New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 1

New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers.

by Various.

PREFACE.

During the many years that the compiler has had the management of the publis.h.i.+ng department of Messrs. Boericke & Tafel--long to look back over, yet short to live--so many inquiries came in for "literature," or, in the form, "where can I find something about" this, that, or the other, remedy, that finally I became convinced that there might be a niche in the great world's already over-crowded library for a book containing, in part, at least, the information desired by my numerous correspondents. This determined, and the great publis.h.i.+ng house willing to back the enterprise, came the task of collecting the material. The work once begun, it was soon found that it is much easier to plan such a volume than to carry out the plan, for it involved no inconsiderable amount of delving in dusty piles of old journals to discover the sought for matter, which, when brought to light, had to be scanned closely to determine whether it was of a nature to justify this literary resurrection. However, in the odd hours of time that could be bestowed the work was finally completed and--the result is before you, kindly reader.

That this collection of papers has many gems is, I believe, not to be questioned; that some better papers on the remedies than those herein presented may exist is also probable; that it may contain some that are of doubtful value is not to be denied, and even some that have no right in such a book may have crept in. But what it is, it is; take the good and, in the current phrase of the hour, "forget" the rest.

The part born by the editor, beyond delving for and selecting the remedies, will be found scattered through the book in bracketed small type, and consists simply in announcing who the writer of the paper was and where it may be found; no attempt has been made at editing any of the papers, or commenting on them, beyond a little cutting out of a little verbosity here and there, or of matter not bearing on the use of the remedy.

The material was drawn from journals of all "schools," wherever a paper could be found that seemed to contain something not to be found in medical-book literature, and to be honestly written.

The new remedies of the laboratory have been purposely ignored because they do not come in the scheme of this book, they having a literature of their own that, not infrequently, may be had "free on request" to the laboratories. Only remedies (with a few exceptions) such as nature gives us are included in this work.

And now the task completed naught remains but for the compiler to subscribe himself,

EDWARD POLLOCK ANSHUTZ.

_1011 Arch St., Philadelphia, January 2, 1900._

New, Old and Forgotten Remedies.

ACALYPHA INDICA.

NAT. ORD., Euphorbiaceae.

COMMON NAME, Indian Acalypha, Indian Nettle.

PREPARATION.--The fresh plant is macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Dr. Tonnere, of Calcutta, India, seems to have been the first to call attention to this plant as a remedy. In a small work, _Additions to the h.o.m.oeopathic Materia Medica_, collected and arranged by Henry Thomas, M. D., and published in London in the year 1858, appears the following credited to that physician.)

Tincture of the _Acalypha Indica_, prepared and administered in the sixth decimal dilution, is specific in haemorrhage from the lungs. In three cases in which I have employed it, the persons were affected with phthisis. In one case there was a tuberculous affection of the upper portion of the left lung, of some two years' standing. Haemoptysis had been going on for three months; the expectoration had been in the morning pure blood; in the evening dark lumps of clotted blood, and the fits of coughing were very violent at night. In this case all h.o.m.oeopathic remedies had been tried unsuccessfully, when I accidentally discovered the virtues of the _Acalypha Indica_, that remedy having been given me by a native for jaundice. I prepared the mother tincture upon the h.o.m.oeopathic principle, and took 10 drops, which brought on a severe fit of dry cough, followed by spitting of blood. Having noted all the symptoms experienced by myself, and finding that they were nearly all similar to those of my patients, I gave six drops 6th [decimal] dilution in half a tumbler of water, a spoonful to be taken every half hour, beginning immediately (9 A.M.). At 6 P.M., the blood stopped. I continued this for eight days, and the blood has never reappeared (now three months since). The patient is improving, and auscultation proves the disease has decreased, and I am in hopes to affect a cure, yet one month since I have been giving them the medicine they have not spit any blood, although previously one of them never pa.s.sed a day without spitting a great quant.i.ty. _Calcarea carb._ is an antidote to the _Acalypha_.

Another transatlantic medical friend writes:--"I hope you obtained some of the _Acalypha Indica_ while you were here. I have found it perfectly successful in arresting haemoptysis in three cases of consumption in the last stage; I could not perceive any other effect from its use, but the cessation of the hemorrhagic sputa was, I think, a great advantage."

Its use in my hands has been very satisfactory, but I have only tried it in similar cases to those already cited. The first instance of my using it--in a hopeless case of phthisis--a continued and wearisome haemoptysis succ.u.mbed to its exhibition, and quiet sleep succeeded its use--the patient eventually died of pulmonary paralysis.

In a case of pa.s.sive haemorrhage from the lungs, after _Arnica_ was used with little benefit, _Acalypha_ benefited, and then failed; after which the use of _Arnica_ entirely stayed the haemorrhagic flow. (Perhaps _Hamamelis_ would have at once cured, but it was not at hand.)[A]

[A] h.o.m.oeopathic Review, vol. 1, p. 256.

K., a phthisical patient, had haemoptysis to a considerable extent; in a short time his voice failed him; he took half-drop doses of 7th [decimal] dilution of _Acalypha_ in water every half hour, and in a few hours the blood spitting left him entirely.

