In 1880 Peter Collier published a proximate analysis of _Astragalus mollissimus_ made by Francis A. Wentz, of Kansas. His investigations showed it to have an ash content of 6.76 per cent, while the _Aragallus lamberti_, analyzed by L. F. Dyrenforth, of Chicago, showed an ash content of 4.32 per cent. Collier[93] sums up by saying: From the additional work done at this Department it seems probable that the deleterious effects observed from animals eating this plant may be due principally to the fact that the sweet taste causes cattle to reject more nutritious food and strive to subsist upon the Oxytropis only. This plant is mechanically a very unfit substance for food, being of a tough, fibrous, and indigestible character. It is possible that, when the animal becomes somewhat enfeebled by lack of proper nourishment, the small amount of alkaloid may have a direct poisonous action. Again, it seems probable that the plant may contain much larger proportions of alkaloid at certain stages in its development than at others, or the seeds may prove to be the most injurious portion. The departmental work was continued by further short notices by Vasey[94] in 1884, 1886, and 1887, and by the report of Stalker in 1887. This report by Stalker is still the best description on the clinical side of the question. Rothrock,[95] meeting the loco plants in his survey work, describes their effects on animals as follows: Certain it is, however, that, once commenced, they continue it, passing through temporary intoxication to a complete nervous and muscular wreck in the later stages, when it has developed into a fully marked disease which terminates in death from starvation or inability to digest a more nourishing food. The animal toward the last becomes stupid or wild, or even vicious, or, again, acting as though attacked with "blind staggers." Under the name of Crotalaria, H. Gibbons,[96] in 1879, refers to a plant growing in California which it was claimed was producing characteristic symptoms of poisoning in horses and sheep. This plant Professor Maisch afterwards identified as _Aragallus lamberti_. Dr. Isaac Ott[97] undertook the physiological study of the question and used an alcoholic extract of _Astragalus mollissimus_. He found from its action on frogs, rabbits, and cats that the plant had decided physiological action, as follows: (1) It decreases the irritability of the motor nerves. (2) Greatly affects the sensory ganglia of the central nervous system, preventing them from readily receiving impressions. (3) Has a spinal tetanic action. (4) Kills mainly by arrest of the heart. (5) Increases the salivary secretion. (6) Has a stupefying action on the brain. (7) Reduces the cardiac force and frequency. (8) Temporarily increases arterial tension, but finally decreases it.