New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 3

AGGRAVATIONS: Pain right eyeball < from="" touching="" lids;="" burning="" in="" urethra="" when="" urinating,="" mostly="" in="" mornings;="" violent="" pain="" in="" sacrum="" when="" lifting="" a="" slight="" load;="" tensive="" drawing,="" ascending="" from="" left="" shoulder="" to="" nape="" of="" neck;="">< raising="" and="" extending="" arm;="" pain="" in="" right="" eyeball="">< from="">

AMELIORATIONS: Coffee relieves headache; burning in urethra before and during erection, _ceases_ during coition.

CAUSES: Mental work causes great prostration (_Picric acid_); when cutting with shears, cramps in ball of thumb; pressure on right lung after eating, or when walking; pressing in eyes after headache; obstruction and pain in right ear after pressure in eyes.

MENTAL STATE: Exhilarated, mind very active; everything gives pleasure.

NOSE: Nosebleed, violent sneezing, expelling lumps of yellow phlegm; running of water from nose; copious secretion of yellow phlegm.

MOUTH: Viscid saliva in mouth, raised by coughing; water in mouth with tearing pains in molars.

ABDOMEN: Distended with wind; weak feeling in abdomen.

STOOLS: Piles; pa.s.ses offensive flatus; stools soft and pappy; watery diarrhoea; stools hard, like stone, knotty.

URINE: Dark, straw-colored; orifice seems agglutinated; presses to urinate; urine escapes in divided streams.

SKIN: Rough, dry; dry, bran-like tetter in rings; groups of small vesicles, smarting and itching, oozing a yellowish-brown lymph, which soon turns into a scurf, new vesicles appearing beneath.

ULCERS and swelling on joints; promotes expulsion of splinters (_Hepar_).

RELATIONs.h.i.+P: Collateral relation. _Cyclamen._ Similar to _Coffee_ (joyous, excited); _Picric acid_ (prostration after mental exertion); _Cyclamen_ (sneezing); _Lithia carb._ (rough skin, ringworm); _Sepia_, _Tellur._ (ringworm); _Pulsatilla_ (chilliness; catarrhs); smelling of _Rhus_, and, an hour later, taking _Col._, relieved sacral pains. _Rhus_ relieved swollen gums.

a.r.s.eNIc.u.m BROMATUM.

COMMON NAMES, a.r.s.enous or a.r.s.enious Bromide; a.r.s.enic Tribromide.

PREPARATION.--Add one drachm each a.r.s.enious acid, Carbonate of Pota.s.sium and Tartar to eight ounces of Distilled Water; boil until entirely dissolved; after cooling add sufficient water to make eight ounces. Then add two drachms of pure Bromine. _Clemens._

(The following paper was translated, 1888, from the German (_Deutsche Clinic_, March, 1859) of Dr. Th.

Clemens, by the late Dr. Samuel Lilienthal):

a.r.s.enious acid, a.r.s.enic blanc, a.r.s.enic oxide, Flowers of a.r.s.enic (AsO_3) is commonly used as the only preparation in which it could be a.s.similated. In the Solutio Fowleri we find a combination with Kali carbonic.u.m e Tartaro, a combination which allows to the a.r.s.enious acid its full destructive power. Now comes Spiritus Angelicae comp. and the pure chemical preparation smells like Theriac, but it ought hardly ever be allowed to add something to a pure chemical preparation in order to give it taste, color, and use. This Spir. Angel. comp. is made up of Anglica, Siordium, Juniper berries, Valerian, Camphor, and Alcohol, and Solutio Fowleri is prepared even to this day in the same manner, and ought therefore be expelled from every pharmacopoeia, especially as it is sure to spoil in the pharmacies if kept too long on the shelves.

