Aesculus hippocastanum

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

{Horse Chestnut.)

The beauty of the horse chestnut consists chiefly in its inflorescencesurpassing that of almost all our native trees; the huge clusters of gay blossoms, which every spring are distributed with such luxuriance and profusion over the surface of the foliage, and at the extremity of the branches, give the whole tree the aspect of some monster flower, than of an ordinary tree of the largest size. Early in June this beautiful tree puts

forth large pyramidal racemes or thyrses of flowers, of pink and white, mottled with red and yellow — finely contrasting with the dark green of its foliage, which has great grandeur and richness in its depth of hue and massiveness of outline.

History. — The horse-chestnut is a highly ornamental tree, and is greatly admired for its majestic proportions, and for the beauty of its flowers and foliage. It grows rapidly, and often attains the height of forty or fifty feet. It is a native of middle Asia, but flourishes well in the temperate climates of both hemispheres. Its genus comprises about twelve known species, the genus Aesculus, however, is incomparably the finest, and is the only one found in the Northern States, and this, even, is not indigenous in New England.

It was introduced into Europe nearly three centuries ago, by Baron Ungnad, ambassador of the Ottoman Porte, who, in the year 1576, sent the seeds of the common horse-chestnut to Clausius, at Vienna. It is now extensively cultivated as an ornamental tree in Europe as well as in this country.

The name Aesculus was originally applied to a species of oak, also to a tree which bore esculent fruit, and probably is derived from esca — "food." It was transferred to this genus by Linnaeus, to the exclusion of the earlier and more appropriate name of " hippocastanum " (horse-chestnut), on account of the resemblance of the large seeds to chestnuts, and because the Turks often grind them into a coarse flour, which is mixed with other food, and given to horses which are broken-winded.

In the Southern and Western States there are several species, which bear the name of buck-eye, from a resemblance of the seeds to the eye of that animal.

Medicinal Properties. — The timber is not valuable. The large farinaceous seeds contain a considerable amount of nourishment, which is rendered unavailable, because of the intensely bitter and narcotic principle with which they are charged. Common horse-chestnuts, nevertheless, with some precautions, are largely and advantageously used in Switzerland for fattening sheep. They are also eaten eagerly by deer, horses and oxen. Starch prepared from them is superior to that of wheat, and excels, as an article of diet, that of the potato. Paste prepared from them is preferable lo any other, not only because possessing great tenacity, but also from the fact that no moths or vermin will attack anything cemented with it. They have been recommended as a substitute for coffee.

It may seem strange, that while so many persons consider the nuts poisonous, they are fed to animals, and even prepared for man. This is explained by the fact that the poison in the nut is n moved by a process of prolonged cooking.

The young leaves are aromatic, and have been used instead of hops in brewing beer.

The roots contain a mucilaginous and saponaceous matter, which is thought to be poisonous. Active and poisonous properties prevail in the root, seeds, bark and foliage.

The bark has little odor, but an astringent and bitter, though not disagreeable, taste. It contains, among other ingredients, bitter extractive and tannin, and imparts its virtues to boiling water. Its active constituent is supposed to be tannin, hence it has been employed in tanning. It is recommended as a tonic, astringent, narcotic, and antiseptic; in fevers as a febrifuge, for gangrene, and as an errhine. A strong decoction is recommended as a lotion to gangrenous ulcers.

It has attracted much attention in Europe as a substitute for Cinchona, although it certainly cannot be considered comparable to Peruvian Bark in its power over in.termitten.ts. It is at present seldom used, and never in this country. The bark of the branches from three to five years old is considered the best. It should be collected in the spring.

The powdered kernel snuffed up the nostrils produces sneezing, and has been used with advantage as a sternutatory in complaints of the head and eyes. In Europe the oil at present is a fashionable remedy for gout and rheumatism.

The bark contains an active principle termed iEsculin — which is prepared from a strong hydro-alcoholic tincture, by distilling off the alcohol and setting the residue in a cool place for some time. It appears as a white powder, which is formed of minute acicular crystals, having a bitter taste; no odor; soluble in 1Z% parts water at 212° F., and in 672 parts at 50° F. ; partially soluble in alcohol ; insoluble in ether. It is colored red and then yellow by hydrochloric acid.

Officinal Preparations.— Triturations of the meat of the nut, with the rind or shuck. It is usually prepared by grating both. "When dry they can easily be reduced to a fine powder.

Tincture from the meat of the nuts and the shuck ; made by maceration, in dilute alcohol.

Tincture from the bark, roots and flowers. If dry, by maceration for an hour in a small quantity of hot water; afterwards adding requisite amount of alcohol to the maceration. If fresh, in strong alcohol, one part to ten.

For external use, in glyceroles, salves, cerates, etc.

As a lotion, 3 i of mother tincture, to § 8 of water.

