Lobelia cardinalis

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

{Cardinal Flower.)

Description. — This is a tall, smooth plant, with oblong, lanceolate leaves, slightly toothed. The flowers are deep red, large, and very showy, in an elongated raceme, rather one-sided. It grows in wet places, all over the United States, flowering from July to October. There are twelve or moro species of the Lobelia found in this country. This pathogenesis is from a proving by Dr. Samuel R. Dubs.

Officinal Preparations. — Tincture of the plant when mature.

Analogues. — ( / ) Lobelia cerulea ( ? )

Mind.

Disposition to sing while walking.

Head.

Headache, dull and distressing, with fullness in the forehead and base of the occiput; the latter was peculiarly painful; the pain increased by motion on shaking the head.

Hot sweat on the forehead; throbbing in that portion, and low in the occiput, with stiffness in the nape of the neck.

Head feels light, with dull pain in the forehead and occiput.

Face.

Dryness of the nose, with fullness, followed by sneezing. Dull pains in the upper maxillary bones of each side, with

aching in the molar teeth.

Mouth and Throat. Unpleasant taste in the mouth in the morning. Burning, stinging in the mouth and fauces. Tongue raw, sore, very red, especially at its tip, and a painful

blister on that part. Soreness of the fauces, with burning and pricking, extending

down to the pharynx and oesophagus. Throat sore and dry, with disposition to swallow and to hawk

up phlegm.

Raw and distressed feeling in the throat, extending down to the epigastrium.

Eyes.

Soreness in the eyes, with smarting and slight watering, with

repugnance to lamp light. The eyes feel sore on closing them; with lachrymation.

Stomach.

Dull, heavy pain in the epigastrium, with sensation of a weight, or load there.

Dull, distressing pain about three inches below, and a little to

the left of the epigastrium. Some nausea, with the distress at the epigastrium. Sticking pains in the stomach, with heaviness there. Loss of appetite, and much thirst. Dryness and rawness from the mouth to the stomach Abdomen.

Sticking pain in the left hypochondrium, which came on so suddenly and so violently as to cause me to cry out; the pain was relieved by light pressure on the spot.

° Used as a vermifuge by the Choctaw Indians.

Bowels loose, stools at first thin, then consistent.

Chest.

Severe stitch in the left side of the chest, which compelled me to press with the hand to moderate it; it nearly took my breath.

Oppression of breathing, with dull and distressing pain under the lower part of the sternum, with the same feeling on each side; relieved by beating lightly on the part, with the hand (lasting ten minutes).

Oppression of breathing, with sticking pains on taking a long breath.

Pricking pains in the left lung (side), coming on several timesa day, lasting several minutes.

Back.

Weakness, as from a sprain, across the kidneys, with general languor.

Extremities.

Pricking as from needles, in the calf of left leg, sole of left: foot and heel.

Great debility of the lower extremities; the knees seem to< bend under the weight of the body.

Generalities.

General debility, languor, with loss of appetite, and distress in the stomach.