New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 52

COMMON NAME, Lizard's Tail.

PREPARATION.--The entire plant including the root is macerated in twice its weight of alcohol.

(The following short notice of this almost unknown remedy appeared in the _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_, 1895:)

Readers who are interested in the remedies of nature rather than those produced in the laboratory and sold under trademarks will remember that it was Dr. D. L. Phares, of Mississippi, who, over half a century ago, pointed out the wonderful virtues of _Pa.s.siflora incarnata_, so much used to-day. What Dr. Phares said of the remedy laid dormant until Hale, in his ever perennial _New Remedies_, rescued it from the dusty pages of old medical journals, in which so much of value is buried awaiting resurrection. Among such buried remedies is _Saururus cernuus_ or, as it is more commonly known, "lizard's tail." Dr. Phares, who seems to have been an unusually keen observer, used _Saururus cer._ in his practice, as he did _Pa.s.siflora_, for many years before he communicated his observations to the medical journals, and the _Saururus_ seems to be quite as important and useful a remedy in its sphere as is _Pa.s.siflora_, and one quite as worthy of a thorough proving. In absence of proving it may be said that Dr. Phares used it for years with marked success in all irritation and inflammation of the kidneys, bladder, prostate and urinary pa.s.sages. He considered it peculiarly adapted to all such cases if they were attended by strangury, or painful and difficult urination.

Dr. Phares used the remedy both externally and internally and he found that the stomach was very tolerant of the rather heroic doses he prescribed.

The plant is an indigenous perennial found in swampy localities, in some parts of the United States, and has been, and is still, used in domestic practice for those conditions for which Dr. Phares commends it.

SCOLOPENDRA MORSITANS.

PREPARATION.--The insect is triturated with sugar of milk in the usual way.

(In the case of a man bitten in the arm by a centipede, reported in _Nashville Journal of Medicine_, 1870, among the striking symptoms was no perspiration in the arm for three months. Dr. Sherman, of California (_Med.

Advance_), reports the following symptoms as prominent in a woman bitten by a centipede:)

_Head._--Vertigo, with blindness, worse in the morning.

_Stomach._--Nausea and vomiting; unable to retain either food or liquid.

_Back._--Terrible pains in back and loins, spasmodic and irregular, at times extending down the limbs. Pains returned every few days for three weeks, commencing in the head and going out at the toes. "Resembled labor pains as nearly as anything I ever saw."

SCUTELLARIA LATERIFOLIA.

NAT. ORD., l.a.b.i.atae.

COMMON NAME, Mad-dog skullcap.

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

(The following proving of _Scutellaria lat._, from _University Bulletin_, 1897, was made, under the auspices of Dr. Geo. Royal, by nine provers:)

No symptom has been recorded unless experienced by two provers. When experienced by two provers, and not often repeated, the symptom is recorded in common type. When often repeated in two provings is found in italics. When often repeated in three provings, or found in four or more, the symptoms appear in black type.

MIND.--=Inability to study or fix the attention on one's work.= _Confusion of mind._ _Apathy._ Irritability.

HEAD.--=A full or throbbing sensation in head.= =A dull heavy headache mostly in the forehead and temples.= Sharp shooting pain in the head.

Pain in the occiput. Headache relieved in the open air. Headache relieved by eating. Headache aggravated by motion.

EYES.--_Aching in the eyeb.a.l.l.s._ Eyeb.a.l.l.s painful to touch. Eyeb.a.l.l.s feel too large.

FACE.--Flushed.

MOUTH.--_Bad taste_; _sour_; _bitter_.

THROAT.--Sensation of lump in throat which could not be swallowed.

STOMACH.--=Nausea.= =Sour eructions.= _Poor appet.i.te._ Vomiting of sour ingesta, hiccoughs, pain and distress in stomach.

ABDOMEN.--=Gas in bowels.= _Colicky pain in abdomen._ _Fullness or distension of abdomen._ _Uneasiness in abdomen._ Pain in the abdomen.

STOOLS.--=Diarrhoea.= _Light colored._ Stools preceded by colicky pain in abdomen.

URINARY ORGANS.--=Quant.i.ty of urine diminished. Biliary salts increased.= Frequent micturition but quant.i.ty small.

CHEST.--Pain in chest.

HEART AND PULSE.--Pulse rate irregular.

BACK.--Pain in back.

UPPER EXTREMITIES.--_Sharp stinging pains._ Aching.

