Part 9

Anæsthesia and dwindling of the sexual organs.

_Kidneys._--Slight pain of a sticking character in right kidney (second day).

Pain in left kidney, long continued, as from the presence of a renal calculus.

Pain in left abdomen sharp and cutting, as from a calculus impacted in the ureter.

Slight pain in right kidney repeated after an interval (third day).

Sticking pain in right ureter.

More severe sticking pain in right kidney.

Soreness on external pressure over right kidney.

Pain on stooping, bending over in right kidney.

Pain in left kidney (fifth day).

_Chest, Heart, etc._--Deep inspiration as if tired, although experiencing no fatigue whatever (second day).

Feels as if pained or oppressed at chest.

Slightly painful sensation at left chest, region of the heart.

Deep inspiration.

At intervals deep inspiration, as if the chest were laboring under an oppression hardly definable.

Slight feeling of oppression, or a weakness in the chest with the deep inspiration.

Tendency to expand the chest automatically and rhythmically, recurring very frequently.

The chest expands itself to its utmost capacity, seemingly, and in an instant collapses, the same process to be repeated.

Respiration measured, no interval between inspiration and expiration.

Sensation of uneasiness extending to lumbar region on deep inspiration (described above).

Slight pricking sensation of pain in the heart.

Sighing respiration (very frequent) (fourth day).

Tenderness of the anterior lower left intercostal muscles below the heart (third day).

Pain in chest and through heart, with pain running toward spleen, the latter momentarily, the former (heart pain) continuing.

Pain in left great pectoral muscle, worse toward the tendon.

Sighing respiration, noticed many times (fifth day).

Coughing on throwing off outer garments.

Somewhat persistent pains in the cartilages of the left lower ribs.

Long, deep, uneasy respiration, felt more acutely (sixth day).

The chest acts automatically, not according to will or whim.

Chest feels empty.

Pain at heart.

Pulse dicrotic, and several intermissions noticed within a minute (after rising 6 A.M.).

Deep inspiration and expiration, chest is emptied quickly.

Sensation as of a great stone laid upon the heart.

Sensation (soon after) as if the thoracic wall anterior to heart were broken out or torn away.

Pulse sharp.

Desire to remove clothing from chest.

Pain in chest and both arms.

_Neck, Back, etc._--Painful sensation in the sides of the neck, left, at mastoid or below it, continuing longer than on right side.

Pain in left neck behind mastoid process, running backward and upward.

Pain through right shoulder blade (scapula).

Dorsal vertebræ feel painful (third day).

Tenderness along spines of cervical and upper dorsal vertebræ (fourth day).

Pain in muscles of thorax midway between scapula and sacrum (sixth day).

Pain on pressure of muscle of left side of the neck.

Back lame on stooping.

Pain in right scapula.

Pain in neck.

Pain in left side above and along clavicle.

Fatigue in lumbar region on riding.

_Upper extremities._--Tired feeling in both arms (second day).

Drawing pain in index finger of both hands.

Pain in both upper arms.

Pain running across inner side of left arm, felt longest at bend of the elbow.

Pain in left shoulder like that produced by carrying a heavy load.

Pain running along the back down to the arms.

Dull pain in left elbow and forearm.

Pain with numbness in left forearm, ulnar side (third day).

Pain along inner side of right upper arm.

Pain with numbness of right arm while writing.

Pain in metacarpal bone of right thumb.

Pain (very noticeable) in metacarpal phalangeal joint of right hand.

Lameness in right forearm above wrist.

Drawing from end of right thumb upward, pain quite constant.

Considerable soreness on contact of anterior muscles of right arm.

Pain on ulnar side of left carpo-metacarpal joint (fourth day).

Pain in external border of left elbow joint.

Pain at and back of left shoulder joint.

Lameness of left little finger.

Pain over ulna posteriorly.

Pain above wrist.

Tenderness of the flexor muscles of both upper arms.

Pain in right ring finger at 3 P.M. and repeated (fifth day).

Pain at junction of second and third phalanx (last joint) of left index finger.

Pain in dorsum of right hand.

Pain in left forearm.

Pain in both arms and chest.

Pain in third phalanx of left index finger.

Pain in right little finger running through bone.

Pain in right ring finger.

