408 poisons : their effects and detection. [§§ 480, 481. 
water-bath gives a dark brown or red-yellow solution on dilution with 
water. Nitronitroso - cytisine is precipitated, C n H 12 0N(N0 2 )N.N0. 
This precipitate recrystallised from 50 per cent, alcohol gives yellow 
scales, m.p. 242°-244°. 
§ 480. Effects on Animals. —W. Marme found subcutaneous doses 
of from 30 to 40 mgrms. fatal to cats ; death was from paralysis of the 
respiration, and could be avoided by artificial respiration. Cattle are 
sometimes accidentally poisoned by laburnum. An instance of this is 
recorded in the Veterinarian (vol. lv. p. 92). In Lanark a storm had 
blown a large laburnum tree down to the ground ; it fell into a field 
in which some young heifers were grazing, and they began to feed on 
the leaves and pods. Two or three died, and three more were ill for 
some time, but ultimately recovered. 
The laburnum, however, does not always have this effect, for there 
is a case related in the Gardeners' Chronicle , in which five cows browsed 
for some time on the branches and pods of an old laburnum tree that 
had been thrown aside. Rabbits and hares are said to feed eagerly, and 
without injury, on the pods and branches. 
§ 481. Effects on Man. —The sweet taste of many portions of the 
laburnum tree, as well as its attractive appearance, has been the cause 
of many accidents. F. A. Falck has been able to collect from medical 
literature no less than 155 cases—120 of which were those of the 
accidental poisoning of children : only 4 (or 2-6 per cent.), however, 
died, so that the poison is not of a very deadly character. 
One of the earliest recorded cases is by Christison. 1 A servant-girl 
of Inverness, in order to excite vomiting in her fellow-servant (the 
cook), boiled some laburnum bark in soup ; very soon after partaking 
of this soup, the cook experienced violent vomiting, which lasted for 
thirty-six hours ; she had intense pain in the stomach, much diarrhoea, 
and great muscular weakness ; she appears to have suffered from gastro¬ 
intestinal catarrh for some time, but ultimately recovered. 
Vallance 2 has described the symptoms observed in the poisoning of 
fifty-eight boys, who ate the root of an old laburnum tree, being allured 
by its sweet taste. All were taken ill with similar symptoms, differing 
only in severity ; two who had eaten half an ounce (nearly 8 grms.) 
suffered with especial severity. The symptoms were first vomiting, then 
narcosis, with convulsive movements of the legs and strange movements 
of the arms : the pupils were dilated. This dilatation of the pupil 
Sedgwick also saw in the poisoning of two children who ate the root. 
On the other hand, when the flower, seeds, or other portions of the 
laburnum have been eaten, the symptoms are mainly referable to the 
gastro-intestinal tract, consisting of acute pain in the stomach, vomiting, 
and diarrhoea. On these grounds it is therefore more than probable 
1 Ed. Med, Journ., 1843. 2 Brit. Med. Journ., 1875. 
