Arum Dracontium
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Green Dragon. Araceæ.
Proved by Dr. C. P. Hart, of Wyoming, Ohio. Published in the Am. Hom. Observer, 1875 ; afterwards by E. M. Hale, in United States Medical Investigator, vol. IX, No. 3, P. 103. Also by Dr. M. McFarlan. The remarkable cure of Asthma Millari was communicated by Dr. F. F. Frantz, of Lancaster.
MIND [1]
Great languor and depression of spirits, with asthma at night.
INNER HEAD [3]
Head feels heavy and aches slightly in occipital and right parietal regions ; next morning dull, heavy aching in head and chest, with asthma at night.
Had one of the characteristic pains in left side of head ; began in left occipital region, gradually subsided, reappeared successively in left temporal and left frontal regions.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Aching pain over left eye, pain transient ; conjunctiva highly injected.
Eyelids dry, stiff, and slightly agglutinated at their edges, which burn and smart.
Heat, dryness and smarting of lids ; 3 P. M.
HEARING AND EARS [6]
Shooting pains in right ear at 8 A. M., half an hour after breakfast, transient, but frequent, leaving a feeling of fulness and slight aching in middle ear ; next day changed to left ear.
Feeling of warmth and fulness in ears, one or other side, seldom in both at once ; swallowing renews it temporarily.
Aching pain behind right ear.
Shooting pains in right ear, sometimes very severe ; deep shooting frequently, and for ten, fifteen minutes, only occasionally in left.
Mucus in left eustachian tube. See 13 .
A pressure below ears, behind lower jaws.
SMELL AND NOSE [7]
Sneezing. θ Asthma Millari.
Eruption of pimples ; lichen.
UPPER FACE [8]
Slight aching in right malar region ; next morning, 9 A. M. See 38 .
Flushing of hands and face.
TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE [11]
Aphthous ulcer on tongue ; next day mouth and throat became very sore.
Bad taste in mouth in morning.
Tongue and mouth coated with a foul, slimy mucus, having a putrid taste.
INNER MOUTH [12]
Peculiar acrid sensation in mouth and throat.
Bad taste in mouth.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Swallowing develops a slight soreness in muscles of throat and renews temporarily feeling of warmth and fulness in ears, sometimes in one sometimes in another.
Disposition to swallow, arising from an excess of mucus ; without unpleasant, acrid sensation as expected.
A slight uneasiness in throat, and disposition to cough.
Accumulation of mucus in throat.
Dry soreness, most when swallowing.
Dryness and smarting in throat, rawness and fulness, not painful, but annoying, attracting constant attention.
Hawking.
Continual disposition to clear throat by swallowing and coughing.
Throat raw and tender.
Constant rawness of throat ; constant coughing, with mucus in morning.
Rawness of throat and purulent sputa.
Throat feels somewhat raw, and there is a rattling of mucus.
Rawness in throat present on retiring, but disappeared when asthmatic attacks began.
Soreness of throat, with loose cough ; closely simulating a mild attack of catarrhal angina, soreness most when swallowing.
A feeling of dryness and smarting, kind of rawness with a sense of fulness, not really painful, but sufficiently annoying, it attracts constant attention, and produces a continual disposition to clear throat by swallowing, coughing or hawking.
HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING [16]
Eructation of flatus tasting of drug.
SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH [17]
Sinking feeling in pit of stomach.
ABDOMEN AND LOINS [19]
Pain in bowels from incarceration of flatus.
Rumbling in abdomen.
STOOLS AND RECTUM [20]
Escape of flatus from stomach and bowels.
Copious, semi-liquid stool, with much flatus.
Bilious passages, attended with aching in abdomen and burning in rectum ; borborygmus and escape of much flatus from bowels.
URINARY ORGANS [21]
Irresistible desire to pass urine, which is diminished in quantity, very highly colored and has a burning or smarting effect on urethra.
Frequent, copious emissions of limpid urine ; 2d day.
Inclination to urinate every hour or so during day.
Urine increased to four or five times normal amount.
Tenderness and slight smarting or burning of orifice of urethra, especially during micturition.
MALE SEXUAL ORGANS [22]
Great diminution, mostly an entire absence of sexual desire.
Penis flaccid and relaxed.
Fine shooting pains in course of left spermatic cord.
Chronic pruritus scroti of twelve years' standing.
VOICE AND LARYNX. TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA [25]
Hoarseness on awaking in morning.
Hoarseness ; expectorates thick mucus.
Rattling of mucus in larynx at every full expiration, which disappears in moving.
Excess of mucus in larynx ( See 13 ) ; increased soreness of larynx and great disposition to cough.
Rattling of mucus in larynx during expectoration, ceasing on rising, except expirations are prolonged by voluntary effort.
Very much annoyed by gravity and persistence of laryngeal symptoms ; its influence is deep-seated and permanent on larynx.
As if larynx were partly obstructed. θ Asthma Millari.
RESPIRATION [26]
About midnight great oppression of breathing, soon passing off, leaving considerable rattling of mucus in larynx and upper part of trachea.
Awakes about midnight with great oppression of breathing, a kind of asthmatic attack, soon passing off.
Paroxysms of dyspnœa occurring sometimes, with much aching in chest, and always with considerable secretion of mucus in larynx and trachea.
Violent asthmatic attack at night ; after a full dose on 19th day, lighter each preceding night for a week.
