66 BULLETIN" 365, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
did not appear to be a lack of coordination, and the movements of 
the animals, while perhaps they might be described as convulsive, 
could hardly be considered as the movements of violent spasms or 
convulsions. When the animals attempted to rise, the difficulty, ap- 
parently, was weakness rather than a lack of coordination of the 
muscles, and the kicking of the animals appeared to be due to volun- 
tary attempts to rise rather than to involuntary and spasmodic con- 
tractions of the muscles of the legs. It did not seem to the observers 
that the animals could be said to have convulsions or spasms. 
Bloating occurred in some of the cases, but was not a common 
symptom. In the cases where it was noticed, it seemed to come 
as one of the later results of the poison. The bloating doubtless adds 
much discomfort to the animal, and if it lies with the head lower 
than the rest of the body, may cause death. It is a matter of com- 
mon knowledge that when animals die of larkspur poisoning upon 
the range they bloat very quickly, and it seems probable that death 
may in some cases be immediately caused by the mechanical effects 
of the bloating. 
Recovery from larkspur poisoning is ordinarily very rapid. The 
animal, after becoming well enough to rise, soon walks away, in a 
short time begins to eat, and after two or three days shows no effects 
of the poisoning. Some stockmen believe that cattle do not thrive 
after being poisoned by larkspur, but from the experimental work 
it appeared that no permanent injury was caused. Several of the 
animals were fed upon the larkspur repeatedly in the same season 
with no bad results in their condition, except the loss of flesh during 
the days when the experiments were being carried on. In these 
experiments of using animals repeatedly they were poisoned as 
readily the second and third times as the first, or, in other words, 
there is no evidence from the experimental work of acquired toler- 
ation ; on the other hand, they were no more susceptible to the effects 
of the poison because of the repeated feedings. 
THE TOXIC DOSE OF LARKSPUR. 
It was important for practical purposes to determine how much 
larkspur was necessary to produce poisonous effects. The work of 
the first season alone did not give very definite indications of the 
quantity of larkspur necessary to produce poisoning, but taken in 
conjunction with the work of the succeeding seasons, seems to give 
results that are quite exact. 
From the accompanying charts (see figs. 6 to 12) one can see the 
toxic dose of larkspur, this being reduced to a uniform scale for 
animals weighing 1,000 pounds. They show the quantities of lark- 
spur necessary to produce the poisoning, the dates of the experi- 
ments, and the length of time during which the plant* was fed. The 
