The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-12
Poisonous Legumlno,isp Plants.

logumlnous plants, on account of the
great abundance Of albuminous material, in
addition to starch, found Ill their seeds, have
always been considered the equals of the
most nutritious cereals-euch as wheat, etc,
AS articles Of food. OF such plants the
common bean has probably been largest
known and is most widely distributed 1t
was cultivated by the Jews, and considered
as sacred by the Greeks and Romans. A
temple to- the God Of Beans, hya,,ctcs,
stood upon tho sacred road TO Elcusis; and
the hyanepsia, or bean fcust, which the
Athcnians celebrated in honor Of Apollo
was characterized by the use Of these le-
gumes. TO the Egyptians the bean was
an impure fruit, and they did not venture
to touch it. The black spcck on the white
wings of the flowers was formerly looked
upon as the written character of death; for
which reason the bean in ancient times
passed ~ the symbol Of death. 1t has been
reserved for modern times to learn that
''death" may indeed ''lurk in the pot"
with ut least sonlc Of these hitherto unsus-
peeled pod fruitcd plants Attention has
been called to the tact by Or. Rothroch that
certain lesuminous plants growing In our
Southwestern Territories possess poison
ous properties. In the vicinity of Fort
Garland, In Colorado cattle have quite
often given evidence Of poisoning, which an
investigation has been traced to Orytr0Dis
am6erti. The effects that follow the
eating OF this plant appear to be long on.
during, tho animal becoming dcmented and
wasting away rs its fondness increases to
something like the opium habit in man.
l)r. R0throch detected At New Camp Grant,
Arizona, another plant. X0suckia uurshi-
ana, the effects Of which are similar to the
preceding. According to the Icodc,ny,
Professor Cohn has recently reported Il case
OF the poisoning Of hundreds Of sheep, at
Namslau, from eating L,Q,i,ns. Two
circumstances were spoken Of as probable
causes. Professor Cohn had, year prcvi-
ously, demonstrated the existence in Lu.
1)f'1Ms of an active bitter principle, Of which
tho poisonous properties, closely allied to
tho poisonous alkalo,d of the water hem-
lock, are established. The other possible
cause was found to bc the occurrence. in
most Of the specimens submitted, Of sclc-
rotia, which burst out in the form Of small
black warts closely arranged in parallel Sc
ries. Professor Cohn remarked that the
question as to whether the poisoning should
be attributed to the lupine or the fungus
must be settled by chemical investigation.
Subsequent experiments, however, in culti-
Vatng the fungus from the sclerotinm have
not as yet led 10 the production Of any spc-
cific form that could have produced tho
poisoning The lupincs grow wild through
out the whole Of Europe and in India and
Arabia, aud arc mostly used ns food for
cattle, although the seeds arc sometimes
used by the poorer classes of people.
America has also its lupinc, and its bitter
seeds arc eaten from Canlda to Florida.
Another poisonous leguminous plant proves
to be Sophora spcciosu, from Texas.
From the seeds OF this DIR. II. G. Wood,
Jr., has extracted an alkaloid which he
calls Sophoria. The effects Of this arc
statcd,to resemble those oflhc calahar bean.
The seeds are nsed by the Indians Of Texas
to induce an intoXication which lasts from
two to three days. Half a bean will, it is
said, cause intoXcation, and whole one
may be productive of dangerous symptoms.
AS to the alkaloid, Dr. Wood states that
three grains of il hypodermically failed to
very seriously affect dog, but killed cat
In short time.