RELATIONSHIP OF WHITE SNAKEROOT AND MILKSICKNESS. 19 

 EFFECT OF WHITE SNAKEROOT ON SHEEP. 



A lamb weighing about 25 kilos when fed 58 grams of the fresh 

 plant showed merely some diarrheal symptoms. 



EFFECT OF WHITE SNAKEROOT ON MAN. 



The writer became so convinced of the harmlessness of the plant 

 that he decided to take the plant extract himself. Four hundred 

 grains of the fresh Eupatorium ageratoides were collected at Land-* 

 over, Md., under the supervision of Prof. C. F. Wheeler, one of the 

 botanists of the Department of Agriculture, and extracted carefully 

 with water, chloroform being used as a preservative. This extract 

 was evaporated in vacuo and made up to 154 c. c. At 11.10 a. m., 

 September 30, 1907, 14 c. c. of this extract were taken. Seventy-four 

 c. c. in all were taken by 1.45 p. m., without any special symptoms. 

 The taste of the extract was exceedingly, disagreeable. By 4.15 p. m. 

 all but 40 c. c. had been taken ; that is, an extract of over 300 grams. 

 No untoward symptoms characteristic of milksickness were noted the 

 following day ;*in fact, the writer never felt better. 



To simulate the conditions which occur in herbivora, 100 grams of 

 the dried plant from Illinois were digested with pepsin and pan- 

 creatin and the concentrated products taken by the writer in the 

 period of one hour without the production of any serious symptoms. 



SUMMARY. 



To sum up, it certainly can not be said that it has been proved that 

 milksickness is due to any constituent of Eupatorium ageratoides. 

 The transmission of the disease by eating small quantities of meat or 

 milk of animals sick with the " trembles " and the fact that cooked 

 meat or boiled milk a does not produce this disorder point primarily 

 rather to a parasitic origin, while the fact that Eupatorium agera- 

 toides b is abundant in areas where the disease is not known and ab- 

 sent in some milksick areas c also indicates that the plant has no re- 

 lation to the disease. If it does, it would be only an accidental carrier 

 of some pathogenic organism/ According to reports, the same flora 

 may be in the areas in which " trembles " occur as in those free from 

 it, and milksickness is also said to occur where no vegetation grows 

 (inclosed pens). e The disease also has disappeared from an area 



a Smith, C. H. Milk Sickness. Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 77, p. 471, 

 1867-68.— Wood, G. B. Practice of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 465, 1858. 

 Note. — Some toxins from infected meat are not injured by boiling. 

 & Wilkinson, G. W., 1. c, p. 153.— Graff, G. B., 1. c, p. 361. 

 c Brewington, W. J. Milksickness. The Clinic, Cincinnati, vol. 10, p. 77, 1876. 

 d Walker, J. W., 1. c, p. 483. 

 e Wilkinson, G. W., 1. c, p. 153. 

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