LOWER EXTREMITIES.--=Weakness.= =Aching.= _Uneasiness._

SLEEP.--=Restless.= =Unrefres.h.i.+ng.= _Disturbed._

GENERAL SYMPTOMS.--=Restlessness.= =Tired weak feeling.= _Uneasiness._ _Languor._

The remedy seems most suitable to persons of a nervo-bilious temperament. All the symptoms seem to be aggravated by work or excitement and ameliorated by sleep.

SISYRINCHIUM.

NAT. ORD., Iridaceae.

COMMON NAME, Blue-eyed gra.s.s.

PREPARATION.--The fresh root is macerated in twice its weight of alcohol.

(Dr. W. U. Reed, of Northmanchester, Ind., contributed the following in 1892 to the _Hom. Recorder_, concerning this little known remedy. _Sisyrinchium_ was one of the old "Thompsonians." From what Dr. Reed says of it the remedy must be a very powerful one and worthy of full investigation.)

Numerous articles have appeared in our medical journals during the past few months relative to the treatment of persons bitten by venomous reptiles, especially the rattlesnake. Whether the rattlesnakes found in the marshes of Indiana are in any respect different from those found in Oregon, or in the mountains of Pennsylvania, I do not know. The bite of the Indiana rattler has been known to prove fatal to both man and beast.

Notwithstanding we have growing in our woods and fields a small plant, which I believe to be a specific for the treatment of persons or animals bitten by the rattlesnake. From my own experience and observation in the use of this remedy, I believe it to be a positive cure in all cases if exhibited in any reasonable time. I have never known it to fail in a single instance, even where the alcoholic treatment and many other kinds had failed.

The plant referred to, the roots of which are used in the treatment of snake bites; or a tincture made from the roots, is the _Sisyrinchium_ of the _Iris_ family, I think, and is said to have been used by the Indians in treating snake bites, by bruising and moistening the roots and applying to the wound. I am not aware of its ever having been used as a medicine by the profession, and, so far as I know, I am the first to prepare and use it in the form of a tincture. By your kind permission I will report, through the columns of your valuable journal, a few cases treated by this remedy, which for convenience I will call _Sisyrinchium_.

Case 1. Bessie A., aged six years, while playing in the yard on a farm, some twelve miles in the country, was bitten in the hand by a rattlesnake which was killed a moment after by the mother of the little girl who was attracted by the screams of the child. Sixteen hours after I arrived, everything having been done in the meantime that had ever been heard of by the parents, even to poulticing the wound with entrails of a black chicken. The little sufferer was, indeed, an object of pity.

The hand and arm were swollen almost to bursting, the swelling extending to the shoulder and spine, being of a bluish black color as if dreadfully bruised. This discoloration extended over the back to the hips. Skin hot and dry, face flushed, pulse quick and hard. Child unconscious. I felt that the case was hopeless. But through the earnest entreaties of the mother, I proceeded to do what I could. Saturating a piece of cotton with the tincture I had prepared, I bound it on the wound; then dropping twelve drops in a gla.s.s of water I directed that a teaspoonful be given every hour, the compress to be renewed every hour also, until my return. I confess I had little hope of seeing my little patient alive again, but on my return the following day I was much rejoiced to find a decided change for the better in the condition of the little sufferer. The swelling was not nearly so tense, the fever had subsided, the delirium gone, and the danger seemed past. The treatment was continued, and a speedy and permanent recovery followed.

Case 2. Burt Whitten, aged ten, while out in a marsh with a number of older boys gathering huckleberries, was bitten in the right ankle by a rattler. He was so frightened when he saw the snake, as it bit him, that he ran all the way home, a distance of nearly a mile; although the day was very hot. This patient came to my hands after the usual alcoholic treatment for twenty-four hours by an Allopathic physician, with the patient growing worse all the time. I found this patient in about the same condition as the first. The leg and foot were enormously swollen and of the same general appearance; the foot, calf of the leg and thigh were black; the whole body was very red, hot and dry; face dark red; pulse quick and hard; patient delirious but would cry out if touched.

Fifteen drops in a gla.s.s of water. Teaspoonful every hour, with cotton saturated with the tincture applied to the wound. In this case the change, I was informed by the father, was quite noticeable in two hours.

The boy had been in a wild delirium all night and up to the time he received the first dose of _Sisyrinchium_. After the second dose he became quiet, and in two hours the delirium had pa.s.sed away. Under this treatment the patient was able to be out on the streets again in four days, though the discoloration did not disappear for some time after.

Many more cases might be given where this remedy has been given to both man and beast with the same results.