Diseases of cattle, sheep, goats and swine

by G. Moussu; Jno. A. W. Dollar

Poisoning only occurs when the green plants are eaten. Drying causes certain essences contained in them to disappear, and thus destroys their toxicity.

This form of poisoning is indicated by yawning, colic, blackish, fœtid diarrhœa, and rapid loss of strength.

The animals suffer from stertorous breathing, weakness of the pulse, and aberration of vision. They die in convulsions.

BERBERIDACEÆ (BARBERRY FAMILY).

Podophyllum peltatum.—The leaves of the common mandrake, or May apple, of the eastern half of the United States, are sparingly eaten by some cattle. Cases of poisoning are very rare, but the experience of one correspondent shows that the milk from a cow that had been feeding on the plant off and on for about three weeks was so extremely laxative as to be positively poisonous. The accident occurred to a baby, fed exclusively on cow’s milk. The physiological effect of the milk was precisely like that of mandrake. It was shown that the cow ate the plant, which was abundant in one pasture, and when the animal was removed to a pasture free from the plant the child’s illness stopped at once.

BUTNERIACEÆ (STRAWBERRY-SHRUB FAMILY).

Butneria fertilis.—The large oily seeds of the calycanthus, or sweet-scented shrub, contain a poisonous alkaloid, and are strongly reputed to be poisonous to cattle in Tennessee.

PAPAVERACEÆ (poppy family).

Argemone mexicana.—The Mexican poppy is reputed to be poisonous to stock both in the United States and in New South Wales. The seeds are narcotic, like opium.

* Chelidonium majus.—The yellow milky sap of the celandine, an introduced weed common in the eastern United States, contains both an acrid and a narcotic poison. Both are powerfully active, but cases of poisoning are rare, as stock refuse to touch the plant. Reeks, of Spalding, however, describes (J. Comp. Path. and Therap., Dec. 1903, p. 367) an outbreak of poisoning by common celandine in which twenty-one valuable cows were affected and three died. The symptoms comprised excessive salivation and thirst, convulsions, unconsciousness and epileptiform movements.