490 SPORADIC DISEASES. 



tracheotomy, with the best results, says that mere excitement is 

 sufficient to induce a paroxysm. 



In 1884 the Messrs. Leather, veterinary surgeons, Liverpool, 

 discovered the disease in a stud of 74 cart horses, out of which 

 o5 became ill, 19 died, 2 were killed as useless, and 14 recovered. 

 They had 3 or 4 lbs. of mutters mixed with their ordinary food 

 per day, which consisted of 20 lbs. of grain, for three months. 

 Professor M'Call states that 2 lbs. per day could be continued for 

 six weeks or so before symptoms of the attack become apparent ; 

 and it is remarkable that upon some of the horses in these studs, 

 as well as in others that have come under my observation, the 

 poisonous qualities of the seeds seem to have no ill effects. 



In Liverpool, Glasgow, and Bristol it appears that the dark 

 seeds only were used, but there are several reports from Bed- 

 lington, — a number of pit ponies ; Eastwood, 20 or 30 horses ; 

 Newcastle, 12 or 15 ; near Sheffield, reported by Mr. Alson, 

 V.S. ; 12 horses at Hamden Colliery, near Birmingham, — where 

 the disease was induced by the large light-coloured seed. 



Both in man and the horse the lathyrus is a cumulative 

 poison, the symptoms showing themselves the sooner the 

 greater the proportion of seeds contained in the food. It appears 

 from the evidence of many observers that boiling renders 

 the seeds innocuous. Thus the late Mr. Thomas Greaves told me 

 that he knew that they had been used regularly for years after 

 being boiled without any bad effect ; and Professor M'Call men- 

 tions that in the neighbourhood of Glasgow 100 bolls of the seeds 

 lay unused for some time, until they were by his orders boiled, 

 steamed into a pulp, and given in quantities of 1| lbs, per night 

 per horse, without any bad effect. In the case of human beings 

 Watt says " there is a certain capriciousness " in the effects of 

 the poison on different individuals ; and, adopting the view that 

 the poisonous effects are due to a volatile alkaloid, he suggests 

 that persons eating thin cakes made from the sativus grain do not 

 suffer, as all parts of the cake being exposed to a high temper- 

 ature, the poison is eliminated, whereas in food preparations 

 exposed only to moderate temperature sufficient of the poison 

 remains to act injuriously on those partaking of such food. 



Professor Macdougall states that the seeds cause paralysis and 

 spasm in pigs, and that when fattened on the meal they lost tlie 

 use of their limbs, but became very fat whilst lying on the 



