Part 10

HEAD: Painful pressure on the head. Headache, with heat at front-part of vertex. Headache above the orbits and in the temples. 10. Constrictive pain in the head. Headache, with sense of compression in forehead. Beating headache, as if the brain were bounding. Pains in the left brain, spreading to the occiput and nape of the neck. Boring pain in the vertex. 15. Pricking and pressing pain round the head. Throbbing in the head, causing one to bend it forward. Pricking at the temple, and itching all over. Tightness of the forehead. Pulling at the forehead and root of the nose. 20. Lancinations in left side of the head. Heaviness of the head, with indescribable malaise in the brain, especially the left. Heat in the head, with cold sweat and fever. Sensitiveness of the hairy scalp.

FACE, EYES, EARS: Pain in the right cheek, passing off by pressing on the bone. 25. Pricking in left side of the face. Cutting pain from the temple to the chin, across the face. Heat in left side of the face. Heat in the corner of the left nostril, with stitch in the tip. Nose swollen and painful on the left side. 30. Coryza, inflammation, itching of the nose. Discharge of black blood from the right nostril. Heat in the nose, with sensation as of a current of cold air in left nasal fossa. Buzzing in the right ear. Beating pain above the left ear. 35. Itching in the right ear, worse when stooping. Dartings in the ears. Buzzing in left ear. Pricking pain round the right ear. Prickling in the eyes. 40. Burning in the eyes. Eyelids weary at night. Redness and pains of the eyes. Dartings in the right eye. Dimness of sight as if looking through a white gauze. 45. Lachrymation, with itching. Pain in right eye as from a round weight resting upon it.

TEETH, JAWS: Sticking pain in the jaw. Painful beating in the left jaw. Lancinations in the left jaw. 50. Pains in the jaws, as if in the teeth. Pain in the lower teeth, with deafness. Toothache, as if soft and on edge. Stitching pain in the lower gums. Itching under the chin, from ear to ear.

MOUTH, THROAT: 55. Pricking itching at the tongue. Drawing pain from the tongue to the arm, with sensation as if the tongue were swollen. Smarting at the tip of the tongue. Dry mouth and throat. Heat in the throat with desire to vomit and noise in the ears on swallowing.

GASTRIC: 60. Aversion to meat. Desire for tea. Desire for fruit, with loathing of food. Desire for cressis, with loathing when seeing it. Desire for chocolate and salad, vinegar. 65. Desire for coffee. Desire to vomit. Sour eructations. Foul eructations. Prostration with loathing of food. 70. Loathing of food. A cake descends into the stomach suddenly, with a shaking sensation. Oppression after eating.

STOMACH, BOWELS: Faint feeling in stomach. Distress in pit of stomach, with desire to vomit. 75. Heat in stomach, with feeling of dryness. Sickness at the stomach, followed by a desire to vomit, before eating. Pain at the pit of the stomach, after eating. Stitching pain in the pit of the stomach after eating. Weak feeling in the stomach. 80. Pain in the pit of the stomach, as if cut through. Beating and pricking in the pit of the stomach. Throbbing at the epigastrium. The abdomen feels sensitive. Cutting pain at the cardia. 85. Lancinations in the abdomen and sides. Worm-colic, with tenesmus. Compression as by a band round the waist. Colic in damp air. Sense as of a knife being plunged into the epigastrium. 90. Colic. Stitch in left side of abdomen.

STOOL, URINARY, &c.: Diarrhœa. Weight and pressure at the bladder when urinating. Dark urine.

BRONCHIAL: 95. Dry cough, with loss of breath. Cough with hoarseness. Hacking cough, with salt saliva. Cough with slight spitting of blood. Salt, thick sputa. 100. Stitch in the right lung. Pain in the right side, arresting the breathing. Twitching pain in the muscles under the right breast. Coldness from the stomach to the throat. Pain in the pectoralis major. 105. Sense as of a string at the right breast. Pain in the left lung, through to the back. Itching at the nipples, swelling of the glands, hardness of the breasts. Sensation as of a band in the side. Pricklings between the breasts. 110. Pain all along the trunk. Lancinations in the right chest. Shortness of breath. Palpitation of the heart, with pain hindering breathing. Convulsive trembling of the heart. 115. Sense as of a knife slowly penetrating into the heart. Constrictive pain at the heart, extending to the left axilla. Palpitation of the heart. Sharp stitching pain in the region of the heart, with lancinations under the false ribs.

