Part 87

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 grass.

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 glass 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 glass 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 passed 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.

SKOOKUM CHUCK.

(Some readers may be startled at this name, applied to a remedy, but under that name it came before the profession and the name has stuck. It is the Western Indian's designation of the waters of what is now known as "Medical Lake." The following by Dr. W. D. Gentry appeared in the U. S. Med. Investigator, 1889:)

The water is of a deep amber and almost red in the sunlight. The following is an analysis of the salts, obtained by evaporation of the water; the proportion being in grains per U. S. gallon 231 cubic inches:

Sodic chloride, 16.370 Potassic chloride, 9.241 Sodic carbonate, 63.543 Magnesic carbonate, .233 Ferrous carbonate, .526 Calcic carbonate, .186 Aluminic oxide, .175 Sodic silicate, 10.638 Organic matter, .551 ------ 101.463 Lithic carbonate, } Potassic sulphate, }Each a trace. Sodic bi-borate, }

The lake has no outlet, but is fed by two enormous springs. It contains no living things with the exception of axolotl, a kind of salamander, such as are found in the lakes of the Mexican Cordilleras.

The medical and curative properties of this remarkable lake was known to the Indians of the northwest as far back as they have any legends or tribal history, and it was held in such reverence by them that the country around this lake was called 'Sahala Lyee Illihe,' or 'Sacred Grounds,' and no matter how hostile the tribes were to each other no Indians journeying to or from the 'Skookum Limechen Chuck,' or 'strong medicine water,' were ever molested.

When the Indians were considering the transfer of their lands to the government, many years ago, it is recorded as a matter of history, that old Quetahlguin, father of the present Chief Moses, and 'Old Joseph,' father of Chief Joseph, lately a prisoner of war, with the broken remnants of his band, after weeks of deliberation and consideration, with the 'Sahala Lyee,' or Great Spirit, through their medicine-men, or prophets, firmly said: 'We have talked with the Great Spirit and we have slept with his words in our ears. The Great Spirit is our father and the earth is our mother. We have a good home and it was made for us by the Great Spirit; it is a part of us; it is our mother. In Wallowa Lake are an abundance of fish created especially for our tribe. None other of his red children have such fish. In the 'Skookum Chuck' we have a remedy for all our ailments. We only have to bathe in and drink its water and we are made well. If we sign the treaty we will forever offend the Great Spirit; we will sign away our mother and she will cry. Her tears will dry up these lakes and we will be hungry and sick. We will go to the Skookum Chuck only to find that its waters have disappeared.'

The story is told of a Frenchman passing the lake many years ago, before the properties of the water became known to the whites, with a drove of sheep afflicted with a skin disease called 'the scab.' As soon as the sheep saw the water they ran to it, but would not drink. They stood in the water for some time, and in a few days they were well of the 'scab.' The Frenchman was suffering with rheumatism. He concluded to try the water of the lake for his disease. He was speedily cured. The whites were soon attracted to this lake by the stories of marvellous cures reported by the Indians, and by seeing Indians return in health and vigor from the lake, who had been taken there on litters, appearing at the point of death. It is estimated that over 20,000 people have visited this lake since 'Joseph's Band' were driven from that section of the country, and it is fast becoming as popular as any other of our great health resorts.

My attention was called to Skookum chuck some time since, and I procured some of the salts and triturated a quantity, making the first, second, third and sixth potencies. I partially proved the first potency by taking two grains every two hours. The first effect produced was a profuse coryza with constant sneezing, as in hay fever. This continued until the medicine was antidoted by tobacco. My appetite was greatly increased. Some rheumatic pains in limbs, and heaviness about the sacrum. The catarrhal effects were so severe I could not continue the remedy. I have used the third and sixth potency in my practice and have cured a number of cases of catarrh, and am confident that the remedy will be curative in hay fever.

(Later investigation, however, demonstrated that the chief curative action of the salts was in skin diseases. Dr. D. De Forest Cole, of Albion, N. Y., wrote the following to the firm from whom he procured the remedy:)

Some time since I received from you one bottle Skookum chuck 3x trit. I had a very bad case of urticaria which resisted the usual remedies as Apis, Urtica ur., etc., and I gave her (a girl twelve years old) four powders of about four grains each of the Skookum chuck, instructing her to take one powder in one-half glass water, one teaspoonful every two hours, and she returned in a week free from any urticaria. I gave her four powders more, and no appearance of urticaria since. Besides curing the urticaria the patient's health is in every way improving. I write this thinking you might desire to know of its value in urticaria, as well as eczema.

(The following cases were contributed by Dr. D. W. Ingalls, Bridgeport, to N. Y. Med. Times, 1894:)

CASE 1. Mrs. D., aged forty-eight years, suffered four years with eczema plantaris, fissured, red and painful, which gave forth a viscid secretion, drying into scales half an inch in thickness. For the past two years the patient had not been able to wear shoes nor walk any distance, owing to the excessive soreness of the feet.

Patient consulted me March 1st, and the following treatment was given: Two-grain powders of the 2x trituration of Skookum chuck every two hours, and an ointment applied nightly consisting of Skookum salt, one drachm to the ounce of Vaseline. In the morning the feet were washed with Skookum chuck soap. April 1st the patient walked to the dispensary in felt shoes. The fissures and greenish tinge of the crusts had nearly disappeared. The two-grain powders were then given every four hours and the former treatment continued. On May 1st, patient walked to the dispensary wearing leather shoes for the first time, the ointment was stopped, the fissures and crevices being hardly perceptible. The patient was advised to wash the feet night and morning with the Skookum chuck soap.

June 1st patient presented herself, stating that she had very little trouble with her feet, except some tenderness upon a misstep. Appearance good.

A powder of the 3x was given every night, together with the continued washing of the feet night and morning. July 1st the patient was discharged cured.

CASE 2. Mrs. B., aged twenty-eight, eczema of the nose of one year's standing. The usual ointments were given, but without result. March 15th the following treatment was given: Five-grain powder of the 2x trituration Skookum chuck four times a day, together with the Skookum ointment applied nightly. This case was entirely cured in six weeks.