268 VETERINAEY TOXICOLOGY 



been long known that it is very harmful, and may produce 

 dangerous illness, and death. The husks of the cotton seed 

 contain a large proportion of indigestible fibre (24 to 25 per 

 cent., as against 5 to 6 per cent, in the decorticated). 



The first observations on undecorticated cotton cake 

 appear to be those made by A. Voelcker in 1859,* who 

 examined a cake containing about 50 per cent, of husks. 

 The case is typical as regards post-mortem observations, for 

 the paunch was distended with food impacted like hard 

 dough ; lower stomachs empty, and the duodenum blocked 

 by 72 pounds of comminuted and densely impacted husks. 

 Stoppage due to balling or impaction of the rou^h fibrous 

 husks is the clear cause of so-called cotton-cake poisoning. 

 That there is no specific poisonous principle is shown by 

 the negative results attending chemical research for such 

 matters, and by the numerous cases in which a judicious 

 feeding test of a suspected cake has, in our experience, 

 eliminated all question of poison. 



In the Veterinary Record of 1909, p. 630, is an abstract from 

 the German of the effects of cotton-seed meal, of which 

 draught oxen had 2 pounds each. There were oedematous 

 swellings at the extremities; unimpaired appetite; later, 

 weakness of hind quarters, and, in a few cases, disturbances 

 of equilibrium. Four out of fifteen became blind, the eye- 

 ball protruding, and the pupil abnormally enlarged. Laxa- 

 tives and change of diet led to recovery. 



It is interesting to record that Professor Macqueen and 

 the writer investigated a somewhat similar case in which 

 blindness was attributed to linseed cake, but no positive 

 evidence in support of this view was got. 



It should also be pointed out that cotton, as other cakes, 

 may be contaminated — e.g., with metals or castor beans — 

 and in such instances would prove harmful by reason of 

 those impurities. 



The Soya Bean cake and meal, on their recent introduc- 

 tion, were often, in our experience, held to be poisonous. 

 Feeding tests were invariably negative, the beans are not 

 * Veterinarian, 1859, p. 327. 



