Part 28

During the spring of 1886 scarlet-diphtheria appeared in this place. On March 28th I was called to attend the 8-year old son Matthias, of Wernerus, a weaver, in the hamlet of Niepert, that showed symptoms of the above disease. Cynanche was at high degree, and the throat was filled with diphtheritic coating, so much so that I had reason to fear the worst, on account of the accompanying fever and of the choked-up condition and weakly (scrofulous) habit of the patient. But the well-known remedy of Viller, given alternately with _Belladonna_, proved itself also in this case, and the symptoms in the throat assumed, after a few days, a less dangerous character. Not so with the fever, which gradually assumed the form of typhoid, and ran very high, while the scarlet-rash grew quite pale. On the morning of April 5th, his temperature was 42.5°, the patient unconscious, the pulse weak and intermittent, the feet swollen. Upon inquiry the parents told me that the boy urinated very little. His urine, of which I had taken a quantity the day previous for examination, contained a considerable amount of albuminous sediments. I prescribed _Kali arsenicosum_ in the fourth centesimal potency, which had been recommended in similar cases by Dr. Hock in the international homoeopathic press; but, although the temperature decreased after using this remedy, the dropsical swelling of the feet increased more and more, and after a few days the entire body of the patient was swollen very much. The discharge of urine grew continually less. Under these circumstances I examined the patient again thoroughly, and found great sensitiveness of the kidneys against pressure, in spite of his otherwise apathetic condition. These symptoms reminded me of _Virga-aurea_. This remedy was immediately applied, and I had no reason to regret it. Within one day the urinal discharge became profuse, the general condition improving at the same time; the peeling off took place without further trouble, and after the patient had taken _Virga-aurea_ for two weeks, and, on account of anæmia, for one week three times a day, a dose of _Ferrum peroxydatum_ in the 2d trituration, he had so far recovered that I did not consider it necessary to give further medicine.

In 1885 a 45-year-old Belgian mine official (his work was office-work) consulted me on account of sleeplessness and pain in the back. The patient had no other complaints, only he carelessly added it sometimes took him a long time to urinate, because of want of the necessary pressure. He considered this weakness as the result of gonorrhoea, from which he had suffered years ago. The sleeplessness, for which he had tried all remedies possible, would make itself known from the time he went to bed until 3 o'clock in the morning, at which time he could get sleep, but not a refreshing one, and on arising he would feel very tired, especially in the upper part of the thighs, and then would commence the pain in the back, which extended to the loins, and lasted until he went to bed in the evening, without being prompted by external influences (warmth, cold, rest, motion). Also sleeplessness nights, pain in the back daytimes. At first I considered _Nux vom._ proper, and I prescribed the same for the patient, in the 3d decimal potency, four drops twice a day. At the same time I requested the patient to bring a sample of his urine at his next visit. After some time he came back with the sample, and declared that the prescribed remedy had not shown the least effect.

The urine was dark and slimy, reddish, slightly acid, and had at the bottom of the bottle brick-dust settlings. Heat did not show albumen, but by heating it the dark urine became clearer, and contained also salts of uric acid. I examined the kidneys of the patient, found them sensitive against pressure, and the diagnosis pointed to chronic catarrh of the kidneys. Sleeplessness, pain in the back and the tired feeling in the upper parts of the thigh were additional symptoms of this malady, and I determined to use _Virga-aurea_. The patient took this for three months three times a day, after which he wrote me that he was entirely well. About a year afterwards he had a relapse, but not in the form of former symptoms, but in the form of ischias, against which disease Golden Rod proved itself beneficial.

In conclusion, may be mentioned a double case of the curative power of _Virga-aurea_, which also contributes to the heredity of disease. Some time ago, the wife of a farmer, 53 years old, asked me for a prescription for a trouble which she had had for twenty-six years, since her first confinement. The patient, a stout and fresh-looking person, made the following statement: After the confinement, which was very laborious, and which was followed by prolapsus uteri, the latter still existing, her legs began to swell, and an itching rash broke out by degrees. Menstruation had always come at the proper time, but suddenly stopped six months ago.

Since that time the itching had become almost intolerable, the legs more swollen and always cold, but she did not feel a continuous heat in her head. The appetite was very poor; she had always a bitter taste in the mouth, and the tongue was thickly coated. At the same time she had rising from the stomach, as if she should suffocate, and at the least exertion she lost her breath. She urinated very little, and this mostly at night. My question, if there were pains in the back, was answered in the negative, but the kidneys of this patient were also sensitive against pressure. The appearance of the lower limbs of the patient frightened me. From knee to heel they formed a bluish-red mass in the shape of a stove-pipe, which were covered with little blotches and crusts. This kind of an eruption, together with the other symptoms, led me to the use of _Virga-aurea_, the prolonged use of which, although it did not affect a cure, produced a mitigation of the whole body, so that the lady induced her eldest son to come to me for help. This man had also trouble in his lower limbs not unlike his mother. He had a year ago passed through a severe throat difficulty, after which his lower limbs began to swell and to itch; they were also tainted bluish-red and covered with vesicles; he also complained of scanty urine, and his kidneys were sensitive against pressure. What better could I, under the circumstances, prescribe than _Virga-aurea_?