Pain in right wrist.

Pain in first and second metacarpal bones (sixth day) of right hand.

Pain in the dorsum of left hand.

Pain in left little finger.

Pain on back of left wrist, running to forearm.

Pain in the anterior muscles of upper arm.

_Lower Extremities._--Pain in right knee (second day).

Pain through right hip (fifth day).

Pain in right great trochanter.

Pain on the inner side of left knee (repeated).

Pain on left knee, inner and lower border.

Pain in both knees.

Pain in both knees on rising.

Pain in hamstring tendons of left thigh.

Pain in right hip (sixth day).

Pain in head of the right thigh bone.

Pain in right patella, very sore, difficult to touch without very considerable pain.

Pain above right external malleolus.

Pressing or pressive feeling, beginning at the sacrum and running down through both thighs down to feet.

Pain in different joints of the lower extremities.

_Skin._--Itching of the nose (second day).

Itching on various parts of the body (general itching) (third day).

Itching pustule of face near ala of nose.

Itching of the right popliteal space, with roughness of the skin (fifth day).

Profuse shedding of the hair on combing the head.

Itching with roughness of the skin of a spot a few inches square above the left knee.

Itching of a spot a few inches below left scapula, with a condition of the skin like eczema periodically.

_Sleep._ Not sleeping late at night.

Not sleeping at 11 P.M., mind disturbed (fourth day).

Dreamed of dogs (fifth day).

Dream of a fracas which caused great excitement in the dreamer.

Drowsiness at 11 P.M. (sixth day).

Drowsiness (third day).

Slept pretty well (fifth day).

Awakes at 5 A.M. (sixth day).

Awakes at 9 A.M. (seventh day, Sunday).

Recurrence of old dreams of years ago.

Yawning (second day).

_Generalities._--Feeling miserably on retiring.

Throws himself on bed without undressing.

Great yawning fit (third day).

Feels not pleasant.

Feels half sick.

Very dull in the morning, all morning.

Feels very badly, has an ill-defined bad feeling in the evening and at night.

Easily chilled in a room; better on disrobing for bed.

Alternations of symptoms of mind and bodily pains. When pains of the body are noticed, symptoms affecting the mind are suspended. The mind loses its characteristics, is clear, and one feels better.

REMARKS.--In looking over the above proving we find a number of illustrations of the alternate action of the drug. But perhaps what strikes the reader most forcibly is the way the symptoms follow Reuter's series. The most prominent symptoms early developed, catarrhal and gastric, have come and gone within three or four days, while those affecting the chest, heart, sensorium, eyes, brain, and nerves are more slowly developed, and are the ones that persist. Another thing to be noticed is the long duration of its action. The high-water mark in regard to its action was not reached (I mean its action on the nervous system) until nearly ten days after discontinuing to take it. It is an _antipsoric_ of remarkable power. Some skin symptoms developed by it persisted off and on for years, two or three of which I will mention. "Itching of the right popliteal space," this after continuing for eight or nine years disappeared. I think some _Sepia_ [Greek: Ip] I took had something to do with its disappearance. Another: "Itching with roughness of the skin, like eczema, above the left knee anteriorly." This still persists. I still have "Itching, with an eruption resembling at times herpes zoster below the left scapula." This is still present, although annoying. I have done nothing to cause its disappearance.

