20 A. COW POISONED WITH THE ALTHAEA ROSEA. 
pupils dilated, breathing laboured, ears and horns cold, 
muzzle dry, the legs thrust out, she staggered when compelled 
to move forward, and evinced no inclination to eat or drink, 
when food or water was presented to her. The pulse was 
very rapid, but too oppressed to count its beatings. 
Treatment .—This at first was similar to that adopted by 
Mr. Watson; but not producing any action on the bowels, I 
gave, the following morning, a second purgative, and applied 
a liniment of mustard and ammonia over the whole length 
of the spine. 
On the morning of the 11th I found her down, resting 
upon the sternum, foaming at the mouth, groaning frequently, 
and grinding her teeth, the jaws moving at a very rapid rate. 
An enema was thrown up, and repeated at night, and at 
intervals she was drenched with small quantities of gruel. 
She now became gradually weaker, and the bowels still con¬ 
tinued dormant, until the evening of the 15th, when she 
died. 
The following morning I made a post-mortem examination. 
The rumen was nearly full of ingesta in a liquid state, but I 
could not detect any portion of either the flowers, leaves, or 
stems of the hollyhocks in it. The third stomach was full 
to repletion with a dark-coloured, solid mass, not unlike oil¬ 
cake in appearance, nearly as hard, and breaking with a 
similar fracture. The lungs contained a large quantity of 
dark-coloured blood, especially the lobe on the right side, the 
side on w 7 hich she lay the greater part of the time she w T as 
dowm. The brain and spinal cord I did not examine. The 
lacteal secretion was suspended from the first. Thinking it 
a very singular case, and being only sufficiently conversant 
with the botanical history of the plants as to know that they 
belonged to the mallow 7 species, and were originally brought 
from China, I w T as induced to ascertain their action on two 
rabbits,—having no opportunity of experimenting on the 
bovine tribe. One rabbit I fed entirely on the plants, giving 
to it the flowers, stems, and leaves, and selecting those only 
from w 7 hich the cow had eaten portions. I first gave it for 
three days in a fresh state, and afterwards in a withered con¬ 
dition. The second rabbit I fed in the same way, but with 
the addition of some meadow hay; but, instead of their being 
poisoned, they fattened; and if there was any difference 
between the tw 7 o animals, the preference was in favour of the 
one entirely fed upon the hollyhocks; thus proving, that 
although they w r ere prejudicial to the ruminant, they were 
beneficial to another class of the herbivora. 
