346 
POISONOUS CATTLE TOOD. 
horses., amongst their cut fodder, and a little to some cattle 
in the yards. The result Mas, that in the course of a few 
days, thirty-five sheep, three horses, and a pony, died in 
great agony. The cattle were very unwell, but recovered— 
probably owing to their having had less of the mixture. 
Unremitting attention was paid to the suffering animals by a 
skilful veterinary surgeon, but unfortunately without avail. 
A portion of the sweepings was sent to Professor Voeleker, 
of the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester, for the 
purpose of analysis; and with the view of warning others 
against the incautious use of food, the properties of which they are 
not acquainted with, I request the favour of your inserting the 
following report, which I have received from Professor 
Voeleker on the subject. 
“ I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
“John Horn castle. 
“The Yews, Feb., i860. 
“ To the Editor of the 'Sheffield and Rotherham Independent” 
(i Report. 
“ ‘ Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. 
“ ( Sir, —The examination of the sweepings of a warehouse 
has occupied my attention until this day, and the result is, 
briefly, that I have been unable to detect any mineral poison, 
except a trace of copper. The traces of this metal in the 
fine portion of the meal, however, cannot possibly have done 
the mischief. I have carefully and repeatedly examined the 
meal for arsenic, mercury, lead, antimony, zinc, and other 
mineral poisons, but have not been able to find any mineral 
poison. My attention was therefore directed to find out, if 
possible, whether the warehouse stuff contained any organic 
substance injurious to health ; but though I have searched 
for many matters, I 'have not succeeded in identifying any. 
I may remark that very little is known respecting the pro¬ 
perties of, and chemical tests for, most organic poisonous 
substances. Unless, therefore, distinct symptoms, that cha¬ 
racterise certain organic poisons, such as strychnia or opium, 
point in a definite direction, the labours of chemists to 
identify vegetable poisons are unavailing. My own belief is, 
that the meal contains some strong, poisonous, oily bean. 
Cureus beans (the seed of Fatrophii cureus) would produce 
the disaster described in your note. This seed is used by 
