196 
INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF ALTHAEA ROSEA. 
Injurious Effects produced on a Cow, from eating a large 
quantity of Althaea Rosea/’ and in the January number fol¬ 
lowing there is an account of another case, by Mr. Howell, 
of a cow being poisoned by eating the same plant. I must, 
with due deference to your correspondents, call in question 
their toxological opinions. So far as my researches extend, 
all writers on materia medica agree, that in none of the 
species of althaea, including the rosea or hollyhock, is found 
any principle possessing even in the slightest degree either 
medicinal or poisonous properties. Every part of the plants 
of this species or family is mucilaginous, containing a large 
quantity of mucilage, a little starch, a small quantity of 
uncrystallizable sugar, and a crystallizable principle, named 
althein, which is without taste or odour, and perfectly neutral 
and inert. 
Now both these cases, from the symptoms and from the 
fact of their occurring in summer, one in June and the other 
in July, appear to me to be well-marked examples of a form 
of stomach-staggers, called by Professor Dick grass-staggers, 
a short account of ivhich I annex. 
Grass-staggers, or as it is called by the farmers in different 
parts of Scotland, grass-ill, or the head-disease, and which by 
some veterinary practitioners goes under the name of vertigo, 
is a disease which was first noticed in Scotland in the end of 
June, 1846, when it appeared as an epizootic. It always makes 
its appearance about the end of June or beginning of July, 
continuing throughout the latter month, and sometimes not 
disappearing until the end of August. The affection is 
confined to animals that are either grazing, or fed on cut 
grass, and is always worst in very dry seasons. 
The symptoms of it are, the animal is at first restless, this 
restlessness being speedily followed by dulness. It stands 
with its head protruded, and the whole of its feet drawn 
underneath the body. There is more or less insensibility, 
and the sight and hearing are partially impaired. A kind of 
shivering or twitching affects the muscles of the neck, shoul¬ 
ders, and hind quarters. The horns, ears, and extremities 
become cold, the coat is staring, muzzle dry, eyes glassy, and 
the abdomen is sometimes tucked in, at other times dis¬ 
tended, depending upon whether or not it is accompanied 
by tympanitis. Rumination is suspended, and in milk cows 
the lacteal secretion disappears. The pulse varies in different 
cases, in some it is weak and oppressed, in others quick and 
strong, and the bowels are constipated. Should the animal 
be compelled to move, it does so with a staggering gait, 
reeling about as if drunk, frequently losing entirely the use 
