Part 64

GENERAL ACTION.--From a very large collection of observations of cases of poisoning with OEnanthe, dating from 1556 to the present time and recorded in "Allen's Encyclopaedia," the "Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy," and in the article of Dr. DeMoor, above mentioned, we find that OEnanthe crocata produces, almost invariably, convulsions of an epileptiform character and which are marked by the following symptoms:

Swollen, livid face, sometimes pale.

Frothing at mouth.

Contraction of chest and oppressed breathing.

Dilated pupils or irregular. Eyeballs turned upward.

Coldness of the extremities.

Pulse weak.

Convulsions are especially severe, at first tonic then clonic.

Locked jaws.

Trembling and twitching of muscles.

OEnanthe also produces a delirium in which the patient becomes as if drunken, there is stupefaction, obscuration of vision and fainting.

The Greek name of the plant signifies "wine flower," and so-called on account of its producing a condition similar to wine drunkenness, and there is a difference, so I have heard, between wine and other beverages in this respect. Hiccoughs are also produced by the drug.

There is also great heat in the throat and stomach and a desire to vomit and to have stool, and a great deal of weakness of the limbs and cardialgia. Like other members of the same family, as Conium, it produces very much vertigo, this has always been present in the cases of poisoning with the plant. In a number of cases who had been poisoned by the drug the hair and nails fell out.

HOMOEOPATHIC ACTION AND APPLICABILITY.--The uses of OEnanthe, homoeopathically, have been taken from the reports above mentioned; the drug has never been proved, and it is doubtful if one could be found who would prove it to the convulsion-producing extremity. All the evidence in all the authorities shows clearly that the drug produces in man all the symptoms of epilepsy, and it is in that disease that clinical testimony is gradually accumulating. Accepting the theory that epilepsy is a disturbance or irritation in the cortex of the brain, it would seem that OEnanthe crocata, which produces congestion of the pia mater, would prove a close pathological simillimum to epilepsy. Its usefulness in this disease is unmistakable and only another proof of the truth of the homoeopathic law.

Let us review briefly some of the evidence of its action: Dr. S. H. Talcott, in the report of the Middletown Asylum, 1893, notes that OEnanthe possesses a marked power in epilepsy, stating that it makes the attack less frequent, less violent and improves the mental state of the patient. He prescribes it in the tincture, 1 to 6 drops daily.

In the Materia Medica Society of New York its use has been verified several times. Dr. Paige greatly benefited a case with the 3x potency.

Dr. F. H. Fisk reports the cure of a case which had lasted two years, with the tincture. This case during the last month before the doctor took it was having from 6 to 10 attacks daily.

Dr. Garrison, of Easton, Pa., reports a case of reflex uterine or hystero-epilepsy in which the 2x acted promptly.

Allen in his Hand-Book mentions the cure of three cases with the remedy.

Dr. J. Ritchie Horner reports that the remedy greatly modified the attacks in a lady who had had the disease over 20 years, and who, for the two months previous, had had a convulsion daily. He used the 3x.

Dr. J. S. Cooper, of Chillicothe, Ohio, reports the cure of a case of 25 years' standing with the 4x.

Dr. Henderson reports the cure of a case of 9 years' standing, where the patient was almost idiotic; the convulsions were relieved and the mental condition was greatly relieved and improved. In two other cases equally satisfactory results were had.

Dr. D. A. Baldwin, of Englewood, N. J., entirely controlled the convulsions in a young man of 16 with OEnanthe.

Dr. Ord reports a case of petit mal cured with the 3x, and in a South American homoeopathic journal a Dr. Rappaz reports the cure of a case of three years' standing with increasing seizures with the remedy in doses ranging from the 6 to the 12.

The late Dr. W. A. Dunn reported a genuine cure of a young girl of 16 who had been epileptic for 7 years, latterly having as many as 4 or 5 attacks during a night. The remedy caused these attacks to entirely disappear. The girl commenced menstruating at 12, so the establishment of the menses had nothing to do with the cure.

Dr. Charles A. Wilson, of San Antonio, Texas, reports a number of cases cured with OEnanthe in the 3x dilution, and the same potency greatly lessened the number of seizures in others.

Dr. Purdon, of the University of Dublin, relates a case of epilepsy cured with this drug in 1 to 6 drop doses several times a day.

Dr. F. E. Howard, in a case which had 3 or 4 attacks a week, gave 5 drops of the tincture every two hours, which caused violent pains in the head, but complete recovery followed on reducing the dose.