New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 31

_Lemna_ has so far given relief in my hands to cases of nasal polypi and to cases where the nostrils were plugged by swollen turbinates and other causes in a matter far surpa.s.sing the effect I have obtained from any other remedy.

In saying this I do not at all wish it to be understood that we have in it a specific for all such cases.

We must remember that the symptoms in all such obscure diseases must be our guide for the selection of our remedy, and that, therefore, the important point is to work out the specific indications for the drug as we learn them from clinical observation, in the hope that on some future occasion pathogenesis may render these still more certain.

The indications that I myself have noticed as belonging to _Lemna_ are either a putrid smell in the nose or a loss of all sense of smell and a putrid taste in the mouth, especially on rising in the morning, with a general foulness of the mouth, due apparently to the dropping down of impure material from the post-nasal region. Along with this there sometimes seems to prevail a disposition to "noisy diarrhoea."

Dr. Burnett has noticed that _Lemna_ patients have their nasal symptoms aggravated in damp and rainy weather, and I have to some extent confirmed this observation.

I hope on some future occasion to return to the subject of _Lemna_; it is in every way well worthy of being prosecuted further.

Thus, for example, a lady patient, aet. fifty-eight, suffering from pains flitting about her head and legs, with pains in her eyes during heavy rain, and in whom drowsiness by day and restless sleep at night existed, had all these symptoms removed by a single dose of _Lemna_, and the pallid, dullish, sickly look in her face changed to a complexion that was natural and healthy.

The truth would seem to be that _Lemna's_ symptoms are specially aggravated in heavy rains; _Calendula's_, when heavy clouds are about; _Rhododendron's_, in thunder storms, and _Dulcamara's_, in damp surroundings and in foggy weather.

(In 1895 Dr. Thomas L. Shearer contributed the following concerning the remedy to the _h.o.m.oeopathic Eye, Ear and Throat Journal_):

_Lemna minor_ where the crusts and the muco-purulent discharge are very abundant with fetor (in rhinitis atrophics). Its action is wonderful, but it must not be administered in too low a dilution, as it then produces a sensation of intense dryness in the pharynx and the larynx.

Possibly if it were exhibited in a much higher dilution it would be applicable to cases which have only a slight amount of discharge. It seems best to stop the remedy as soon as its action upon the secretions is marked, and then to wait a while before returning to its further employment. Dr. Cooper, of London, was, I believe, the first to investigate the action of _Lemna minor_ upon the upper air pa.s.sages, but I do not think that he had tried it in cases of atrophic rhinitis. There is a great future for this new addition to our therapeutic resources, and it certainly deserves further investigation. It modifies the secretions to such an extent that we can more readily improve the condition of the nasal chambers with the aid of local measures. Whether it has the power to prevent or even r.e.t.a.r.d the actual process of atrophy remains to be seen.

LEVICO.

PREPARATION.--Dilutions made from the mineral water or triturations from the residue obtained by evaporation of the water.

(Dr. Burnett has called the attention of the profession to this water in his books. The following concerning its const.i.tuents is from _The Therapist_, a London journal):

Of all mineral waters those of Levico are distinguished, not only by their contents of these three elements, a.r.s.enic, iron and copper, but they are remarkable for the state of combination in which they occur.

Situated in South Tyrol, on the confines of Italy, Levico has for many years been a favorite sanitorium of the Italian medical profession for their nervous and skin patients. Of late years Levico water has also been increasingly recognized by the German and Austrian faculty, among whom Bamberger, Billroth, Hebra, Nussbaum, and others testify to the extraordinary remedial activity of the waters, favoring a.s.similation, increasing nutrition, and in chronic and dyscratic skin diseases functioning as antiseptic or astringent.

Merely as an internal medication _Levico_ water has, however, proved so satisfactory that it is a recognized member of the pharmacopoeia in many German and Austrian hospitals and clinics. Thus Professor Nussbaum, of Munich, writes that '_Levico_ water is given in my orthopaedic inst.i.tute in doses of two or three ounces to scrofulous and anaemic children. The water is well tolerated, and in spite of the smallness of the dose the result is, in many cases, very evident.' Professor Eulenberg, of Berlin, finds _Levico_ water especially satisfactory in ch.o.r.ea minor in children and at the age of p.u.b.erty, as well as for hysterical neuralgia and spasms. A very copious testimony of like nature has been borne respecting _Levico_ water.

LATHYRUS SATIVUS.

