24 BULLETIN 800, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



gave no reaction with ferric clilorid. Two half-gram portions of it 

 were suspended in water and drenched into a guinea pig without 

 effect. 



Alcohol extract. — Four thousand three hundred grams of the dried 

 whole plant were extracted with alcohol, the solvent removed, and the 

 residue treated with hot water, which dissolved a large quantity of it 

 and left a resinous mass undissolved. Both the water solution and the 

 residue were toxic ; the solution produced a peculiar narcosis and the 

 resin caused the characteristic spasmodic symptoms observed in range 

 poisoning. 



The resin. — This was divided into 4 fractions by treatment with 

 petroleum ether, benzol, and alcohol in succession, when a small resi- 

 due remained which was insoluble in the ordinary organic solvents, 

 but dissolved in dilute sodium-carbonate solution and was nontoxic. 

 The petroleum-ether fraction was nontoxic ; the benzol fraction pro- 

 duced tho'Spasmodic type of intoxication; the alcohol fraction was 

 narcotic. 



The aqueous solution. — A portion of this solution was investigated 

 for the presence of toxic saponins, by treatment with barium hy- 

 droxid, and testing the various fractions obtained on guinea pigs. 

 Nothing in the nature of a saponin was detected. 



The main portion was made alkaline and extracted with chloro- 

 form. This treatment yielded a small quantity of a nontoxic alkaloid 

 and a glucosiclal substance which has strong narcotic properties. The 

 aqueous liquid which remained after the chloroform extraction was 

 still toxic, producing narcosis in experimental animals, and from it a 

 second toxic glucosiclal substance has been isolated. 



The r)iarc. — The marc remaining after the alcohol percolation was 

 then extracted with boiling alcohol and this extract was kept separate 

 from the first. The marc remaining after this treatment was thor- 

 oughly dried to free it from alcohol and tested for toxicity. On 

 August 2, 1918, 43.5 grams of marc (60 grams of dried plant) were 

 forced fed to Sheep 479, weight 93 pounds. This feeding produced 

 no apparent effect, and on August 4 the same sheep received 87 grams 

 of the dried marc, also without effect. On August 6 a further quan- 

 tity of 174 grams of marc were forced fed to the same sheep, again 

 without effect. On August 7, 269 grams of the marc were forced fed 

 to Sheep 497, weight 81.5 pounds, and produced no effect. The marc 

 evidently did not contain toxic matter responsible for the cases ob- 

 served on the range. 



SUMMAET OF CHEMICAL EXAMINATION. 



The plant material used was identical with that employed in the 

 feeding experiments. The fresh green plant and the dried plant were 



