398 
J. P. KLENCH. 
high, developing large pots, resembling the pea, but containing a 
number of black or yellow hard seeds. Prof. Sayre has made 
several chemical analyses of the dried plant, and the result gave 
him fat chlorophyl and soft resin. No traces of any alcoloid were 
detected. 
In order to ascertain the effect of this plant upon the animals, 
Dr. Harding, Veterinary Surgeon in Dodge City, Kansas, made 
the following experiments with loco-plant. One experiment was 
made in the pasture with two horses, both having fed on loco. 
One of these horses found a good deal of rattleweed in his field, 
while the other one had none, because the plant had been care¬ 
fully removed. The first horse died in the pasture; the second 
one recovered. For the second experiment he placed two horses 
similarly affected in the barn. One received dried loco feed, the 
other one was fed on clean hay. That one died ; the last one re¬ 
covered. 
In the November edition of American Veterinary Review, 
1884, Prof. Stalker, of the Veterinary College at Ames, Iowa, 
published a very interesting article about this disease. He says 
that the symptoms in some cases bore such a resemblance to 
those produced by eating Astragallus Mollissimus or loco-plant 
of the Western plains, as to direct his investigations to that 
family of plants. But on careful examination of the meadows 
and pastures, he could not discover a single loco-plant. How¬ 
ever, he succeeded in finding a closely related plant called, Cro- 
talaria Sagettalis, or Rattlebox, also known as the wild pea. In 
order to test the effects of this plant, he prepared a strong infu¬ 
sion from about ten pounds of the plant and administered it by 
means of a stomach pump. In twenty minutes, stupor began to 
appear and all the symptoms were closely defined. At the end 
of six hours, the stupor disappeared and in another hour the 
horse began to eat. The following day, when he had apparently 
recovered from these effects, he was given half the quantity of 
the drug as on the previous day. Now the symptoms were de¬ 
veloped much quicker and death arrived in one and one-half hour. 
The post mortem examination revealed the characters of the above 
described disease. He now resolved to make a second experi- 