Analogues. — Aesculus glabra, Aloes, Collinsonia, Ignatia, Nitric acid, Nux vomica, Mercurius, Sulphur, Podophyllum, Iris versicolor, Hydrastis. Rhus.

Sphere of Action.— On the spinal cord, the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal, especially the lower portion, the liver and portal system. Mental Sphere.

Or. waking, cannot recognize what she sees; knows not where she is, nor whence come the objects about her.

Inward cheerfulness and placidity of temper.

Feels miserably; cross; sad; disinclination to perform any labor.

Vertigo very annoying all the forenoon.

Head.

Aching in the forehead; sometimes over the left, sometimes

over the right eye; also the right temple. Heaviness, with dull, stupefying pain in the head. In the occiput dull pain; also a bruised feeling, with heat,

extending to the ears. A sensation of fullness and pressure, rather than of acute pain.

Eyes.

Sensation of weight and heat of the eyes. Flickering before the eyes.

° Can read without spectacles, and see at a distance, which she could not do before. {A prover,) Nose.

Severe fluent coryza, with burning and raw feeling in the nostrils; thin watery discharge, and headache.

Face.

Flying heat and redness of the left side of the face. Pale, ill-looking countenance.

Mouth.

Tongue feels as if it had been scalded, with a constricted sensation in the fauces. Bitter taste, with yellowish-white coated tongue.

Throat.

Dryness and a sense of excoriation and constriction. Pricking and stinging pain in the fauces. Heat, dryness, smarting, with desire to swallow.

Stomach and Gastric Symptoms. Nausea; violent vomiting and retching, with burning in the stomach.

Vomiting of thick, viscid mucus, with eructations.

Pain in the stomach for four or five hours after eating, which

continues till food is taken. {Arnica.) A feeling of fullness and tightness in the stomach, with

labored breathing.

• Cardialgia; aching, cutting and burning distress in the

stomach.

Fluttering sensation, with faintness, in the pit of the stomach

• Congestion of the liver and portal system.

Pain and distress in the stomach and bowels, attended with a constant desire for stool.

Abdomen.

Cramp-like and constricted feeling in the bowels. Pain extends from the bowels to the small of the back. Tearing pain in the right side, above the hip. Colicky pains in the bowels, with severe cutting pains in the rectum.

Dull aching and burning in the umbilical region. ° Hemorrhoidal colic, with pains in the hypogastrium, sacrum and loins.

Rumbling in the bowels, with distension and bearing down.

Liver.

Dull aching pains in the right hypochondriac region and

region of the gall-bladder. Pinching pains, stitches and aching in the liver, extending

between the shoulders. White, soft stool.

Rectum and Stool.

Frequent, loose stool, with constant urging (primary) diarrhoea,

composed of ingesta. Pressure in the rectum, with constant desire but ineffectual

efforts to stool.

Difficult, hard, scanty stool, followed by burning and constriction in the rectum.

Stool very hard and dry, with colicky pains in the umbilical region, followed by severe cutting pains in the rectum.

• Very hard, dry, knotted, difficult stool, followed by prolapsed

feeling in the rectum.

• Stool very large, hard and difficult, followed by severe pain,

with a sensation as if something was protruding, with severe pains in the lumbar and sacral regions.

An evacuation, at first black and hard, then white and soft, (the last four symptoms are secondary).

Dryness and itching in the rectum, with a feeling of stiffness of the skin and adjacent cellular tissues.

Dryness of the passage for several days, followed by a secretion of moisture.

• Soreness of the rectum, with a feeling as if something would

pass off all the time.

• Dry, uncomfortable feeling in the rectum, which feels as if

it were tilled with small sticks.

• Feeling in the rectum as though folds of the mucous membrane obstructed the passage, and as if, were the effort

continued, the rectum would protrude. Soreness of the rectum, with increased secretion of mucus. Pressure in the rectum, with inclination to stool, with empty

eructations.

• Copious, soft stool, followed by burning, and a feeling of

swelling and constriction of the rectum. Soreness, aching and fullness of the rectum.

• Appearance of hemorrhoids, like ground-nuts, of a purple

color, very painful, and with a sensation of burning.

• Hemorrhoids, blind and painful, rarely bleeding.

• Prolapsus of the rectum (after Podoph., Nitric acid or

Ignatia).

• Sharp, shooting pains running through the hemorrhoidal

tumors, up to the sacrum and along the back. Fissure of the anus. (?) Stricture of the sphincter ani. (?)

Urinary Organs. Frequent urging to urinate, with scanty, high-colored urine.

Sexual Organs. (Men.) Seminal emissions; diseases of the prostate. (?) (Women.) ° Leucorrhoea, always associated with haemorrhoids. ° During pregnancy, pain about the sacro-iliac symphysis. ° She cannot walk, because that part of her back gives out,

compelling her to sit down. ° Uterine congestions with soreness and throbbing pains in the

hypogastrium.

