107 



that a " close analogy exists between the clinical symptoms and 

 pathological findings in barium poisoning and those resulting 

 from feeding extracts of certain loco plants. Small doses of 

 barium salts may be administered to rabbits without apparent 

 effect, but suddenly acute symptoms set in analogous to what is 

 reported on the range," and finally "barium was found in the 

 ash of many ' loco ' plants in amounts sufficient to account for the 

 symptoms." 



The author mentions that in other localities the toxic action 

 may be due to substances other than barium, and explains the 

 contradictory results previously obtained as follows : 



" Loco plants grown on certain soils are inactive pharma- 

 cologically and contain no barium. In drying certain loco plants 

 the barium apparently is rendered insoluble so that it is not ex- 

 tracted by water, but can usually be extracted by digestion with 

 the digestive ferments. 



"The barium to be harmful must be in such a form as to be 

 dissolved out by digestion. 



"Tn deciding whether plants are poisonous it is desirable not 

 merely to test the aqueous or alcoholic extract, but also the ex- 

 tracts obtained by digesting these plants with the ferments which 

 occur in the gastro-intestinal tract." 



NEWS ITEMS 



At Munich Dr. P. Renner has been made curator of the cryp- 

 togamic herbarium. 



The University of Minnesota has been given over 2,000 acres 

 of land for experimental forestry. 



L. Lancelot Burlingame has been advanced to assistant pro- 

 fessor of botany at Stanford University. 



Columbia University is contemplating establishing a course in 

 forestry, with the degree of forest engineer. 



The Smithsonian Institution has recently received from Captain 

 John Donnell Smith a second herbarium consisting of over seven 

 thousand fern sheets. 



Professor William Stuart, of the Department of Morticulture, 