Looking, therefore, for a better preparation, I prescribe now for the last decade: [Symbol: Rx]. a.r.s.en. albi. depurat. pulv., Kali carb. e Tartar. [=a][=a] [Latin: ezh]j., coque c.u.m Aqua destill. lb 1/2 ad perfect. solutionem, refriger., adde aqua destil. q. s. ut fiat solutio [Latin: ezh]xii., Dein adde Brom. pur. [Latin: ezh]ii. This solution, which during first eight days is frequently shaken, becomes colorless in the fourth week, and is then ready for use. It must be kept in a dark, cool place.

I will now give my reason for choosing Bromine as a combination. The study of mineral waters is an old pet of mine; many of them contain a.r.s.enic in combination with Bromine, and are all well known for their roborating and alterating qualities. I begun, therefore, my experiments with minute doses of _Brom. a.r.s.en._; gradually these were increased, and I felt astonished what large doses were well borne, and how long I could use this preparation without injurious consequences. After a few drops of my solution I could prove a.r.s.enic in all secretions, an experiment easily made by Marsh's test. Experiments on animals with toxic doses of either solution (Clemens and Fowler) showed that the same quant.i.ty _a.r.s.enic.u.m brom._ is less poisonous (one has to be careful with the selection of animals, as many of them, especially ruminants, bear very large doses of a.r.s.enic without injury). My preparation gives a rapid, not destructive, but roborating action on every part of the body.

In doses of two to four drops daily, always to be taken in a full gla.s.s of water, it always shows its specific action as an antipsoric.u.m.

Herpetic eruptions and syphilitic excrescences or exanthemata dry up and heal up, while simultaneously the relaxed and thoroughly infected body steadily increases in turgor vitals. Glandular tumors and indurations of dyscrasic origin, where any other treatment has failed, are scattered by the long-continued use of my preparation. I have in suitable cases given it for years without noticing any hurtful sequelae, and after my patients were cured I kept them under observation for years afterwards, and know, therefore, that nothing injurious followed. This cannot be said of the usual a.r.s.enical preparations, and old Heim, a great admirer of a.r.s.enic, opposed a lengthy use of it; he rather preferred larger doses, which is rather a dangerous procedure. Given for a long time for carcinoma, it stops the rapid progress of this fearful disease, and though at the same time Chloride of a.r.s.enic was used externally, a real cure remained an impossibility. My best successes were in obstinate cases of lues inveterata, in the first stages of tabes dorsalis (ataxie locomotrice), in the reconvalescence from exhausting acute diseases, in gastric suppurations, inactivity of bowels, tardy digestion, constipation. In cases where _Chininum sulph._ failed in intermittent fevers, I prescribe _Brom. a.r.s.en._ twice daily, four drops, each time in a full gla.s.s of water, gradually diminis.h.i.+ng it to one daily dose, and in four weeks even the most obstinate cases yielded to this treatment. The patient feels encouraged by his increasing vigor, the fever-cakes disappear, the bowels move regularly, and appet.i.te leaves nothing to be desired. Those mean obstinate cases of intermittens larvata, often appearing in the form of unbearable neuralgiae, yield more rapidly to it than to the Quinine. It is often quite astonis.h.i.+ng what good results can be obtained by the daily use of only one drop of this solution, kept up for a very long time in dyscrasic const.i.tutions, who spent a fortune to regain their health and failed with every other treatment. Its full solubility and rapid a.s.similation are the reason that it can be used without injury, but it must be taken largely diluted. Let me give you a few cases for elucidation.