0 Lameness of sacro iliac region, during pregnancy. (Guernsey.)

Larynx.

Short cough, increased by swallowing and breathing deeply. Tickling in the larynx, and cough, with mucus expectoration. Dryness in the larynx. (Similar to the dryness in the rectum.)

Pressure in the throat-pit, as if something had stuck there

which required to be expelled. ° Chronic cough, with emaciation. {Buchner.) 0 Catarrhal laryngitis, laryngeal cough, and perhaps those

coughs dependent on hepatic disorders. {Hale.) Chest.

Burning and heat in the chest, and raw feeling in the throat and chest.

Pains in the sternum, as if a piece were torn out of the chest. Sudden stitches through the chest.

Pain in right scapula and in the left side of the chest, increased on inspiration.

On the right side of the chest a sensation as if the lung painfully moved up and down at each respiration. Tightness in the chest.

• Palpitation of the heart ; severe, periodic, frequent, with

great anguish.

Neuralgic pain in region of apex of the heart and stomach. Severe neuralgic pains in region of the heart, so painful as to

arrest the breathing, lasting ten minutes. Frequent stitches in region of the heart.

Dull, aching, burning pain in region of heart for half an hour;

pulse 66, soft and regular. 0 Functional disorder of the heart from hemorrhoidal com

plaints. {Hale.)

Back and Neck.

"Weakness, weariness and lameness in the back of the neck. Weakness, weariness and lameness in the small of the back. Heat in the back of the neck and shoulders. Severe dull aching pain in the lumbar and sacral region, aggravated by walking. Tearing pain in the small of the back and hips.

• Constant back ache, affecting the sacrum and hips, aggravated on stooping and rising from seat, but going off on

walking awhile. {Rhus.) {Guernsey.) Back ache is attended with aching; in the legs and knees. 0 Pains attending curvature of the spine. {Buchner.)

Extremeties.

The arm and hand of the left side become numb, as if paralyzed.

The legs and knees ache, with the back ache.

Sleep.

Yawning and stupefying sleepiness. Wakes with dull pressing pain the stomach.

Fever.

Chilliness, with rigor.

Flashes of heat in the occipital region, back of the neck and shoulders.

Feverish sensations, with hot and dry hands. . Disposition to stretch and yawn.

Feeling of extreme illness, great weakness, faintness, and tottering gait.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

This is a veritable polycrest, having a wide range of action, but, like some other polycrests, it has a central point of action from which radiate a series of reflex symptoms. This central point of action is the liver and the portal system , and nine out of every ten of its symptoms are due to this action. I have found it analogous in its effects to Aloes, Colli nsonia, Nux vomica, Sulphur, and Podophyllum. It is not as poisonous as the Buckeye, its indigenous relative, for the nut is used in Europe to fatten animals, and they are often eaten with impunity by children ; the meat of the seeds is sweet when boiled, but the rind is bitter. I think the tincture should be prepared from equal parts of the nut-meat, rind of the nut, and the bark of the tree or its root. In this way we shall be sure to get all its active medicinal principles.

In my practice I have been most successful with it in the following disorders :

Congestion of the liver, when accompanied by piles. It is indicated by the symptoms : aching, pinching pains in the right hypochondrium, aggravated by walking. The pain extends up between the shoulders.

Constipation, when there is present a hard, knotty, dry condition of the stools, which are white. (If the stools are black, or dark, or brown, knotty, and hard, I prefer Nux vomica.)

Haemorrhoids, if the following symptoms are present, are promptly removed by iEsculus. (It will not prove a successful routine remedy, but must be closely affiiliated.) The tumors are protruding, or internal, are usually purple, hard, and very sore (not raw, as in Aloes, but a bruised feeling), with aching, burning, rarely bleeding. The rectal symptoms are characteristic, and consist of very disagreeable sensations of dryness, soreness, constriction, fulness, and a feeling as if sticks, splinters, gravel, or other foreign, irritating substances had become lodged in the rectum. We find also a feeling of fulness with protrusion, and a desire to strain (tenesmus). A characteristic condition is usually present, which differentiates between this medicine and other pile remedies, namely, the absence of actual constipation. In nearly every case the stools are too frequent, and soft, sometimes quite loose, pale, or dark, and rarely, if ever, large, dry, or scybalous. In this respect it resembles Aloes. I do not agree with Dr. Hughes, when he says, “ when the only connected symptoms or appreciable cause is constipation, .ZEsculus is indicated;” for I believe its action on the portal system is the primary cause of its haemorrhoidal symptoms; but I do agree with him in his belief that “when there is much pain, but little bleeding, iEsculus seems pretty likely to cure.”

