The glucoside of Matricaria nigellaefolia is the cause of pushing disease of cattle in South Africa. The minimum fatal dose of green, matured plant is between 25 and 30 lbs., provided that the consumption of this amount is spread over a period of not more than about four weeks, and that the cattle do not get especially nutritive foodstuffs or sulphuronic acid, or perhaps sugar-cane. Matured plants contain the most glucoside, and dry weather is favourable for its formation; water extracts the glucoside if the plants are flooded. The primary symptoms (irritation, gastro-enteritis, and nephritis) are caused by the volatile oil of the plant. The secondary symptoms (staggers, pushing) are produced by phenol (carbolic, acid), a fermentation product of the glucoside in cattle. The disposable sulphur of the organism combines with phenol, ,neutralises it, and makes its excretion possible in the urine. The emaciation of affected animals is caused by the breaking down of their own albumen for neutralisation. The incubation period, after having eaten the critical dose, is, as a rule, three to six weeks, but exceptionally twelve to fifteen weeks. It is shortened when large doses are consumed in a few :successive days, because the breaking down of the animal's own albumen cannot follow the rapid production of the poison, and it is prolonged by giving small daily doses or leaving long intervals between the medium quantities eaten (natural conditions). The incubation period has its origin in the prolonged fermentation process of the glucoside, together with the limited ability of neutralisation in the bovine organism. Pushing disease appears only in cattle in consequence of the peculiar character of the fermentation that occurs in these animals and their inability to excrete phenol in large quantities. Other animals and human beings are able to excrete carbolic acid in their urine. Matricaria could therefore be used in cases of bacterial nephritis and cystitis, and in gonorrhoea. As a matter of fact, the natives of South Africa use Matricaria infusion very extensively in the above-mentioned diseases. Sodium bisulphite combines in the organism with phenol; the product, sodium phenyl sulphate, is excreted in the urine. Glycuronic acid and glycocoll also combine with phenol. After the administration of sodium bisulphite to pushing cattle phenol can be found in very large quantities in the filtrate or distillate of the urine that has been exposed to the air during two days, or after the addition of hydrochloric acid and shaking with ether. In the extract of the plant phenol can be detected only after fermentation of the glucoside. Roots, stalks, and leaves contain the poisonous glucoside. There is no elevation of temperature in pushing disease, because phenol is an antipyretic. The essential oil of Matricaria is an aphrodisiac.