PINK FAMILY. 95 
among animals. Cornevin, the distinguished French in- 
vestigator, stated that the following amounts of the 
ground seeds are sufficient to cause death: 
Calf comes 0.25 lb. 
PUG" leet aat, 0.10 “ per 100 lbs. 
JOG ene See eal 0.90 “ live weight. 
OW] oneness 0.25 “ 
Later investigators obtained different results, and it 
has since been found that the amount of poison in the 
seed varies for different seasons and different soils. 
The toxic substance is saponin, of which the seeds con- 
tain up to 6.56 per cent. This same substance is also 
contained in other parts of the plant, but in 
such small quantities that no harm has arisen 
from its presence. It has an acrid taste but no odour, and 
is easily soluble in water, producing a solution which 
froths when shaken. 
Githagism is the name given to a chronic poisoning 
caused by the taking of repeated small doses over a long 
period of time. The symptoms are a gradual 
loss of strength and wasting of flesh, accom- 
panied by chronic diarrhoea and nerve troubles, ending 
in death. These symptoms are produced in human beings 
by the use of flour containing cockle. They are not found 
in lower animals with the exception of pigs. 
The acute poisoning caused by large doses is described 
as follows by Chesnut: “Intense irritation of the diges- 
tive tract, vomiting, headache, nausea, ver- 
Acute tigo, diarrhoea, hot skin, sharp pains in the 
Pelsouing spine, difficult locomotion, and depressed 
breathing. Coma is sometimes present and may be fol- 
lowed by death.” 
The Poison 
Githagism 
