Lathyrism Allahabad IND Irving 1860 Par Miles

7/29/2019 Lathyrism Allahabad IND Irving 1860 Par Miles

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12-6 SELECTION FIIOM THE 11ECOIIDS OF THE MEDICAL COLLEGE LCI.Hence resulted the secondary abscess in the leg, which wasnot as usual bounded by a .definite wall, but extended itselfamong the surrounding- tissues, causing- them to slough, tillit came in contact with the posterior .libial artery , which the nalso became in a sloughing slate, and at last burst .

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'REPORT ON A SPECIES OF PALSY PREVALENTIN PERGUNNAH KHYRAGHUR, IN ZILLAH,

ALLAHABAD PROM THE USE OF LATIIY-P,US SATIYUS OR KESSAREE DAL..

AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD;BY JAMES IRVING, M. D..

CIVIL SUP.GI-GX or A LLA H A B.U I .

!.:< a R.eport-- dated 30th March 1S57, I drew at tent ion tothe prevalence of what I considered to be a- sp ecies ot Palsythat prevailed in l iarra, Perg-unnah oi' the Allahabad District ,and winch was supposed to be caused by the people living-on Ivessaree Dal, a vetch known to botanists as LathyTiissativ us. Tiie ]M-esent Re po rt refers to the same disease asit appears in Ivhyratrhnr, a Pero-unna-h of Alialuibad situatedon the other side of the Tons river, adjoining Barm.On the 2-1-th January - oi' this yea,r, I joined the campof Mr. Court at Kntka., on the banks of the Tons , and thesame day we marched to Mejnh, where the Tehseeklaree ofKhyrai rbur is s i tua ted . Hi ther to , we had passed throug-ha tine coun try, with rich soil and bearing- abundant crops.At Mejah. on enqnirinir for cases of Gutteea., which isthe name applied by the natives, to this kind of Pa l s y , Iwas told tha i there were a few examples ; but the only onebrought to me was a case of the ordinary Palsy. Leaving"Mejah next morning, we passed over a low rana-e of rockyhills and came to Koraon. On the march, we observed much* Thepresent Report was recently presented to the Government ofiheKonh WeslPrnvinees , and if here reprinted bv permission of the

Honorable theLieutenant Governor.


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12 8 DU . TRYING ON A FORM OFblack mar] soil,, and found Kessare e Dul g row ing in profu-sion. The ground , m man y places round K oraon , is swam-py ; tanks abound, and the water of these, the people drink.On the surface of the soil, m ma n)' places, tn efflorescenceof nitre was n oticed. The following mo rnin g, we came toLurreeare e. The soil, as before, was of dark m arl : Kessareewas plentiful as a, crop , and cripples were n oticed in m ost ofthe villaa'es we passed. . In proceeding nex t day, a distanceof six miles, to Keeree, we traversed a poorer lookin g par t ofthe country tha n we had hitherto done. The soil,.as before,was mar ly, and the re seemed to be hardly an)" other cropat this season, than the poisonous vetch. In many placesthere were large trac ts of uncultiva ted land covered withlow jungle bushes. W e observed ma.ny cripples. Ne xt day,we crossed the. Tons and, in doing so, entered Perg-unnah Barra.Bad as the soil of Kh yra trhu r had gradually become, as wewere approaching- Barr;1.. th e c han ge for the worse was veryeviden t on emering- the latter P ergu nna h. The black marlsoil crumbled in ibe b and , and the aroun d was everywherespli t into dee]:) iissnr es, -and la rge hollo ws, as if so much ofthe subjacent soil had sun k down from the action of w ater.Cultiv ation was carried on to a trifling- ex ten t, "bur. the cropsseemed se an tr and consisted chiefly of Kessa-ree Dal. "Wepassed no village of any size. On the 30th of Janua ry, wearrived at Barva. Ou th e road thi the r, we passed manyruined and deserted villa ges, and observed the usual black,ci.v era.s-ked suii the eou nrrv abo un din g in tanks , kessaree,and iame village rs. 2\:ext ci;iy we proceeded to Kurm a inPergvinnah Araii and found tiiu sod and crops steadily improv-ing as we advanced ; and we saw so pan uytie s. The cropswere not . as in Barra at this season, confined alm ost exclu-sively to kessa ree a.nd


