68 
The Bulletin 
dotal effects. Three animals were employed in this experiment, which 
was conducted between September 18 and October 20, 1916. The essen¬ 
tial facts in this experiment are assembled in Table XIV. 
TABLE XIV.—RESULTS OF FEEDING WHITE SNAKEROOT TOGETHER WITH 
SALT OR SODA TO SHEEP. 
Initial 
Placed 
Date of 
Days before 
Weight 
Feed consumed 
Ewe No. 
weight 
Pounds 
on feed 
death 
death resulted 
at death 
Pounds 
Grain 
Pounds 
Weed 
Pounds 
21 
121 
Sept. 18 
Sept. 29 
11 
8 
5.25 
28 
96 
Sept. 18 
Oct. 7 
19 
73.5 
15 
10.25 
37 
118 
Oct. 20 
Oct. 20 
18 
78.5 
10 
6 
Ewe 21 consumed 8 ounces of salt and ewe 37 ate 12 ounces during 
the periods of 11 and 18 days, respectively, in which they were on the 
experiment. Ewe 28 ate with her feed 30 ounces of baking soda. Salt 
and soda in these amounts given along with a ration of grain and white 
snakeroot are therefore without apparent antidotal effect. 
The early treatments employed by physicians were drastic, since 
among them were blood-letting and strong purgatives. Graff (1841) 
advised the use of calomel, whereas Drake (1841) and Philips (1877) 
both advised against it. The latter used strychnine apparently with 
benefit. The allaying of abdominal pain by counter irritation over the 
stomach was a much used measure. Another favorite measure, which 
is at present much used, is the giving of liberal quantities of brandy 
and honey or brandy and milk (Dumm, 1880). Sodium bicarbonate is 
believed by Walsh (1909) to be efficacious. Medical treatises as recent 
as that of Hare (1907)* give no specific, but simply state that the 
treatment is purely symptomatic and consists of the judicious use of 
stimulants and sedatives as they may be needed. 
General Summary 
1. A disease of domestic animals commonly called trembles, because trem¬ 
bling is the most prominent symptom, lias been the subject of investigation at 
this Station for two seasons. This disease is also called milksickness since 
man may contract the disease by the ingestion of milk products from cows 
affected with trembles. Attention in this investigation has been directed pri¬ 
marily to the etiology, transmission, symptomatology, and pathological anat¬ 
omy of the disease. 
2. A study of the literature on this disease reveals the fact that it has 
existed in North Carolina since the days of the American Revolution, and that 
the first published account appeared in 1810. The disease was, no doubt, 
more commonly present during the early part of the past century than is now 
the case. 
3. Many accounts have been published dealing with the causation of trem¬ 
bles and milksickness. Some of these causes are more or less fanciful, while 
*Hare, H. A. A text-book of the practice of medicine, 2d edit., 1907. Philadelphia and 
New York. 
