AGRICULTURAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1098, 28 April 1883, Page 1

AGRICULTURAL.

Experiments have been made recently by M. Sanson with a view of t settling the question whether oata hare or have not the excitant property that has been attributed to them. The nervous and muscular excitability of

horses was carefully observed with the aid of graduated electrical apparatus before and after they had eaten a given quantity of oats, or received a little of a certain principle which Mr Sanson succeeded in isolating from oats. The chief results of the inquiry are as follows :—The pericarp of the fruit of oats contains a substance soluble in alcohol, and capable uf exciting the motor cella of the nervous system. This substance is not (as some have thought) vaniline on the odorous principle of vanilla, nor at all like it. It is a notrogenized matter which seems to belong to the group of alkaloids: is uncrystallizable, finely granular, and brown in mass. The author calls it * arenineV’-"' All varieties of cultivated oats seem to elaborate it, but they do in very different degrees. The elaborated substance is the same in all varieties. The differences in quantity depend not only on the variety of the plant, but upon the place of cultivation. Oats of the white variety have much lees than those of the dark, but for some of the former, in Sweden, the difference is small:; while for others, in Russia, it is considerable. Under 0 9 of the excitant principle per cent of air-dried oats the dose is insufficient to certainly affect the excitability of horses, but above this proportion tla> excitant action is certain. While some light-colored oats certainly have considerable excitant power, some dark oats have little, Determination of the amount of the principle present is the only sure basis .of appreciation, though (as already stated) white oats are likely to be less exciting than dark. Crushing or grinding the grain weakens considerably the excitant property, probably by altering the substance to which it is due ; the excitant actimismore prompt, but much less strong and durable. The action, which is immediate and more intense with'the isolated principle, does not appear till some minutes after the eating of oats ; in both cases it increases to a certain point, then diminishes and disappears i'ho total duration of the effect is stated to.be an hour per kilogramme of oats ingested. ____________