744 Poisoning of Cattle by "Java" Beans, [march, 



and barley meal, the whole herd became violently ill, but sub- 

 sequently recovered, with the exception of four cows and- a bull, 

 which died very shortly after eating their portions. Case F : 

 Here no fatal results occurred, though one or two cows were 

 taken ill. Case G : In November, 1905, bean meal, was given to 

 a herd of about twenty-five dairy cows, all the cows receiving 

 about 3 lb. each ; every beast was attacked and prostrated, one 

 death occurring. On the following day, having recovered, they 

 were again fed with the meal, when all were seized with ill- 

 ness, but, fortunately, on this occasion no death occurred. 



In the seven cases which occurred in Scotland the beans were 

 all traced to one firm in Glasgow, though the ultimate source 

 from which they were derived was not ascertained. 



They were, however, in the majority of cases, invoiced and 

 described by the sellers as " Java " beans, and a sample of the 

 beans said to have been used in preparing the meal used in one 

 of the cases above mentioned (Case C) was sent to the Imperial 

 Institute and identified as undoubtedly the beans of Phaseolus 

 lunatics, having all the appearance of these beans as recently 

 imported from Java. The poisonous nature of the uncultivated 

 forms of the beans of P. lunatus has formed the subject of 

 investigation at the Imperial Institute, and the following ex- 

 tracts from the current number of the Bulletin (Vol. III., No. 4) 

 summarize the available information : — 



" The scientific aspect of the question is fully discussed in a 

 paper communicated by Professor Dunstan and Dr. Henry to 

 the Royal Society, and published in the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society for 1903, in which it is shown that the prussic acid 

 is formed from a glucoside, contained in varying amount in the 

 bean. 



" It was also pointed out that the beans imported into this 

 country from the East Indies as a cattle food under the names 

 of • Rangoon,' ' Paigya,' or ' Burma ' beans, are derived from culti- 

 vated forms of Phaseolus lunatus, and that whilst some of these 

 (the white beans) yield no prussic acid, others (the pink beans 

 with small purple spots) yield traces of the acid usually too 

 small to be harmful. 



" At the same time, the danger of using the coloured beans of 

 Phaseolus lunatus as a feeding stuff was pointed out, and in 



