2 BULLETIN 125, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
have been Zygadenus. This is the earliest reference to probable 
poisoning by Zygadenus which has been found by the writers. 
Asa Gray (1848) says of Amianthium nuttallii, now known as 
Zygadenus nuttallii, "Crescent cum Kamassa esculenta, quo bulbi 
nocentes viatoribus saepe confusi sunt." 
Hooker (1838) says of Leimanthium nutallii, which is the same as 
the species mentioned by Gray, " 'Poison or Death Camass' of 
the Chenooks, from the violent effects of the roots, which create 
vomiting." 
Watson (1880) speaks of Zygadenus venenosus as poisonous and 
known to the Indians as "Death-Camass, " and says, on page 184, that 
the bulb of Z. paniculatus is also poisonous. 
Apparently the Lloyds (1887) were the first to state definitely the 
symptoms produced by the plant in human beings. 
Irish (1889) fed "cammers" to steers without effect. 
Hillman (1893) published a newspaper bulletin calling attention 
to the poisonous character of Zygadenus, and in 1897 he published 
another newspaper bulletin on the same subject. Also, in another 
publication (18976, p. 115), he states that a horse is reported to 
have been made sick by the seeds of Zygadenus paniculatus in hay. 
Coville (1897) says that Zygadenus venenosus causes extreme vomit- 
ing and that it is sometimes used by medicine men of the Klamath 
Indians, mixed with the dried roots of Iris missouriensis and a little 
tobacco, to give a person a severe nausea, in order to secure a heavy 
fee for making him well again. 
Chesnut (1902, p. 321-322) tells of the knowledge of this plant 
by the Indians of Mendocino County, Cal., and their use of it for 
medicinal purposes. 
Hunt published an abstract in 1902 announcing the discovery of 
the alkaloid. 
In a copy of McCarthy (1903), apparently annotated by the 
author, the statement is made that Zygadenus glaberrimus and 
Z. leimanthoides are poisonous. 
Nelson (1906) demonstrated by feeding experiments the poisonous 
effect of Zygadenus upon sheep. 
REVIEW OF PHARMACOLOGICAL WORK.1 
The bulbs of Zygadenus paniculatus were found by Collier (1882) 
to give several alkaloidal reactions, but the first attempts to isolate 
and determine the chemical and toxic properties of the poison of 
Zygadenus seem to be those of Reid Hunt, 2 special expert of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry in 1901, who worked with the leaves and 
flowering tops of Z. venenosus. Hunt prepared an alcoholic extract 
1 The review of pharmacological work was prepared by Dr. Reid Hunt, of the Harvard Medical School. 
2 Hunt's results were submitted in a report to the Department in 1901 and also reported at a meeting of 
the American Physiological Society. (Hunt, 1902.) 
