Buckwheat-Poisoning With Report of a Case in Man (1909)

Abstract

Buckwheat-poisoning, or ``fagopyrismus,''1 may be defined as a dis- ease which occurs in certain white or white-spotted animals that have been fed on the common buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum (Polygonum fagopyrum) or on the other species less frequently cultivated, Fagopyrum persicaria.Clinically, the milder forms of the disorder are associated with an itching erythema, situated mainly on the head and face, constipation and digestive disturbance, the more serious cases being attended by cutaneous, respiratory, febrile or urinary phenomena.Pathologically, there may be a vesicular, pustular, phlegmonous, or even gangrenous dermatitis, and inflammatory changes in the mucous mem- branes, the brain, nerves and lungs. CAUSESThe etiology of fagopyrismus presents several features which deserve careful consideration.The disease is most common in swine and sheep, especially in pigs and lambs.It is occasionally seen in cattle and goats, and is rarest in the horse.White or spotted animals are said to be exclusively affected.Those that are black or artificially blackened escape the disease, and, curiously enough, the pigmented parts of the skin in diseased white-spotted animals remain normal.The worst cases of buckwheat-poisoning are seen in animals that have been fed on the buckwheat plant while in bloom, but the malady may develop after the eating of the grains, bran, chaff, straw or stubble.In winter the disease manifests itself merely by burning and itching of *Read before the Johns Hopkins Hospital Medical Society, February 1, 1909.1. Fagopyrismus is derived from the Latin fagus, beech; the Greek pyros, wheat, and the Latin suffix, ismus, a condition.Buckwheat is so named because of the resemblance in shape of its seeds to the triangular beech-nuts; hence the common name buckwheat and the botanical name ``fagopyrum,'' both of which signify etymologically ``beech-wheat.''Beech and buck have the same root (cf.Ger. buche, beech; buch, buck\p=m-\buchweizen,buckwheat; Anglo-Saxon bok, beech, buck; bokw\l=oe\te,beech-wheat, buckwheat).The buckwheat plant belongs to the order of Polygonacea (polys, many and gony, knee).Fagopyrum esculentum (edible buckwheat) is the species most widely cultivated.