Galium aparine

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Cleavers.)

Botanical Description. — Galium aparine is decreed by medical writers to be the officinal plant of this genus. Rafinesque says: " Many other species are probably medicinal, but we only use the Galium aparine and G. verum, common in woods, trailing, rough, with white, lateral flowers and rough seeds." This description, however, will only apply to the former species, as the latter has yellow flowers and smooth seeds. The two species above mentioned are the only ones which have eight leaves in a whorl. Gray thinks it "doubtful if the G. aparine is truly indigenous in our district." And the G. verum was certainly brought here from Europe. Only six species of Galium are mentioned by Gray as indigenous to the United States. Rafinesque, however, says we have " twenty or more species in North America." He thinks the G. aparine and G. verum common to Europe and America.

History, Uses, etc. — This plant is common to Europe and America, growing in cultivated grounds, moist thickets, and along banks of rivers, and flowering from June till September. Its roots consist of a few hair

like fibres, of a reddish color. In the green state some of these plants have an unpleasant odor, others rather the contrary; all are inodorous when dried. They have an acidulous, astringent and bitter taste. They have not been thoroughly analyzed, but chloric acid, galli-tannic acid, citric acid, starch, etc., have been detected in the G. aparine and G. verum. The former contains the most citric, while the latter holds the most galli-tannic acid. According to King, all the species of this genus possess similar medicinal virtues. This seems to be the opinion of Scudder, Beach, and other Eclectic writers. Such generalizations, however, will not be accepted by the Homoeopathic school of medicine. In order to meet the requirements of a scientific materia medica, each species of any genus of plants should be studied by itself.

Officinal Preparations. — Tincture ; infusion of the plant.

Analogues. — Cannabis, CJiimaphila, Eupatorium purpureum, Althaa officinalis, Uva ursi, Triticum.

Mouth and Tongue. ° Aphthae, with urinary disorders, in children. ° Cancerous tumor on the tongue.

Urinary Organs. Increases the flow of urine and removes its acridity. ° Scalding and burning during micturition in fevers. ° Dysuria and suppression of urine in young children. c Strangury of women, from idiopathic or reflex irritation of

the urinary apparatus. 0 Dysuria, with frequent ineffectual urging and scanty discharge.

° Gravel and the various attendant sufferings.

Generalities.

Its use causes so much " constant chilliness " that patients complain of it.

It is said to be contra-indicated in atonic or torpid urinary disorders.

0 Scurvy; aphthae, and inveterate cutaneous affections.

0 Hard nodulated tumor of the tongue, of a cancerous nature. (See case detailed in New Remedies, second edition.) It favors the production of healthy granulations on the ulcerated surface of cancers.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

The members of the genus Galium are called “ clivers ” in this country, and “ goose-grass ” in Europe. This species is found in the woods, a trailing, rough plant, with white lateral flowers, rough seeds, leaves eight in a whorl.

There are a dozen or more species in the genus, some with leaves six in a whorl, others have only four. Some have flowers yellow, others a dull purple. Not all have identical medicinal properties, for some contain glycyrrhiza sugar, and others a coloring agent like madder. They belong to the Madder family.

Clivers has been very extensively used in domestic and “ botanic” practice, and it appears to possess some remedial virtues which render it worthy a place in our Materia Medica. We have no provings of it, but the clinical experience obtained is worth something.

The eclectics have a good deal of confidence in Galium in calculi of the bladder or kidneys. They allege that it possesses “a solvent power over the stone, causing it to crumble into a sandy mass, so that it can be discharged.”

They assert that if used in large quantities it causes constant chilliness, ‘‘owing to its cooling properties,” and that it is, therefore, “ contraindicated in passive and atonic states of the bladder and kidneys.”

It is said that an analysis of the plant shows it to contain Citric and Tannic acids.

In the second edition of my “ New Remedies ” I made the following observations on the use of Galium. They are so appropriate that I quote them now instead of attempting to offer any new remarks :

While engaged in an extensive country practice, I often observed that the cold infusion was drank freely by fever patients, especially if scalding or burning during micturition was complained of. At first I disliked to have them use it in connection with homoeopathic remedies, but I found its use so general, and the idea of its mild curative powers so engrafted into the minds of the people,

that it was a difficult matter to proscribe it. I have never noticed that its use interfered in any way with the action of homoeopathic medicines. In order to test in a practical manner its alleged usefulness in urinary affections, I have often selected cases of simple dysuria, strangury, suppression, etc., depending on uterine irritation, or a cold, and prescribed the cold infusion in alternation with blank powders or pellets. In this way I have gained some correct ideas of its sphere of action. It seemed to me particularly useful in the dysuria and suppression of urine in young children from colds, or when attended with aphthae, or what might be called & scorbutic state of the system; also, in the strangury of women from uterine diseases, haemorrhoids, or irritable bladder. It seemed to be useful in the strangury and scanty urine in rheumatic fever and in the irritable bladder (from prostatic disease) of old men. The late Dr. Kendall, a homoeopathic physician, reports to me two cases which show clearly its curative action :

(1.) A young child had been troubled with painful dysuria for several days. Every attempt at urination was accompanied with cries and screams. A weak infusion of Galium 3d was given, and in less than one hour the child urinated profusely, without pain.