BACK: Acute pains in the muscles of the neck and shoulder-blade. 120. Pricklings from the shoulder-blade along the right side of the neck. Sensation as if a string were pulled from the shoulder to the ear. Crampy pain in right side of the neck, extending to the arm. Darting from the ear to the shoulder. Pain from the shoulder round the neck, like a band, with a stitch in the pit of the stomach and nape of the neck. 125. Crampy pain behind the neck. Pain in the side of the neck, worse when turning the head to the right side. Throbbing in the back. Passing heat in the back, followed by shuddering all over. Darting in the spine of the shoulder-blade, shifting to the other shoulder. 130. Pains from the shoulder to the back, with lancinations hindering breathing. Sticking pain at the shoulder-blade. Shock across the back. Pain in the back as from a nail.

UPPER EXTREMITIES: Stitching pain in the left axilla. 135. Formication above the left shoulder. Pain under the left axilla, as if cut with a penknife. Quick throbbing on the right shoulder. Violent pain in left arm, worse when covered; she cannot stretch it. Pain as from a blow at the right arm, with numbness. 140. Numbness of the left arm, with pain in the shoulder as if beaten by hammers. Darting from the elbow to the shoulder-blade. Pain in left arm, she can scarcely raise it. Laming pain at left arm, when holding it still. Crampy pain in left hand. 145. Itching on the back of the hands. Crampy pain in the right hand, followed by shuddering all over. Lancinating pains in the muscles of the right hand and shoulder-blades. Rheumatic pain and stiffness of left index-finger. Crampy pain at the right ring-finger. 150. Pain in the bone of the left thumb, with trembling when attempting to use it. Prickling at the tip of the middle-finger, which draws it up.

LOWER EXTREMITIES: Contusive pain at the right hip. Pulling along the left sartorius muscle. Pain in left gluteus maximus as if contracted. 155. Contraction of the leg, with stiffness of the bend of the knee. Acute pain at inner side of right tibia. Pain from the left hip to the knee, with weakness of the leg. Pain in the bend of the knee as if a tendon were slowly drawn inwards. Pain as if scratched at the feet, followed by heat. 160. Sense as of a blow at the left big toe.

SLEEP, &c.: Desire to gape. No sleep after midnight, with pains all over when stirring. Comatose condition, but no sleep. Heavy sleep, with numbness and sense as if bruised on waking. 165. Drowsy, and shuddering in the legs. Restless at night, followed by prickings all over. Heavy and drowsy. Restless night. Suffocative fit at night. 170. She dreams that she is talking with dead persons. Sad dreams with fear on waking. Dreams about dead bodies. Internal heat with restlessness; she has to rise. Heat after the cold, especially in the renal region. 175. Shuddering and cold sweat in the air. Violent pain in the muscles of the neck, thigh and left leg. The limbs feel bruised.

PANACEA.

We regret to say that we lost the drawings and the notes which we had collected about the tree called by the Brazilians “panacea” on account of the many ailments for which they use it. It is called in Brazil, _azougue dos pobres_ (mercury of the poor), _cabedula_, and _erva carneira._ This tree is exceedingly common in Brazil; knowing its name, foreign homœopathists will find it perhaps easier to procure the plant.

_First day._—1. Heaviness in the forehead, worse when drowsy, at 10 in the evening. Heat followed by considerable cold, at half past 10.

_Second day._—Bitter mouth, in the morning after rising, at 5. Pain at the shoulder-blade by turning the head to the left side. 5. Nausea. Spasmodic yawning arrested suddenly. Cramp from the index-finger to the elbow. Violent headache, worse when inclining to the left side, at 6. Pain at the forehead and temples. 10. Pain at the loins as if bruised, at 6. Globus hystericus at the pit of the stomach, she cannot lace herself. Hunger, with loathing of food. Fainting turn. Pain from the right wrist to the elbow. 15. Vertigo with increase of the headache, at 6. Heaviness of the head. Drowsy. Tearing, from the chest to the throat, at 7. Pain like a blow with a hammer, at the left shoulder. 20. Dizziness, she inclines backwards as if she would fall, at half past 7 in the evening. Pain at the navel as if cut by a penknife, all around the abdomen and terminating in the loins. Heat at the tongue, with sensation as if little drops of ice-water were upon it, at 9 in the morning. Pain at the temples as if in a vice. Very drowsy at noon, with heaviness of the eyes. 25. Cramps from the feet to the bends of the knees. Empty feeling in the stomach, with desire to eat. Hunger causing a burning at the stomach. The knees give way, at 4 in the evening. Desires to be alone. 30. Shuddering in the open air, at 7 in the evening. She cannot kneel for any length of time. Pain in the chest, rising upwards, with pulling. Pain above the orbits as if a rusty saw were rapidly moved across the part. Sensation as if the toe-nail were torn off. 35. Weariness as after a long journey, at 8 in the evening.

