190 Seuecio Alkaloids and Hepatic Cirrhosis in Cattle. 



state of degeneration, most cells having disappeared and the few remaining 

 staining badly. The greater part of the section was occupied by blood 

 corpuscles in a state of decomposition. Eound the vessels there were masses 

 of round cells which appeared to be in process of change to connective 

 tissue. The round cell infiltration extended also into the remains of the 

 lobules and between the surviving liver cells. The cirrhosis had not 

 proceeded so far as is described in cattle, but was of the same nature, and on 

 the other hand was an obvious development of the process seen in animals 

 which died from a single dose of the alkaloid. 



The two alkaloids sent to me induced the same symptoms and the same 

 changes, and seem to be equally toxic. The whole of the symptoms appear 

 to arise from two different effects, one of them being an action on the central 

 nervous system resembling that seen in many convulsive poisons, but this 

 action is only induced by very large quantities. On the other hand, when 

 smaller quantities are given, the dominating effect is haemorrhage, which 

 may occur in almost any organ, but which is constant in the liver and 

 almost invariably present in the stomach and bowel. The haemorrhage in 

 the liver appears to be the cause of most of the other changes, such as the 

 dropsy and jaundice, and the destruction of the liver cells appears to be 

 the starting point for the cirrhosis. Together with the haemorrhages in 

 the stomach the hepatic changes may probably be the explanation of the 

 loss of weight which forms a characteristic feature in chronic and sub-acute 

 poisoning. 



The results with the alkaloids of the S. latifolius suggested the examina- 

 tion of the action of the S. Jacobcea in this country. Inquiries in various 

 parts of this country indicated that poisoning with this plant is unknown. 

 In accord with this, I have been unable to obtain any symptoms from animals 

 in which large quantities of the extract of the English ragwort were injected. 

 On the other hand, the same plant growing in Canada has been shown to 

 induce the characteristic cirrhosis, but an extract of a quantity of this plant 

 grown in Canada also proved inactive. It is possible, however, that the 

 plant from which my preparations were made had been collected at the 

 wrong season, or the alkaloids may have undergone changes into some inert 

 form in the course of preparation. 



S. silvaticus collected in Yorkshire in August proved equally inactive. 

 /S'. vulgaris, or common groundsel, collected in England and prepared in the 

 same way, proved poisonous, the animals dying from symptoms resembling 

 those arising from senecifoline, but with marked diarrhoea. 



