784 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



Objections — 



1. Its extreme bitterness, unless disguised, is objectionable to many animals. 



Antidote — For a human being, give an emetic, as mustard, strong salt solution, or a 

 large dose of a warm solution of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Then give 

 milk or white of egg. Keep patient in a dark and quiet place. Call a doctor. 

 To a dog, give emetics as above, followed by plenty of grease or lard. If a horse 

 is found eating poisoned grain, seize the tongue and thoroughly clean the grain 

 out of the mouth. Then drench with very strong tea, made by putting one pound 

 of tea in one quart of boiling water, stir well and add two quarts of cold water. 

 Follow later with a good dose of Glauber's salts to counteract the binding effect 

 of tannin in the tea. Call a veterinarian for further treatment. The horse 

 should be kept in a cool, quiet place. 



Kinds — 



1. Strychnine sulphate. It can be obtained either as a crystal or as a powder. 



It is readily soluble in hot water. 



2. Strychnine alkaloid. It can be obtained either as a crystal or as a powder. 



It is slightly soluble in hot water, but if a little acid is added (strong- 

 vinegar will answer the purpose) it will readily dissolve to form the 

 acetate. A given quantity of strychnine alkaloid is about 20 per cent 

 stronger than an equal weight of the sulphate. Its bitter taste is more 

 readily concealed in poison baits. It is more stable in combinations than 

 the sulphate, hence is preferable for poisoning operations. 



INVESTIGATION IN CALIFORNIA. 



In Mr. Piper's investigations strychnine, all points considered, proved 

 the most practical poison, after careful comparison with those mentioned 

 above. Such bait materials as fruits (fresh and dried), nuts, dry 

 meals, flesh products, grasses and vegetables, were eliminated, in a long 

 series of tests, in favor of barley grain, of the rough or shoe-peg variety. 

 Throughout the dry season when the squirrels are storing food, this 

 grain was found to possess marked advantages over all others. These 

 advantages are closely related to the hardness of the grain and its close, 

 tight-fitting husk, which the squirrel finds difficulty in removing. 

 Strange to say, the Digger squirrel is so skillful in removing the outer 

 hull from oats that he can eat large quantities of this grain without 

 being killed, though the oats be poisoned in precisely the same manner 

 as barley, a few kernels of which effect his death. On the other hand, 

 oats are far more effective than barley for the small Oregon ground 

 squirrel which inhabits the plains region of northeastern California. 



In the early investigations on the Digger squirrels, grains were soaked 

 or boiled in strychnine solutions with the idea of impregnating the 

 kernels with the poison. The squirrels, however, exhibited marked 

 objection to the bitterness of grain so treated, and no amount of sweet- 

 ening, or "doctoring" covered this defect sufficiently to cause them to 

 eat the kernels, though they hulled them out and tasted them. 



The squirrels' habit of carrying grain in their cheek pouches, which 

 is especially marked during the dry season, or when seeds are abundant, 

 was at this time taken into consideration. It was thought that if 

 strychnine could be held in a readily available form in a coating on the 

 surface of the grain, sufficient of the poison would be assimilated 

 directly from the cheek pouch to kill the animal, even though none of 

 the grain was eaten. This became the actual basis on which has been 

 developed one of the most successful of all rodent poisons. 



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