From John Kerr   28 March 1873

Custom House

Melbourne 28th March 1873

Baron von Mueller

 

Sir

I have the honor to forward to you a sample of a plant which a farmer from the Broadmeadows1 has handed to me in order that you may be good enough to furnish me with your report thereon.2 — I am informed that this plant is supposed to be the cause of seven head of cattle at that place dying within half an hour of each other yesterday. —

I have the honor to be

Sir

Your most obedient servant

John Hunter Kerr

In the absence of the C. I. of Stock3

 
 
1
Vic.
2
See M to J. Kerr, 29 March 1973.
3
MS is accompanied by an unidentified newsclipping describing the events at the farm in Broadmeadows and saying that Kerr had ‘submitted the plant to Baron von Mueller, who pronounced it to be a species of nightshade, the Solanum nigrum of Linnæus. It is a deadly poison.’ The article went on to describe the plant as ‘a powerful sedative, it depresses the whole circulation, and through the heart affects the brain'. It reported that the veterinary surgeon Graham Mitchell was to visit the farm and examine the stomach of one of the dead animals.

Please cite as “FVM-73-03-28b,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/73-03-28b