My experience with JEsculus has been verified by the majority of physicians, so that it may claim a high position as a remedy in diseases of the rectum. The pains in the back which attend its rectal symptoms are quite notable. They are sometimes shooting or cutting, but usually consist of a lameness as if strained, extending to the hips or legs, or an aching and weakness aggravated by walking, stooping, or any movement. Like Rhus, its pain and stiffness often goes off after continued motion.

Dr. Guernsey advises it for a backache occurring during pregnancy, when the pain is in the sacro-iliac symphysis, and prevents walking, because “that part of her back gives out, compelling her to sit down.” I have prescribed it with good results in slight cases of fissure of the anus, also in incipient stricture of the rectum. In prolapsus ani it compares favorably with Nitric acid, Podophyllum, and Mercury, which it resembles in its pathological action. Nux and Ignatia cause prolapsus in a different way, namely, by a secondary paralysis of the circular fibres of the intestinal and sphincter muscles. In some rare instances it will be found useful in headache when attended by constipation or piles. The pain is mostly confined to the occipital region, and is dull and pressing, or a bruised, stupefying aching with a sensation of heat. It has been recommended in influenza, and many of its

symptoms bear a strong resemblance to those caused by a cold affecting the nose and throat.

Dr. Buchmann says he cured with JEsculus a chronic cough with emaciation. The symptoms point to a laryngeal origin of the cough, and it may be found useful in catarrhal laryngitis, and possibly in some cases of cough of hepatic origin.

Dr. Meyhoffer, in his u Chronic Diseases of the Organs of Respiration,” says : “ .ZEsculus hippocastanum rendered us last winter great service in a case of pharyngo-laryngitis follicularis with considerable catarrhal inflammation of the lining of the throat and larynx, complicated with piles and the most obstinate costiveness of long standing ; it not only restored the muscular contraction of the intestinal tube, but also greatly relieved the laryngeal irritation ; cough and expectoration diminished speedily, and the signs of congestion in the affected parts diminished rapidly.”

In several cases of pain about the heart in haemorrhoidal subjects it seemed to be of decided benefit.

Dr. Neidhard says, “ In a case of curvature of the spine the pains were entirely cured by -ZEsculus.”

Its action on the venous system and mucous membranes is undoubted. If it acts on the spinal cord, it is but slightly, and not as intensely as the Buckeye. The lower attenuations have usually been prescribed. The triturations of the nut-meat (albumen) is generally used, but, as before stated, I prefer a tincture of the various portions. Since writing the above, I observed a paper on this drug by Dr. Hart, of Wyoming, Ohio, who opposes Dr. Hughes’s view of its action, and agrees with my opinion, namely, that the -ZEsculus h. is primarily homoeopathic to portal and intraabdominal congestions, and that the constipation is secondary. Dr. Hart claims to have discovered a keynote to the employment of this remedy in a symptom not found in its pathogenesis :

“ Throbbing in the abdominal and pelvic cavities ; especially the latter.”

Hence, he says, it is especially indicated in all active intraabdominal and pelvic congestions. I have prescribed it with invariable success in all cases of congestion and inflammation of the neck of the uterus, attended with the above-mentioned symptoms. Nor is it necessary to use the remedy very low. One drop of

.ZEsculus 6X, three or four times a day, has cured, in my hands, the most inveterate cases of inflamed cervix uteri, when not complicated with ulceration ; and has greatly relieved, and sometimes cured, similar cases attended with retroversion, prolapsus, ulceration, enlargement, and induration, when characterized by great tenderness, heat, and throbbing, as in the following cases :

Mrs. C., aged 22, a small, delicate blonde, had suffered during the last five years with congestive dysmenorrhoea. Eight months ago she was thrown from a carriage, since which time she has been under both allopathic and homoeopathic treatment for retroversion and prolapsus of the uterus. Growing worse under the treatment to which she was subjected at Denver City, she was brought to me for advice with the following result :

Sept. 8. — Serni-paralyzed condition of the right lower extremity ; muscles sore and contracted ; has to be carried, being totally unable to walk ; great weakness and emaciation; pulse 110, irregular and very weak ; face flushed and eyes sparkling ; bowels obstinately constipated ; occasional nausea and vomiting ; skin hot and dry ; patient complains of great weakness and pain in the back, cephalalgia, and constant throbbing behind the pubes. A digital vaginal examination shows retroversion and enlargement of the fundus, with great tenderness, heat, and swelling of the cervix uteri, the vessels of which pulsate with great violence.

Ordered the patient to lie constantly on the face and left side ; to use cold vaginal injections three times a day, and to take JEsculus 6*-, one globule every two hours, until the throbbing ceases, after which it is to be taken only twice a day.

Sept. 12. — Throbbing ceased.. Continued treatment..

Oct. 1. — Patient greatly improved, and able to walk.

Nov. 1. — Patient dismissed cured.