LUPINOSIS OF THE SHEEP. 



241 



IiUPINOSIS OP THE SHEEP : ACUTE ICTERUS : ACUTE 

 YELLOW ATROPHY OP THE LIVER. 



Historical. Isolated cases of lupinosis were seen about 1860 

 by Wienands, Liebscher, and Giittlich. The first observations of 

 lupinosis taking an enzootic course date from 1872. They became 

 more and more frequent till 1875. At that date, at the request 

 of the Prussian Minister of Agriculture, reseaiches were begun in 

 the veterinary schools of Berlin and of Hanover, in order to de- 

 termine the nature of the disease. 



The regions where lupinosis made its first ravages were those 

 whose soil is particularly favorable to the culture of the lupin : in 

 Pomerania, in the provinces of Posen and Brandenburg, western 

 Prussia, and Silesia ; later it reached Hanover, and finally all 

 northern Germany. It is unknown in southern Germany. 



The losses to agriculture caused by lupinosis are considerable. 

 Often one-half or three-fourths of the flocks attacked die. In 

 some districts of Pomerania its annual mortality amounts to several 

 thousands of sheep. In the Bulletin of the Royal College of Social 

 Economy of Prussia for February 3, 1880, Von Below-Saleske asserts 

 an annual loss of 14,000 sheep, and consequently 13,000 lambs, in 

 an ovine population of 240,000 head in one Pomeranian district 

 Alloue. 



Lupinosis may also attack the goat, the horse, the ox, and the 

 stag. The dog contracts it experimentally. The rabbit is refrac- 

 tory to it. 



Etiology. The race, the age, and individual characteristics are 

 almost without influence in the development of lupinosis. It has, 

 however, been observed that the lambs and mothers furnished a 

 larger percentage than the rams and wethers — a fact which is easily 

 explained by their stronger constitution. The yellow lupin (Lupinus 

 luteus) is the most toxic of all the different lupins. 



The nature of the toxic agent found in the lupin has given rise 

 to several hypotheses : 



1. The farmers have ascribed it to the exhaustion of the soil. 

 Weakened by too numerous crops, it was said to be unable to pro- 

 duce anything but weak and sickly plants, in which a certain toxic 

 principle was developed. But the study of this theory does not 

 confirm it : lupins growing upon virgin ground may determine 



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