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WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for historical reference only. Many of these treatments are now known to be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field.

Felter's Materia Medica on Bryonia

ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA
   The root of Asclepias tuberosa, Linné (Nat. Ord. Asclepiadaceae). United States and Canada. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names: Pleurisy Root, Butterfly Weed, Orange Swallow-wort. Principal Constituents.—Resins and a glucoside. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Asclepias. Dose, 1 to 60 drops. (Usual form of administration: Specific Medicine Asclepias, 20 drops to 2 fluidrachms; Water, 4 ounce. Mix. Sig. One teaspoonful every 1 or 2 hours.) Specific Indications.— “Pulse strong, vibratile; skin moist; pain acute, and seemingly dependent on motion” (Scudder). Skin hot and dry, or inclined to moisture; urine scanty; face flushed; vascular excitement marked in the area supplied by the bronchial arteries; inflammation of serous tissues; gastro-intestinal catarrhs due to recent colds. Action.—The physiological action of asclepias is not extensive, but important. Asclepias slows the action of the heart and lowers arterial tension. It especially relieves local hyperemia by vaso-motor control. Through some unexplained, though probably circulatory regulating action upon the sweat-glands it produces a true diaphoresis, including the elimination of both solids and liquids, the latter sparingly and almost insensibly. Its regulation of the true secretion of the skin more nearly resembles that of normal or insensible perspiration than that caused by any other diaphoretic, corallorhiza possibly excepted. Therapy.—Asclepias is one of the most important medicines for broncho-pulmonic inflammations and catarrhs, and an agent for reestablishing suppressed secretion of the skin. It is the most perfect diaphoretic we possess, so completely does it counterfeit the normal process of insensible perspiration. When the secretion of sweat is in abeyance it restores it; when colliquative it restrains it through its effect of promoting normal functioning of the sudoriparous glands. It may be indicated even though the patient be freely perspiring, for sometimes when the liquid excretion is abundant there is a retention of the solid detritus, the removal of which is one of the effects of asclepias. By softening and moistening the skin, temperature is safely reduced. Asclepias never causes an outpouring of drops of sweat. If such occurs, it is due to bundling with bed-clothing, or the too copious administration of either hot or cold water with. it. Given in alcoholic preparations, in the usual small doses, it merely favors the reestablishment of natural secretion. While asclepias is serviceable when the temperature is high, it does its best work when heat is but moderately exalted, and when the skin is slightly moist, or inclined to moisture, and the pulse is vibratile and not too rapid. In fact, in febrile and inflammatory disorders asclepias is not a leading remedy, but is largely a necessary accessory. If the pulse be rapid and small, aconite should be given with it; if rapidly bounding, large and strong, veratrum. While useful in disorders of adults, especially old persons, asclepias will be most often indicated in diseases of infants and children. While it acts best when strictly indicated, it is almost never contraindicated in acute respiratory affections. In acute chest diseases asclepias is useful to control cough, pain, temperature, to favor expectoration, and restore checked perspiration. When cough is dry and there is scant bronchial secretion, asclepias stimulates the latter and thus relieves the irritation upon which the cough depends. In chest disorders requiring asclepias our experience verifies the classic indications for it. The asclepias condition in broncho-pulmonic disorders shows either a hot and dry skin, or there is pungent heat of the skin with inclination to moisture, the pulse is usually full and active and even may be bounding, much as when veratrum is indicated. The face is flushed, there is, in children particularly, marked restlessness, and more or less febrile reaction. In chest disorders there is pain upon motion— pleural pain—and the cough is short, hacking, barking, rasping, and nervous-and restrained as much as possible on account of the pain and soreness it occasions. Bronchial secretion is arrested, though that of the skin may be in evidence. The early Eclectics were neither dreaming nor romancing when they voiced their verdict concerning the great value of pleurisy root in pleuritic and other chest affections. With the conditions named asclepias is of the very greatest value in acute coryza, la grippe, acute bronchitis, pleuro-pneumonia, and pneumonia, both catarrhal and croupous. Its use should be begun early, usually in association with other agents sure to be indicated, and continued through the active stage; and if a dry cough persists it should still be continued and used freely. There is no kindlier cough medicine than asclepias, and when fever is present it is an ideal aid to the special sedatives. Asclepias should form an important part of the medication in acute pleurisy and pleurodynia, conditions in which it is most efficient and in which it first earned a therapeutic reputation. It may need to be fortified by the intercurrent use of aconite or bryonia, or both, and in any case it will enhance the value of these agents. In pneumonia and in bronchitis asclepias is best adapted to the acute stage, where the lesions seem to be extensive, taking in a large area of the parenchyma of the lung or the bronchial structures and the mucosa. Webster declares it best adapted to control vascular disturbances in the area supplied by the bronchial arteries, and suggests that by reserving it for this use we shall lessen its liability to confusion with other appropriate remedies. In the convalescent stage of pneumonia and other respiratory lesions, when expectoration is scanty and dyspnea threatens, small doses of asclepias are helpful. It renders a similar service in dry, non-spasmodic asthma. The dose for these purposes should be about 5 drops of the specific medicine. Asclepias is an admira1

