Selenium Poisoning

The U. S. Department of Agriculture, which showers meticulous bulletins on the Press about most of its doings, is inclined to silence and anonymity when it grapples with plant ailments that might be harmful to human consumers. For many months the Department has been trying to find out why, in a few arid regions of the Southwest, wheat, corn and alfalfa are sickly, and why cattle fed solely on this sickly fodder are puny and short-lived. The Department did not like to hear ranchmen blame "alkali disease," because during the last century alkali disease afflicted the Indians inhabiting the same areas. Last week, when it could also report progress on a cure, the Department explained what was ailing the cattle. It was not alkali disease, said the Department, but selenium poisoning. Selenium is the light-sensitive substance used in photoelectric cells, and is closely related chemically to sulphur. From selenium compounds discovered in the soil of the affected districts, wheat and other plants absorb the poisonous element. The Department's investigators found that if sulphur--harmless alike to plant and consumer--were added to the soil, the plants would absorb that instead of the selenium. Last week Dr. Albert Fred Woods, director of the Department's scientific work, said he was encouraged by the progress already made on the sulphur cure. The U. S. Public Health Service reported that selenium-poisoned wheat is apparently not injurious to humans.

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