_Third day._—Numbness of the left hand, it cannot be stirred, at 6 in the morning. Pain as if stabbed with a knife, in the sides and navel. Pain in a decayed tooth, as if a penknife were thrust in, at 7 in the morning. Aching pain at the vertex, with dizziness; this pain shifts to the left eye, followed by sensation as if a rocket were rushing out of it, at half past 7. 40. Sense of choking at 9 in the morning. Trembling of the right hand. Dissatisfied with herself, every thing is unpleasant to her. Headache which increases her dissatisfaction. Shuddering all over.

HAHNEMANN’S ARRANGEMENT.

HEAD, &c.: Vertigo. Dissatisfied with herself, more so when she has the headache. Pain at the temples as if in a vice. Aching pain at the vertex with dizziness, shifting to the left eye, with sensation as if a rocket were rushing out of it. Heaviness in the forehead. Headache worse when inclining the head to the left side. Sawing pain above the orbits. Pain in a decayed tooth, as if a penknife were thrust in. Heat at the tongue, with sensation as if little drops of ice-water were upon it. Sense of choking.

GASTRIC, &c.: Hunger with burning at the stomach. Nausea. Hunger, with loathing of food. Bitter mouth, after rising from bed. Globus hystericus at the pit of the stomach. Empty feeling in the stomach. Pain in the sides and navel as if stabbed with a knife. Cutting pain; from the navel all around the abdomen. Pulling pain in the chest. Tearing from the chest to the throat. Pain at the loins as if bruised.

EXTREMITIES: Pain at the shoulder-blade when turning the head to the left side. Pain in the right forearm. Trembling of the right hand. Numbness of the left hand. Cramp from the index-finger to the elbow. Cramps in the legs. Sensation as if the toe-nails were torn off. Pain at left shoulder as from a blow. Spasmodic yawning. Shuddering all over. Shuddering in the open air. Heat followed by cold. Weariness. Fainting turn.

SOLANUM TUBEROSUM ÆGROTANS.

SOL. T. ÆG.—DISEASED POTATO.

A description of the potato in a work destined for European pharmaceutists and physicians, would be entirely useless; so well and so universally known is this plant in Europe. However, since our work will get into the hands of persons who are less familiar with the productions of the European continent, we deem it advisable to subjoin a drawing and a short description of this plant. The potato is a native of Chili; it is an herbaceous plant, with a branchy stem about one or two feet high. Its leaves are pinnatifid, with leaflets that are oval, entire, slightly hairy on their lower surface and almost opposite. Smaller folioles sometimes arise between the larger ones. The flowers constitute corymbs either erect or inclined; calice in five parts; corol of a white violet with five equal divisions; five stamens attached to the basis of the corol; one style and stigma, fleshy berry with two chambers. The roots develop tubercles of different sizes and called potatoes. The potato-rot first reveals itself by brown spots irregularly distributed through the interior of the tubercles; gradually these spots are transformed into white points of a cottonny appearance which may be compared to the cryptogamia termed byssus, and found on damp wood. From this point a general process of decomposition sets in, and the potato exhales an insupportable nauseous odor. In our provings we have made use of a potato in an entire state of decomposition, without, however, being completely rotten; there were brown portions intermingled with those byssus-shaped parts described above.

HOMŒOPATHIC TREATMENT OF THE POTATO-ROT.

Human pathology is not the only field of the homœopathist. He should take an interest in every species of suffering, and endeavor to restore the harmony of the organic kingdom wherever it has been disturbed by some accidental cause. Homœopathy is a vast, unitary science. The healing art is one; there is no such thing as one healing art for man and another for the animal, though it is on man that we should prove our drugs because he is the complex of the various kingdoms of nature.