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132 DU. IRVING-OK A FORM or3. Em am Bux, Mussulm an aged 40, inhabitan t of Ivornon.state s, tha t he was labour ing in the field duri ng the rains,abou t three years ago when he became lame, all of a sudden,and has so rem ained. H e used to live on kessare e, and stilldoes so.4. Shew nundiin, aged 10 years, has been lame since lastrains. He was herdin g cattle m the rains, when he becameso . He too, has always lived-on kessaree.5. Biron Lall , Brahm in, aged 60, has been lame for twoyears. He has alway s lived principally on kessaree. and stilldoes so. This man stated th at since he became paralysed, liehas felt pain hi the loixis, but no where else.These short- histories correspond exactly w ith those givenin my previous Re port. The charac teristics of the affectionappear to be the generally sudden seizure of the patie nt;

the time of seizure, th e rainy season ; the absence ofany accom panying fever or other acute disease ; the absenceof pain except in the knees and-loinsand that, only when theyat tem pt to walk. Th e affected do not appear to fall oil'muc h, if at ail, in condition in consequence of the disease ;nor, so far as I could ju dg e, did th e legs fall awa y, as onewould have expected. Ther e seems to be no blu ntin g of sen-sation. I pinched equally hard an arm , and an affected leg ofthe same person in- ma ny different instanc es : but all saidth at they felt as much in the leg as in the arm. Biron Lall,whos e case is given a bove, as well as several othe rs, have toldme tha t they feel cold from the loins downw ards more acutelynow than they did before they became lame. Othe rs com-plained of a ting ling sensation in the legs.A peculiarity of the disease is thai it affects men. morecommonly than wom en. Thu s, it app ears, from ;\ liet.nrnkindly furnished me by M r. Court that. m Barra. at. thebc-Q-inninn1 of this vear, of a population of 33,951 Males,2.US7are paralyzed or ( H I per ce nt. : -while of 22.C5-S F emale s,onlv 134 or 0"59 per cen t, are a-iiected. Ac cor ding to tinsli.etnrn, the total popula tion of B arra m Ja nua ry was 50,64-'.'),of whom 2.221 were paralyzed or 3'92 pe r' cent. * The samefact is apparent in the following Re turn from Ivhyra gliur.

:'-: In a I\el-\ii'ii triveii in my n rsi Tiepnrt.. tin: Pop ula tion of Barr a in 1S5 7.v.-as staled In hc-'jUales. 32 .8 2" Fnu ale 't 30 ,00 3. Tota l 6o .-i'J0. Ali'ectedwith Palsy 2028 or ii '10 nor cent.

lURAl/YSlS OF TUX LOVEf. EXTREMITIES .T..AJ3UE.

13 3

TALOOEAH.

ChowrussieBnrokliurKolirar

MaraK i l u r i ^

i "'^

P(

M a l e s .

3 5 3 33 S5 56 1 7 18 9 7 3

100 CO4 0 8 5

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M T L AI I OS .

!Femaics.! Toial.i

i3227 i C76O5339 j 91S4-4-949 110120G749 il57i

101 23 1-207 89. 4117 ! S215

l2504- J70S00

PAHALTXI os.

c

26139107

i -ij5 31

-.'. 1-1-02 109

! 93 | 4' 10 723 9 i l l : 2 5 0

S-i2 i-12 S S i

R I T I O rCENT or 1'LYTICS TC

10-73 Cr ] 513-GO 10-1312.00 :0-04-

:5-S3 10-20

j - 2 - 3 JO-IS

El :U L vPu -

i.