The result was good. After a few months the patient had no more difficulty.

In the cases above mentioned, I prescribed the 3d decimal dilution of the tincture of the whole plant of Golden Rod. The water of Golden Rod, recommended by Rademacher and others, I have never tried.

STELLARIA MEDIA.

NAT. ORD.--Caryophyllaceæ.

COMMON NAME.--Common Chickweed.

PREPARATION.--The whole fresh plant in bloom is macerated in twice its weight of alcohol.

(Frederick Kopp proved this remedy and the results were published in the _Homoeopathic World_, 1896, as follows:)

"It has proved to me a matter of impossibility to answer all the letters that have been sent to me by readers of the _Homoeopathic World_ on the subject of the use of _Stellaria media_ in the treatment of rheumatism, but I trust that the information given below will satisfy all the correspondents. It will be remembered by my readers that the new drug was first proved by me in 1893, consequent on my attention being drawn to the weed by our esteemed friend, the Rev. F. H. Brett. I made a thorough proving of the drug, not only once, but several times, so as to satisfy myself beyond a doubt as to the symptoms peculiar to it, and the excruciating rheumatic-like pains developed at the time are still vividly remembered by me; in fact, they were so severe and intense as not to be easily forgotten when once experienced. There is no mistaking the _rheumatic_ symptoms of the drug. They come on very rapidly, and the sharp, darting pains so peculiar to rheumatism are experienced, not only in almost every part of the body, but the symptoms of soreness of the parts to the touch, stiffness of the joints, and aggravation of the pains by motion are also present. These pains may be described as follows:

"Rheumatic-like pains over the right side of the head; especially towards the back, with the parts sore to the touch; rheumatic-like pains darting through the whole head, worse on right side; rheumatic-like pains left half of forehead, over the eye, with the parts sore to the touch; rheumatic-like pains in the left foot; rheumatic-like pains in the ankles; sharp, darting, rheumatic-like pains in the left knee, gradually extending above along the thigh; rheumatic-like pains below the right knee-cap; rheumatic-like, darting pains through various parts of the body, especially down the right arm and the middle and index fingers of the left hand; stiffness of the joints in general; rheumatic-like pains in the calves of the legs, which are sensitive to the touch; rheumatic-like pains in the right hip; rheumatic-like pains across the small of the back, aggravated by bending or stooping; stiffness in lumbar region with soreness; darting, rheumatic-like pains through right thigh; rheumatic-like pains in right groin.

"It will be seen by the above symptoms that almost every part of the body in which it is possible for rheumatic pains to occur is affected, the rheumatic-like pains darting from one part to another. My correspondents all being readers of _The Homoeopathic World_ will remember a case reported in the January number of the journal (1896), by Mr. R. H. Bellairs, in which the pains were 'now in ankle, now in knee, now in arm, wrist, or fingers.' This case fully illustrates the symptoms borne out in my proving of the drug, and it but naturally followed, according to the law of similars, that the disease should yield to the month's treatment with _Stellaria media_. Mr. Bellairs says he thinks that possibly 'shifting pain' is a key-note, and I am glad that I am able to inform him that he is correct in his supposition. I am pleased to hear that he has often given _Stellaria media_ in chronic rheumatism, and now looks upon it as a specific. It is these things that gladden the heart of the prover of new drugs--the news of the practical triumph of a new drug over symptoms of disease similar to those it is itself capable of developing in a healthy body--and one feels amply repaid for the hours and days of pain and suffering that one has inevitably to put up with in the vocation of 'proving.' I heartily congratulate Mr. Bellairs on his success in curing the above case.

"I have been asked by one correspondent whether a changeable climate--one with sudden changes of temperature occurring every day, for instance--would prevent the drug from taking effect in the treatment of rheumatism. To this question I can promptly return an answer in the negative. I have proof upon proof lying before me to testify that _Stellaria media_ is just as efficacious in a changeable climate as in any other. Reports of cases cured have come to me from various parts of the world, under varying changes of climate, and the result has always been the same, namely, 'the cure of the case.'