BRYONIA
   The root of Bryonia dioica, Jacquin, and Bryonia alba, Linné (Nat. Ord. Cucurbitaceae.) Europe. Common Names: Bryony, Bastard Turnip, Devil's Turnip, etc. Principal Constituents.—Probably a colorless, very bitter glucoside, bryonin is the chief active body in bryonia. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Bryonia. Dose, 1/20 to 5 drops. Usual method of administration: Rx Specific Medicine Bryonia, 5-10 drops; Water, 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours. The smaller doses are preferred for specific medication. Specific Indications.—Sharp cutting pain, or tearing pain from serous inflammation; tenderness on pressure; tearing pain with sore feeling in any part of the body and always aggravated by motion; moderately full or hard wiry vibratile pulse; headache from frontal region to occiput; soreness in eyeballs upon movement; hyperesthesia of scalp or face; irritating, hacking or racking cough or provoked by changes of air; lethargy short of dullness; tired, weary or apathetic feeling, too tired to think; perspiring on slight movement. Action.—The fresh root of bryonia is a strong irritant, and when bruised and kept in contact with the skin blisters it. When taken internally in overdoses it causes severe gastro-enteritis, and has caused death. The chief symptoms are uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting, dizziness, lowered temperature, dilated pupils, cold perspiration, thread-like pulse, colic, and collapse. Large but less than fatal doses sometimes cause bronchial irritation with cough, hepatic tenderness, increased urination with vesical tenesmus, cerebral fullness and congestion, jaundice and depressed action of the heart. These effects are never experienced from the small medicinal doses. Tannin is said to counteract the untoward effects of bryonia. Therapy.—Bryonia, practically unused in the dominant school, and much employed by Homeopathists, is regarded by Eclectic physicians as an indispensable agent. Personally, we use few agents more frequently than bryonia. It is a remedy for debility and the long train of miseries accompanying it, and in acute diseases it is of first importance as a remedy for pain and inflammation in serous membranes. The bryonia patient is weak and perspires readily upon the slightest movement. The stereotyped assertion, “aggravated by motion,” and learned by us from the Homeopaths, is a true dictum when applied to bryonia cases. Though not necessarily dull, the patient is lethargic in the sense that he does not wish to move lest he aggravate his condition. There is no dullness or hebetude as with belladonna, but the patient is tired, languid, and torpid, and though much awake has little inclination to move about. Bryonia patients, except in the acute infections, often display a deficiency of nervous balance and with this may or may not be associated the bryonia headache pain from the frontal region to the occipital base; thinking is an effort and the patient is irritable if disturbed. Temperature may be slightly increased, and the tissues contracted. Pressure elicits extreme tenderness and soreness, especially when the viscera are involved. Bryonia is of especial value in fevers, and is decidedly a remedy for the typhoid. state. Many cases of severe typhoid fever may be carried through with no other medication than bryonia in very small doses. In fact, it is a medicine that gives the best results from minute doses. In fevers the patient is decidedly apathetic, the secretions are scant and vitiated, the nervous system markedly depressed, and the tendency is toward sepsis and delirium. The victim cares little whether he recovers or dies. There is a dry tongue, sordes, a deepened hue of the tissues, capillary circulation is sluggish, and there may be frontal headache. Chilliness is not uncommon, and there is a tendency to sweat easily. In such cases it proves a mainstay during the prolonged fever, and never does the patient harm. In diseases of the respiratory tract and pleura, bryonia heads the list of useful remedies. The well-known indications given by the founder of specific medication hold good, to-wit: “A hard, vibratile pulse, flushed right cheek, frontal pain extending to the basilar region, and irritative cough.” It is a splendid agent for cold in the chest. It is the most decidedly efficient remedy we possess for acute pleurisy, being usually given with, or in alternation with, the indicated special sedativeaconite (quick, small pulse), or veratrum (full, bounding pulse). It promptly meets the sharp, lance-like pain, or the cutting or tearing pain, all made worse upon movement. Not only does it subdue pain, but the temperature is lowered and capillary obstruction is overcome, thus freeing the disordered circulation. After the acute symptoms have subsided, it may be continued alone for a long period, to prevent, or to absorb, effusion. In these cases the apathy observed in the febrile diseases is absent, the pain and circulatory excitation throwing the patient into a condition of nervous excitement, which is quite readily controlled by bryonia. While of great value in all forms of pleurisy, it is particularly valuable in that form that comes on insidiously. In pleuropneumonia, it should be given to promote absorption of exuded serum. In la grippe, it is one of the best of remedies, both for the cough and the debility. We use it confidently in pneumonia to control pain, when present; but above all, to allay the harsh, harassing cough. Bryonia is an excellent agent for cough brought on by use of the voice, or by motion of any kind, as walking, swallowing food, entering a warm room, and for that form of cough induced by tickling sensations in the throat, or when excited by vomiting. The cough which bryonia relieves is laryngotracheal; it is most frequently dry, hacking, rasping or explosive, showing its origin in irritation or erethism. Tensive or sharp pains are almost always present, and the secretion, if there is any, is small in quantit1

