Part 24

A lady living in the West, aged about fifty, had been ailing several years. Her greatest complaint was a weak, bad-aching heart. I treated her a few months with general improvement, but she complained of a weak, tired, bad-acting and bad-feeling heart. I sent her _Phaseolus_ 9x, and later she wrote me that forty-eight hours after commencing the last medicine sent her heart wheeled into line all right and remains so.

A lady, aged eighty-seven, had diarrhoea, which was soon relieved; then I found her heart acted badly, about every third beat omitted, and she said it had been so for a year or more. I gave her _Phaseolus_, and two days later her pulse was all right.

Dr. Brown, of Springfield, reported a case of a young man that only once in two weeks did he get his pulse up to sixty, ranging from fifty to fifty-five the two weeks. He gave _Phaseolus_ 6, which I furnished him, and the next forenoon his pulse was seventy-two and remained so.

I will report only one more case, treated with this remedy, one which I think very interesting.

A lady physician, aged thirty, married, no children, never has been sick except with childhood diseases. Two years ago had considerable mental trouble and rode a bicycle a good deal. Since that time, two years ago, five times each minute, or about that, her heart would give one hard unpleasant throb, then omit one beat, this in the day time, but much worse at night, preventing sleep. Being in somewhat of a hurry, I did not examine the heart, thinking there would be a plenty of time later, but gave her _Phaseolus_, the 10th I think. Thirty-six hours later the heart would beat one hundred consecutive times without the slightest variation, and it continued to improve, although after taking the medicine thirty-six hours she was obliged to desist on account of a severe headache. She is never subject to headaches, but it was so bad she dared not take any more of the medicine. It was as if something was pressing hard against each temple, much worse soon after taking each dose of the medicine. This headache led me to fear that the death I mentioned might have been hastened by the medicine.

A medical conundrum. A lady, aged about thirty, decided she would investigate the next world to see if she could enjoy it better than this, and called in the aid of morphine to help her along. Not being in the habit of taking morphine, to disguise the bitter of it, placed a tablet of morphine in the middle of a baked bean and swallowed it whole. She took her little dose in the evening, having eaten nothing since noon, and went to sleep. At seven in the morning she awoke and was surprised to find herself in this world. When asked if she would get up, replied, no, she would sleep a little longer. At eleven A.M. she awoke and tried to get up, but could not walk, so crawled to the door and opened it to let in fresh air. A servant found her there, and at her request handed her the camphor bottle, and she took a little. Dr. Rowe was called and said she vomited a little mucus, some dark specks that looked like blood, and a small piece of lettuce she ate the noon before. She had taken twelve and one-half grains of morphine. Did the lettuce antidote it? Did the bean destroy its power? Why did it not kill her?

POTHOS.

NAT. ORD., Araceæ.

COMMON NAME, Skunk Cabbage.

PREPARATION.--The fresh root gathered in spring is macerated in twice its weight of alcohol.

(Contributed by Dr. S. A. Jones to the _Homoeopathic Recorder_, 1889.)

This perennial, odorous member of the natural order _Araceæ_ is one of our most common meadow and bog plants. From its very realistic, skunk-like odor when cut or bruised, and its resemblance in shape of leaf and mode of growth to the cabbage, it has been commonly well known as the skunk cabbage.

Belonging to the same family as the Calla lily and Indian turnip, the shape of its flower becomes at once familiar to anyone who observes it. Among the first plants to flower in spring is this species, and by closely observing the surface of any boggy meadow in the latter part of March or early April one will find irrupting the earth like mushroom the points of many beautiful spathes gaping open to extend invitations to the earliest slugs and carrion beetles of the season. These are the flowers of Pothos appearing some time before the leaves, and when divested of the mud that clings to them, and polished with a damp cloth, as the apple-woman serves her pippins, they shine out in beautiful mottled purple, orange, and deep red, and, being very fleshy, will keep up appearances many days if cut deep and placed in hyacinth jars.

The root is large, thick, and cylindrical, giving off its lower end numerous long, cylindrical branches; the leaves which appear on the fertilization of the ovary are large, smooth, entire, and deeply plaited into rounded folds. On opening the pointed spathe or floral envelope, a club-like mass will be noted arising from its base. This is the spadix bearing the naked flowers, which are perfect, consisting of a four-angled style and four awl-shaped stamens. The fruit, when mature, is a globular, ill-smelling, glutinous mass, consisting of the enlarged, fleshy spadix and changed perianths, and enclosing several large bullet-like seeds.

