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Poisoning in Calves by Nascent Hydrocyanic Acid Evolved by Cake in Solution
40
T he Veterinary J ow·ncll
Kaufmann (Finlay Dun) states 6 ounces as a poisonous dose for horses or cattle. A small two-year-old heifer was given 8 ounces by a shopkeeper, serving it in mistake for cattle salts, and, on finding out the error soon after she"had received it, the owner came in for advice. He reported that she appeared all right when he left home. I advised him to g ive her a tumblerful of whi sky, and repeat it in an hour if necessary. She never howed ·any ill-effects, and I do not think she had any benefit from the whisky, as about four hours elapsed before she r eceived it. POISONING BY HORSETAIL (EQUISETUM A RVE1YSE). BY R. H U DSON, F.R.C.V.S., R elford.
Synonyms : Scouring-rush, Shavegrass, Marestail, Bottlebrush . Characters: Stem-jointed , branching at joints, arranged like bottle brush. Cattle were affected, and th ey were grazing on clover, the field being rather bare except where the plant grew. In that part a d epression formed across the field , and in it the plant was abundant. Th e symptoms shown were diarrhcea, weakness of the hindquarters, and slightly " tucked up" appearance. I o animals died, and on b eing r emoved to another pasture they soon recovered. I have only seen the plant on clover on this occasion, and think it probable the spores came with the clover seed, which might have been foreign. No doubt the greater moisture in the lower part of the field favoured its growth there . POISONING IN CALVES BY NASCENT HYDRO CYAN IC ACID EVOLVED BY CAKE IN SOLUTI ON. BY G. T . D U NE, F.R.C.V.S ., P rofessor of Therapeu tics, the Vete rinary College , his '• F ree State.
IT is now of course a well established fact that certain very valuable food-stuffs contain substances which under suitable cond itions will generate hydrocyanic acid in varying quantities, these amounts being sometim es sufficiently large as to set up seriou s illness in farm stock. Amongst these foods are millet, J ava beans, linseed, etc ., and it is in connection with linseed that I have noticed the toxic action sometimes rather well marked ; in fact , I am almost inclined to believe that the freshly genera ted acid is more powerful than if administered as the B.P. solution. In December 1920 I was consulted with regard t o the death and
Poisoning in Calves by Nascent Hydrocyanic Acid
41
illn ess of some calves on a fairly large farm, th e steward in charge b ein g at a loss to account for th e sudden an d alarming sickness of a number of the young stock. The history narra ted to me was briefly : On the e vening of th e 8th instant t en calves, average age three months, running on pasture, were brought in as u ual, and it was the custom to have ready for them in the calf-house a drink prepared from ground linseed cake and water. Tl)iS was fed to them · in two long troughs , each calf having t o fend for itself, those able to drink rapidly probably gett ing the m ost . On. th is particular evening it was noticed that all the calves, about ten minutes after they h ~ d consumed th e gruel, commenced to breathe very rapidly, stagger about th e shed, heads st ret ched forward, some of th em falling on th e ground gasping for breath. One of the lat ter had at inter vals what was described to me as conYnlsions, a nd died about fift een minutes from th e onset of symptoms. All the others recovered in th e course of a few hours , ate a little hay, a nd did not exhibit any furth er symptoms of illness. The steward was of the opini on the calves had eat en something of a poiso nous nature in th e field th ey had just com e out of, but ca reful investigation by him did not throw any light on that probable cause. On the following evening the nine remaining calves were fed in the same way, and t en minutes afterwards they ex hibited symptoms sim ilar to those of the previous evening, anoth er calf dying in the same way. The steward th en consulted me, as he could not understan d why any illness should occur, considering there had been no departure from the m ethod of feeding practised on the farm for many years. I of course suspec ted hydrocyanic acid poisoning, and on visiting the farm m ade a post-mortem examination on th e second calf that h ad died. There was noth ing remarkable to take note of in this examination beyond th e fact th a t the lungs were ver y much congested a nd the blood all through th e carcase much darker tha n normal. I could n ot detect a ny odour of hydrocyani c acid from the und igested contents of th e stomach . On maki ng inquiries as to the source of the cake-meal, I was informed it was part of a fresh supply that had been obt ained a couple of · days previously, and it h ad been given to the calves on the t\\'o occasions of the illness. On quest ioning as to the manner in which th e m eal drink was prepared, I learn ed the cause of th e wh ole trouble. It was t he usual practice to mix abou t 3 pounds of the meal with 6 gallons of cold water, half of the mixture being ponred into each tro ugh. Just immediately before the calves were allowed to
