Part 5

AMBROSIA ARTEMISIFOLIA.

NAT. ORD., Compositae.

COMMON NAMES, Rag Weed, Hog Weed.

PREPARATION.--The fresh leaves and flowers are pounded to a pulp and macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following concerning this little used remedy was contributed to the HOMOEOPATHIC RECORDER, 1889, by Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, at that time the editor):

Of late years much attention has been called to the species of the genus Ambrosia (the Rag Weeds) as being, through the agency of their pollen, the cause of hay fever. Many people afflicted with this troublesome complaint lay the charge directly at its doors, while others claim that, in all probability, it is the direct cause, as their sufferings always commence during the anthesis of the plant. The general impression, however, both among the laity and the medical fraternity, has been that the effect was a purely mechanical one, the nasal mucous membranes being directly irritated by the pollen dust in substance. If this were true, would not every one suffer from hay fever? Impressed with the above report, I had the pleasure of curing two attacks while writing my work upon "American Medicinal Plants," in which the above species figures. Since the publication of the work, all the cases I have had of the disease (four) have yielded beautifully to the 3d centesimal potency of the drug.

The four cases, Mr. B----, Mrs. I----, Mr. C---- and Miss P----, presented the following generic symptoms: Inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose, adventing yearly in the autumn. At first dryness, then watery discharges, finally involving the frontal sinuses and the conjunctival membrane. In Mr. B. and Miss P. the irritation extended to the trachea and bronchial tubes, in Mr. B. amounting to severe asthmatic attacks. In all cases the coryza was very severe, and in previous years lasted, in spite of all treatment, from four to eight weeks. Mr. B. has found relief from Ambrosia [Latin: ezh], three times a day, in from four to six days, for three successive years, with no return of the trouble in the same year; Mrs. I. has been relieved in from two to four days for two years; Mr. C. gets immediate relief in twenty-four hours (three seasons); Miss P., in this her first experience with Ambrosia, found entire relief from six doses.

AMYGDALUS PERSICA.

NAT. ORD., Rosaceae. Amygdaleae.

SYNONYM, Persica vulgaris.

COMMON NAME, Peach.

PREPARATION.--The tincture is made by pounding to a pulp the fresh bark of the twigs and macerating in two parts by weight of alcohol. The infusion is made by taking of the bark one part and of boiling Distilled Water ten parts. Infuse in a covered vessel for one hour and strain.

(Outside the old herbalists the virtues of the bark and leaves of the peach tree have received little attention. The following contributed by Dr. C. C. Edson in the Chicago Medical Times, 1890, however, aroused some attention):

Some ten years ago I had a little patient whose principle difficulty seemed to be an inability to retain anything whatever upon its stomach. It would vomit up promptly everything I gave it, and I had given it everything I had ever heard of and also had eminent council, but it was no go; I was literally at my rope's end. At this juncture an elderly lady neighbor, one of "the good old mothers," timidly suggested an infusion of peach bark. Well, as it was any port in storm, I started to find the coveted bark, which I was fortunate enough to procure after a long tramp through the country and two feet of snow. I prepared an infusion, gave the little patient a few swallows, and presto! the deed was done, the child cured. * * It fills all the indications of the leaves and many more. It fills the indications of hydrocyanic acid, ingluvin, ipecac or any other anti-emetic. It will more frequently allay the vomiting of pregnancy than any remedy I have ever tried. And nearly every case of retching or vomiting (except it be reflex) will promptly yield under its use. * * * For an adult the dose is five drops, and in urgent cases repeat every five to ten minutes until the symptoms subside, after which give it at intervals of one to four hours as indicated. After ten years' use I am thoroughly convinced that any physician once giving it a thorough trial will never again be without it. Of course it is not a specific for all "upheavals of the inner man," but will I think meet more indications than any other known remedy of its class.