The roots are easily gathered, one alone being sufficient to make a year's stock of tincture for the most lavish practitioner.

THE TINCTURE.

Take the fresh root stalks and rootlets, gathered in spring on the first appearance of the flowers, and chop and pound them to a pulp, and weigh. Then taking two parts, by weight, of alcohol, mix the pulp with one-sixth part of it, add the balance, and, after stirring the whole well, pour it into a well-stoppered bottle and let it stand for eight days in a dark, cool place. After straining and filtering, the resulting tincture should be of a light brown color and have a slightly acrid taste and a neutral reaction.

CHEMISTRY.

The active principle of this plant is doubtless volatile, as the dried root presents none of the acridity of the fresh, and is odorless as well. Dr. J. M. Turner determined in the root a volatile fatty body, a volatile oil, a fixed oil, and a specific resin.

* * * * *

On the 16th of December, 1887, there came into my hands a case that the family physician (a homoeopath) had pronounced epilepsy and declared incurable. Upon being consulted, his diagnosis had been confirmed and his prognosis corroborated by the late Prof. E. S. Dunster, of the University of Michigan.

Up to date that identical patient has had neither a "fit" nor any approximation thereto, and that fact is an occasion of this paper. One who already discerns the first gray shadows of that night which comes to all, does not now write at the urging, or the _itching_, of the Ego. He disclaims any merit, having evinced only a monkey-like imitativeness. He had from the Infinite, the gift of a good memory, and an old book, picked up one happy day at a street stall, flashed into recollection some twelve years later, and enabled him then to imitate the much earlier doing of its worthy author--

"Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust."

This dead worthy--he that was James Thacher, M. D.--more than any other, made known the virtues of _Pothos foetida_, and gratitude for what his book had taught me to do made me feel that to write up this forgotten remedy were the fittest return that I could make for his well doing.

A second incentive, ample enough, is found in the fact that the first homoeopathic paper on _Pothos foet._ has never had a faithful translation into our language, and has not been critically reproduced in any other. A study of the _Homoeopathic Bibliography_, as given in this paper, will teach an impressive lesson not only to the _real_ student of Materia Medica, but also to those who assume the responsibilities of editorship.

A third inducement, and perhaps a pardonable, is the singular fact that much search in our literature has not enabled me to find any assistance of the clinical application of _Pothos foet._ by a homoeopathic practitioner. If any reader knows of any such, he will greatly gratify the writer by making it known.

AN EMPIRICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.[K]

[K] As my researches are confined to my own library, I do not profess to be exhaustive. I have not given all the references at my command, but have aimed to include such writers as have made positive contributions to our knowledge of this drug. Of my list, only Rafinesque is a mere (but a useful) compiler.

1785. Rev. Dr. M. Cutler.--_Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences._ Boston.

1787. D. J. D. Schoepf, M. D.--_Materia Medica Americana potissimum Regni Vegetabilis._ Erlangen. (Not in my possession. Quoted from Barton.)

1813. James Thacher, M. D.--_The American New Dispensatory._ Boston. (This is the second edition wherein Pothos is mentioned for the first time. Our citations are from the fourth edition. Boston, 1821.)

1817. James Thacher, M. D.--_American Modern Practice, etc._ Boston.

1818. Jacob Bigelow, M. D.--_American Medical Botany, etc._ Vol. 2. Boston.

1820. Wm. M. Hand.--_The House-Surgeon and Physician._ Second edition. New Haven.

1822. Jacob Bigelow, M. D.--_A Sequel to the Pharmacopoeia of the U. S._ Boston.

1822. John Eberle, M. D.--_Materia Medica and Therapeutics._ Philadelphia. (The citations are from the fourth edition. Philadelphia, 1836.)

1825. Ansel W. Ives, M. D.--_Paris' Pharmacologia._ Third American edition. New York.

1830. Elisha Smith.--_The Botanic Physician, etc._ New York. (The title page proclaims him "president of the New York Association of Botanic Physicians.")

