464 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. VI, No. 4, 
Reports for 1858 and 1873 gav'e evidence to support this view, 
including a letter from \V. J. Vermilya of Ashland County, who 
in 1856 had produced trembles and death of a mare by feeding 
her this weed, also a statement that Mr. John Rowe had fed it to 
cattle in Madison County, 1839, with the same fatal results. 
W. C. Mills informs me that Professor Townshend and some of 
his pupils intended to experiment in feeding this Aveed. 
The principal objection to Professor Townshend’s view 
appears to ha\"e been that white snake-root grows where animals 
have been pastured for many years without a single case of 
trembles and this seemed a serious objection to the theory. 
The Eupatoriums are not palatable. Anyone who has 
tasted boneset will admit that this is true of Eupatorium per- 
foliatum. In the South I ha\'e observed that animals leave 
Eupatorium serotinum untouched e\^en where they have been 
confined so as to eat almost e\’ery other green thing in reach. 
In northern Ohio I ha\’e found Eupatorium ageratoides, the 
white snake-root, growing abundantly in a number of woods 
where animals were pastured but no sign of their ha\fing eaten it. 
But if the pasture becomes poor, some are likely to eat it. 
On the 8th of last October I visited a piece of woods in 
Sandusky County Avhere there was nothing fit for an animal to 
eat, the principal herbs being nettle, AA'hite snake-root, poke and 
black nightshade, with some clearweed, basil, and bedstraw. 
Every plant of snake-root had been nipped off so that I did not 
see one more than about half the normal height. This had 
probably been done by cattle from the adjoining pasture which 
were doubtless accustomed to spend a portion of hot sunny days 
in the shade of the woods. A few Aveeks before my A’isit a man 
and his Avife Avho had been using butter made from milk of coavs 
in this pasture had milk-sickness and the Avife died. 
Elisha Haff, ToAA’nsend ToAAmship, Sandusky County, did not 
think trembles were due to any Aveed, until he found that western 
sheep Avhich he turned in his woods ate the Avhite snake-root and 
died of trembles. Sheep whose ancestors had long been in the 
region did not eat it and did not haA'e trembles. Since that he 
has been destroying the Aveed. 
James Fuller in the same tOAvnship, in 1874, turned sheep 
into Avoods Avhen the ground Avas coA'ered AA’ith snoAV and all they 
had to eat Avas this Aveed. They contracted the trembles and 
forty of them died. George Sanford in the same tOA\-nship in 
January, 1881, lost a horse Avhich could get nothing but snake- 
root in the AVOods. He tracked it and saAv Avhere it had eaten 
this Aveed. A number of dogs from the neighborhood fed on the 
carcass and all died of the trembles. 
Mr. H. H. Lockwood of Sandusky, Avas the first to describe 
to me the plant Avhich caused trembles and milk-sickness. His 