In regard to _verifications_ I could report a goodly number. One of the first I ever had was a case of eczema of both hands, extending as far as the elbows. Cured in six weeks. The provings point in the direction of kidney troubles, and I have seen it speedily cause the disappearance of deposits in the urine that were giving much inconvenience. In a case of dropsy of cardiac and renal origin (albuminuria) in which there was great oedema, cured in two or three weeks. Sleeplessness, peculiar in its nature, corresponding to the proving, is relieved by it. Intercostal neuralgia, especially on left side. Anterior crural neuralgia, an aggravated case, promptly relieved. I need not say that the symptoms strongly point to rheumatism. I could say much on that part of the subject, and there is the sphere in which it has seemed to have been useful by the professional friend to whom I have furnished the medicine for trial. In a monograph by Dr. R. E. Kunge, of New York, and the writer, I ventured the prediction that _Cereus bonplandii_ would prove of value in the treatment of insanity. I send you the report of two cases. I have one other still under treatment. A patient for fourteen years in the Middletown Insane Hospital, improving, called to see Ida Reamer, a young woman of eighteen, living in New Scotland, on what is called the Heldeberg Mountain or hill, on the evening of April 19th, 1884. For some time previously she had been living with a relative in Albany, attending school and assisting in household labor. Had studied hard and probably overtaxed her strength. Her friends noticing that she was not her former self, and that though usually amiable and cheerful, she had become gloomy and taciturn, brought her home. Rest did her no good, and I was called after she had been home for some time. On my visit I noticed she would not answer questions; was wandering aimlessly about the house; could not sit still, if seated, more than a few minutes. During my visit I think she changed her position a dozen or fifteen times. She would go to the water pail and get a drink, then in a minute or two would get up and go to the door. After standing a minute or two she would come in and sit down, only to rise up and repeat her restless wanderings. I could elicit nothing from the mother of anything wrong in regard to the menstrual function. Prescribed _Cereus bonplandii_, fourth decimal. Did not call again, but was informed by her friend that she soon regained her health. Was requested to call again to see Ida R. on November 29th of the same year. This time there was considerable mental disturbance; she had attended some entertainment which she had considered of a questionable nature, and had been worrying over it. Although living out at service, it did not appear that she had overworked. I found her sitting still; she would sit for hours. If any one disturbed her, she would curse, swear, throw boots and shoes or anything that came in her way, resisted attempts made by her friends to remove her to her home. Prescribed _Cer. bon._ 4. Saw her December 3d, 7th, 10th, at the end of which time she was entirely free from any mental manifestations, and although under observation has never experienced a return of them to the present date.

In the summer of 1879 was consulted in the case of Mrs. D. V., afflicted with melancholia for a year or two. The disease had appeared just subsequent to her confinement with her last child. Prescribed wholesome advice in regard to mode of life, etc., and very little medicine. In a few months she was apparently as well as ever. June 5th, 1884, was called to see Mrs. D. V. She had quite recently given birth to a child and was developing delusions, most of which were those of a spiritual nature. She thought she had committed the unpardonable sin, or that she had offended some of her friends, and was constantly worrying. Appetite very poor. Prescribed _Cer. bon._ 4, gave her nourishing diet with Maltine and Pepsin to aid digestion. On July 11th she was about the house attending to her household duties.

CHEIRANTHUS CHEIRI.

NAT. ORD., Cruciferæ.

COMMON NAME, Wall flower.

PREPARATION.--The fresh plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Dr. Robert T. Cooper, of London, contributed the following to the _Hahnemannian Monthly_, 1897):

A tincture is used made from a single dark-flowered plant. No proving of this remedy has come under my notice, yet I consider the following case worth reporting: T. T., age twenty, a clerk; admission date, 30th April, 1892; never heard well on the left side, but particularly deaf the last month, and deafness increases; watch, hearing contact only. History of much earache in childhood; left ear discharges, but the discharge does not run out. Wisdom teeth; left upper and right, lower and upper, breaking through. Gave _Cheiranthus cheiri_.

28th May, hears very much better; left, 3-1/2 inches. No medicine.

11th June, continues improving gradually; left, 15 inches.

25th June, continues to hear voices very fairly on the left side, but no improvement since last time; left, 15 inches. Gave _Cheiranthus cheiri_.

25th July, restoration of improving condition; left, 20 inches. No medicine.

CHIONANTHUS VIRGINICA.

NAT. ORD., Oleaceæ.

COMMON NAME, Fringe Tree. Snow-flower.

PREPARATION.--The fresh bark is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following is the only proving, we believe, ever made of this drug; it was the thesis of Dr. John W. Lawshé, Atlanta, Ga., on his graduation, and was published in _North American Journal of Homoeopathy_, May, 1883).

This being the first and only proving of this drug, Prof. Lilienthal requested a copy of it for publication, which I cheerfully agreed to give him.

Monday, July 10, 1882, 9:30 A.M., I took one drop of the tincture, after having taken the 12x and 6x potencies, one day each, without any effect. I continued taking the tincture each hour during the day, increasing each dose one drop till five were reached, then increased each dose five drops till twenty-five were reached, but without any effect whatever.