0-43VIS.1-071 '59

3-01

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Mr. -C . B. Tliornliill w as good enoug h to obta in for ixiea return of the para lytics in Chow kee Bur ga h, Perg-unna.liMo w. Zillah Ba nda. From tliis ,it ajipears tha t there arc:m tins part Qn tha t district.- 2964 me n. of whom 109 or 6 71are paralyzed : and tlia t of 2502 wom en 1 1, or only 0'4-3 areaffected.Oi' this complaint I have found various traces in oth erpar ts of India , ' besides those given in mv former Report.In the pan of Perg unna h R ureh nnna h of the Allahabaddistric t, winch joins on to Bar ra and possesses the same soilwe have a few cases."'7 1 had hoped to give some inte res t-ing details, rega rding the prevalence of Palsy in oilier pa rtsof Banda . Bu t after wait ing a long time for a trans lation of.papers ordered for me t hro ugh Me ssrs Tliornliill and M.avne,1 found them so evid ently erroneous, that I do no! produce

" There is not. R fa-ace of the disease to be found indirrenous. in anyothe r p.-m. of the Allahahad Distr ict . Mr . Conn, made Ail! en quiries oiltii!.- suuieci.. and found it un kn ow n in the Jjcw.h. or across i.iie Gam. ro=.Several 'i 'ehs.-eluars said. t,hat the y had seen cases, bu i t-hat f-hev wereiiiHons.- men . w-hu Lad conic iioiii Ban-;:. Jiliy raij iiur or Ban da .


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13-1- Un rT>vG ON A FOltM OFthem here. For exam ple, in a vern acular ta.ble which was fur-nished by a nativ e official, there was a column in which to in-ser t t he usual food of the various villag es. This was almost,invariably stated to be Wheat, Barley. Ba.jra. Kodoo : and Kes-sa.ree was ve n r seldom mentioned under the name of Peas ;althou gh it was shown, m another column th at Para lytics werecommon. Think ing this very s trange, and suspecting th atthe whole of the R etu rn, was a mere effort of imagination onthe par t of the official in question. I wro te to PeeareeMohun Bannerjee, Deputy Collector of Ba.nda, on the subject,and found as .1 anticipated I should do, th at " th e Dal of K.es-saree is exten sive ly xrown in the Pern-u riahs affected bv thedisease, bu t the people call it by the nam e of Chotee Mutiur."He adds " i t is much used by the poor man, and grows abund-antly in the hilly tract s of the Pertru nahs Cbeeboo andTirohan ."The disease would appear to prevail in the M irzaporedistr ict also. But. I have failed to ob tain any informationrega rding i t, throu gh officials, althoug h 1 tried to do so.*Captain F . Chapm an of the Allahabad Mi litary Police whohas lived in the interior of tha t district, told me that. "casesof Paralysis .from Kessaree Dill in the Mirzapore District arefew, but I have never seen a case, in wh ich the sligh testdou bt was expressed as to its use ha vin g been th e cause.Wo men, however, are never to my kn owledge affected, onlythe male s." He also states, th at in the .Mirzapore District,the vetch is named " Karou: Dul.'!The same kind of Palsy is also said to prevail in the neigh-bourh ood of Pa.tna a,nd G-ya-h. Dr . Alle n th e Civil Surgeo nof the latter station informs me. thai '" 'it is verv common mthe villages of the d istri ct." He -had not seen the. diseasehimself, but was told by one of his Native Doctor s, that " a ir,ansleepin g near Kessar ee Dal , which lias been cu t and collectedin a heap m the ' tim e of harves t, rna.y become affected withPalsy in consequence.'" Tins is probab ly an oriental delu-sion, b ut it s hows, th at the. native s of thru, part of Ind iaare aware of some conne ction, betwee n pa lsy, and kessareeas a, cause thereof.

* Since this was wri tten . I have received a valuable comm unicationfrom Mr . C. B. Den nison, Collector ' of Mirz apore , showin g tha; l i i tdisease prevails to a j;rea.t ext ent in v.liai dist rict . ] ' hope soon io uiaki".known the in forma t ion a bove a l lude d u> .