(2.) An old man had been troubled for months with intensely painful dysuria, frequent ineffectual urging, scanty discharge, etc. He was directed to drink a pint a day of a cold infusion. In a few days he reported himself cured.

Several similar cases have been reported to me by physicians and lay members of the school. I think the G. asprellum is the tincture generally used, as the G. aparine does not grow so abundantly in the West.

Officinal Preparation. — In general practice, the cold or warm infusion is usually used. All writers agree that this is the most eligible method, because heat destroys or dissipates the medicinal virtues of the plant. The herb (the root is not used) should be placed in cold or tepid water and allowed to stand for two hours. Three or four ounces to one quart of water is the usual proportions. It is sometimes sweetened. The expressed juice has been used, according to Wood, three ounces twice a day. King advises the inspissated juice, one or two drachms, three times a day. I do not know if alcohol injures its medicinal qualities, but it is probable, as alcohol acts on some vegetable juices much in the same manner as heat ; if not, an equal or one-fourth part of alcohol might be added to the expressed juice to form a mother tincture. I would, however, advise the following method of preparing this remedy for homoeopathic use in cases where the infusion was not acceptable, or when the physician could not rid himself of antiquated prejudices sufficiently to use it. Mix together equal quantities, by weight, of the cold expressed juice and sugar of milk ; triturate until the mass is perfectly dry. It may then be put up in close bottles.

Dose. — I am aware that I am treading upon disputed ground when I advise the use of infusions of vegetable remedies. But if it is better for our patients to use such a preparation, we should not hesitate. Moreover, do we not advise cold infusions of Ulmus fulva, Flaxseed, Althsea, all of which are mild medicinal substances. Hahnemann, in the early part of his homoeopathic practice, used infusions, and he distinctly advises the use of infusions of plants of small medicinal power, when we desire to prove such plants. (See “ Lesser Writings.”) I am aware that some physicians would prefer to prove even this medicine in the attenuations. In this way “itching of the elbows and nose,” “drawing in the fingers,” “slight vertigo after smoking the sixth pipe,” or even “ unpleasant dreams while lying on the back,” might be noticed, but nothing which could show us the real sphere of action of the remedy. I do not deny that certain potent or inert drugs may be proven in attenuated quantities, but remedies similar to the Galium cannot. He who would prove this plant, should, without altering his mode of life, drink a wineglass of the ordinary infusion, four or six times daily, for a week or more.

In disease, I would advise the cold infusion in the complaints enumerated above, in which it has been found useful. It may be taken in tablespoonful doses, every one, two, or three hours ; or the powders, prepared as above, may be prescribed in doses of five or ten grains at short intervals.

It seems to he primarily homoeopathic to passive, torpid conditions of the urinary apparatus. In such cases the 3d trituration may be found curative.

The infusion should be made from the fresh plant, when obtainable, as the dried possesses less power. Children may be made to take it readily by adding sugar and cream, or milk, to the infusion.

The following clinical record of the use of Galium in cancer, etc., is taken from the “ British Journal of Homoeopathy,” vol. xxiii, page 189 (1865) :

Hard, Nodulated Tumor of the Tongue, apparently of a cancerous nature , which disappeared under the use of Galium aparinum. By F. A. Bailey, F.B.C.S. — Jane C - , a married woman, set. sixty, residing at Ramsbury, in Wiltshire, was admitted into the hospital, April 5th, 1864, on account of a hard, firm, somewhat circumscribed tumor, of about the size of a boy’s marble flattened, imbedded in the substance of the tongue, on the right side, about an inch from its apex, which had been gradually increasing in size since she first observed it, five weeks before, when it was about as large as a hemp-seed.

The upper surface was nodulated and uneven, and the swelling generally had the appearance and feel of a scirrhous formation of the organ. It had all along been extremely painful, so much so as entirely to prevent her sleeping at night ; it was exquisitely tender to the touch when handled, and latterly she had experienced a throbbing-beating pain in it, which had induced her to think it was about to burst. There was no appearance of its having been caused by injury to the tongue through a decayed tooth. She had always been in the habit of living tolerably well, but had been suffering a good deal from general debility and languor for some time before the commencement of the swelling. Iler countenance did not indicate any peculiar cachectic condition of the system, and there was no history of any hereditary cancerous taint in her family. The tumor had increased rather rapidly lately, and she was quite unable to masticate solid food, on account of the pain it induced, which had added much to her original weakness.

She was ordered to have strong cold beef tea frequently during the day for diet, with a pint of porter daily, and to take the following medicine : It. Extract galii aparini solidi, two ounces ; Aquae ad, half pound. M. ft. extract, fluid. Of this extract a drachm and a half was given twice a day, in a wineglassful of water. She was also ordered to use the above mixture as a warm lotion to the mouth, several times during the day, keeping it in the mouth for some time during each application.

A month after her admission she had completely recovered from the languor and debility under which she had previously been suffering ; her face, instead of being pallid and sallow, had recovered a healthy and somewhat florid appearance, which was natural to her ; the pain in the tumor had been gradually diminishing, and the tumor itself had become so much reduced in size as to be scarcely discernible to the touch, and as she was now able to take solid food without discomfort and with an appetite, she was at the end of five weeks discharged from the hospital. A fortnight afterwards, having continued the remedies prescribed, she presented herself as an out-patient, when it was found that the tumor had