LAWSONIA 



ALBA 



Henna 



THE HENNA PLANT 



General 

 Conclusions. 



Predisposes to 

 Paralysis. 



Trade 



Confused with 

 Grey Peas. 



D.E.R, 

 iv., 597- 

 602. 

 Henna. 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



pointed out as the poisonous seed. The subject has been approached at the 

 instance of the Imperial Institute from another point of view, namely investiga- 

 tions to ascertain if the pulse possesses a poisonous fungal parasite that could 

 account for the toxic action. Prof. Percival, of the Wye Agricultural College, 

 failed to discover any such fungus. 



Recently the disease has been very prevalent in the Central Provinces, and 

 a census showed that the number of people more or less paralysed was over 

 7,600. In view of this fact Major Buchanan was put on special duty to inquire 

 into the cause of the spread of lathyrism, and to endeavour to find means for 

 its prevention. The results of his investigations are embodied in a bulky report 

 (to which reference has already been made). He gives the following general 

 summary : " It has been shown that lathyrism is due to the consumption of 

 i. a tii i/ fit tt ; that the disease, when it occurs in big epidemics, follows famine or 

 scarcity ; that it is chiefly confined to wheat-growing areas ; that failure in 

 wheat is an important factor in the causation ; that the disease is chiefly found 

 among the poor, and that debt is an important factor in the causation. Under 

 certain circumstances r.nt iiyi-u* is a good article of diet, and it is only when the 

 proportion reaches or exceeds one-half of the whole ration that paralysis is likely 

 to occur.-" On the other hand, Dr. A. G. Hendley (Brit. Med. Journ., 1903, ii., 

 7079), after discussing fully this subject, arrives at the conclusion that 

 " i.tttiiiii-iiN. whilst it may possibly cause paralysis by itself, ordinarily only 

 predisposes to it, that it makes the subject ready or ripe for the attack of 

 paralysis, but that exposure to severe wet and cold is required actually to excite 

 the sudden seizure." " The attack occurs after an unusually thorough wetting 

 whilst ploughing, watching crops at night or other field work that ordinarily falls 

 to man's lot and not woman's." 



Trade. No particulars can be furnished of the trade in this pulse. 

 It is known to be occasionally exported. Some few years ago a sample 

 of what was called " mutar, or Indian Grey Peas " was shown to me by a 

 Glasgow corn-merchant. I pointed out that while this pulse was oc- 

 sionally called mattar, the true mattar of India was the Grey or Field Pea. 

 It is, therefore, most important that the present pulse should not be con- 

 fused with the grey pea of India, which is as harmless and useful as the grey 

 pea of Europe. The wedge-shaped pea of the present plant, flattened on 

 two sides and marbled on the surface, should easily be distinguishable from 

 all the peas or pulses of India, except perhaps gram (Cicer arietinum) ; 

 but while gram is somewhat triangular in section it is prominently tapered 

 below into a beak, and is devoid of the marbling of Laf/ii/rns. 



[Cf. Kinloch Kirk, in Ann. Med. Sc., 1870, vii., 144-52 ; Pharmacog. Ind., i., 

 490-1 ; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 81 ; Voelcker, Poison. Legum. Seed in 

 Ind. Peas, Analyst, March 7, 1894, 102-7 ; Hughes, Feeding Exper. with Ind. 

 Peas, Aug. 1895, 109-73; Ind. Mus. Ann. Sept., 1894-5, 36-7; Ind. Med. Gaz., 

 1898, xxxiii., 147 ; 1899, xxxiv., 65 ; Barclay, Agri., Ledg., 1895, No. 20, 381-2 ; 

 Brit. Med. Journ., 1899, i., 1487-8 ; ii., 614 ; 1903, i., 213 ; Agri. Ledg., 1901, 

 No. 10, 365-6 ; Dunstan, Imp. Inst. Tech. Repts., 1903, 234.] 



LAWSONIA ALBA, Lam. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 573 ; Talbot, List. 

 Trees, etc., 1902, 175 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 371 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. 

 Bomb., 1903, i., 511 ; Duthie, FL Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, 352 ; Prain, 

 Beng. PL, 1903, i., 502 ; LYTHRACE^;. The Henna Plant, camphire, 

 mehndi, shudi, manghati, marithondi, henne, dan, etc. A deciduous shrub 

 wild in Baluchistan and on the Coromandel coast ; doubtfully so in 

 Central India and the Deccan. 



Cultivated throughout India on account of its LEAVES, which yield the 

 " henna," dye and also as a'garden hedge plant. The soil is repeatedly ploughed 

 and heavily manured, and the seed is soaked in water for twenty-five days before 

 sowing, which takes place in April and May. The plot of land where the seeds 

 are to be sown is formed into beds and kept flooded for some days. The seed is 

 scattered on the water and sinks with it into the ground. For three days water 

 is given both night and morning; after that only once a day till the plants 



706 