"For _internal_ administration I have always found the 2x tincture the most efficacious, given in from one to two drop doses every two, three, or four hours, according to the severity of the symptoms. For _external_ purposes I strongly advise the [Greek: theta] tincture. It may be employed either in the form of a lotion (20 to 60 minims of [Greek: theta] tincture to a tumblerful of water), the ointment or the liniment (30 to 40 minims of the [Greek: theta] tincture to [Latin: ezh]j of pure olive oil). Cloths steeped in the lotion and renewed when dry may be applied to the painful parts, or the ointment or liniment may be rubbed well in. Experience has taught me that external treatment combined with internal greatly assists in hastening the cure. In the treatment of rheumatism _Stellaria media_ is a very active drug, acting very promptly; a low dilution of the mother tincture of the drug taken internally is very apt, therefore, to intensify the pains, and these should therefore be avoided and the 2x dilution used."

STIGMATA MAIDIS.

A Tincture of the Fresh Corn Silk.

NAT. ORD.--Gramineæ.

COMMON NAME.--Corn Silk.

PREPARATION.--One part of fresh corn silk is macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(A great deal has been published lately concerning this remedy. The following by Dr. Dufan, _London Medical Record_, seems to give the best outline of its uses:)

1. The stigmata of maize have a very marked, though not always a favorable, action in all affections of the bladder, whether acute or chronic.

2. In acute traumatic cystitis, and also in gonorrhoeal cystitis, they have a very marked diuretic action, but, at the same time, increase the pain; hence they should not be employed in these cases.

3. The best results have been obtained in cases of uric or phosphatic gravel, of chronic cystitis, whether simple or consecutive to gravel, and of mucous or muco-purulent catarrh. All the symptoms of the disease, the vesical pains, the dysuria, the excretion of sand, the ammoniacal odor, etc., rapidly disappear under the influence of the medicine.

4. The retention of urine dependent on these various affections often disappears as improvement progresses, but the use of the sound must sometimes be continued, in order to empty the bladder completely.

5. The stigmata maize have very often produced a cure after all the usual internal remedies had been tried in vain, or with only partial success. In other cases, the ordinary methods of treatment, which had at first proved more or less entirely useless, became efficacious after stigmata had been administered for a time, and had, as it were, broken the ground for them. Most frequently the stigmata alone sufficed for the cure, but still in some cases the effect was incomplete, and it was found that the treatment could be varied with benefit. Injections and irrigations of the bladder also proved useful adjuncts to the maize.

6. As the stigmata of maize are a very powerful, though at the same time entirely inoffensive diuretic, they have also been employed with the best results in cases of heart disease, albuminuria, and other affections requiring diuretics. Cases have been reported in which the urinary secretion was tripled and even quintupled in the first twenty-four hours, and others where the exhibition of the drug was continued for two or three months without the slightest untoward effect.

(Though Dr. Dufan condemns the use of the remedy in gonorrhoea, other practitioners have commended it for that very purpose. Dr. Leo Bennett, _Therapeutic Gazette_, 1893, having had "unusual success" in the treatment of that disease with the _Stigmata maidis_.)

SUCCINIC ACID.

PREPARATION.--The pure chemical is triturated in the usual way.

(The following is by Dr. Morris Weiner, of Baltimore, 1892:)

About twelve years ago I decided to prove _Succinic acid_ (_Acidum succinicum_). _Agricola_ mentions this acid, 1546, as _Salt of amber_. _Boyle_, towards the close of the 17th century, was the first who pronounced it to be acid, and _Stecker de Neuform_ confirmed this statement, after repeated investigations, calling it a _true_ acid. _Berzelius_ published its elemental composition, C_{4}H_{2}O_{3}.

This acid was long ago laid aside as obsolete, and not without good reason, because since the Puritans in chemistry commenced to rule over every laboratory of pharmacy, by trying to redistill this crude acid and changing its yellowish color to snowy whiteness, they drove out every trace of the _oily matter_ which alone constitutes its medical action. The whiter this acid becomes the larger doses can be taken without any action on the human system. Knowing that this _oil of amber_ is driven out totally by redistillation I was compelled to prepare the crude acid myself.

The expense is considerable. One pound of amber yields about half an ounce of crude acid, and the glass retort, after dry distillation, must be broken to collect the acid.

The fumes of _Acidum succinicum crudum_ are inflammable, producing asthma, cough, sneezing, weeping, dropping of watery mucus from the nostrils, pain in chest and headache.

None of our remedies gives a truer picture of hay fever, and since the _oil of amber_ must be securely inclosed in the amber itself, it was but natural to conclude that by trituration I may receive all the virtue of the remedy.

At the same time I remembered that necklaces and earrings of amber are considered a popular protection agent against neuralgia, colds, and even hay fever.

Since that time I prescribed in cases of hay fever the third decimal trituration, one or two grains dissolved in twelve teaspoonfuls of distilled water, one teaspoonful every two hours, with the best results, and have cured more than thirty persons, who were formerly obliged to go to the mountains to get temporary relief. Already after the first week most of them experienced decided relief.

SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALIS.

NAT. ORD.--Borraginaceæ.

