LUPINOSIS OF THE SHEEP. 



247 



Treatment. This must be mainly prophylactic, for there is no 

 specific antidote. 



When it is impossible to completely exclude the lupin from the 

 food we must seek by experimentation to find out the fields which 

 produce the toxic lupin, in order to avoid the troubles produced 

 by them, we may 



1. Mix these plants with good food — in the proportion of 

 1 : 6-10, for instance — and preferably to old animals. 



2. Put the toxic fodder in small heaps, and leave it exposed to 

 the action of rain, which washes the poison from the superficial 

 layers (Dammann). 



3. Macerate the toxic lupins for forty-eight hours in a solution 

 of soda of 1 : 100, renewing the dissolving liquid from time to time. 



4. Subject the lupins for two hours to the action of steam under 

 a pressure of two atmospheres at least (Kuhn, RolofF). 



When the poisoning has already appeared and is indicated by its 

 special symptoms, we must avoid all alkaline liquids, and above 

 all, alkaline water. A very advisable method is to add a small 

 quantity of some acid to the drinking-water, in order to render the 

 lupinotoxine insoluble. We advise, besides, the évacuants, which 

 are susceptible of producing as rapid an expulsion as possible of the 

 poison contained in the digestive canal ; but here, again, sulphate 

 of soda must not be administered, oily substances and brewers' 

 grains should be used (Dammann). The meat from diseased ani- 

 mals can be consumed ; we need only reject that of animals that 

 had reached the last stage of the poisoning (Roloif ). 



From an anatomical and symptomatological point of view lupino- 

 sis of the horse is identical with that of the sheep. It is usually due 

 to the presence of lupin seed in the oats or to the use of lupin 

 stubble as litter. Generally we detect gastro-enteritis, which is 

 more intense than in the sheep. The animals refuse drinks and 

 food, even the best oats and good meadow hay. The general sensi- 

 tiveness is weakened ; sometimes we observe a very marked cere- 

 bral depression : the head is rested upon the manger, the animal 

 grinds the teeth ; the head is carried low, the gait is uncertain and 

 staggering. The fever, which is ordinarily slight, may become 

 very intense (40.4° C, Butzert), the heart beats sixty times and 

 more per minute (Kobel has noticed — undoubtedly at a more ad- 

 vanced period — thirty-two to thirty-six pulsations only). The 

 respiration is quiet and accelerated; we have counted thirty-six to 