1838. C. S. Rafinesque.--_Medical Flora, etc._ Philadelphia.

It was admitted into the _catalogus secundarius_ of the second edition of _The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America_, and dropped into the dust-heap when the men who knew how to use it had passed away.

EMPIRICAL APPLICATIONS.

In dealing with authors who have gone to their reward, it has always seemed to me a duty to give their own words as far as possible. It brings them face to face with the reader, and is as if one brushed the moss from their gravestones, or perhaps, like Old Mortality, carved afresh a half-obliterated name.

It is not the briefest way, but it has the merit of showing from whence the bricks came of which the edifice is built. I shall, then, cite the authorities in chronological order, and copiously enough to include essentials.

_Cutler._--The roots dried and powdered are an excellent medicine in asthmatic cases, and often give relief when other means are ineffectual. It may be given with safety to children as well as to adults; to the former, in doses of four, five or six grains, and to the latter in doses of twenty grains and upwards. It is given in the fit, and repeated as the case may require. This knowledge is said to have been obtained from the Indians, who, it is likewise said, repeat the dose, after the paroxysm (_sic_) is gone off, several mornings, then miss as many, and repeat it again; thus continuing the medicine until the patient is perfectly recovered. It appears to be anti-spasmodic, and bids fair to be useful in many other disorders.--_Op. cit._, 1,409.

_Schoepf._--I am obliged to cite at second hand, as I have never been able to find a copy of his _opus_. One may judge of its rarity, when a foreign advertisement by a German bookseller some years since failed to obtain it for me.

Prof. W. P. C. Barton, _op. cit._, gives the gist of the Hessian surgeon's contribution in a style and manner as prim and orderly as that of Surgeon Schoepf himself on a dress parade.

"Pharm. _Dracontii Radix._ Qual. _Acris_, _alliacea_, _nauseosa_. Vis. _Incidens_, _califaciens_, _expectorans_. Usus: _fol. contrita ad vulnera recentia et ulcera._ _Tussis consumptiva._ _Scorbutus et elii morbi radix._ _Ari officin. utilis._"

"Incidens": Young reader, you must go back more than a century to understand the "pathology" that is wrapped up in that word like a mummy in its cerements. Don't laugh at _that_ "pathology," for some graceless graduate will laugh at yours in 1989. Note, however, in passing, that Schoepf says nothing, save _tussis_, that suggests the _vis anti-spasmodica_ of Cutler.

_Thacher._--The roots and seeds, when fresh, impart to the mouth a sensation of pungency and acrimony similar to Arum.

It may be ranked high as an anti-spasmodic, experience having evinced that it is not inferior to the most esteemed remedies of that class. In cases of asthmatic affections, it alleviates the most distressing symptoms, and shortens the duration of the paroxysms. * * * Rev. Dr. Cutler experienced in his own particular case very considerable relief from this medicine, after others had disappointed his expectations. * * * The seeds of this plant are said by some to afford more relief in asthmatic cases than the root.

In obstinate hysteric affections this medicine has surpassed in efficacy all those anti-spasmodics which have generally been employed, and in several instances it has displayed its powers like a charm. In one of the most violent hysteric cases I ever met with, says a correspondent, where the usual anti-spasmodics, and even musk had failed, two teaspoonfuls of the powdered root procured immediate relief; and on repeating the trials with the same patient, it afforded more lasting benefit than any other medicine. In those spasmodic affections of the abdominal muscles during parturition, or after delivery, this root has proved an effectual remedy. In chronic rheumatism, and erratic pains of a spasmodic nature, it often performs a cure, or affords essential relief.

It has in some cases of epilepsy suspended the fits, and greatly alleviated the symptoms.

In whooping cough, and other pulmonic affections, it proves beneficial in the form of syrup.

During every stage of nervous and hysteric complaints, and in cramps and spasms, this medicine is strongly recommended as a valuable substitute for the various anti-spasmodic remedies commonly employed. It is free from the heating and constipating qualities of Opium. [Yet Schoepf endowed it with the _vis colifaciers_.]

Having in a few instances tested its virtues in subsultus tendinum, attending typhus fever, its pleasing effects will encourage the future employment of it in similar cases.

Two instances have been related in which this medicine has been supposed to be remarkably efficacious in the cure of dropsy.

The roots should be taken up in the autumn or spring, before the leaves appear, and carefully dried for use. Its strength is impaired by long keeping, especially in a powdered state.--_Mat. Med._, 4th ed., p. 249.

