New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 54

J. D., female, aged eighteen years. First spell when thirteen years old; has one spell a month at the time of her menstrual period. About a week before this period was given 40 drops _t. i. d._, and escaped the usual spell. The following month, however, she had one.

I. K., female, aged twenty-five years. Nocturnal epilepsy for past three years; about one spell a month. While using 40 drops _t. i. d._ went three weeks longer than usual without a spell. The dose was then increased to 1 fluid drachm _t. i. d._; she then ceased her visits.

F. S., female, aged twelve years. First spell five weeks ago; has been having them daily since. _Solanum_ 30 drops _t. i. d._, ordered; this dose was gradually increased to 1 fluid drachm _t. i. d._ During the three months that she was under observation her spells averaged in number about one a week.

H. B., male, aged eighteen years. First convulsion at age of ten years; then had none until three months ago; has had general convulsions about once daily since. _Solanum_, 40 drops _t. i. d._, ordered. He was only under observation nine days, having during that time four spells, much milder in character.

A. C., female, aged fifteen years. First convulsion one year ago; they have been increasing in frequency; now has one about every three days.

During the three weeks she was taking 30 drops of _Solanum_ three times a day she had one spell, that occurring during the third week.

H. K., male, aged eighteen years. First spell when fourteen years old.

Every three or four days has several attacks in succession, an average of about one daily. While taking _Solanum_ in 40-drop--afterwards increased to teaspoonful--doses he had twelve in thirty-eight days, an average of a little less than one in three days, going six without having any.

SPIRITUS GLANDIUM QUERCUS.

NAT. ORD.--Cupuliferae.

COMMON NAME--European or English oak.

PREPARATION.--The spirit is destilled from the tincture prepared by macerating the acorn kernals from the Quercus robur, in five times their weight of dilute alcohol.

(The following, from Rademacher, is quoted and translated by Dr. J. C. Burnett in his _Diseases of the Spleen_).

I became acquainted with this remedy in a wonderful way. Many years ago (I do not remember the exact time) a working carpenter, who had previously lived at Crefeld, came to seek my advice for his bellyache, which was of long standing. According to his own statement, he had long been under Sanitary Councillor Schneider in Crefeld, who was not able to help him, and so sent him to Professor Gunther in Duisberg. Ten journeys thither were likewise in vain.

I tried my usual remedies for seemingly such cases, but to no good; and as I noticed he was a good cabinetmaker, and dabbled a bit in upholstery, I told him it would be a good plan if he were to hire himself out to a country squire as joiner, thinking that the food of the servants' hall would suit his sick stomach better than the beans, black bread, and potatoes of the master carpenter. The good fellow followed my advice, and lived with a squire for many years; and I heard nothing more about him. Finally, he married the parlormaid, and settled here in this town as a joiner. One day when visiting his sick wife I remembered the old story of his bellyache, and wanted to know how it then was. "All right," said he, "I have not had it for years." It seems that a local surgeon, being one day at the squire's, told him to get some acorns, and sc.r.a.pe them with a knife, and then put the sc.r.a.pings into brandy and leave them to draw for a day, and then to drink a small gla.s.s of this spirit several times a day. He did as he was advised, and was forthwith relieved, and very soon entirely freed from his old trouble.

From what I knew of the surgeon, I was very sure he could not give me any intelligent reason for his prescription. I should only have heard that acorn sc.r.a.pings in brandy were good for the bellyache, or, at the most, I may have ascertained from what doctor, or peasant, or old wife he had got the tip.

But this would have done me but poor service; and as I had in the meantime become much more cunning, I questioned the joiner himself afresh as to the kind of his old pain, particularly as to the part of the belly where the pain was _last felt_ when he had had a bad attack.

He was in no doubt about it, but at once pointed to the part of the belly nearest the left hypochondrium. So I very shrewdly suspected that the abdominal pains were really owing to a primary affection of the spleen, in which notion I was strengthened by remembering that the best pain-killing hepatic and enteric remedies had done him no good.

To get as soon as possible to the bottom of the thing, I set about preparing a tincture of acorns, and gave a teaspoonful five times a day in water to an old brandy drunkard, who was sick unto death, and of whom I knew that he had suffered from the spleen for a very long time, the spleen being from time to time painful. He had likewise ascites, and his legs were dropsical as far as the knees. It occurred to me that if the acorn tincture were to act curatively on the spleen the consensual kidney affection and its dependent dropsy would mend. I soon saw that I had reckoned rightly. The urinary secretion was at once augmented, but the patient complained that each time after taking the medicine he felt a constriction of the chest. I ascribed this to the astringent matter of the acorns, and thinking the really curative principle thereof would most likely be volatile I caused the tincture to be distilled. This acorn spirit caused no further constriction, and the urinary secretion was still more markedly increased, the tension in the praecordia became less and less, and this hopelessly incurable drunkard got quite well, much to the surprise of all who knew him, and, honestly speaking, much to my own surprise also.