Tuesday, July 11th, I began with thirty drops at 9 o'clock A.M., and increased the dose five drops each hour till I reached one drachm, and took three doses of one drachm each. I retired at 10 o'clock feeling perfectly well.

I awoke at 4:10 A.M., Wednesday, July 12th, with a severe headache--chiefly in the forehead and just over the eyes--especially the left eye. Eyeballs exceedingly painful, feel sore and bruised.

Cutting twisting pains all through my abdomen.

I turned over and lay with my face downward, which seemed to relieve the abdominal pains some, and after awhile I went to sleep. I awoke again at 8:20 feeling very sick and badly all over. Head feels very sore all over and through it; heavy dull feeling in forehead and a drawing or pressing at the root of my nose. I felt so weak I had to sit down awhile before I could finish dressing; _never_ before felt so sick at my stomach. Bitter eructations, great nausea and retching, with a desire for stool.

I finished dressing and looked at my tongue, which was heavily coated and of a dirty, greenish yellow color. I started down stairs and had a violent attack of nausea and a great deal of retching before I could vomit. It seemed as though there were a "_double suction_" in my abdomen, one trying to force something up and the other sucking it back, till finally, by quite an effort, I vomited a teacup full, or more, of _very dark green_ bile, rather ropy, _I think_, and exceedingly bitter. The bile came up with a single gush and I was through. Immediately a cold perspiration broke out and stood in beads on my forehead, and I felt very weak. Desire for stool gone after vomiting.

I have a sore, weak, bruised feeling all over the small of my back; feels very weak when standing or moving about; better sitting or lying down.

No appetite for breakfast, but my stomach felt so weak and empty that I drank a cup of coffee and ate half a biscuit, which relieved to some extent.

9 A.M., am so nervous I cannot keep still and can hardly write down my symptoms.

9:30 o'clock, my back in lumbar and sacral region is so sore and weak I could hardly walk from the car to the office, every step seemed to jar my whole body and made my headache worse.

10 o'clock, have been quiet for half an hour and feel some better; have a pressing or squeezing sensation in the bridge of my nose; sore constricted feeling in the temples, with throbbing temporal arteries.

10:30 o'clock, just came from stool; the first passed was watery, but the last was more solid in appearance; stool terribly offensive, like _carrion_. Heavy, all-gone sort of feeling low down in hypogastrium; color of stool was dark brown with pieces of undigested food in it.

11:30, just got home and feel very bad and weak. My head and back ache considerably, and I feel "played out" generally.

12 o'clock, forehead and cheeks _very_ hot and dry, radial pulse 114, chilly sensation darting through body from front to back, causing a sort of shivering or involuntary jerking, forehead feels like a hot coal of fire to my hand; headache in forehead and over eyes relieved by pressing with my hand, but I cannot bear it long for my head seems to get hotter from it; am exceedingly nervous, cannot lie still, involuntary jerkings in different parts of the body. Roof of mouth and tongue feel very dry, although there seems to be the usual amount of saliva present. No thirst at all.

I went to sleep about 12:20 P.M., and was awakened at 2 o'clock for dinner. Couldn't eat anything; I tried but it nauseated me; could only drink a cup of coffee; headache worse after waking; pulse 88; head not quite so hot, body feels chilly, and I had a shawl thrown over me; went to sleep again about 3:30.

I was told that at 4:15 my face and head were covered with a profuse perspiration, and my carotid arteries pulsated very hard and rapidly; I got up at 5 o'clock and bathed my face in cold water and felt somewhat better, though my head and back still ache considerably and feel quite sore; eyeballs feel bruised.

6:30. Weak, empty feeling about stomach, which was relieved for awhile by eating some crackers and drinking a cup of coffee. Pulse still 88.

At 8:15 had an action from my bowels; during stool griping and cutting pains in abdomen, about and below umbilicus; stool thin, watery, blackish-brown color and very offensive. I retired at 9:30 and had to have an extra covering thrown upon me, I was so chilly, while my room-mate lay without any covering at all. My head feels sore and bruised all over, and the small of my back is exceedingly weak and feels, when I touch it with my hand, as though the skin were all off.