42
The V eterinary Jo urnal
drink it It gallons of hot water was added to each amount " to take the cold off it. " The heat favoured the action of the ferment on the cyanogenetic glucoside, and as th e a nimals consumed the mixture a t once the nascent acid could not escape into the air, its generation taking place in their stomachs. I was much interested as to the probable amount of acid that would be formed from a definite qu antity of the meal , and as there was a possibility of legal proceedings being taken against the firm tha t supplied the material, I sent a sample to an analyst with a request to ascertain the amount of anhydrous HCN capable of being obt ained from it. I received his report, and learned that he was able to obtain 2 · 8 grains of acid per pound meal. In bringing this amount in to comparison with Ac. H ydrocyan. dil. , it would appear that the quantity of acid that would be form ed in the 9 gallons of gruel would be a little less than l ounce of B.P. solution. This am ount divided over ten calves hardly seems sufficient to set up such acute symptoms as were manifested unless the genera tion of acid in the stomach was exceedingly rapid or that nascent acid is particularly toxic. In my opinion all the trouble could have been prevented either by making up the gruel with boiling water and so destroying any action of the ferment, or by preventing the calves from drinking it for at least fifteen minutes after it h ad been made in the customary manner on this farm. I have no definite records to sh ow for what period the acid continues to be formed from the time the ferment first becomes active, but it has been stated that in the case of J ava bean meal, if it be maintained under suitable conditions, the formation of acid will be continued for over forty-eight hours. I asked the steward to prepare another drin k for the calves from the meal, requesting him to use the full quantity (9 gallons) of boiling water, and allow the mixture to cool down to a suitable temperature for feeding it ; but I am sorry to say he was not willing to risk a sacrifice to science. LEAD POISONING I N CALVES. Bv RALPH BENNETT, F.R.C.V.S., Romford.
ON June 28, 1922, I was called in to investigate the cause of death of two J ersey calves which had been found dead th at morning. Post-mortem examination disclosed acute gastro-enteritis; the abomasum particularly being in tensely inflamed. These were members of a bunch of five J ersey heifers of from one to two months old, kept in the same box and fed together. Of
T he Veterinary J ow·ncll
Kaufmann (Finlay Dun) states 6 ounces as a poisonous dose for horses or cattle. A small two-year-old heifer was given 8 ounces by a shopkeeper, serving it in mistake for cattle salts, and, on finding out the error soon after she"had received it, the owner came in for advice. He reported that she appeared all right when he left home. I advised him to g ive her a tumblerful of whi sky, and repeat it in an hour if necessary. She never howed ·any ill-effects, and I do not think she had any benefit from the whisky, as about four hours elapsed before she r eceived it. POISONING BY HORSETAIL (EQUISETUM A RVE1YSE). BY R. H U DSON, F.R.C.V.S., R elford.
Synonyms : Scouring-rush, Shavegrass, Marestail, Bottlebrush . Characters: Stem-jointed , branching at joints, arranged like bottle brush. Cattle were affected, and th ey were grazing on clover, the field being rather bare except where the plant grew. In that part a d epression formed across the field , and in it the plant was abundant. Th e symptoms shown were diarrhcea, weakness of the hindquarters, and slightly " tucked up" appearance. I o animals died, and on b eing r emoved to another pasture they soon recovered. I have only seen the plant on clover on this occasion, and think it probable the spores came with the clover seed, which might have been foreign. No doubt the greater moisture in the lower part of the field favoured its growth there . POISONING IN CALVES BY NASCENT HYDRO CYAN IC ACID EVOLVED BY CAKE IN SOLUTI ON. BY G. T . D U NE, F.R.C.V.S ., P rofessor of Therapeu tics, the Vete rinary College , his '• F ree State.