Having thus put the spirit of acorns to such a severe test, and that in a case that I already knew so well, in which it was impossible to make a mistake as to the primary affection, I went further, and used it by degrees in all sorts of spleen affections, and that not only in painful ones, but in painless ones, in the evident ones, and in those of a more problematical kind. Gradually I became convinced that it is a remedy, the place of which no other can take. More particularly is it of great, nay, of inestimable value in spleen-dropsy. Later on, I found that the volatile curative principle of acorns may be still better extracted with water with the addition of alcohol. [The _aqua glandium_ is thus prepared:--One pound of peeled and crushed acorns to the pound of distillate.] Perhaps water alone might extract the healing principle, but it would not keep thus, and so the cures would be uncertain, not to mention the fact that such-like decaying medicines are a great trouble to the chemists. The dose of the spirituous acorn-water (the only preparation I have used of late years) is half a tablespoonful in water four times a day. It has not much taste; some would even say it has none, but the doubter may make a solution of alcohol and water in the same proportions, and he will soon find that it has quite a taste of its own.

I must make mention of two of its peculiar effects. Certain people feel, as soon as they have taken it, a peculiar sensation in the head, lasting hardly a minute or two, which they say is like being drunk.

With a few people, particularly with those who have suffered from old spleen engorgements, diarrhoea sets in after using it for two or three weeks that makes them feel better. It seldom lasts more than a day, and is not weakening, but moderate. Hence it is not needful either to stop the acorn water or to lessen the dose.

I could add many instructive cases of spleen-dropsies and other spleen affections in which the volatile principle of acorns proved curative, but as I have so much more to say on other subjects I dare not be too discursive on this one point; besides, what I have already said will suffice for common-sense physicians. Still I cannot forbear noticing a few bagatelles. For instance, I have found that the acute spleen fevers that occur intercurrently with epidemic liver fevers are best cured with _aqua glandium_--at least that is my experience.

Furthermore, I am of opinion that the three _splenics_ of which I have made mention are curative of three different morbid states of the spleen, and I know well from my own experience that acorns are indicated in the most common spleen affections; and, finally, I am not acquainted with any positive signs whereby those three separate morbid states of spleen can with certainty be differentiated from one another.

(In a later work, _Gout and its Cure_, by Burnett, the remedy is again brought up as follows:)

For some years past I have been acquainted with a remedy that antidotes the effect of alcohol very prettily, as I will show. I enter upon the subject in this place, because it deserves to be widely known, and also because in the treatment of gout, the alcoholism not infrequently bars the way. The remedy I refer to is the distilled spirit of acorns--_Spiritus glandium quercus_. My first account will be found in my "Diseases of the Spleen," where _Spiritus glandium quercus_ is dealt with as a spleen medicine. I speak of set purpose of the h.o.m.oeopathic antidote, because alcoholism is a disease, and as such must be met by specific medication.

Some of Rademacher's patients complained to him that while taking his acorn medicine they felt in their heads somewhat as if they were drunk; but as Rademacher did not believe in the law of similars--indeed, knew but little about it--their complaint had no ulterior significance to him, but still it struck him as worthy of record. "A few, but not many, of those who take it immediately feel a peculiar sensation in the head, which they say is like they feel when they are drunk, the sensation lasting only a minute or two." Now, in the light of the h.o.m.oeopathic law, this symptom is eminently suggestive, but whether any one beside myself has ever noticed this symptom I am not aware. Rademacher had previously related the following brilliant cure. * * * He says that in order to get a clear idea of the action of the remedy he caused to be prepared a tincture of acorns, of which he gave a teaspoonful in water five times a day to an almost moribund brandy toper, who had long been suffering from a spleen affection that at times caused him a good deal of pain, and who, at the time in question, had severe ascites and whose lower extremities were dropsical up as far as the knees. Our author was of opinion that the affection was a primary disease of the spleen, and reasoned that if the tincture of acorns cured the spleen the kidneys would duly resume work and the ascitic and anasarcous state would disappear. He soon found he was right; patient at once began to pa.s.s more urine, but he complained that every time he took a dose of the medicine he got a constriction about the chest, and this Rademacher ascribed to the astringent quality of the acorns, and to avoid this he had the tincture of acorns distilled. The administration of this distilled preparation was not followed by any unpleasant symptom, and the quant.i.ty of urine pa.s.sed increased still more, the tension on the praecordia slowly lessened and this inveterate drunkard got quite well, much to the amazement of everybody, Rademacher included, for he did not at all expect him to recover.

Now, it must be admitted that a remedy that can cure an old drunkard of general dropsy and restore him to health deserves closer acquaintance, and when we first regard it from the pathogenetic side as producing, of course, contingently, a cephalic state, resembling alcoholic intoxication, and then from the clinical side as having cured an abandoned drunkard, it looks very much as if we had a remedy h.o.m.oeopathic to alcoholism. I may add that Rademacher nowhere hints that the _Spiritus glandium quercus_ stands in any relation to alcoholism; he regards it merely as a spleen medicine, specially indicated in dropsy due to a primary spleen affection. At first I regarded it merely in the same light, but when I really gripped the significance of the pathogenetic symptoms just quoted I thought we might find in our common acorns a notable h.o.m.oeopathic anti-alcoholic.