COMMON NAME.--Comfrey, Healing Herb.

PREPARATION.--One part of the fresh root gathered just before blooming is macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following concerning this remedy, which dates back to Dioscorides, we find in _American Journal of Homoeopathy_, 1846:)

The Homoeopathic Examiner for August contains a paper entitled "_Connection of Homoeopathy with Surgery_," by _Croserio_, translated by P. P. Wells, M. D. It is there stated that "injuries of the bones are healed most promptly by _Symphytum officinale_ 30 internally once a day. This remedy accelerates the consolidation of fractures surprisingly." The translator adds a note as follows: "I have had repeated opportunities of verifying this declaration of Croserio. A boy, fourteen years old, broke the bones of the forearm, at the junction of the lower and middle thirds, two years ago. He had twice repeated the fracture by slight falls. The ends of the fragments are now slightly movable on each other, and the arm is weak and admits of little use. Three doses of _Symphytum_ effected a perfect cure. The lad became more robust, and has since had better general health than ever before."

A boy, eight years old, fractured the humerus, near the junction of the condyles and shaft. _Arnica_ 30 immediately arrested the spasmodic jerks of the muscles of the injured arm. This remedy was continued the first three days, when the traumatic fever had entirely subsided. He then had _Symphyt_. [Latin: ezh], gtt. i., in half a tumbler of water, a teaspoonful every morning and evening. The splints were removed the _ninth day_, and the bone was found consolidated. The cure was entirely without pain. How much earlier than this the fragments ceased to be movable is not known. Well may the author say it heals broken bone surprisingly. Let it be remembered that the discovery of this specific is but one of the many rich fruits of _Hahnemannism_.

(The following appeared in the _Homoeopathic World_, 1890, under the signature F. H. B.:)

In none of the Homoeopathic treatises that I possess do I find any mention of the above remedy. I am surprised at this, for I believe it to be a very valuable one in certain cases. Its common name of _knitbone_ seems to point to popular experience of one of its uses; but I believe its knitting, or uniting, power extends to muscular and other tissues of the body, as well as to the bones. Let me give two instances of my own personal experience. Many years ago I had an inguinal rupture on each side, not extensive ones, but causing a protrusion about the size of half a small walnut. After wearing a truss for some time, I bethought me of what I had heard of the uniting power of Comfrey, and made some tincture from the root, and rubbed it in. After doing so two or three times, the signs of rupture quite disappeared, and the parts remained sound for about three years; when, from some cause or other, the right side broke out again, but as it did not give much trouble I neglected it for some time, and then tried the Comfrey tincture again, but this time without success. I suppose the ruptured edges had got too far asunder. The left side, however, which originally was the worse of the two, has kept sound ever since. I think this shows that a rupture, if not too extensive, and if taken in time, may often be cured by this remedy. The other case I have to relate was of a different kind. Five weeks ago I had a fall on my back, the whole force of which was concentrated on a small portion of the lower spine, through the intervention of the back pad of my truss. I thought for the moment my back must have been broken, the pain was so excessive; and not only the back, but diaphragm and all the organs below it suffered acutely for three or four weeks after the fall. But a fortnight after the fall I was for the first time conscious of a pain and tenderness higher up the spine, at a point, I think, where ribs commence, and on feeling I found a protuberance there, as if a partial dislocation had taken place there. I again thought of Comfrey, and had some of the tincture applied. The tenderness at the point subsided after two or three applications, and in a few days the protuberance disappeared. * * * On more careful examination I find that the point of secondary disturbance was higher up than I have described--two or three inches higher than the first insertion of the ribs in the spinal column.

(Dr. Gottweis, in _Hom. Zeitung_, vol. vii., says:)

An old and very valuable remedy. This plant is found all over Europe (and in some parts of North America), in wet fields and ditches. We make a tincture out of it which has marvelous healing and cicatrizing properties. _Symphytum_ must be a very old popular remedy; its reputation is well established, and it is mentioned in all the old medical "tomes." The decoction acts as an effective demulcent and pain-killer in severe bruises. It diminishes the irritation in wounds and ulcers, ameliorates and lessens too copious suppuration and promotes the healing processes. In homoeopathic practice the tincture diluted with water is used with great success in fractures and bruises or other injuries of bones. Its effect is really extraordinary in injuries to sinews, tendons and the periosteum.

A few days ago a colleague consulted me about a horse with a stab wound in the fetlock which would not heal, do what he would, and which rendered locomotion impossible. (The doctor is by no means a young or inexperienced veterinarian.) I examined the wound, and at once recommended _Symphytum_ [Greek: theta]. Within two weeks the animal was cured. This remedy really cannot be overestimated.

(Dr. W. H. Thompson, President of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, in an address reported in London _Lancet_, 1896, reports a case of which the following is the gist:)