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LUPIIS"ES A3 POISONOUS PLANTS. 3 



In America the first published report of losses of sheep is by 

 Chesnut (1899, p. 404-405), and this report mth the papers of 

 Wilcox (1899), Chesnut and Wilcox (1901, p. 100-110), and Slade 

 (1903), comprise aU that has been pubhshed up to the present time. 

 Other authors have mentioned the subject, but their material is 

 aU taken from the reports of Wilcox, and Chesnut and Wilcox. 

 The first general account of lupine poisoning iii America is by 

 Wilcox (1899). A much more extended account is given by 

 Chesnut and WUcox (1901, p. 100-110), with details of cases and 

 symptoms. Wilcox notes that mature plants are the more poison- 

 ous, and Chesnut and Wilcox definitely state that the toxic principle 

 is mainly in the pods and seeds and that lupine hay should be cut 

 after the seeds are shed. Both Wilcox, and Chesnut and Wilcox 

 apparently consider the poisoning of sheep in America as similar to 

 the disease called "lupinosis" in Germany, although Chesnut and 

 Wilcox (1901, p. 109) state that the ''chronic form of the disease'' 

 has not been recognized in America. Sollmann, in an unpublished 

 report of a laboratory study of American lupines, a report made 

 under the direction of the Bureau of Plant Industry, which will be 

 discussed more fully later, states that he failed to find evidence of 

 the presence of ictrogen and gives details of the symptoms produced 

 by the alkaloidal substances extracted by him. His work was not 

 connected with field investigations, but the results, viewed in the 

 light of present knowledge, clearly indicate the probability that the 

 field cases of poisoning by lupine in America are not cases of 

 ''lupinosis" in the sense in which the term is used in Europe, but are 

 the result of alkaloidal poisoning. The field investigations reported 

 in this paper estabhsh without a doubt the fact that, so far as ob- 

 served, all cases of poisoning of range sheep by lupines must be con- 

 sidered as due to the alkaloids and not to ictrogen. These field 

 investigations are in entire harmony with the preliminary laboratory 

 stddy by Dr. Sollmann, although carried on in an independent way 

 without reference to the preceding results obtained in the laboratory. 



ANIMALS POISONED BY LUPINES. 



While the losses of domestic animals have been mainly of sheep, 

 other animals also are poisoned — horses, cattle, goats, swine, and 

 fallow deer — and laboratory experiments on small animals indicate 

 that none are immune to the effects of the toxic substances. 



Wilcox (1899) states that in Montana a few horses have been 

 poisoned, and Cliesnut and Wilcox (1901 p. 100-110) give specific 

 instances. Poisoning of horses on the range or in pastures is not 

 common, but is known to occur. Dammann (1902) states that 

 cattle are affected by the alkaloid, and cases of the poisoning of 

 cattle on the range have been n'ported in America, although the 

 cases are not very wcU authenticated. 