The question now occurs, how is the potato-rot to be treated? It is evident that the great point is to _prevent_ the disease, and, for this purpose, we must endeavor to remove the cause. _Principiis obsta_, has ever been the fundamental rule of medical treatment.

In order to attain this end, we have deemed it necessary first to ascertain the effects which the diseased potato would produce on a healthy person and afterwards to find out what drugs produce similar effects. We might have instituted our provings on the potato itself, and, among a number of drugs, might have discovered the one that would produce a disease similar to the rot. But this mode of investigation would have been too long and uncertain, whereas the proving on the human body is simple and direct, and is, we think, the true mode which Providence has designed we should pursue even in regard to the potato-rot.

It is true, man cannot be assimilated to the myriads of organized beings that surround us; man constitutes the highest link in the chain of beings; he is the complex of the animal life on our globe, and the most perfect type to which all inferior existences can be referred; he is a microcosm containing all the wonders of the universe; he is the responsible administrator of this earth. Man alone is able to produce a true pathogenesis by revealing the most evanescent as well as the most characteristic and most permanent symptoms, or lesions of sensation. On plants and animals we can only perceive disordered functions, disorganizations of tissues, or acute pains as manifested by gestures or cries; but the truly dynamic action can only be properly perceived and described by man.

The veterinary homœopathist does very well in selecting his remedy by the human pathogenesis. Why should not the same mode be applicable to vegetables? We have invited our fellow-beings to try it; we have not only invited them to teach, and to cure, and to make themselves sick, in order to discover the true means of healing; but we have encouraged them to suffer themselves to be persecuted, and even imprisoned, as a reward for their labors of love, we have said to them; whilst the world is hesitating whether it should accept or reject the blessing offered by Hahnemann, let us lose no time; there are other regions where the evil is still triumphant, and where truth is not even known by name; let us expel error from its last hiding-places. And we have never failed in meeting corresponding souls that would hear us and follow us. And thus it is that homœopathy, this physical reflex of the Christian redemption, combats evil by itself, pursuing it from region to region until it shall have been exterminated from the world.

Now let us describe the practical part of our proving.

From the first, frontal headaches, with pressure above the orbits, have been observed with much regularity not only by the three provers whose symptoms are published, but also by other provers who continued the proving only for a few days.

Until the 20th day, these headaches were often accompanied by fever, with chill, heat, sweat, shudderings followed by sore throat, cough and greenish mucous expectoration.

The palpitation of the heart which occurs during the whole period of the proving, and with particular violence at the end of the third proving, appears to be represented in the case of the second prover by violent muscular pulsations occurring in the same chronological order. The hard, large-sized, fragmentary stools, and their painful expulsion which sometimes caused a falling of the rectum; the frequent emission of flatulence preceded or accompanied by colic, with sensitiveness of the abdominal integuments in the case of the first prover, are very constant symptoms of this drug; they were observed from the first and increased until the last days of the proving.

We will likewise point to the general or partial weakness, which, in the case of the third prover, were followed by violent pains in the loins.

The white coating of the tongue which was observed on the first day, gradually limited itself to a yellow line along the middle. Among the less general symptoms which were observed during the whole time of the proving, we may note the want of appetite, the bitter taste of food, the cutaneous eruptions, the swelling of the mucous membrane of the palate, the thick urine, and lastly the pain in the groin or the right ileo-femoral articulation.

In the emotive sphere the drug induced a great irritability. The dreams about a change of form occurred very generally to the three provers. The second prover had the same dreams on two successive nights.

After a careful comparison of the symptoms of the Solanum tuberosum ægrotans with those of the other known remedies of our Materia Medica, we have found them to agree with the symptoms of the following drugs which we enumerate in the order of their importance:

1. _Bryonia_; 2. _Arsenicum_; 3. _Plumbum_; 4. _Nux-vomica_; 5. _Sepia_; 6. _Strontiana_; 7. _Viola-tricolor_; 8. _Squilla_; 9. _Pulsatilla_; 10. _Graphites_; 11. _Alumina_; 12. _Mercurius_; 13. _Natrum-mur_; 14. _Ignatia_; 15. _Calcarea_.