(It is not fair to quote further from Burnett, but we may add that in his book, _Gout and Its Cure_, there are given a number of clinical cases in which the remedy acted brilliantly in those addicted to tippling, or drinking hard. It is not so much that the remedy extirpates the habit, but it enables those afflicted to easily control their appet.i.te and drink "like other people," without that insatiable craving.

The dose is about ten drops in water three to four times a day.)

SOLIDAGO VIRGA-AUREA.

NAT. ORD., Compositae.

COMMON NAME, Golden Rod

PREPARATION.--The fresh blossoms are macerated in twice their weight of alcohol.

(The following is to be found on p. 131 of Dr.

Gallavardin's "h.o.m.oeopathic Treatment of Alcoholism:")

"A lady, by administering, morning and evening, an infusion of the dry leaves and flowers of Golden Rod (_Solidago virga-aurea_) tells me that she cured her husband of an affection of the bladder which had compelled him to use a catheter for a year or more. A friend of h.o.m.oeopathy, not a physician, desired to test the efficaciousness of this plant. He caused the first dilution of its tincture to be taken three times a day by seven patients of from forty-two to seventy-four years of age, who had been obliged to catheterize themselves for weeks, months and years, and cured them so thoroughly that they had no relapses. Surgeons who spend much time in catheterizing such patients for months and years could often cure them much more rapidly by prescribing for them the remedy just mentioned."

(Dr. A. E. White, _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_, July, 1891, relates the following case:)

Mrs.----, age 37, married, has had seven children. Came to me December 10, 1890, with the following history: "Had not had her menses for four months. Thought she was in a family way. Abdomen bloated up every P.M.; sick at her stomach all of the time; frontal headache, P.M.; felt better when first getting up in the morning, at which time her abdomen was almost normal in size.

"Her water she complained of more than anything else. Had to pa.s.s it every half hour during day and several times during night.

"Backache all of the time, which was not decreased by pa.s.sing water.

Urine had a white, slimy deposit on standing a short time.

"Requested an examination, but could not discover that she was in a family way. Found her back very sensitive in region of kidneys, trace of alb.u.min in urine.

"I gave her a vial of _Solidago_ 1x, told her to take two disks every four hours and report in three or four days. She came back December 13th, 'the medicine went right to the spot.' From the second dose her water became natural and she did not bloat so much in P.M. Her stomach did not bother her any more. I gave her a bottle of _Puls._ 3x to take with the _Solidago_, and she reported December 17th, that her menses had come on.

"I have used it in several other cases where it seemed indicated by the tenderness in kidney region and the inability to control the water from whatever cause, always with perfect satisfaction to patient and myself."

(The following paper on the use of _Solidago virga-aurea_ is by Dr. M. Gucken, of Eupen, Germany:)

The Golden Rod is in h.o.m.oeopathy, according to my opinion, not as much made use of as it deserves. Foh. Gottfr. Rademacher, who has many admirers among us, says, in his _Justification of Experience in Medicine_, about _Virga-aurea_: "This herb is a very old and good kidney medicine. It is a specific for kidneys, and brings the patients back to the normal condition." I have used the Golden Rod for a long time, and have to make favorable reports. The results of extensive h.o.m.oeopathic proving of this remedy on healthy persons cannot be found in our literature, but a Wurtemburg physician, Dr. Buck, has given us a list of cures with the Golden Rod in the popular h.o.m.oeopathic paper edited by Dr. Bolle, which wholly confirms the statements of Rademacher, besides the cases reported by Dr. Buck.

According to this last, _Virga-aurea_ is especially adapted for scrofulous subjects; at the same time other const.i.tutions do not exclude the use of this remedy. In the first place, _the condition and the action of the kidneys and the quality of their secretions_ are to be considered in the selection of this remedy. The symptoms on the part of the kidneys and the urinary organs, which point to _Virga-aurea_, are as follows:

Pains in the kidneys; region of kidneys painful upon pressure; feeling of enlargement and tension in the kidneys, also pains in the kidneys which extend forward to the abdomen and to the bladder. Dysuria, difficult and scanty urination; urine dark, red-brown, with thick sediment; stone and gravel, alb.u.men, blood or slime in the urine; urine dark, with sediments of phosphates; slightly sour, neutral or alkaline; urine with numerous epithelial cells or small mucous particles.

Epithelial cells with gravel of triple phosphates, or phosphate of lime.

Bright's disease.

Side symptoms which point to this remedy:

_Skin._--Scrofulous rash; little blotches on hands and feet, itching very much; very obstinate, itching exanthemas; exanthema of the lower extremities without swelling of the inguinal glands, but with disturbance in urinating (catarrh of the kidneys).