10 BULLETIN 405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
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if left alone, is quite excitable when disturbed. The reflexes are 
heightened. The movements are brusque and exaggerated. The 
depression gradually deepens; the animal partly loses control of its 
hind legs, so that these tend to drag. Often the animal lies on its 
belly, the head on the floor and legs spread out. It is still able to 
walk. Itsoon loses this ability and sits or lies still. When disturbed, 
it reacts with shivering, and becomes more and more convulsive. 
Stimulation now produces more or less violent spasms, the first spasm 
being strongly tetanic. The animal may assume the strychnin posi- 
tion, with legs stretched out, and back arched in; or it may rise on 
its feet, the back arched upward. The spasm soon becomes clonic 
and incoordinated, the animal pawing the air in an aimless manner. 
This is followed by relaxation, and the animal remains quiet unless 
disturbed, which disturbance would cause another spasm. After a 
time the convulsions occur spontaneously. In milder cases there 
may be no general convulsions, but twitching of isolated muscles— 
of the face, ears, neck, back, and extremities. The head may swing 
in a rhythmical pendulum movement. The respiration during this 
convulsive paralytic condition is slow, shallow, and irregular... The 
pupils are variable, but need not be dilated (which speaks against 
the view that they are asphyxial; the mucous membranes are also a 
bright pink). Many animals urinate copiously. The animals may 
remain on the abdomen or recover a sitting posture for some time 
after the onset of the convulsions, but after a time they fall on the 
side. The respiration becomes gasping. Asphyxial convulsions set 
n, and the respiration stops from half a minute to 1 minute before 
the heart. 3 
The depressant and convulsive symptoms agree with those de- 
scribed by Lowenthal (1888), Gemma (1882), and Raimondi (1891) 
for European lupine alkaloids. | 
It is not possible to make any general statement as to the time 
required for the development of the different symptoms, since this 
is extremely variable. It is remarkable, however, that a consider- 
able time may elapse before any pronounced symptoms appear, 
and this even when the solutions are administered under the skin. 
It is to be noted that doses which are little below fatal produce only 
very sight symptoms. 
Recovery may occur from any stage and is usually so complete 
that the animal gains on its original weight. The intoxication leaves 
no post-mortem lesions, gross or microscopical. 
OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS WITH LUPINE ALKALOIDS. 
The effects on blood pressure, respiration, etc., were studied on 
five dogs, anesthetized with morphin and ether, and arranged for 
tracings. The alkaloidal extract of Specimen V (seeds of Lupinus 