NAT. ORD., Leguminosae.

COMMON NAMES, Wild Vetch. Chick pea.

PREPARATION.--Trituration of the dried pea.

(Dr. W. A. Dewey contributed the following paper concerning this remedy to the _Medical Century_, 1899):

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF EFFECTS,

The _Lathyrus_ is a vetch, and a member of the leguminosae family growing in India.

This remedy, which produces a perfect picture of certain spinal affections, has been known for over a century. In _Christison's Toxicology_ it is stated that it causes paraplegia, dragging gait, turning-in of the toes, stiffness and semi-flexion of the knee-joints.

The attention of the h.o.m.oeopathic profession was directed to the drug as a possible remedy in paraplegia, in the _British Journal of h.o.m.oeopathy_, Vol. III. Here is found an account of a wheat famine in India, where the peas of the plant were subst.i.tuted for wheat and used as a food. Those who subsisted on it were taken, even during sleep, with sudden paralysis of the lower limbs; this occurred without warning, in young men more than in young women, and was never recovered from. Another observer records fifty cases who had eaten the _Lathyrus_ bread and all stated that they became paralytic during the wet season of the country, that they went to bed quite well and awoke with stiff legs, unsteady gait, and aching, but no severe pain. The upper extremities were free.

Another who saw the disease in Algeria and described the symptoms found in ten cases observed that they came on suddenly, in damp weather, with some pains in the loins, trembling, motor paralysis and exaggerated reflexes. He attributed these phenomena to an acute transverse myelitis with degenerative changes in the cord.

A German writer states that the drug produces disturbances of nutrition of the muscles of the lower extremities, paresis, and that the muscles of the trunk and neck and face remain unaffected. Sensation remains normal. It seems to produce a sclerosis of the pyramidal tracts of the cord.

In animals the same condition is found; namely, paralysis of the hind legs. Pigs drag their hind legs and horses give out.

AGGRAVATED SYMPTOMATOLOGY.

From all the sources which I have been able to find, the following seem to be the symptoms caused by the drug:

Sudden loss of power in the lower extremities, from the waist down.

Tremulous, tottering gait.

Great exaggeration of the reflexes.

Stiffness and lameness of the ankles and knees.

Excessive rigidity of the legs; flexion difficult; spastic gait, the legs becoming interlocked, and walking is difficult or impossible.

Sudden onset of the trouble, and apparent aggravation in cold and damp weather.

Emaciation of the gluteal muscles also observed.

Those having taken it walked on the metatarso-phalangeal articulation, the heel not touching the ground.

Impossible to stand steady; swayed from side to side, but closing the eyes had no effect. This with the exaggerated reflexes would exclude its use in locomotor ataxia.

Debility and tremors of the legs.

Rigidity of the adductors of the thighs.

Staggering gait, with eyes fixed on the floor.

Could not extend or cross the legs when sitting.

Sensibility unimpaired.

CORRESPONDENCE TO SPINAL DISORDERS.

From these symptoms it will be seen that the effects of the drug correspond to many spinal symptoms, but more especially to what is known as spastic paraplegia. Indeed, Struempel a.s.serts that it produces a perfect picture of this disease.

It is not so often that such a perfect picture of a disease can be had as in this instance. The disease itself is easily recognized by the stiff, spastic gait; the spasm of the adductors, causing the knees to strike each other, or to become locked, causing the patient to fall; the shuffling of the feet; the excessive muscular rigidity and the other well-known symptoms of paraplegia.

Therefore, reasoning from our law we would expect the drug to be of service in such cases, and although our pathogenesis of it is coa.r.s.e we may be permitted to apply it to a disease whose symptomatology is of the coa.r.s.e order; for it is often difficult to elicit any fine and characteristic symptoms in diseases like ataxic and spastic paraplegia.

It has been recognized as a remedy by but few of our writers on nervous diseases. O'Connor finds that marked benefit follows its use in old cases of myelitis with marked spastic symptoms. Bartlett, in _Goodno's Practice_, recommends it in excessive knee-jerk and rigidity. Hart speaks of it as a remedy in locomotor ataxia, but the absence of sensory symptoms and the presence of exaggerated reflexes would seem to contra-indicate it in this disease. He also speaks of it in spinal anemia, giving as symptoms: "Numbness, followed by pain in the lower extremities; sensation of a band around the body; unable to step or distinguish one limb from another"--symptoms which I am unable to find that the remedy produced. Elliott also speaks of it.