MACROTYS (Cimicifuga racemosa)^CIRAC
   The rhizome and rootlets of Cimicifuga racemosa (Linné), Nuttall (Nat. Ord. Ranunculaceae). A conspicuously handsome perennial widely found in rich woodlands of the eastern half of the United States. Dose, 1 to 20 grains. Common Names: Black Snakeroot, Black Cohosh, Rattleweed. Principal Constituents.—No alkaloidal principles have been isolated from the drug, but it yields a mixture of resins upon which, according to some, the virtues of the plant depend. An impure mixture of the resins is variously known as cimicifugin, macrotin, or macrotyn, and was one of the early Eclectic resinoids. Though not without value, the latter is now scarcely ever employed. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Macrotys. Dose, 1/10 drop to 20 drops. Specific Indications.—Heavy, tensive, aching pain (Scudder); pain characterized as rheumatic-dull, tensive, intermittent, drawing, and seeming as if dependent upon a contracted state of the muscular fibers; soreness of muscular tissues, as if one had been pounded or bruised; the so-called rheumatoid pain; stiff neck; aching of whole body from colds, the onset of fevers, or from muscular exertion; lumbago; bruised feeling of muscles of the forehead, with stiffness of the ocular muscles; soreness and stiffness of the throat with sense of muscular drawing in the pharynx and fauces; muscular pains in the loins, thigh, or back, of a drawing character; deepseated boring and tensive pains; rheumatoid dyspepsia, associated with rheumatism of other parts, and in those having a rheumatic diathesis who experience dull, aching pain and tenderness in stomach and bowels, with tendency to metastasis, and aggravated by food and drink, the stomach feeling as if painfully contracting upon a hard body or lump; the soreness and aching intestinal pains of abdominal grip, when of rheumatoid type; sore, bruised sensation in the respiratory tract; chronic muscular rheumatism; ovarian pains of a dull aching character; dragging pains in the womb, with sense of soreness; the dull tensive pains incident to reproductive disorders of the female, as well as the annoying pains accompanying pregnancy; false pains; afterpains; weak, irregular uterine contractions during labor; irregular, scanty, or delayed menstruation, with dull pain and muscular soreness; chorea, with absentio mensium; and rheumatism of the uterus. Action.—Upon man moderate doses of cimicifuga give slowly increased power to the heart and a rise in arterial pressure. Large doses impress the cerebrum decidedly, and probably other parts of the nervous system not yet definitely determined—occasioning vertigo, impaired vision, pupillary dilatation, nausea, and vomiting of a mild character, and a reduction in the rate and force of the circulation. A condition closely resembling delirium tremens is said to have been produced by it. Full doses cause a severe frontal headache, with a dull, full or bursting feeling. This headache is the most characteristic effect observed when giving even therapeutic doses. While large amounts may poison, no deaths have been known to occur from its use. The physiological action has been well determined upon animals, but it gives no hint as to the possible relationship of the drug to its practical therapy and clinical worth, admitted as valuable by practitioners of all schools of medicine. In small doses cimicifuga increases the appetite and promotes digestion. Larger amounts augment the gastro-intestinal secretions. It is excreted by both the skin and kidneys, imparting to the urine the peculiarly earthy odor of the drug. It also stimulates the bronchial secretion, making it a serviceable though not pronounced expectorant. That it acts upon the uterine, and possibly other smooth muscular fibers of the tubular organs or the nerves supplying them, is evident from its known power of increasing and normalizing weak and erratic contractions during labor. It also stimulates the function of menstruation and is said to increase the venereal propensity in man. Therapy.—Macrotys is primarily a remedy for rheumatoid and myalgic pain and in disorders of the reproductive organs of women. It apparently possesses sedative, cardiac, anodyne and antispasmodic properties, and is an ideal utero-ovarian tonic. Macrotys was introduced into Eclectic medicine by King in 1844 as a remedy for acute rheumatism and neuralgia with such success that it gradually came to be recognized as a leading medicine for these disorders. The extensive list of indications given at the beginning shows sufficiently its general scope of application. While many still regard it as one of the first of antirheumatics, others, and we are among the number, regard it as less fully an antirheumatic than as an anodyne for pain simulating rheumatism, or the so-called “rheumatoid pain”. The original indication as enunciated by Scudder is “heavy, tensive, aching pain”. This is essentially different from the exquisitely sensitive and acute pain of acute articular rheumatism. It is not to be understood that it is of no value in this affection, but that it is of greater worth as an associate remedy. It assists in relieving the pain, but rheumatism is, without doubt, an infectious disorder and needs something more directly antagonistic to the infecting agent, and the salicylates prove better than any others for this purpose. As a matter of fact, the indications for both macrotys and sodium salicylate are usually present. As they do not interfere with each other, they may be judiciously given together, and administered in this manner aid the action of each other so that lesser doses of the salicylates are required. Rx Sodium Salicylate, 2 drachms; Asepsin, 10 grains; Specific Medicine Macrotys, 1-2 fluidrachms t; Fluidextract of Licorice, 2 fluidrachms; Water enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every two or three hours as seems to be demanded. When pain persists in spite of this medication, and fever is active, aconite, veratrum or gelsemium, parti¹