Barium: A Cause of the Loco-Weed Disease — John Shaqi
Barium: A Cause of the Loco-Weed DiseaseCrawford, Albert C. (Albert Cornelius)
Science
Barium: A Cause of the Loco-Weed Disease
Crawford, Albert C. (Albert Cornelius)
Astragalus earlei; Barium
Post-mortem showed dural vessels of cord and brain full of blood.
Stomach pinker than normal: mesenteric vessels dilated. Heart almost
empty of blood. Kidneys congested.
=SUMMARY OF FEEDING EXPERIMENTS ON RABBITS.=
These experiments indicate that an acute form of poisoning may be
induced by feeding concentrated aqueous extracts of _Astragalus
mollissimus_ and _Aragallus lamberti_ from Hugo, Colo., and Imperial,
Nebr., to rabbits, and that if the extract is given in smaller and
repeated doses a more prolonged or chronic condition may follow.
The rabbits showing the chronic effects of these plants exhibit symptoms
which have a marked parallelism with those reported as occurring in
larger herbivora (horses and cattle) on the range when locoed; that is,
the loss of appetite (Experiment No. 9), the emaciation and loss in
weight (Experiment No. 9), the dullness and stupor, with more or less
anesthesia (Experiment No. 7), the disturbance in the visual function
(Experiment No. 9), and the mental symptoms (Experiment No. 6). The
occasional abortion compares with what has been observed in larger
animals. The dried _Astragalus mollissimus_ and _Aragallus lamberti_
still retained their poisonous properties, as we were able to kill with
aqueous extracts of the dried plants made in the laboratory under the
proper conditions.
=EXPERIMENTS ON SHEEP.=
_Experiment No. 1._--On May 31, 1906, a sheep weighing 32.2 kilos was
fed with a concentrated aqueous extract of 1,000 grams of the fresh
_Astragalus mollissimus_ preserved in chloroform water. The temperature
at 11 o'clock, the time of feeding, was 103.4°F. At 11.45 a.m. this
dose was repeated. At 12 o'clock the temperature was 104.1°F. At 12.45
the animal urinated. At 1.10 p.m. a similar extract of 2,000 grams was
fed. The total liquid used was 1,500 c.c. On June 1 no symptoms were
noted. On June 5 an extract of 3,000 grams of fresh _Aragallus lamberti_
and 3,000 grams of _Astragalus mollissimus_ was fed. After feeding this
the animal could be easily turned over on its back and its ear pricked
with impunity. The animal at this time weighed 30.8 kilos. On June 6, at
11 a.m., the temperature was 104°F. The sheep had numerous soft
stools, and was very dull, and would not eat. On June 7 the temperature
was 103.7°F. and the sheep still refused to eat. On the 8th the
temperature was 103.2°F. at 10.40 a.m., and the stools were still
numerous and soft.
There were then fed 640 c.c., representing the aqueous extract of 4,000
grams of the fresh _Aragallus lamberti_. The animal could be easily
turned on its back. It weighed at this time 28.57 kilos. On June 9, at
10.47 a.m., the temperature was 103.4°F. The sheep still did not eat,
but had no diarrhea. It now weighed 27.9 kilos, and the temperature was
103°F. at 10.45 a.m.
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