Dec. 1^94.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 305 



under the crop, are given in Watt's valuable article. 

 Apart from cultivation, it is very common as a weed, 

 springing up after a preceding crop has been reaped. 



Parts of the Plant used as Food. — (a) The green 

 parts may be cooked and eaten by the poorer people. 



(h) Grown as fodder for cattle in India (in an herbal, 

 dated 1829, Z. sativus is mentioned as frequently sown in 

 Switzerland for soiling cattle). 



(c) In India the young pod is eaten sometimes as a green 

 vegetable. 



{cl) The seeds are eaten cooked, or ground into flour and 

 made into bread. 



Other Uses. — {a) L^sed to adulterate the pigeon pea, 

 Cajanns indicus, known in India as dal. This latter pulse 

 is much cultivated in India, and is held in much favour, 

 being eaten to a very large extent roasted, or in cakes or 

 curries, etc. 



(h) The seeds are given to poultry. I have gone into 

 several grain dealers' shops in Edinburgh and asked to see 

 their " poultry feed," and have had no difficulty in recog- 

 nising and picking out of the general feed seeds of L. sativus, 

 weisse (the so-called dog-tooth vetch). Some of the grain 

 dealers did not trouble aljoat the presence of the L. sativus 

 seeds, while others, more careful, informed me that if such 

 adulteration showed itself in a sample of ordered peas, 

 they refused to have it. I found that the reason for refusal 

 did not arise from any decided knowledge that the seeds of 

 L. sativus had been known to be harmful, but the general 

 impression was that they were " an inferior quality of pea." 



(c) Dr. Yoelcher has recorded several cases where mixed 

 feeding cakes have been adulterated with the seeds of L. 

 sativus, and with bad eftects. 



The Effects of continued Eating on Man. — I will give 

 some evidence from representative accounts, but, generally, 

 I may state that in the case of human lacings using the pulse 

 as a daily article of food, paralysis is the result, — paralysis 

 of the lower extreiuities, — the attack being sudden, and 

 with no warning symptoms leading up to it. Curiously 

 enough no pain is suffered, and the paralysed part, instead 

 of becoming misshapen, continues to grow. As an old 

 herbalist laconically puts it, " The disease is regarded as 



IRAXS. HOT. SOC. EDIN. VOL. XX. U 