Thursday, July 13th. I was very nervous and restless last night after going to bed; didn't go to sleep till after 12 o'clock, and woke up several times before daylight with pains in my head, abdomen and back. Got up at 8 o'clock. My head feels sore and bruised; the bruised feeling seems to go into my brain now; every time I move, cough or laugh it seems as if my head would split open and fly in every direction; my _back_ is not so painful this morning; I couldn't eat much breakfast; stool this morning was quite copious, watery, _dark_ brown and not so offensive as yesterday.

9:30. Headache better; several times this morning I have had attacks of cutting or griping pains in my intestines, in and about the umbilical region; my tongue is very heavily coated in the centre with a thick yellowish fur; the tip is slightly red, and on each side of the tip there are several little places that look as though blood was about to ooze forth from them; my tongue feels drawn and shriveled up the centre.

4:30. The only symptom at 11 o'clock was a dull, sore, aching feeling in the umbilical and iliac regions, occasionally changing for just a minute or so to a severe griping, which was relieved some by emission of flatus. My face has a yellowish appearance; from the outer to the inner canthus there is a reddish-yellow streak, about one-quarter of an inch wide, in the whites of both eyes; the blood vessels of the sclerotic coat are very much enlarged and distinctly visible.

Friday, July 14th. I suffered considerably after 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon and last night with pains in my abdomen, and they are more severe this morning than yesterday; it feels just like a string tied in a "slip knot" around my intestines in the umbilical region, and every once in awhile it was _suddenly_ drawn tight for a minute or so, and then _gradually_ loosened; stool this morning was very thin, watery and rather flaky; the flaky portion was dark yellow, the fluid portion _dark_ green, with a _light_ green foam or froth on top, streaked with a white, mucus-looking substance; flatus and fæces passed together; some pain in my bowels during stool, and a hot, scalded sensation in anus, which lasted fifteen or twenty minutes after stool; during stool a cold perspiration broke out on my forehead and back of my hands; took quite a while to pass stool, and then only a small quantity passed; eyeballs feel bruised and the whites have a yellowish cast all over, though the "bands" are still very distinct; my skin is quite yellow to-day and I feel very much fatigued generally.

Saturday, July 15th. Stool about natural this morning; some feeling in my abdomen, though not so severe; no new symptoms.

Sunday, July 16th. The only thing unusual which I noticed to-day was the passage of considerable offensive flatus; a greater quantity after retiring than during the day.

I noticed no more symptoms after Sunday night.

(The following is from a letter of Dr. E. M. Hale):

Some time ago I received a letter from Dr. F. S. Smith, of Lock Haven, Pa., in which, referring to _Chionanthus_, he says:

"For the first time to-day I read your article on _Chionanthus_ in the last edition of your Materia Medica of 'New Remedies.' I have been using this drug for over two years, as a specific for so-called sick headache. It has done wonders for me in that disease. I had been a victim from early childhood, and have suffered terribly. I have not had an attack for two years. If I am threatened, a few drops, timely taken, dissipates it at once.

"Dr. B., a dentist, aged 35, dark complexion, a victim to sick headache, had an attack on an average once in three weeks. Since taking _Chionanthus_, has not had more than two or three attacks in over two years, and then owing to a neglect to take the medicine. I have failed in but one case, and that was a menstrual sick headache.

"I prescribe it as follows: In cases of habitual sick headache, 5 gtts. of the 2x dil. three times a day for a week, then twice a day for a week, then once a day for a week, after which the patient only takes it when symptoms of the attack show themselves. I regard it almost a specific."

(_Chionanthus_ is also, by some physicians, regarded as a specific in jaundice, either acute or chronic, and the proving seems to justify the belief.)

CORNUS ALTERNIFOLIA.

NAT. ORD., Cornaceæ.

COMMON NAME, Alternate-leaved Cornel or Dogwood. Swamp-walnut.

PREPARATION.--The fresh bark and young twigs are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following proving of this remedy was made under the supervision of Dr. F. H. Lutze, Brooklyn. The _Cornus alternifolia_, or "swamp walnut," has a reputation among the people in certain localities as being a "sure" remedy for "salt rheum.")

FIRST PROVING BY R. E. ALBERTSON.

Commence at bedtime Tuesday, May 12, 1896.