A young woman, about eighteen years of age, was harassed by severe convulsive and hysteric paroxysms, almost incessantly, insomuch that her friends estimated the number at seven hundred in the course of a few weeks; her abdomen was remarkably tumefied and tense, and there was a singular bloatedness of the whole surface of her body, and the slightest touch would occasion intolerable pain. At length her extremities became rigid and immovable (_sic_), and her jaw was so completely locked that she was unable to articulate, and liquids could only be introduced through the vacuity of a lost tooth. She had been treated with a variety of anti-spasmodic and other medicines, by an experienced physician, without relief. Having prepared a strong infusion of the dried root of skunk cabbage, I directed half a teacupful to be given every few hours, without any other medicine; the favorable effects of which were soon observable, and by persisting in the use of it about ten days the muscular contractions were removed, the jaw was relaxed, and her faculty of speech and swallowing, with the use of all her limbs, were completely effected.

Another young woman had been exercised with the most distressing paroxysms of hysteria for several days, without obtaining relief by the medicines prescribed, when the skunk cabbage infusion was so successfully directed that her fits were immediately arrested, and in a few days a cure was completely effected.

The brother of this patient was seized with violent convulsions of the whole body, in consequence of a cut on his foot; the skunk cabbage was administered, and he was speedily restored to perfect health.

A woman was affected with violent spasmodic pains, twenty-four hours after parturition; six doses of skunk cabbage entirely removed her complaints.--_American Modern Practice_, p. 530.

_Barton._--The smell from spathe and flowers is pungent and very subtle. Experience leads me to believe they possess a great share of acridity; _having been seized with a very violent inflammation of my eyes_ (for the first time in my life), which deprived me of the use of them for a month, by making the original drawings of these plates. The pungency of the plant was probably concentrated by the closeness of the room, in which many specimens were at the time shut up.--_Veg. Mat. Med._, 1, 128. [The italics are not in the original text.]

The seeds are said to afford more relief in asthmatic cases than the root; and this I believe very probable, for they are remarkably active, pungent, and, as has before been mentioned, exhale the odor of Asafoetida.--_Op. cit._, p. 131.

The bruised leaves are frequently applied to ulcers and recent wounds, and, it is said, with good effect. They are also used as an external application in cutaneous affections; and I have heard of the expressed juice being successfully applied to different species of herpes. The leaves are also used in the country to dress blisters, with the view of promoting their discharge. * * * For this purpose I can recommend them where it is desirable to promote a large and speedy discharge, and no stimulating ointment is at hand.

_Colden_ recommends the skunk cabbage in scurvy.--_Op. cit._, p. 132.

_Bigelow._--The odor of the Ictodes resides in a principle which is extremely volatile. I have not been able to separate it by distillation from any part of the plant, the decoction and the distilled water being in my experiments but slightly impregnated with its sensible character. Alcohol, digested on the plant, retains its odors for a time, but this is soon dissipated by exposure to the air.

An acrid principle resides in the root, even when perfectly dry, producing an effect like that of the Arum and the Ranunculi. When chewed in the mouth, the root is slow in manifesting its peculiar taste; but after some moments a pricking sensation is felt, which soon amounts to a disagreeable smarting, and continues for some time. This acrimony is readily dissipated by heat. The decoction retains none of it. The distilled water is impregnated with it, if the process be carefully conducted, but loses it on standing a short time.--_Amer. Med. Bot._, 2, 45.

To insure a tolerably uniform activity of this medicine, the root should be kept in dried slices, and not reduced to powder until it is wanted for use.--_Op. cit._, p. 49.

A number of cases have fallen under my own observation of the catarrhal affections of old people, in which a syrup prepared from the root in substance has alleviated and removed the complaint.--_Op. cit._, p. 48.

In delicate stomachs I have found it frequently to occasion vomiting even in a small quantity. In several cases of gastrodynia, where it was given with a view to its anti-spasmodic effect, it was ejected from the stomach more speedily than common cathartic medicines. I have known it in a dose of thirty grains to bring on not only vomiting, but headache (_sic_), vertigo and temporary blindness.--_Op. cit._, pp. 48-49.

_Hand._--The root is a pungent anti-spasmodic in colics and griping of the bowels.

