghum field five minutes. One hour later, one of these animals, 

 a four-year-old cow was very sick, but finally recovered. 



We turned a small yearling steer on the sorghum at 8:30 A M., August 3d, but 

 he refused to eat any sorghum, and after thirty-five minutes, two more were turned into 

 the sorghum, where they remained until 10:00 A. M., when only one, a small, red steer, 

 had taken any sorghum, and he had eaten only a few leaves. They were then 

 turned back with the herd. At 10:35 A. M. the small, red steer acted somewhat drowsy, 

 but soon recovered. 



At 11:00 A. M. we turned one red heifer and one yearling steer on the sorghum. 

 The heifer was the only animal that ate any quantity, and, as subsequent examination 

 showed, she ate only one and one-half pounds of green sorghum. At 11:10 this animal 

 dropped to the ground. Upon examination it was found that she had stopped chewing 

 her cud and there was a peculiar twitching of the muscles of the nose and head and 

 also of the body. The animal was very dull. At 11:15 A. M. she was taken out of the 

 sorghum field and allowed to lie in a stubble field. When lying down her head was 

 turned toward the abdomen, presenting the symptoms shown by a horse having the colic. 

 The eyes seemed dull and gave off a water discharge. There was a partial paralysis 

 of the tongue and great quantities of saliva ran from the mouth The limbs and ears 

 were cold. The pupils of the eyes dilated, pulse not perceptible, mucous membrane 

 of the rectum protruding, involuntary discharge of urine and faeces. Upon pricking 

 the animal with a knife on the lower limbs it showed no feeling. The animal was 

 closely watched in the field by Mr. Foss and myself and we observed that she did not 

 take any weeds, but simply a small amount of sorghum, eating only the tops of the 

 leaves. At 1:30 P. M. the animal was still lying on its right side; all the muscles 

 of the head were contracted and showed involuntary twitching. The limbs were paralyzed 

 and the animal was unconscious; the mucous membrane of the mouth was of a salmon color. 

 At 2:35 P. M. the animal was in great pain, and it was apparent that she would not 

 recover. At the suggestion of Mr. Foss the animal was killed in order to hold a post- 

 mortem examination. 



Post-Mortem Examination. Animal still warm. The bowels were opened 

 and contents of paunch carefully noted; there was in all one pound and a half 

 of sorghum leaves to be found in the paunch. No sourness of the contents. 

 The same was immediately put up in Mason fruit jars with clean water and 

 brought to the laboratory. The mucous membrane of the intestines normal, 

 all other conditions of the animal normal. 



In regard to the Colorado disease, the following statement is made : 



The cattle died on August 20th last. We lost 21 head out of 32 head which had been 

 turned on the corn. Eleven head lived, but 4 of the 11 head had violent spasms, but 

 recovered. The other 7 head were not affected. They were only on the corn 5 or 6 

 minutes. The first cow died in 15 minutes; nearly all within an hour. One yearling 

 lived over 6 hours I gave it several doses of aconite, thinkng possbly one poison would 

 counteract the other, but it died in great agony. The cattle seemed to all go crazy at 

 once, then stagger like a person intoxicated, fall in all directions, and die where they fell. 

 I stuck all of them with a knife, the same as in alfalfa bloat, but there wasn't any gas 

 in them. The Kaffir corn was planted on sod ground above irrigation. It was from 

 6 to 15 inches high and was burnt brown from the drouth." 



Shortly after the poisoning, Dr. Glover visited the field and collected 

 samples, which he generously placed at our disposal. These samples yielded 

 prussic acid in greater amounts than any yet examined in Nebraska. 



It appears more than probable that the sorghum plant under different cli- 