St., 46 years old, contracted syphilis several years ago and was relieved of it by mercurial treatment and Zittman's decoction. About six years ago he felt out of sorts, and a papular eruption appeared on forehead, temples, and especially at the root of the nose. Though treatment was immediately inst.i.tuted, still in a few weeks the face of the patient was covered by an ugly, foul-smelling crust. Cod-liver oil was now taken internally, and applied externally till the scuffs fell off and the eruption concentrated on three points. For six months that treatment was kept up, but after being omitted for a few weeks, the eruption spread again to its former extent. Every treatment was tried in rotation without the least benefit. In the spring 1856 he entered my clinic. In the centre of the forehead, at the root of the nose, on both eyebrows, on the temples and right cheek there are moist herpetic eruptions covered with crusts, exuding on least pressure an acrid ichor and easily bleeding. Around these eruptions the skin is injected, reddened, interspersed with a large network of veins. Cough and expectoration hint to a beginning of tuberculosis, an heirloom in the family. Little appet.i.te, disturbed digestion, tardy defecation, and evening fever. He is ordered Solutio a.r.s.en. brom. twice a day, four drops in a gla.s.s of water, and already after two weeks the eruption begins to dry up, appet.i.te returns, and bowels are regular. A generous diet and fresh meat several times a day are accessories to an a.r.s.enical cure. After two months two crusts fall off and the skin under them is soft, s.h.i.+ning, somewhat red. About July all eruption had gone, and the cough greatly improved. A few months ago I saw the patient again, and I feel sure that the disease is eradicated.

Miss W., 42 years old, pa.s.sed her childhood in the West Indies, and brought from there a peculiar skin disease. When I saw her for the first time her features looked old for her age, skin gray and sallow, hair gray, rough, full of dandruff, and moisture oozing from the ears and forehead. The scalp feels hard and thickened. The cervical glands are indurated all around the neck. On the left chest an herpetic eruption of the size of a dollar, and on the mamma a hard tumor of the size of a fist. For a year past this tumor began to be painful and sensitive to pressure, and my advice was sought for relief of all her ailments, especially as her hands were also in a fearful state, where the eruption looked as if she had the itch. The nails were discolored, k.n.o.bby, easily bleeding and covered with a gluey eruption. She had to wear and to change gloves every day. For nine years she never entered society, as the exhalation from her body disgusted even herself, and was hardly bearable, though sponging the whole body and daily renewal of linen was strictly adhered to. In such an obstinate chronic psoric case treatment with small doses is at first necessary, and _a.r.s.en. brom._, two drops twice daily, ordered, and her cold bath continued. After four weeks the dose was doubled, and after nine weeks the first glimmer of improvement could be seen. The tumor in the mamma was smaller and painless, and where before it was so sensitive as to be covered with oil-silk she could bear now the pressure of her clothing. After four months steady continuation of four drops twice daily, she was able to go without gloves. The scalp also was cleaner, less hard, and the ears more dry.

But with the return of spring the eruption gained new vigor. The head and hands became covered with suppurating nodules and small exuding herpetic spots, which became confluent and itched terribly, a most cla.s.sic picture of the herpes of the ancients. Though for years she had been accustomed to an aggravation in the spring, she never witnessed it in such severity. I now omitted the drug and ordered head and hands frequently washed with cold water. After eight days the storm calmed down, and it was remarkable to witness the steady decrease of the induration in the cervical glands and mamma. After four weeks the old treatment was renewed. During the summer months she took regularly her four drops twice daily, and in the beginning of autumn the dose was reduced to two drops, and so continued during the whole winter. The following spring crisis was the mildest one she ever experienced. During the summer she took her four drops, during fall and winter two drops.

The third spring aggravation came with full severity, but lasted only three days, when desquamation followed. Another year of the same treatment and the fourth spring eruption showed itself slightly only in small papules behind the ears and between the fingers, and were hardly worth noticing. She now felt a slight weakness in right arm, which from childhood up was rather weaker than the other one. After the disappearance of the induration in the mamma the arm seemed to regain its former strength and the patient felt therefore rather astonished at the reappearance of the weakness when its cause seemed removed, but it yielded readily to a mild constant current applied a few times, and some faradic shocks each time from the shoulder through the arm, and in September she went to Nizza in order to use sea-bathing, with the advice to take for a whole year one drop daily of her solution. She considered herself now well, but still her skin was flabby, especially on the hands where the epidermis often desquamated, and the nails remained hard, brittle and without l.u.s.tre.