Leaves bruised relieve painful swellings, whitlows, etc.--_House Surg. and Phys._, p. 250.

_Eberle._--In chronic cough attended with a cold, phlegmatic habit of body, I have employed the powdered root of this plant with the most decided benefit. In an old man who had been for many years afflicted with a very troublesome cough and difficulty of breathing, I found nothing to give so much relief as this substance.

In cases of chronic catarrhal and asthmatic affections, and very generally with evident advantage.--_Mat. Med. and Thur._, 2, 154.

_Ives._--The root loses its pungent taste, and appears to be nearly inert in a few weeks after it is gathered. I prepared, however, an alcoholic extract some years ago, by digesting the fresh roots and evaporating the tincture in the sun, which possessed and retained all the acrimony of the recent root. The fresh leaves are actively rubefacient.--_Pharmacologia_, p. 147.

_Smith._--Skunk cabbage is not only a good anti-spasmodic in all cases where such are indicated, but it is also a powerful emmenagogue, anthelmintic, and a valuable remedy in dropsy, in spasms, rheumatism, palpitations, etc. It is frequently used in childbed to promote the birth. * * * * For expelling worms, the pulverized root should be administered in molasses for a sufficient length of time, following it up with a purge.--_Op. cit._, p. 511.

_Rafinesque._--Powerful anti-spasmodic, expectorant, incisive, vermifuge, menagogue, sudorific, etc. Used with success in spasmodic asthmas and coughs, hysterics, pertussis, epilepsy, dropsy, scurvy, chronic rheumatism, erradic and spasmodic pains, parturition, amenorrhoea, worms, etc.--_Op. cit._, 2, 230.

III.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC BIBLIOGRAPHY.[L]

[L] The definite article is used because it is believed to be complete, thanks to the scholarship and courtesy of Dr. Henry M. Smith, of New York. To him, also, am I indebted for the original text of _Pothos foet._ from the _Correspondenzblatt_.

1837. _Correspondenzblatt der Hom. Aerzte_, January 18th, 2d part, No. 1, p. 6. Allentown, Pa. Hering, Humphreys, and Lingen.

1843. _Symptomus Kodex_, vol. 2, p. 392. Jahr. (Taken from the _Correspondenzblatt_, and not correctly.) _Handbuch der Hom. Arzneimittellehre_, vol. 3, p. 613. Noack and Trinks. (Taken from the _Correspondenzblatt_, and incompletely.)

1847. _Manual of Hom. Mat. Met.--Jahr._ Translated by Curie, 2d ed., vol. 1, p. 462. London. (This is the first appearance of the Allentown "abstract of symptoms" in English. _Curie_ credits his _data_ to some "United States' Journal," probably meaning the _Correspondenzblatt_. His translation is erroneous, and yet, up to date, it is the fullest source of information for him who reads English only.)

1848. _New Manual or Symptomen Codex.--Jahr._ Translated by Hempel, vol. 2, p. 573. (This is a singularly incomplete translation from the German _Kodex_, with no reference to any source. A literal copy of this translation is all there is of _Pothos foet._ in the _Encyclopædia_. It omits the only symptom in the _Correspondenzblatt_ abstract that made my application of this remedy not purely empirical.)

1851. _Jahr's New Manual._ Edited by Hull, 3d ed., vol. 1, p. 797.

1851. _Characteristik der Hom. Arzneien._ Possart, part 2, p. 506.

1860. "_Hull's Jahr._" _A New Manual of Hom. Practice._ Edited by Snelling, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 977.

1866. _Text-Book of Mat. Med._ Lippe, p. 545.

1878. _Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica._ Allen, vol. 9, p. 155.

1884. _American Medicinal Plants._ Millspaugh, vol. 1, p. 169.

POTHOS FOETIDA SYMPTOMATOLOGY.

Translated from the _Correspondenzblatt_ by T. C. Fanning, M. D., Tarrytown, N. Y.[M]

[M] Literalness rather than elegance has been sought in the translating.

Because the odor is quite like Mephitis it is considered a so-called anti-spasmodic.

_Abstract of symptoms from Hering, Humphreys, and Lingen._

So absent-minded and thoughtless that he enters the sick rooms without knocking; pays no attention to those speaking to him. Irritable, inclined to contradict; violent.