Asthmatic attacks at night, from a cold, which had resisted Colchic. and Ant. tart.
Oppressed asthmatic breathing, as if larynx was partly obstructed. θ Asthma Millari.
At midnight suddenly seized with labored breathing, followed in 15 or 20 minutes by croup-like cough ; coughs until exhausted (about 3 minutes), then violent inspirations and no expirations until lungs are expanded to their fullest extent, when breathing ceases, feces would be expelled, cold sweat breaks out all over body ; this breathless condition lasts from 1 to 12 minutes, and is followed by an interval of from half to three quarters of an hour, in which there is considerable rattling of mucus in larynx and some in lungs ; three or four attacks up to 2 or 3 A. M. θ Asthma Millari.
COUGH [27]
Disposition to cough. See 13 .
Loose cough, with dry soreness of throat, like catarrh ; for a week troubled with an annoying cough and rattling of mucus ; < at night lying down.
Expectoration thick, heavy, yellowish-white, with continuation of a violent cough.
Annoying cough, with rattling in larynx.
Cough from laryngeal irritation, < at night and when lying down.
Croupy cough, with hoarseness and rawness of throat, during an epidemic influenza.
Hoarse, croupy cough, with sore throat, rattling laryngeal respiration, and considerable swelling of air passages, threatening suffocation ; child, æt 3.
HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION [29]
Pulse 80, full, hard, somewhat jerking, which soon becomes small and irregular.
Artery seems to roll under finger, requiring considerable pressure in order to be correctly counted.
Pulse becomes feeble after a large dose ; 3d day, 84, small, somewhat irregular.
Heart beats so violently as to shake walls of chest (after 5 minutes).
With increased heart's action aching in precordial region and down left arm, flushing of hands and face.
Slight aching pain in precordial region and down left arm.
NECK AND BACK [31]
Shooting pains in left anterior and inferior triangle of neck, near clavicle.
Aching along spine, most between shoulder blades and in lumbar region.
Great weakness across loins ; feeling of extreme prostration continuing to increase, had to retire early.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Tingling, or slight stinging sensation in fingers, as when circulation is impeded.
Fine tingling sensation all over right hand, which is warmer and redder than left, and appears somewhat swollen.
Aching pain in left forearm, left hand, and right humerus ; right hand remains red and swollen.
Shooting and aching pains in left brachial plexus of nerves.
Sharp, shooting pains at styloid process of right ulna.
LOWER LIMBS [33]
Tingling, or slight stinging sensation in toes, as when circulation is impeded.
Shooting pain down right thigh.
Burning of soles of feet ; 3 P. M., 2d day.
LIMBS IN GENERAL [34]
Fine picking or tingling sensation in feet and hands, beginning in right foot, afterwards attacking in regular succession right hand, left foot and left hand.
Aching pain along outer aspect of left foot, immediately followed by a similar pain in corresponding part of left hand.
REST. POSITION. MOTION [35]
Lying down : cough <.
Swallowing : fulness in ears ; soreness in throat <.
Motion : rattling mucus in larynx disappears.
NERVES [36]
Feeling of extreme prostration.
SLEEP [37]
Awakes about midnight with asthma.
TIME [38]
Morning : dull headache ; bad taste ; coughing ; hoarseness ; rattling of mucus >.
At 8 A. M. : pains in ears.
At 9 A. M. : face and hands flush.
At 3 P. M. : eyelids smart ; feet burn.
Night : asthma ; cough <.
Midnight : breathing oppressed ; asthma.
FEVER [40]
Heat in palms of hands.
Burning of soles of feet.
ATTACKS, PERIODICITY [41]
Attacks at intervals of a week or ten days, as many as three or four between 12 and 2 A. M. ; at one time attacks every night for six weeks. θ Asthma Millari.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Right : parietal headache ; pain in ear ; ache in malar region ; tingling in hand ; hand swollen and red ; pain in thigh.
Left : pain in head ; pain in ear ; pain over eye ; mucus in eustachian tube ; pain in spermatic cord ; aching in arms ; pains in neck ; tingling in hand ; aching in foot and hand.
SENSATIONS [43]
As if larynx was partly obstructed.
Shooting : in right ear ; in spermatic cord ; in neck ; near clavicle ; down right thigh ; in left anterior triangle of neck ; down right thigh.
Burning : of eyelids ; in rectum ; in urethra ; of soles of feet.
Stinging : in fingers and toes.
Smarting : of lids ; in throat ; of orifice of urethra.
Acrid sensation : in mouth and throat.
Rawness : in throat.
Heavy aching : in head and chest.
Aching : over left eye ; in middle ear ; behind right ear ; in right malar region ; in abdomen ; in chest ; along spine ; in foot and head ; in precordial region ; down left arm.
Dull pain : in head and chest.
Pressure : below ears.
Fulness : in middle ear ; in ears ; in throat.
Undefined pain : across forehead ; in bowels.
Sinking : in pit of stomach.
Pricking : in feet and hands.
Tingling : in fingers ; in feet and hands.
Dryness : in throat ; of lids.
SKIN [46]
Urticaria and other eruptions, probably neurotic Compare Calad.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Boy, æt. 4 years and 9 months. θ Asthma Millari.
RELATIONS [48]
Aqua chlor. relieved spasms of glottis, but prolonged the attacks. θ Asthma Millari.
Useful after Colchic . and Ant. tart . in asthma.
Compare : Calad . in skin affections.