I may here remark that I found repeatedly a.r.s.enic in the urine of such patients. A case of obstinate intermittens larvata, characterized by vomiting of chyme, also yielded to _a.r.s.en. brom._ One case more must suffice. A young man went to America but failed in his trade, and became barkeeper on a Mississippi steamer, which place he had to give up on account of intermittent fever. We find him then as hostler in Chicago where he was laid up with an attack of cholera, and as he did not fully recover his strength he returned to the old home again. When I saw him for the first time the diagnosis seemed to be first stage of Bright's disease. Anamnesis, aetiology, and present state, alb.u.men in the urine, justified the diagnosis. Patient is pale, bloated, oedema pedum, no appet.i.te, white tongue, thin feverish pulse, swollen spleen, watery diarrhoea alternating with constipation. Every drug produced vomiting, and he perfectly abhorred the old Quinine powders. I ordered four drops _a.r.s.en. brom._ and a full meat diet. Improvement followed with the continuance of the treatment. After three weeks the spleen was reduced in size, his face showed better color, hardly any oedema. To strengthen the skin he was advised to take pineneedle baths, and after three months' treatment he could be discharged, a well man. He was advised to take for a few months one drop daily of his solution, and to take often an airing in the pineries which abound around Frankfort.

Though he returned to America the latest reports from him are that he feels again as well as ever, but he keeps his drops about him.

_a.r.s.en. brom._ is also a powerful remedy in diabetes mellitus and insipidus, for I cured cases with it where the patient had already been reduced from 138 pounds to 98, and where the urine could be condensed, by boiling, into syrupy consistency. Mixed diet may be allowed, though I insist upon large quant.i.ties of fresh meat during treatment with _Bromide of a.r.s.enic_. Let the patient take three drops thrice daily in a gla.s.s of water, and after a week the insatiable burning thirst will be quenched, and these doses must be continued till the quant.i.ty of sugar in the urine is reduced, when the drug might be taken twice a day and continued for a long time. A diabetic patient needs fresh pure air if he wishes to get well; confinement in a room or in the office prevents the action of any treatment, for it needs ozone to reduce the sugar of the blood into carbonic acid and water.

ASPIDOSPERMINE.[B]

[B] _Aspidospermine_ or _Quebrachine_ is derived from the Chilian "white Quebracho" (_Aspidospermia Quebracho_). At Santigo de Chile the bark is used as a subst.i.tute for Cinchona as a febrifuge. The alkaloid forms salts with Citric, Hydrochloric and Sulphuric acids.

PREPARATION.--Trituration of the alkaloid.

(Dr. Edwin M. Hale communicated the following concerning this alkaloid to the _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_ for 1889):

_Dyspnoea._--This alkaloid is from the South American tree--_Quebracho_. The maximum dose, according to Merck, is 1/10th grain. I use the 1/500th trituration, which I find most efficient in doses of 2 to 5 grains.

CASE I.--A boy of ten. The attacks of spasmodic dyspnoea were a sequel of hay fever. The aggravation was at night, when lying down, or sleep was impossible. I tried _Ipecac_ and _a.r.s.enic_, but with no effect.

_Aralia_, also. (I never had any curative or palliative effects from _Aralia_.)

Prescribed _Aspidospermine_, 1/500th trituration, 2 grains every two hours, all day. The night was comfortable, could lie down and sleep.

Continued the remedy for four days, when he was so much better that the medicine was suspended.

CASE II.--Cardiac dyspnoea in a man of 60. Valvular disease, hypertrophy with dilatation. Distressing difficulty of breathing from the slightest exertion; had to sit upright day and night. Face livid from venous stasis. _Strophanthus_ regulated and strengthened the heart's action, but only slightly benefited the dyspnoea. Five grains of _Aspidospermine_, 1/500th trituration, every two hours effected a marvellous change. He could walk about the house and out to his carriage with but little discomfort. He has now continued it three weeks.

