Effect of the bread preparation process on the toxicity of weeds that cause the ::V1ea1. Histology. No information regarding the histology of the organs of cockle poisoning victims has been found in the available literature. Two rabbits received 235 grams and 940 grams of the ripe seeds (capsules + seeds), respectively, by gastric tube.
Sheep, 31599, received by stomach tube 4,600 grams of the whole plant in the dry state and late seed stage over the course of eleven days. The results of the experiments carried out at Onrlerstepoort are recorded in the following tc-;,hle. The following lesions were found during post-mortem examination: General cyanosis, dilatation of the cardiac ventricles; hyperemia and.
Progressive apathy, loss of appetite, anamnia, dyspnea and cachexia until death on the 34th day of the experiment. Symptoms of poisoning (except icterus) ver:; similar to those described in Dog 10~8, began on the 11th day of the experiment. Rabbit A.--Received 105 grams of the above seeds over 22 days at the rate of 5 grams daily (except Sundays).
Rabbit E.--Received 225 grams of the above seed in the course of seventeen days, at the rate of 15 grams per day (except Sundays). Rabbit C.-Ril received 360 grams of the above seed, moistened twelve hours before administration, over the course of twenty-seven days at the rate of 15 grams per day (except Sundays). Rabbit D.---Received 310 grams of the above seed, moistened for twelve hours before being closed in the course of thirty-six clays.
Dodd (1932) made a valuable contribution to the study of the presence of castor seeds in fodderR. Histology.-Fatty degeneration of myocardium, congestive haemorrhages and accumulation of fat in the liver and. In monekys, the symptoms appeared from the sixth to five hundred clays of the experiment.
LEGAL ASPECT
Two sheep received per gavage 750 grams of fresh leaves of the plant in the late flowering stage on each of two consecutive days and 500 grams of the mature seeds on each of two consecutive days. At Onderstepoort, seeds of the following weeds were sorted from wheat from areas where cases of suspected bread poisoning occurred: Lithospe1·mum a1·vense L. very rare), Silene gallica (2 per cent), immature and mature Senecio seed heads ( very rare), Er-uca sativa Mill. 2 per cent.), Rephanus mphanistr-um L. The author is unaware of the presence of this plant on cultivated land in areas where "bread poisoning" occurs.
The suspected cases of bread poisoning on this farm were most likely due to Senecio Bu1·chellii DC., which grows abundantly in a corner of the wheat field. There are a number of recorded cases where the seed of this plant has been found in corn and has caused serious poisoning in stock fed on such corn. The presence of the seed has been recorded in beans and wheat (and may find its way into corn) and has caused poisoning in humans.
Dodd and Henry (1923) proved that this plant is one of the causes of vibrations or oscillations in the warehouse. Since this method of investigation is out of the question, and since we have to rely on the results of experiments on animals, we can only say that this or that plant, whose actions on human beings are. A corner of the ground in which wheat was cultivated for domestic purposes was found very overgrown with this plant.
Small portions of the plants other than the seed can also find their way into the wheat. In years of insufficient rainfall, the wheat does not grow. to normal height and it is then reapea close to the ground with the result that there is a great1· possibility of the wheat becoming infected with poisonous weeds. It is therefore possible and probable that parts of the leaves and stem" of Senecio ihcijoli1ts Thunb. which grew among the wheat in a corner of the country, found their way into the wheat and were responsible for the cases of suspected brearl poisonHg in the Smith family.
Whether the gastrointestinal disorders (loss of appetite, constipation, diarrhea, ulceration of the gastric mucosa and catarrhal eL.teritis) are primary or secondary effects of Senecio poisoning is difficult to say. In the light of our present knowledge of Senecio poisoning, it appears that the function of the liver, especially as a detoxifier and excretor of noxious substances, is pa.rtiall,v or, in advanced cases of Senecio poisoning, completely llestroyeu. In acute Senecio:poisoning, there is marked restriction of the liver cells, and the absorption of cell products thus released will undoubtedly help to poison the system.
SUMMARY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Handbook of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Transvaal with Swaziland, Part I, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1926. On the Action of Senecio Alkaloids and the Cause of Liver Cirrhosis in Cattle. Studies on the Etiology of Dunsickte or Enzootic Liver Disease of Equids in South Africa, 17 Bept.
Investigations into the toxic properties of common sorrel (Rumex acetosa Linn.) for cattle, Jnl. Recent investigations into the toxicity of known and unknown poisonous plants in the Union of South Africa, 17th Rept.
