LARKSPUR POISOlsriFG OF LIVE STOCK. 61 



their idea that the roots of DelpMnmnh andersonii are poisoiioi^s 

 to sheep. 



The somewhat suprising result of the feeding work upon hirkspur, 

 showing that of two animals so similar in their physical organiza- 

 tion as cattle and sheep one is poisoned and the other not affected 

 has, of course, some physiological explanation. Just what this is 

 has not been determined experimentally. It has been shown, how- 

 ever, that sheep excrete the alkaloid in their uriiie, and it may be, 

 perhaps, assumed that they excrete with sufficient rapidity to remove 

 the poisonous principle before toxic symptoms appear. It should 

 be noted in this connection that there is still a possibility that the 

 alkaloid might be given experimentally in a quantity so great that 

 the excreting powers of the sheep would be unable to remove it in 

 time to prevent intoxication. It is intended later to complete this 

 experimental study. The experiments do show conclusively, how- 

 ever, that quantities, relatively to the size of the animals, several 

 times as great as those necessary to poison cattle do not affect sheep, 

 and that sheep on the range are for all practical purposes immune to 

 larkspur poisoning. 



If it is true, as we think it is, that sheep can feed upon the lark- 

 spur, not only with impunity, but with actual benefit to themselves, 

 it would appear possible that on ranges where heavy losses of cattle 

 have taken place because of larkspur poisoning sheep can graze with 

 no loss. The question may be raised whether certain ranges could 

 not be profitably changed from cattle ranges to sheep ranges on this 

 account or whether it might not be possible, inasmuch as the losses 

 of cattle from larkspur poisoning are largely confined to the earlier 

 part of the season, to graze sheep upon the range during the early 

 part of June or until they had eaten off the low larkspur and then 

 admit cattle. 



RECORDED SYMPTOMS OF LARKSPUR POISONING. 



Hahn, in his general article on Delphinium in the Dictionnaire 

 Encyclopedique des Sciences Medicales, quotes Orfila. He states 

 that the symptoms of poisoning by Delphinium are nausea, vertigo, 

 weakness, and convulsions, followed by death. Falck and Rorig, 

 1852, state the symptoms as nausea, salivation, restlessness, convul- 

 sions, and death produced by asphyxia and paralysis of the heart. 

 The symptoms as quoted by these two authors may be considered as 

 typical of those reported by investigators of the European Delphin- 

 iums. 



Macgregbr, in 1908, in telling of the symptoms of poisoning in a 

 horse says that it became dull, its pulse was weak, and there was 

 excessive salivation and deglutition, with attempts at vomiting. 