COLOCYNTHIS
   The dried, peeled pulp of the fruit of Citrullus Colocynthis (Linné,) Schrader. (Nat. Ord. Cucurbitaceae.) Mediterranean basin of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Dose, 1 to 5 grains. Common Names: Colocynth, Bitter Apple, Bitter Cucumber, Colocynth Pulp. Principal Constituent.-The bitter active glucoside colocynthin (C56H34O23) Preparation.—Specific Medicine Colocynth. Dose, 1/30 to 5 drops. Specific Indications.—Pain of a cutting, twisting, boring, or tearing character, and if of the bowels, a desire to go to stool; visceral neuralgia, with cutting pain; dysentery, with tormina, and small passages of mucus, or diarrhoea with mucoid passages . and intense cutting pain; colicky pains anywhere in the abdomen (minute doses); distressing accumulations of gas; constipation with dry scybala and griping pain in the lower bowel (larger doses). Action.—Colocynth is a decided local irritant. In small doses it is a stomachic bitter, exciting an increased flow of gastric juice. In even moderate doses it is a violent hydragogue cathartic, producing copious watery evacuations, and sometimes violent emesis, tormina, and bloody stools. It may cause death from gastro-enteritis. The powder or the tincture applied to a raw surface or to the abdomen will purge as if given by the mouth. Colocynth, in small doses, increases the renal function. Therapy.—Colocynth is a powerful hydragogue cathartic, but is seldom employed as such in Eclectic practice. Except in minute doses it should not be given alone, at least never to the extent of causing purging. It is commonly administered with other cathartics in pill form, the compound extract of colocynth being preferred, and its violence controlled by hyoscyamus or belladonna. When so employed it is usually in melancholia and hypochondriasis with sluggish hepatic and intestinal action, with large fecal accumulations; and sometimes to produce local pelvic effects and thereby stimulate menstruation in atonic amenorrhoea. It has been largely employed in ascites from all causes, but while actively cathartic, it is less desirable than some other hydragogue cathartics. It should never be so used in the aged and where there is great debility or gastro-intestinal inflammation. It is very rarely employed in Eclectic therapy for dropsical effusions. Specifically, colocynth is a remedy for visceral pain of a sharp, colicky character-cutting, darting, cramping, or tearing pain. The fractional dose only should be used. In sharp “belly ache” attending stomach and bowel disorders, colocynth is splendidly effective when the patient feels cold, weak and faint, and the pain is so great as to cause him to flex his body upon his thighs. Even when neuralgic or rheumatoid, such a condition is promptly relieved by colocynth. In atonic dyspepsia, with bitter taste, bitter yellow eructations, bloating after eating, with sharp, griping or cutting pain in the umbilical region minute doses give excellent results. When gaseous accumulations cause disturbances of breathing, or cardiac palpitation, with loud belching and expulsion of flatus, and nausea and vomiting are present, colocynth should be given with prospects of prompt relief. Rx. Specific Medicine Colocynth (I x dilution), 1-10 drops; Water, 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 3 or 4 hours. Where there is a lack of normal secretion 5 drops of tincture of capsicum may be added to the mixture. With similar symptoms minute doses act well in cholera infantum; in chronic diarrhoea with slimy stools and tympanites; in diarrhoea from overeating or improper food; and in dysentery with great tormina, tenesmus and cutting pain, with ineffectual efforts at stool it is one of the most certain of agents to relieve. In intestinal and hepatic torpor, with bloating and dry scybalous stools it should be given in somewhat larger doses (1/4 to 1 drop of Specific Medicine Colocynth). When persistent headache depends upon the stomach and bowel perversions named above it is often corrected by colocynth. In that form of lumbago and sometimes pressure sciatica, due to gaseous accumulations in the bowels, colocynth, capsicum, and bryonia should be considered. The dose should not be large enough to purge. Colocynth is useful in neuralgia of the viscera in the parts supplied by the splanchnic nerves, as neuralgic colic. Other nerve endings seem to respond to it, for it relieves ovarian neuralgia, orchialgia, and sometimes neuralgia of the fifth nerve, when the characteristic cutting pain prevails. It should be given also when colicky pain precedes or accompanies amenorrhoea.1

