_Symptoms._ At first, excitement and anxiety, followed by uncertainty of movement, reeling and staggering; paralysis of hind limbs at least, falling, possibly general paralysis, insensibility to external irritants, unconsciousness, and coma. Pulse accelerated, appetite at first normal, but in course of time great disturbance of nutrition; sugar in the urine. Course sometimes very acute, death occurring in a few hours, but sometimes protracted (two to eight days), and at times even chronic (one to several weeks).
In _cattle_, after excessive eating, continuous diarrhœa is characteristic, with paralysis; while, if the food be persisted with, cachexia and hydræmia combined with weakness bordering on paralysis make their appearance (Friedberger and Fröhner, _via_ Pammel). In addition to cachexia, Pott also mentions colic, stoppage, bloody urination, abortion, and loss of teeth.
Young animals appear to succumb sooner than older ones, while grain-fed animals are more resistant than others. Referring to _E. arvense_ Pammel says it produces paralysis of the rear extremities, and when death occurs spasms are noted. In relation to the poisoning of _horses_ by the same species in hay Rich and Jones note unthriftiness, the animal appearing thin and the muscles wasted. In from two to five weeks, according to the age of the horse and the manner of feeding, the animal begins to lose control of the muscles, and there is swaying and staggering, though the eye is bright and the appetite good. If the plant is regularly ingested the horse loses the power of standing, becomes nervous, struggles to rise, the legs become more or less rigid, and at times all the muscles of the body seem convulsed. Even in this condition one well-nursed patient lived two weeks. The horses are generally willing to eat, although unable to rise, but become sore and tired from struggling, finally dying from exhaustion. Life is much prolonged by turning from side to side three or four times in twenty-four hours, thus preventing congestion. The pulse is slow till near the end, when it is rapid and weak; the temperature is below normal at first, but when the animal is down there is fever; the extremities are usually cold; and the lining membrane of the mouth, nose, and eye becomes pale.