38 BULLETIN 405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
toxin, it seems possible that it would not be produced in America, | 
at least under range conditions. 
The fact that there is so little evidence that domestic animals in 
Europe suffer from the alkaloids of lupine may be explained by the 
different way in which the animals are handled. It is shown else- 
where in this paper that lupine poisoning of sheep on the western 
ranges is ordinarily associated with deficiency in the food supply. — 
Rarely, if ever, are well-fed sheep poisoned. It may be assumed 
that the sheep in Germany that feed upon the lupine are stall-fed or 
pasture-fed and eat somewhat at leisure, so that seldom would they 
be likely to reach the toxic limit in a single feeding. In this connec- 
tion, however, it may be noted that some of the symptoms men- 
tioned by the German authors resemble those of alkaloidal poisoning, 
and, granted that ictrogen is the principal cause of the losses, it is 
possible that there is a certain amount of alkaloidal poisoning in 
addition. This would account for the nervous symptoms described 
by the German authors, for these correspond to the phenomena 
exhibited by western sheep suffering from the lupine alkaloids. 
It should be noted in this connection that the work of Dr. Knowles 
mentioned on page 35 seems to show that under some conditions 
ictrogenic poisoning of horses may occur in America. 
The exact relationship between poisoning by lupine alkaloids and 
ictrogenic poisoning is far from clear, and it 1s to be expected that the 
chemical investigations which are now being carried on by the United 
States Department of Agriculture will aid in clearing up this subject. 
REMEDIES. 
It was hoped that some remedy might be found by which recovery 
from lupine poisoning might be aided, but the results of the experi- 
mental work in this direction were disappointing. Whisky, gin, and 
atropin were tried, with no beneficial results. Caffein and Epsom 
salts were used to increase excretion, but without any advantage. 
Tannic acid and sodium bicarbonate were used as antidotes. In the 
publication on Zygadenus,' there is a discussion of reasons why the 
use of antidotes in a drench in any ordinary method of administra- 
tion should not be expected to be beneficial. As in the work on 
Zygadenus, experiments were made of giving sodium bicarbonate in 
frequently repeated doses. This was tried in four cases (sheep Nos. _ 
297, 254, 296, and 269). Sheep No. 269 received 0.772 pound of © 
seed and died in spite of the remedy, but sheep No. 296 received 
0.666 pound, considerably more than the toxic dose, and was not 
sick. This animal received the sodium bicarbonate every half hour, 
while sheep No. 269 received it at hour intervals. There seems to be 
little doubt, as in Zygadenus poisoning, that if the sodium bicarbonate 
1U.S. Dept. of Agr. Bul. No. 125, p. 41. 