We have no doubt that Bryonia and Arsenicum will prevent the rot; but, to be frank, we believe that, in this case at least, the isopathic method of treatment will prove more successful than the homœopathic. It is well known that the mode of preparing our drugs for medicinal purposes, modifies their action a good deal. This result is principally obtained by rubbing them down with sugar of milk, which is not an inert substance as Hahnemann believed, but is on the contrary endowed with the most useful powers of action. The sugar of milk effects a preliminary digestion of the drug, and, by imparting to it vital qualities, fits it for medicinal purposes. Do we not know that certain animal products are preferable to corresponding mineral substances? Is not the calcarea prepared from the oyster-shell preferable to the chemically prepared carbonates and phosphates of lime? Are not the poisons of serpents destined to occupy the first rank among the polychrests?

To return to our subject, the medicinal preparation obtained from the diseased potato is not the original poison as used by nature, but the poison modified in consequence of its having been previously engrafted on a living tubercle.

Our mode of inoculating either the isopathic or homœopathic preparation is as follows. Before putting the potato in the ground we perforate it with a big needle, and into this hole we insert a single globule of the third attenuation.

This operation is simple and easy. It can be applied on a large scale and we think that by its means the potato will be preserved for a long time yet to the European continent.

First prover: _Van-Dyck_, 26 years old, of a sanguine nervous temperament and a robust constitution.

_First day._—1. Painful stitch in the right side, a few moments after taking the drug. Acidity and eructations, at 9 in the evening.

_Second day._—On waking, weight above the eyes and in the forehead, as the morning after being intoxicated. Shuddering and sensation of cold internally, at noon. 5. Scanty and difficult stool, in the shape of small hard balls, in the evening.

_Third day._—He dreams that he is to dress and draw the body of a drowned man; this body bounded up every moment and fell back either on his clothes or on his drawing board. The mucous membrane of the palate seems to detach itself here and there. Cross; he blames every thing, and cannot bear that any thing near him should be disturbed.

_Fourth day._—Difficult stool in small red balls.

_Fifth day._—10. Stool as above.

_Sixth day._—Horrid colic, as if the bowels were violently twisted; 15 minutes after, hard and copious stool, followed by two almost liquid stools (at night).

_Seventh day._—Copious and liquid diarrhœa, of a greenish yellow, in the morning. Prickling around the eyelids; on their internal surface they are red and congested. Tongue coated white. 15. White sordes on the teeth. (Profuse lachrymation). Little appetite. Pulse rather agitated.

_Eighth day._—The median line of the abdomen from the sternum to the hypogastrium is painful to the touch. 20. Thirst. Little appetite. Sensation of warmth about the head, at 4 in the evening.

_Ninth day._—Dreams about magic, men being transformed into speaking animals, changes at night, &c. Heat in the canal of the urethra, after urinating. 25. The urine deposits a yellowish sediment. Small pimples on the back, causing a violent itching. Sneezing in going up-stairs.

_Tenth day._—Heaviness on the eyes. Slight beating in the temples. 30. Mounting of heat to the head from time to time.

_Eleventh day._—Pricking around the eyelids, on waking. Itching of the back. Sweat on doing the least work. Heaviness of the head.

_Twelfth day._—35. Heaviness in the head which is at times very violent, especially when raising the head again after stooping. Smarting and prickling in the eyes. No stool for five days past.

_Thirteenth day._—Heaviness of the head, worse in the morning than evening. Ordinary stool. 40. Difficult digestion. Sneezing after going up-stairs. Likes to loiter about.

_Fourteenth day._—Heaviness of the head. Ordinary stool. 45. He would like to go to bed, but is too lazy, at 10 in the evening. Pains in the thighs, above the knee-pan.

_Fifteenth day._—(Lachrymation on waking). Slight heaviness of the head. Greenish yellow coating on the tongue, along the middle. 50. White slime on the teeth. Headache at noon. Lancinations in the region of the heart. Chilliness with chattering of the teeth. Smarting at the eyes, in the evening. 55. Not much appetite. Sneezing. Lips cracked, bleeding and almost raw.

_Sixteenth day._—Smarting at the eyelids. Tongue slightly coated white. 60. White mucus on the teeth. Dreams about his daily business. Flatulence and eructations. Agitated pulse. Sneezing at 4 in the afternoon. 65. Smarting and prickling at the eyes.