Müller gives in addition loss of appetite, piteous whining (in goats), groaning, colic and tympanites; and Pott, bloating, fever, palpitation of the heart, and loss of consciousness. Cows gave a reddish or sharp-tasting milk. Milk of affected goats caused diarrhœa human beings. REFERENCES. 19, 52, 53, 73, 81, 82, 130, 141, 190, 213, 216. =Dog’s Mercury= (_Mercurialis perennis_ L.) and =Annual Mercury= (_M. annua_ L.). These two species may be taken together as they have similar poisonous properties, and closely resemble one another, though the former is a perennial and the latter an annual. The plants have a somewhat unpleasant odour, and live stock are not likely to take them unless pressed for readily available green food. The loss of one cow and severe illness of four others was recorded by Blackhurst in the _Veterinary Journal_ in 1896; Güssow mentioned the loss of cows in the _Farmer and Stock Breeder Yearbook_, 1907; the loss of horses fed on herbage cut from a hedge and containing _M. perennis_ was recorded in the _Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society_ in 1898; the loss of sheep was recorded by Henslow. As regards man, Ray records a case in which a family of five persons suffered severely from eating _M. annua_ fried with bacon. Fishermen ate it with soup and all were seriously ill an hour later, with symptoms of irritant narcotic poisoning; two children died the next day. Cornevin saw _M. annua_ used, after boiling, as a food for pigs, without ill consequences, in the east of France. This is believed to be due to the poison being volatile and destroyed by heat or boiling; hence in hay the plant is harmless, though Pott says that even in hay stock avoid it. _Toxic Principle._ The poisonous properties are said to be due to _Mercurialine, Oil of Euphorbia_, a volatile toxic alkaloid. Esser states that the stem and leaves of _M. annua_ contain _Trimethylamine_, which may perhaps be a decomposition product of _Choline_, a poisonous base.