LUPINES AS POISONOUS PLANTS. 37 



(h) In autopsies there is seen a citron-yellow color of tlie body tissues, hemorrhages 

 in various parts of the body, especially in the mucous membranes of the alimentary 

 canal, the peritoneum, omentiun, mesentery, the epicardium and endocardium, 

 fi'equently fullness of gall bladder, generally an acute yellow liver atrophy, while 

 in other cases the whole pictiure presents an appearance of acute phosphorus poisoning. 



The German authors distinguish between acute and chronic 

 cases, the symptoms being the same, but in the latter the liver 

 exhibits chronic interstitial inflammation, leading to atrophy of the 

 organ, this being accompanied by nephritis and enlargement of the 

 spleen. 



It will be noticed that the laboratory results obtained by Sollmann 

 and by Clawson and Black agree very well with the field experiments 

 with sheep, but differ very distinctly from the symptoms of lupinosis. 

 The fever and jaundice which are especially characteristic of lupi- 

 nosis have never been observed in sheep in America, either in experi- 

 mental feeding or in poisoning upon the range. It must be con- 

 cluded that ictrogen is not the cause of loss of sheep on the ranges of 

 the United States, but that the poisoning is due to the alkaloids in 

 the lupines. 



The symptoms in the corral experiments and in range cases are 

 distinctly those of alkaloidal poisoning. The question naturally 

 arises as to the explanation of the difference between the poisoning 

 of animals as exhibited in Germany and in the United States. The 

 lupines examined in Germany possess alkaloids which are similar to 

 those found in the American lupines, if not identical with them, and 

 yet few clear cases of alkaloidal poisoning of domestic animals have 

 been reported, while in America there has been no poisoning from 

 ictrogen. In the absence of any determination of what ictrogen 

 reaUy is or how it is formed, only a hypothetical explanation can be 

 given. If it is granted that ictrogen is the cause of lupinosis and if 

 the opinion is accepted, which seems to be held by the later authors, 

 that ictrogen is formed by the action of microorganisms upon the 

 lupine, a possible explanation lies m the different conditions of the 

 countries. The European lupines are cultivated plants, grown and 

 handled like hay. The poisoning cases are caused by lupine that is 

 exposed in the mass, and sometimes under conditions favorable to 

 the growth of microorganisms. The American lupines are wild 

 plants, which grow in a somewhat scattered manner; they are not 

 collected in masses, and consequently do not have an especially 

 favorable environment for the growth of microorganisms. More- 

 over, it is very possible that the particular organisms which produce 

 the toxic substance in Europe are not present in this country; of 

 this nothing can be said positively, for no one has yet been a])lo to 

 demonstrate that any specific organism or group of organisjns is 

 responsible for the hypothetical substance ictrogen. Therefore, on 

 the supposition that there is such a substance as ictrogen, or lupino- 



