CROTALISM. 
345 
The first question the farmer is likely to ask, is : “What shall 
we do?” You cannot rely on drugs to cure the disease. You 
must prevent its appearance. Feed wild hay free from the pois¬ 
onous plant, tame hay, corn fodder, sheaf oats, straw, anything 
but the wild pea. Plow up the land and put it in tame grass. 
The wild rye, which is taking much of the bottom land, is aggra¬ 
vating the disorder brought on by the rattle box. By the proper 
cultivation you will get rid of both at once. Animals placed on 
good green pasture, or supplied with other nutritive food, free 
from the poison, will doubtless make slow recovery. Two ounces 
of opson salts, with two drachms of sulphate of iron and one 
drachm of nux vomica daily will tend to restore the tone of the 
system and promote digestion. 
Prof. Bessjq in the forthcoming college bulletin, which will 
be published about the first of November, will give a full descrip, 
tion of this plant, together with accurate plates. 
ARE FURTHER EXPERIMENTS NECESSARY? 
DR. SALMON REPLIES TO THE CHICAGO CATTLE BROKERS. 
Elmer Washburn, Esq., President of Chicago Live-Stock Exchange . 
Sir —Your letter to the Hon. Geo. B. Boring, Commissioner 
of Agriculture, with accompanying resolutions adopted by the 
Chicago Live-Stock Exchange, have been referred to me for such 
action as I may deem proper under the circumstances. The ma¬ 
terial portion of these resolutions appears to be contained in the 
following words: 
“Whereas, It has been declared recently by agents of the 
Department of Agriculture that contagious pleuro-pneumonia 
now exists to an alarming extent in the State of Illinois; * * * 
and whereas, apparently well-authenticated reports of the * * * 
existence of all the contagious diseases with which cattle are ever 
afflicted have been frequent for many years, and as often found to 
be utterly without foundation in fact, * * * therefore, * * for 
the purpose of determining beyond question whether or not the 
disease now declared * * to exist * * in the State of Illinois is con 