PARi.LTSTS OF THE LOWER EXTR EMITIES. 13 5 I have been informed , th at the sepoy pa rt ol ' the Army,which accompanied General Elphm stone ^ in the first expedi-tion to Cabuk sufferea much in consequence of-ea ting KessareeDal . They welJ kne w the- deleterio us effects p roduced by itsconst ant use, but. as tb ev were often reduced to a pound of

term is probably indicated the same symptoms as are observedin Khyraohur and Barra.I have asked several intel lige nt and educated Baboos as tothe. existence of the disease in Ben gal, bu t as far as 1 canlearn, it is not kn ow n. Kessa ree Dal is found extensive ly inBengal but it is not employed as food to the almost total ex-clusion of all other gra ms, as in Barr a and" Khyrao-hux. It-seems to be ve ry gene rally eaten by way of a cha nge as itis also in the Pun jab. There is a disease m the horse knownin Ben


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who are more exposed to damp and other causes of rh euma -tism , are much more liable to the disease than women whoare less exposed. Thi s, however, does not bear inves tigati on.W e have fche rains over the whole cou ntry , and men equallyexposed to their influence every where, bu t th e affection isnot, unive rsal being confined to certain par ts, in which theKessaree Dal is cultivated. There are. besides, other arg um ents,aga inst the supposition th at the affection is rheum atic. ]fit, were so, we misrht expe ct to find other p arts occasionallyaffected, and not inva riabl y t he lower extrem ities only.-Again the only uneasiness complained ofit does not am ountto pain is in"the loins as one would expect in p alsy of the lowerl imbs. Bu t w hat seems to me to be the strongest, argum ent infavour of the lameness of Khyrag'hur and Barra- being of a para-lytic, and not of a rheumatic nature is, that a similar affectionlias long been known in v arious p arts of .Europe, as well as inIn dia , to result from th e use of Kessaree Da l, as well as ofsome other members of th e Natu ral Order of P lan ts to whichthe Kessaree belongs viz.. the Fabiacece. In these cases, thedisease has been reg arded as paraly tic. The affection, mfact, simply seems to be, an instance of what is termed chronicpois onin g that is to say, injurious effects produced by fre- 'quen tly repeated doses of a poison. Othe r substances, m fre-quen tly repeated small doses, produce palsy. Of this we havefamiliar instances in th e case of Me rcury and Lead ; al-thou gh m the la tter instances the affection is more curable-as these poisons admit of elimination.As to the trea tm ent of palsy produced by the use of Kes-saree, I have not hin g satisfactory to add. Five cases wererecently under trea tme nt in the Go vernment Dispensary, andto a certain extent impro ved on being well led, but- whenremedies were administer ed, th ey took frig ht and all left.Situated as the people of Kh yrag hur and Barra are at pre-sent, if any were cured in Allahab ad, and were sent bade totheir homes, they would again be exposed to the action ofthe exciting- cause of their malady, as they would be compelledto live on Kessaree, and would again, in all probability, becomeaffected.The form of Paraplegia to which I have drawn attention, isone of grea t interest. As yet, our information rega rdin g it, ismea gre, alth ough th e subject seems well worth y of fartherand fuller investig ation, with a view of mi tig ati ng the ev il.I t is indeed rema rkable , th at thousan ds of people, who knowtha t a particular grain may render them lame, yet continue

srs or TF E EXTREMITIES 137i-o use it as food. Is this-becau se they must either eat th epoison or starve? W ill, no other gram grow a.nd be pro -ductive m the affected parts of KhyraH'bur and Barra., exceptKessaree? If not at presen tw ill drainag e or other meansnot render the soil capable of bear ing othe r and less deleteri-ous crops? Are there no means, in fact, of inducing the peopleto give up the use of the poisonous food? These are practicalquestions well worthv of solution.

Lathyrism Allahabad IND Irving 1860 Par Miles

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