IT is now of course a well established fact that certain very valuable food-stuffs contain substances which under suitable cond itions will generate hydrocyanic acid in varying quantities, these amounts being sometim es sufficiently large as to set up seriou s illness in farm stock. Amongst these foods are millet, J ava beans, linseed, etc ., and it is in connection with linseed that I have noticed the toxic action sometimes rather well marked ; in fact , I am almost inclined to believe that the freshly genera ted acid is more powerful than if administered as the B.P. solution. In December 1920 I was consulted with regard t o the death and
Poisoning in Calves by Nascent Hydrocyanic Acid
41
illn ess of some calves on a fairly large farm, th e steward in charge b ein g at a loss to account for th e sudden an d alarming sickness of a number of the young stock. The history narra ted to me was briefly : On the e vening of th e 8th instant t en calves, average age three months, running on pasture, were brought in as u ual, and it was the custom to have ready for them in the calf-house a drink prepared from ground linseed cake and water. Tl)iS was fed to them · in two long troughs , each calf having t o fend for itself, those able to drink rapidly probably gett ing the m ost . On. th is particular evening it was noticed that all the calves, about ten minutes after they h ~ d consumed th e gruel, commenced to breathe very rapidly, stagger about th e shed, heads st ret ched forward, some of th em falling on th e ground gasping for breath. One of the lat ter had at inter vals what was described to me as conYnlsions, a nd died about fift een minutes from th e onset of symptoms. All the others recovered in th e course of a few hours , ate a little hay, a nd did not exhibit any furth er symptoms of illness. The steward was of the opini on the calves had eat en something of a poiso nous nature in th e field th ey had just com e out of, but ca reful investigation by him did not throw any light on that probable cause. On the following evening the nine remaining calves were fed in the same way, and t en minutes afterwards they ex hibited symptoms sim ilar to those of the previous evening, anoth er calf dying in the same way. The steward th en consulted me, as he could not understan d why any illness should occur, considering there had been no departure from the m ethod of feeding practised on the farm for many years. I of course suspec ted hydrocyanic acid poisoning, and on visiting the farm m ade a post-mortem examination on th e second calf that h ad died. There was noth ing remarkable to take note of in this examination beyond th e fact th a t the lungs were ver y much congested a nd the blood all through th e carcase much darker tha n normal. I could n ot detect a ny odour of hydrocyani c acid from the und igested contents of th e stomach . On maki ng inquiries as to the source of the cake-meal, I was informed it was part of a fresh supply that had been obt ained a couple of · days previously, and it h ad been given to the calves on the t\\'o occasions of the illness. On quest ioning as to the manner in which th e m eal drink was prepared, I learn ed the cause of th e wh ole trouble. It was t he usual practice to mix abou t 3 pounds of the meal with 6 gallons of cold water, half of the mixture being ponred into each tro ugh. Just immediately before the calves were allowed to
42
The V eterinary Jo urnal
drink it It gallons of hot water was added to each amount " to take the cold off it. " The heat favoured the action of the ferment on the cyanogenetic glucoside, and as th e a nimals consumed the mixture a t once the nascent acid could not escape into the air, its generation taking place in their stomachs. I was much interested as to the probable amount of acid that would be formed from a definite qu antity of the meal , and as there was a possibility of legal proceedings being taken against the firm tha t supplied the material, I sent a sample to an analyst with a request to ascertain the amount of anhydrous HCN capable of being obt ained from it. I received his report, and learned that he was able to obtain 2 · 8 grains of acid per pound meal. In bringing this amount in to comparison with Ac. H ydrocyan. dil. , it would appear that the quantity of acid that would be form ed in the 9 gallons of gruel would be a little less than l ounce of B.P. solution. This am ount divided over ten calves hardly seems sufficient to set up such acute symptoms as were manifested unless the genera tion of acid in the stomach was exceedingly rapid or that nascent acid is particularly toxic. In my opinion all the trouble could have been prevented either by making up the gruel with boiling water and so destroying any action of the ferment, or by preventing the calves from drinking it for at least fifteen minutes after it h ad been made in the customary manner on this farm. I have no definite records to sh ow for what period the acid continues to be formed from the time the ferment first becomes active, but it has been stated that in the case of J ava bean meal, if it be maintained under suitable conditions, the formation of acid will be continued for over forty-eight hours. I asked the steward to prepare another drin k for the calves from the meal, requesting him to use the full quantity (9 gallons) of boiling water, and allow the mixture to cool down to a suitable temperature for feeding it ; but I am sorry to say he was not willing to risk a sacrifice to science. LEAD POISONING I N CALVES. Bv RALPH BENNETT, F.R.C.V.S., Romford.
ON June 28, 1922, I was called in to investigate the cause of death of two J ersey calves which had been found dead th at morning. Post-mortem examination disclosed acute gastro-enteritis; the abomasum particularly being in tensely inflamed. These were members of a bunch of five J ersey heifers of from one to two months old, kept in the same box and fed together. Of