Magic Numbers, Elusive Lesions: Comparative Pathology and Toxicology of Selenosis in Waterfowl and Mammalian Species

Characterization of disease syndromes caused by excess dietary selenium (selenosis) represents one of the historic research achievements of the U.S. agricultural experi­ ment station system. In the late 1920s and 1930s this success was exemplified by the interdisciplinary work of Kurt Franke and his colleagues at South Dakota State University (Franke et al., 1934; Moxon, 1937; Moxon and Rhian, 1943).