Staphisagria

Volume IV — Main text

STAPHISAGRIA.

Dtifkam SigfAijtigria, L. StavcRacre, palmated iarlcspur. Nat. Ord., RaHUHCulecia.

I. Prmngs. — i. Hahnemann, Mat. Med. Pura^ vol. i of originil, vol. ii of translation. Contains 283 symptoms from self and 438 from 12 others.

Oelphinilium, alkaloid obtained from Staphisagria, Cj^Hj^NOj.

J, II. Pravingi and Poisonings, — j. ScHROFF found, from grm. O*oo6too-oi, intensely bitter taste, with sensation of burning in tip of tongue and lower lip, increased secretion of saliva, eructations, nausea^ feeling of pressure in stomach, and diminished rapidity of pulse. (Aiun's Encyclopadia, iv, 70.)

J. TuRNBULL, from grm. 0-03, repeated 8 times in d., had diuresis, andsensation of burning and prickling in various parts of body, such as i» produced by rubbing it on the skin. [Ibid,)

1. Falk and RoERiG, from 1 — 3 dr. of an alcoholic solution, of which I dr. = 0*01 grm., found sense of burning and crawling on tongue, which, however, did not seem red or swollen, lasting i i h. [Ihti)

2. Albers, giving 0"OIS grm. 4 times a d. for several d. in a case of torpor of brain and irritability of spine^ produced salivation ; redness and inflammation of fauces, with gnawing burning sensation v nausea, efforts 10 vomit, diminished appetite; urging to stoo! without relief; ufging to urinate, with sensation of burning, but without diuresis; itching and prickling in whole skin, so that patient could not lie in bed ; pulse small but otherwise normal. {Ibid,)

3. Expnirmnts on animals, — i. The general result of experiments on animals is that, after certain introductory local phenomena, a general paralysis of all movements is gradually developed, the breathing becomes laboured, the beating of the heart is slow and weak, and senlUion 15 annihilated. P.M. always discovers passive venous hypersemia in all cavities of the body ; occasionally, also, there is local inflammation in the intestines. (Phillips, op, cit.)

4. The chief action of D. is on the heart. The researches of Falk and Roerig, van Praag, and Boehm show that it produces cardiac fNiralysis by acting on the cardiac muscle, its excito-motor nervecentres, and the inhibitory apparatus, so that (after a temporary initial increase of the frcpuency of pulsations) a steady reduction in the number of the cardiac contractions ensues. 7'his is followed and

accompanied by disturbances of the respiration (dyspnoea). At the same time, as Cayrade especially states, a paralysis of reflex action is apparent. In this process the poison most probably produces a paralysis of the spinal marrow; but the muscles also are in a high degree sensitive to the action of D., and they also are paralysed by it, and so contribute to the diminution of reflex activity. The reflex paralysis extends from behind forwards, and the paralysis of the spinal marrow precedes that of the voluntary muscles (Cayrade). The diminished frequency of respiration depends mainly on paralysis of the respiratory centre ; but the general muscular paralysis, in which the respiratory muscles share, contributes essentially to the difficulty of respiration, and to its ultimate cessation, (v. BoECic, in Ziemssen'i Cyclopedia-, vol. xvii.)

1. Delphinine resembles aconitine in many respects, and like it causes slowness of pulse and breathing, paralysis of spinal cord, and death by asphyxia. It stimulates the vagus centre in the medulla, and also the accelerating centre for the heart (making this organ beat still faster after it has been quickened by section of the vagi). It slows the respiration apparently by exciting retarding fibres in the vagi, for when those nerves are cut it quickens respiration. In advanced stages of poisoning it paralyses the ends of the vagus in the heart, and also the cardiac muscle. It removes the still-stand caused by muscarine and digitaline (Boehm). By depressing the action of the spinal cord it arrests the convulsions caused by strychnine. (Lauder Brunton, op. clt.)