98 VETEEINARY TOXICOLOGY 



Several cases are on record relating to Java bean poison- 

 ing. Thus, McCalF gave Java bean meal to a collie, a 

 cow, and a horse, that supplied to the horse having first 

 been boiled for one hour. Fifteen to twenty minutes 

 elapsed before the appearance of symptoms, which ended 

 fatally in the case of the dog within two hours, and in the 

 cases of the cow and the horse within four hours. 



Damman and Behrens* describe the following symptoms : 

 vertigo, tympany, and falling, with a fatal issue in nearly 

 every case. Mosselmann^ describes the effect of about one 

 pound of the beans on four oxen and two heifers. There 

 was a preliminary period of great excitement and salivation. 

 After two hours the animals were swollen, with slight 

 diarrhoea, quick pulse and respiration, muscular spasms, 

 and in one case paralysis of the hind quarters. There was 

 rapid recovery. 



C. Aggio'^ observed the poisoning of ewes by cherry laurel. 

 There was loss of appetite, vomition, inability to rise, and 

 several deaths. 



Adsetts^ describes a similar case in the horse. There 

 was an indistinct and feeble pulse, mucous membranes 

 ingested, difficult respiration, uneasiness, prostration, cold- 

 ness of the extremities, loss of appetite, constipation, 

 diminished urination, and acute pain ; protracted over 

 three days, these eventuated in death. 



It will be readily perceived from these examples that one 

 has not to deal here with simple cyanide poisoning. It is 

 well known that the train of symptoms and the post-mortem 

 lesions in cases of the ingestion of a plant often suggest 

 irritation which is by no means typical of the pure active 

 principle. The difference between the effects of the yew 

 plant on the one hand and the active principle taxine on 

 the other hand form a good similar example. The 

 difference is obviously referable to the fact that often these 

 plants contain, in addition to a specific active poison, 

 irritant substances; e.g., cherry laurel contains an essential 

 oil analogous to turpentine. 



Post - Mortem Appearances. — In the laurel cases 