SENECIO
   The whole plant of Senecio aureus, Linné (Nat. Ord. Compositae). Northern and western parts of the United States. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names: Golden Senecio, Life Root, Ragwort, Female Regulator, etc. Principal Constituents.—Probably an acrid resin and a bitter and tannin; it has not been satisfactorily analyzed. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Senecio. Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.—Atony and relaxation of the pelvic contents, with dragging painful sensations; uterine enlargement, with uterine or cervical leucorrhea and impairment of function; vaginal prolapse; slight uterine prolapse; pelvic weight and vascular engorgement; increased flow of mucus or muco-pus from weakness; suppressed or tardy menstruation; pain, soreness, and bearing down of the uterus; vicarious menstruation; difficult and tardy urination in both sexes. In the male tenesmic micturition, testicular dragging, and pelvic weight. In both sexes, dyspepsia, with flatulence after meals; cardialgia, associated with sour stomach and increased flow of gastric juice. Therapy.—Senecio is a remedy of decided value in the treatment of diseases of women. It was formerly much employed, but in the onward movement of therapeutics seems for some reason to have passed into unmerited neglect. Without doubt this is due to failure to observe and prescribe it according to its specific indications, and somewhat to its tardy action. To get results from senecio it must be given in appreciable doses for a long period, and while slow, its results justify its use. A general relaxed condition of the female generative tract, with or without mucous or mucopurulent discharge, or vaginal or uterine prolapse, is the direct indication for its selection. Atony is the key to its use. The parts lack vigor and tone, or may be irritable and hyperaemic; at any rate, the pelvic circulation is poor and the whole pelvic floor seems about to let the pelvic contents escape. The uterine ligaments are lax, and the prolapses benefited are those partial displacements due to the weakening of the ligaments and surrounding tissues. Senecio is an ideal emmenagogue and the best single remedy for the amenorrhea of debility. As such for amenorrhea in the young in whom the menstrual function is not yet well established, we know of no better or more prompt agent than senecio. We select it with as great certainty as we would macrotys for muscular pain, or bryonia for pleuritic stitches. It matters little, however, what the non-surgical female disease, so long as one is guided by the indications, senecio will not be found wanting in power to improve or to cure. It is with certainty a leader in gynecic therapy. It relieves irritation, imparts tone and vigor, and restrains undue and vitiated secretions. Atony of the ovaries with impairment of function is always present in cases requiring senecio. There is also perineal weight and fullness, and in chronic cases an enlargement of the womb, with cervical leucorrhea. dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, chlorosis, functional sterility, leucorrhea, dyspepsia, and the capillary bleeding of haematuria and the bloody discharges of albuminuria are the cases in which it is also especially indicated and in which more or less success may be expected from it. While holding the greatest reputation in diseases and disorders of the female, it is of some, though relatively less, usefulness in functional aberrations of the male reproductive organs, sometimes relieving pelvic weakness, with sense of dragging and testicular pain, and frequent and painful urination. The dose of specific medicine senecio, the best preparation of it, is from five to sixty drops in water, three or four times a day.1


References

1) Felter, Harvey Wickes, 1922, The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Cincinnati, Ohio.