KAYLESS GOLDENROD AS A POISONOUS PLANT 6 
the department, is the cause. The loss is confined wholly to the valley, the 
stock drinking from the irrigating ditches or from wells nearly as strongly 
impregnated with salts. All the water for human consumption in this district 
is hauled from wells on the high land back from the river. 
The symptoms of the disease, as described by the residents, are invariably the 
same. Usually the animals appear normal until they are exercised. When 
the horses are put in use or the cattle are moved from one point to another, an 
animal will suddenly become stiff, begin to tremble violently, and refuse to 
move. As reported, the temperature is subnormal, the pulse rapid. Horses 
sweat profusely in the early stages ; sometimes the urine is streaked with 
blood. The animals often recover if permitted to rest ; in other cases, after 
lingering for some days, they die. Some men stated that they would eat and 
drink until the last ; others that they would take neither food nor drink. 
The symptoms as described in the horse seemed to me strikingly similar to 
azoturia. 
At the time of my arrival we could locate but one sick animal near Grand- 
falls. This was a yearling Durham steer, belonging to C. C. Dorr, about 4 miles 
south of Grandfalls. I visited Mr. Dorr's farm the afternoon of the 18th. 
He has a herd of 50 head or so of purebred Durham cattle, in good condition, 
running in the cotton stalks and alfalfa fields on his farm. The alfalfa is 
pastured to the ground, but the goldenrod, before mentioned, grows profusely 
on the banks of the canals and along the fence rows. The Mexican in charge 
of the herd stated that these cattle had been shut off from water for a day, 
went then into the canal and drank profusely. At the time I saw them, 5 p. m., 
there were no noticeable symptoms except in the case of the yearling men- 
tioned. This animal was lying in the corral with its head to its side. Ap- 
parently it had not drunk for a day or two ; temperature was 103, respiration 
42, pulse 90. The animal was very weak, and upon being forced to its feet it 
trembled violently and staggered drunkenly about, lying down again at once. 
There was a thin, mucous discharge from the nostrils, the mucous membranes 
of which were inflamed, and the animal was apparently constipated, this latter 
seemingly being typical of the disease, especially in the latter stages. 
I examined this animal the next day at 1 p. m. Respiration and pulse were 
practically the same, temperature 102.2. The animal appeared stronger, but 
had neither eaten nor drunk, nor were there visible signs of defecation. 
The animal was still alive the morning of the 20th, apparently no worse, 
according to the owner, who did not wish him killed for post-mortem examina- 
tion as long as there was a chance for recovery. 
At the time of my last visit to this animal I obtained blood smears, which 
I am forwarding to the Pathological Division by mail, along with the so-called 
rayless goldenrod. 3 
Learning that W. G. Wynne, living some 5 miles north of Grandfalls, was 
losing some cattle, I visited his ranch the afternoon of the 19th. I found his 
cattle extremely emaciated and consequently not good subjects for post-mortem 
examination ; however, I held a post-mortem on a 2-year-old heifer that 
had died that morning. The man in charge had driven her a mile or so 
the day before, when she exhibited symptoms of " alkali," as he expressed it. 
He had left her at an irrigating, ditch, where she had drunk, lain down, and 
was dead next morning. Post-mortem examination revealed the most marked 
changes in the liver, which showed extreme icterus, the gall bladder being 
enormously enlarged. The bladder was distended with urine, which was of a 
citron-yellow color. I had noticed an excessive flow of urine from the 
Dorr calf. 
In the Wynne heifer the kidneys showed degeneration, there were petechia? 
in the lungs and heart muscle : the other tissues were not noticeably icteric ; 
what fat remained had broken down into a gelatinous mass. 
I would infer from the post-mortem examination that the animal had been 
subjected to a, long-continued irritant poison, but whether of a vegetable or 
mineral nature I could not say. 4 
3 An examination of the blood slides by G. T. Creech, of the Pathological Division, 
Bureau of Animal Industry, showed no bacteria, and nothing abnormal except a slight 
distortion of the red corpuscles. 
4 Specimens of the liver were examined by G. T. Creech, of the Pathological Division, 
Bureau of Animal Industry- Cultures showed putrefactive organisms, but nothing resem- 
bling Bacillus lactimorbi. Sections were made, but decomposition had proceeded so far 
that no inferences could be drawn from their examination. 
