LARKSPUR POISONING OF LIVE STOCK. 79 
larger. On one day this animal received almost twice as much as 
was given to No. 112 on the second day when it became ill. 
While these two cases can not be considered as furnishing positive 
proof that the administration of magnesium sulphate will prevent 
the action of larkspur, the results were very significant. 
In connection with this case, comparisons may be made with some 
others. No. 606, a heifer, weighing about 450 pounds, belonging to 
Otis Moore, was fed, between August 28 and September 6, 195 pounds 
of Delphinium harbeyi, or, on the basis of 1,000 pounds of weight, 
431.8 pounds. Part of this material was collected at Kebler Pass 
and was green. A smaller part, about 50 pounds, was collected near 
the station and was older and drier. This feeding was of leaves and 
stems without the seeds. She was given 4 ounces of magnesium 
sulphate in the drinking water on August 30 and September 3. No 
poisonous effects were noticed. 
At the same time, August 28 and 29, No. 605 was fed 29£ pounds, 
or, on the basis of 1,000 pounds weight, 66.5 pounds, and became sick. 
The material fed was of stems and seeds of Delphinium harbeyi. 
It should be borne in mind, however, in comparing Nos. 605 and 606, 
that the seeds are more toxic than the leaves and stems, as has been 
shown elsewhere, and that it is possible the result in the case of No. 
605 may have been caused by the larger number of seeds in the 
feeding. 
With this, however, may be compared No. 98, which, between Sep- 
tember 18 and 25, received 357.25 pounds, or, on the basis of 1,000 
pounds' weight, 776.6 pounds of Delphinium harbeyi, collected at 
Kebler Pass. This material included not only stems and leaves, but 
the seeds. The animal ate a very large, proportion of its own weight 
of larkspur. Four ounces of magnesium sulphate in its drinking 
water were given every day between September 18 and 25, inclusive, 
the effect of this being to keep the action of the bowels in very nearly 
a normal condition. The animal was not affected at all by the poison- 
ous material eaten. 
Summing up these cases, then, it would appear that it is very prob- 
able that the injurious effects of larkspur eating might not appear 
if means were taken to produce free movement of the bowels in the 
animals feeding upon the plant, and it indicates also that if some 
remedy could be used which, in the beginning of the poisoning, would 
quickly stimulate the intestinal excretion it might serve to save the 
lives of the animals. 
Inasmuch as the work of 1909 at the Mount Carbon station brought 
out very clearly the fact that one of the most prominent symptoms 
connected with larkspur poisoning was constipation, and also showed 
very clearly that death resulted primarily from respiratory paralysis, 
