Cirrhosis in Cattle, Sheep and Horses fed on Senecio. 525 



salts, 1% to 2 lbs. ; sheep, 4 to 6 oz.), and daily doses of stry- 

 chnia subcutem, or nux vomica by the mouth. Diuretics should 

 be added to assist in elimination of the toxic principles, and above 

 all potassium iodide daily. But this can only be looked on as a 

 palliative resort. When the liver is already the seat of pro- 

 nounced cirrhosis, no restoration to the healthy condition can be 

 hoped for ; the animal may be preserved until fattened, or until 

 one or more of her valuable progeny shall have been secured, but 

 to hope for a prolonged and healthy life is unreasonable. 



Unlike a contagious plague however the sick, or surviving 

 animal is not a source of danger to others, except so far as it may 

 carry the seeds of the Senecio in its alimentary canal to be 

 scattered on new ground. After the expulsion of the seeds from 

 stomach and bowels the patient may be left in the herd or flock, 

 and allowed to occupy uncontaminated pastures. 



Prevention. The question of the eradication of the Senecio 

 Jacoboea, or the arrest of its further spread is the really import- 

 ant one. The danger of extension lies in the great abundance of 

 the seeds, formed in the many composite heads and the facility 

 of their extension. In this the plant resembles its allies the 

 thistle and the ox-eye daisy. Yet in soils under yearly culture 

 the plant is usually exterminated, or restricted within the nar- 

 rowest limits. It is in waste or non-arable lands, woods, rocky 

 hills, bogs, swamps and the like, that the plant secures its per- 

 manent hold, and from which it extends into adjacent arable 

 areas. In Nova Scotia it spread along the highways, and in New 

 Zealand, at first in lands adjoining the bush. On highways the 

 seeds are carried on the hoofs of animals and the wheels of 

 vehicles. Again the watershed comes in as a fruitful channel 

 of diffusion. In Nova Scotia, herds have been saved by picking 

 the Senecio from the hay before it is fed, and farms rendered 

 wholesome by pulling up and destroying all ragwortjfound in the 

 fields, fences or roads. A penalty for allowing the plant to grow 

 on farms or adjacent highways would be a rational and economical 

 measure. In case of wild land, unfit for cultivation, the same 

 measure would apply, and where this is not practicable, stock 

 once put on such contaminated land should be confined to it until 

 ready for slaughter : they should not be moved elsewhere to 

 carry and distribute the seeds. When bogs and swamps can be 