Observes no unpleasant symptoms. Can lie on his back and right side and is very grateful for the relief. It seems to act as well as an aid to _Digitalis_, or _Strophanthus_, in cardiac dyspnoea.

AURUM MURIATIc.u.m NATRONATUM.

COMMON NAME.--Chloride of Gold and Sodium.

PREPARATION.--A mixture composed of equal parts of dry chloride of Gold and chloride of Sodium, triturated in the usual way.

(The following is an extract from a paper by Dr. H.

Goullon in the _Allg. Hom. Zeit._, bd. 114, No. 12, on the therapeutics of this remedy):

Never have I observed gold so startling in its action as in the following case: The patient is a type of the scrofulous habit; reddish hair, pasty complexion, thick nose, coa.r.s.e features. About thirty years of age. He has had the misfortune of being infected by syphilis, and the still greater ill-luck of being treated by mercurial inunctions and iodine to excess. All these circ.u.mstances conjoined helped to produce a complication of morbid conditions which would put medical art to a severe test. Let us recall the region in which gold makes such brilliant cures, and we find it especially suitable in an uncommon swelling of the left t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. In this case I do not exaggerate, when I say that the s.c.r.o.t.u.m was as large as a gourd of moderate size and the tumor was four or five times larger in circ.u.mference than the right t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, which was also swollen. The entire ma.s.s simulated an oblong, heavy weight, like those one meets with in old-fas.h.i.+oned clocks, and could hardly find s.p.a.ce in the capacious suspensory.

The skin was also involved. On the elbow was a wide-spread herpetic eruption; on different parts of the body were gummy indurations; the ear discharged; in short, the many characteristic manifestations of the syphilitic poison were to be seen throughout the cutaneous and mucous systems. There were also ulcerous formations in the oral cavity and on the sides of the tongue.

After about four weeks the patient again set foot upon the floor, saying: 'The drops have done wonders.' And indeed the influence upon the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es was so striking that now the right, which was formerly the smaller, seemed the larger, without having actually at all increased in size. Not the less remarkable had been the action of gold on the general condition. The patient, formerly irritable and uneasy, is cheerful and comfortable; enjoys sound sleep, whereas before he was disturbed with morbid dreams; has lost his previous debility and disgust for everything; and says that his digestive power is quite a different thing. He a.s.similates articles of diet which he did not formerly dare to take, unless he wished to suffer with flatulence, gastric acidity and vomiting. Among other things punch, which he 'could not even smell,'

agrees well.

But, evidently, the mode of administering gold in such cases is not a matter of indifference. And although I have only recently published a cure with high potencies (in which I subsequently corrected the mistake of the 100th _Dec._ for the _Centes._, which was what I used of the _Natrum muriatic.u.m_), I cannot commit myself to high potencies in syphilitic complications. Experience in these cases is always in favor of substantial doses. But, as we shall soon see, these proportionally ma.s.sive and heavy doses are always quite out of the allopathic posological range, and even on this ground one must set boundaries, and seek for the conversion of the traditional school. By two or three clinical experiences of this sort many a Saul would become a Paul in spite of all former prejudices, _vis inertia_, and most tormenting skepticism. One-half grain _Aurum muriatic.u.m natronatum_ was dissolved in 6 grms. Spiritus vini, but of this first 6 drops are again put into a winegla.s.s of water, of which the patient takes a teaspoonful thrice daily.

(Dr. Tritschler, of the Gynaecological Clinic of Tubingen, furnishes the following on the use of this remedy in diseases of women. From _Allg. Hom. Zeit._, bd. 94. Nos.

17. 18, 19):

Permit me now to specify some practical instances of the curative powers of _Aurum_, and especially of _Aurum muriatic.u.m natronatum_, in reference to gynaecology.

CHRONIC METRITIS.