Part 26

(Dr. Robert T. Cooper, of London, contributed the following to the Hahnemannian Monthly, 1897):

A tincture is used made from a single dark-flowered plant. No proving of this remedy has come under my notice, yet I consider the following case worth reporting: T. T., age twenty, a clerk; admission date, 30th April, 1892; never heard well on the left side, but particularly deaf the last month, and deafness increases; watch, hearing contact only. History of much earache in childhood; left ear discharges, but the discharge does not run out. Wisdom teeth; left upper and right, lower and upper, breaking through. Gave Cheiranthus cheiri.

28th May, hears very much better; left, 3-1/2 inches. No medicine.

11th June, continues improving gradually; left, 15 inches.

25th June, continues to hear voices very fairly on the left side, but no improvement since last time; left, 15 inches. Gave Cheiranthus cheiri.

25th July, restoration of improving condition; left, 20 inches. No medicine.

CHIONANTHUS VIRGINICA.

NAT. ORD., Oleaceae.

COMMON NAME, Fringe Tree. Snow-flower.

PREPARATION.--The fresh bark is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following is the only proving, we believe, ever made of this drug; it was the thesis of Dr. John W. Lawshe, Atlanta, Ga., on his graduation, and was published in North American Journal of Homoeopathy, May, 1883).

This being the first and only proving of this drug, Prof. Lilienthal requested a copy of it for publication, which I cheerfully agreed to give him.

Monday, July 10, 1882, 9:30 A.M., I took one drop of the tincture, after having taken the 12x and 6x potencies, one day each, without any effect. I continued taking the tincture each hour during the day, increasing each dose one drop till five were reached, then increased each dose five drops till twenty-five were reached, but without any effect whatever.

Tuesday, July 11th, I began with thirty drops at 9 o'clock A.M., and increased the dose five drops each hour till I reached one drachm, and took three doses of one drachm each. I retired at 10 o'clock feeling perfectly well.

I awoke at 4:10 A.M., Wednesday, July 12th, with a severe headache--chiefly in the forehead and just over the eyes--especially the left eye. Eyeballs exceedingly painful, feel sore and bruised.

Cutting twisting pains all through my abdomen.

I turned over and lay with my face downward, which seemed to relieve the abdominal pains some, and after awhile I went to sleep. I awoke again at 8:20 feeling very sick and badly all over. Head feels very sore all over and through it; heavy dull feeling in forehead and a drawing or pressing at the root of my nose. I felt so weak I had to sit down awhile before I could finish dressing; never before felt so sick at my stomach. Bitter eructations, great nausea and retching, with a desire for stool.

I finished dressing and looked at my tongue, which was heavily coated and of a dirty, greenish yellow color. I started down stairs and had a violent attack of nausea and a great deal of retching before I could vomit. It seemed as though there were a "double suction" in my abdomen, one trying to force something up and the other sucking it back, till finally, by quite an effort, I vomited a teacup full, or more, of very dark green bile, rather ropy, I think, and exceedingly bitter. The bile came up with a single gush and I was through. Immediately a cold perspiration broke out and stood in beads on my forehead, and I felt very weak. Desire for stool gone after vomiting.

I have a sore, weak, bruised feeling all over the small of my back; feels very weak when standing or moving about; better sitting or lying down.

No appetite for breakfast, but my stomach felt so weak and empty that I drank a cup of coffee and ate half a biscuit, which relieved to some extent.

9 A.M., am so nervous I cannot keep still and can hardly write down my symptoms.

9:30 o'clock, my back in lumbar and sacral region is so sore and weak I could hardly walk from the car to the office, every step seemed to jar my whole body and made my headache worse.

10 o'clock, have been quiet for half an hour and feel some better; have a pressing or squeezing sensation in the bridge of my nose; sore constricted feeling in the temples, with throbbing temporal arteries.

10:30 o'clock, just came from stool; the first passed was watery, but the last was more solid in appearance; stool terribly offensive, like carrion. Heavy, all-gone sort of feeling low down in hypogastrium; color of stool was dark brown with pieces of undigested food in it.

11:30, just got home and feel very bad and weak. My head and back ache considerably, and I feel "played out" generally.

12 o'clock, forehead and cheeks very hot and dry, radial pulse 114, chilly sensation darting through body from front to back, causing a sort of shivering or involuntary jerking, forehead feels like a hot coal of fire to my hand; headache in forehead and over eyes relieved by pressing with my hand, but I cannot bear it long for my head seems to get hotter from it; am exceedingly nervous, cannot lie still, involuntary jerkings in different parts of the body. Roof of mouth and tongue feel very dry, although there seems to be the usual amount of saliva present. No thirst at all.

I went to sleep about 12:20 P.M., and was awakened at 2 o'clock for dinner. Couldn't eat anything; I tried but it nauseated me; could only drink a cup of coffee; headache worse after waking; pulse 88; head not quite so hot, body feels chilly, and I had a shawl thrown over me; went to sleep again about 3:30.

I was told that at 4:15 my face and head were covered with a profuse perspiration, and my carotid arteries pulsated very hard and rapidly; I got up at 5 o'clock and bathed my face in cold water and felt somewhat better, though my head and back still ache considerably and feel quite sore; eyeballs feel bruised.