(In 1885 Dr. Peter Cooper, of Wilmington, Delaware, read a paper on the drug _Acalypha Indica_ of which the following is an abstract:)

Professor Jones recapitulates as follows: "_Time._ Haemorrhage occurs in morning. _Blood._ Bright-red and not profuse in morning; dark and clotted in afternoon. _Pulse._ Neither quickened nor hard; rather soft and easily compressible. _Cough._ Violent and in fits at night; patient has a played-out feeling in the morning and gains in strength as the day advances.

"_N. B._--Worthy of trial in all pathological haemorrhages having notedly a morning exacerbation."

Such is an outline presentation of the drug given us by so eminent an authority as Professor Jones, of the University of Michigan. It was his "N. B.," his suggestion that _Acalypha_ was worthy of trial in all pathological haemorrhages from any source, providing the morning aggravation was present, that fixed my attention upon the drug especially. At the time I had a case of haemorrhage per r.e.c.t.u.m that had baffled me for several months. No remedy had aided the case in the least, so far as I could see, unless it was Pond's Extract used locally in the form of injection; and I finally came to the conclusion that the relief apparently due to the _Hamamelis_ was merely a coincidence. I had given all the haemorrhagic remedies I knew of or could hear of. Still the bleeding came just as often, with increasing severity. Each time the patient was sure she would "bleed to death," and I was not positive she would be disappointed. In fact, I was so hopeless that I used to delay the answer to her summons as long as possible, so that the bleeding might have time to exhaust itself. She became reduced in flesh and the haemorrhagic drugs became reduced in number, until like the nine little Indians sitting on a gate the last one tumbled off and then there was none. As soon as I read Dr. Jones' monograph on _Acalypha Indica_, I determined to try it. She had all the symptoms--bright-red blood in the morning; dark and clotted in the afternoon and evening; weak and languid in the forenoon, stronger during the afternoon--except one, _i.e._, instead of the blood coming from the lungs it came from within the portals of the a.n.u.s. I procured the 6x dil. and served it in water. It gave speedy, almost immediate relief. Each subsequent attack came less profuse and at longer intervals. She has not had a haemorrhage now for two months, while before she was having from seven to one (continuous) a week. She is gaining in flesh, is in every way improved, and keeps _Acalypha Indica_ constantly by her.

ACIDUM LACTIc.u.m.

COMMON NAME, Lactic acid.

ORIGIN.--Lactic acid is obtained from sour milk, resulting from the fermentation of the sugar of milk under the influence of casein.

PREPARATION _for h.o.m.oeopathic Use_.--One part by weight of pure lactic acid is dissolved in 99 parts by weight of alcohol.

(A very complete proving of this remedy will be found in Allen's _Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica_, but little use seems to have been made of it, though the following by Dr. Tybel-Aschersleben, _Allgemeine Hom. Zeitung_, March 13, 1890, seems to show that it is very efficient in certain forms of rheumatism.)

We are by no means rich in remedies against arthritic rheumatism, and those which we do use lack the reputation of being reliable. A new and a valuable remedy will therefore be a welcome addition to this list. I say reliable, inasmuch as this remedy is truly h.o.m.oeopathically indicated for, according to Foster, of Leitz, Niemeyer's Pathology, 10th edition, 2d vol., pp. 561: "_Lactic acid in large doses and used for a long time will produce symptoms entirely a.n.a.logous to arthritic rheumatism_." We also find mention elsewhere that the use of lactic acid occasioned rheumatic pains in the thigh.

CLINICAL CASES.

1. A young girl aet. 15 was afflicted with acute arthritic rheumatism, she received _Acid Lactic.u.m_ 2x dil., a dose every 2 or 3 hours, and was so much improved in two weeks that the pain had subsided, and for her remaining weakness _China off._ sufficed.

2. A nine-year-old girl was confined to her bed for three weeks with acute arthritic rheumatism. _Acid Lactic.u.m 2_ speedily cured her.

3. A miner, B., had been afflicted over six weeks with acute arthritic rheumatism. The first dose of _Acid Lactic 2_ gave relief and a second dose cured the man.

4. In a case with swollen and very painful joints one dose of _Acidum Lactic 2_ sufficed to overcome the pain and the swelling. Against the remaining weakness _China_ proved efficacious.

5. Arthritic rheumatism of the wrist vanished slowly after using _Acid Lactic 2_ from two to three weeks.

6. A patient afflicted with arthritic rheumatism for four weeks, accompanied by copious perspiration, soon mended under the use of _Acid Lactic 2_ and was entirely cured within two weeks.

7. Even in a case of chronic arthritis with inflation of the Epiphyses of Metacarpal bones and consequent partial displacement of the fingers, _Lactic Acid 2_ produced such a decided amelioration that two months later the report said: all pains are gone even the anchylosis has disappeared.

(It has also been successfully employed in cases where the digestive powers are weak and is said to be preferable to other acids in such cases. It has also been successfully employed in cases of dyspepsia.)

aeTHIOPS ANTIMONIALIS.

(This remedy is prepared by triturating together equal parts of _aethiops mineralis_ and _Antimonium crudum_; we may add that the first named consists of a trituration of equal parts of _Mercurius viv._ and washed flowers of sulphur. Therefore _aethiops antimon._ consists of mercury, crude antimony and sulphur.

The following clinical cases ill.u.s.trating the use of the preparation is by Dr. H. Goullon and was published in Vol. II of the _Zeitschrift fuer h.o.m.oeopathie_:)