(This brought out the following from Dr. Kirkpatrick in the same journal):

I must say that I feel a little plagued after reading what Dr. Edson says about Amygdalus; he has taken the wind out of my sails, but I must give my experience. Quite a number of years since a good friend in the profession called on me, and asked me to visit one of his patients, honestly stating that he thought she would die. I went a few miles in the country to see her. She had been vomiting blood for two or three days, and, notwithstanding she had had oxalate of cerium, bismuth, pepsin, ingluvin and other good remedies, everything she swallowed would come up, so that she looked more like a corpse than a living being. I ordered them to go out and get me some of the young switches of the last year's growth from the peach tree; I had them pound them to loosen the bark; I then nearly filled a tumbler with this bark, then covered it with water. I ordered her a teaspoonful to be taken after each time she vomited, one dose being given then, and one every hour after the vomiting stopped. The result was, she vomited no more and made a good recovery.

* * * In recent cases I have very rarely had to give the second prescription to relieve morning sickness. I was visiting a doctor in Quincy; while there he told me he was afraid he would have either to make a lady abort or let her die, from the fact that he had failed to stop her vomiting. I happened to have a sample of the medicine with me; I gave it to him, he took it to the lady and in a few days he reported her well. I may say, like Dr. Edson, it is a standard remedy with me. I have found it very useful in haemorrhage from the bladder. Some of my lady patients find it very good in nervous headache. I have used the tincture prepared from the leaves, but it is far inferior to that prepared from the bark of the young shoots. A medical friend was going to see a lady who had morning sickness; he told me he had thought of advising her to use popcorn; I handed him a small bottle of my Amygdalus and told him to take a couple of ears of corn in his pocket and try both. The next time I met him he said my medicine had done the work.

(Dr. Oliver S. Haines, of Philadelphia, also contributed the following experience):

Apropos of the remarks made by Dr. C. C. Edson upon the efficacy of infusion of peach bark in the gastric irritability of children, we might mention the following authentic case:

An infant, during its second summer, had been much reduced by acute dyspeptic diarrhoea. A marked feature of this case was the persistent vomiting of all food. The stomach would tolerate no form of baby food with or without milk. The child's parents had consulted some eminent physicians of our city. The child had been treated homoeopathically. None of the remedies chosen seemed to produce the desired effect. After a consultation it was deemed best to send the infant to the mountains. The change aggravated its condition. While the parents hourly expected their baby would die, it was suggested that they send for an old practitioner living in the mountains near at hand. This man had a local reputation as a saver of dying babies. His prescription was as follows: Two or three fresh peach leaves were to be put in a cup of boiling water, the infant to receive a "drink" of this infusion at frequent intervals. The effects of this remedy were as remarkable in this case as in the case narrated by Dr. Edson. Our child soon retained food and eventually recovered.

It seems this ancient disciple of Esculapius had long used peach leaves and regarded them as possessing specific virtues.

ANAGALIS ARVENSIS.

NAT. ORD., Primulaceae.

COMMON NAMES, Scarlet Pimpernel. Poor Man's Weather-Glass.

PREPARATION.--The fresh plant, of the scarlet-flowered variety, gathered before the development of the flowers, is pounded to a pulp and subjected to pressure. The expressed juice is mingled with an equal part by weight of alcohol.

(This paper was arranged from the provings by Dr. W. H. A. Fitz for the Organon and Materia Medica Society of Philadelphia, and published in the Medical Advance, 1891)

We think of this remedy for the following clinical indications: Hypochondriasis, mania, epilepsy. Amblyopia, cataract, spots on the cornea. Syphilis, hepatitis and indurated liver, visceral obstruction, inflammation of rectum (horses), hemorrhoids, inflammation of kidneys, gleet, copious urination (horses), gravel, syphilis with deranged mind, nosebleed, pain in small of back, gonorrhoea, amenorrhoea, cancer of mammea, sterility (cows), consumption, lumbago, itching, gout, bloody sweat (murrain of calves), dropsy, ill-conditioned ulcers, snake bites and hydrophobia, promotes the expulsion of splinters, inflammation of stomach (horses).

It is characterized by great tickling and itching. We find tickling and pricking in the urethra, in left ear; on tip of nose; at soft palate as from something cold; in symphysis pubis; as from a brush against epiglottis (with hoarseness); pain in right leg and at os illium; itching on vertex and occiput; of eyelids; in left ear; on cheek bones; itching and tickling stitches on left corner of mouth and upper lip; in rectum; at anus after evacuation of bowels; on left side of chest, principally on nipple; on neck and scapula; on inside of upper arm, just above elbow joint; on back of right hand; tetter on hands and fingers. In fact, great itching all over the skin.