History and Description of Effects,
The Lathyrus is a vetch, and a member of the leguminosæ family growing in India.
This remedy, which produces a perfect picture of certain spinal affections, has been known for over a century. In Christison's Toxicology it is stated that it causes paraplegia, dragging gait, turning-in of the toes, stiffness and semi-flexion of the knee-joints.
The attention of the homœopathic profession was directed to the drug as a possible remedy in paraplegia, in the British Journal of Homœopathy, Vol. III. Here is found an account of a wheat famine in India, where the peas of the plant were substituted for wheat and used as a food. Those who subsisted on it were taken, even during sleep, with sudden paralysis of the lower limbs; this occurred without warning, in young men more than in young women, and was never recovered from. Another observer records fifty cases who had eaten the Lathyrus bread and all stated that they became paralytic during the wet season of the country, that they went to bed quite well and awoke with stiff legs, unsteady gait, and aching, but no severe pain. The upper extremities were free.
Another who saw the disease in Algeria and described the symptoms found in ten cases observed that they came on suddenly, in damp weather, with some pains in the loins, trembling, motor paralysis and exaggerated reflexes. He attributed these phenomena to an acute transverse myelitis with degenerative changes in the cord.
A German writer states that the drug produces disturbances of nutrition of the muscles of the lower extremities, paresis, and that the muscles of the trunk and neck and face remain unaffected. Sensation remains normal. It seems to produce a sclerosis of the pyramidal tracts of the cord.
In animals the same condition is found; namely, paralysis of the hind legs. Pigs drag their hind legs and horses give out.
AGGRAVATED SYMPTOMATOLOGY.
From all the sources which I have been able to find, the following seem to be the symptoms caused by the drug:
Sudden loss of power in the lower extremities, from the waist down.