by E. A. Farrington — A Clinical Materia Medica
or the ordinary dandelion, is a decided liver remedy. If given long enough, it will produce a free flow of bile. The symptoms to guide you in its selection are these: The tongue is mapped, and there are bitter taste in the mouth, chilliness after eating or drinking, pain and soreness in the region of the liver and bilious diarrhoea. The use of this drug in typhoid fever was mentioned in a recent lecture.
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Taraxacum officinale appears in 15 of the 21 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.
“Dandelion. (Compositae.) For gastric and bilious attacks, especially gastric headaches. Mapped tongue (Lach., Mer., Nat. m.); covered with a white film with sensation of rawness. This film comes off in patches , leaving dark red, tender, very sensitive spots (Ran. s.). Jaundice with enlargment and induration of liver…”
“Taraxacum Dens-leonis, Desf. (Leontodon Taraxacum, Linn.) Natural order , Compositæ. Common name , Dandelion; (G.) Löwenzahn. Preparation , Tincture of the whole plant just before the perfection of the flower. Authorities. ( 1 to 5 , from Hahnemann.) Talkativeness and incessant prattling, 4. Religious, pious mood…”
“Dandelion For gastric headaches, bilious attacks, with characteristically mapped tongue and jaundiced skin. Cancer of bladder. Flatulence. Hysterical tympanites . Sensation of great heat on top of head. Sterno-mastoid muscle very painful to touch. Mapped tongue. Tongue covered with a white film; feels raw; comes off…”
“DIRECTION of sensations, Diagonally SIDE, left to right”
“Liver. Stomach. Rest; sitting; standing. Walking. Touch. Bilious, sick feeling. Stitches. .................... Depression. Coated tongue, with raw patches; mapped. Sour taste or hawks sour mucus. White stools. Bilious diarrhœa. Jaundice. Restless limbs, with tearing pains. Chilly after eating. Cold fingertips. Burning…”
“Leontodum taraxacum. Taraxacum Dens-leonis. N. O. Compositæ. Tincture of whole plant just before the perfection of the flower. Ague / Bilious attacks / Debility / Diabetes / Gall-stones / Headache, gastric / Jaundice / Liver, affections of / Neuralgia / Night-sweats / Rheumatism / Tongue, mapped / Typhoid fever The…”
“This remedy acts well in all affections of the liver; sour taste; darting pains in the outer parts. Affections in the left upper side; right lower side; back of the foot; sole of the foot. Worse.--While lying down; from fat food; while resting. Better.--From moving; when walking. Remedies following:--Rhus tox., Asaf…”
“(Dandelion) (The fresh expressed juice of the whole plant Leontodon taraxacum, gathered when not quite in full bloom, mixed with equal parts of alcohol.) From vol. v, 2nd edit., 1826. This plant, like many others, has been wrongfully administered in diseases in enormous quantities, on merely theoretical grounds, as a…”
“Dandelion. Compositæ. Introduced and proved by Hahnemann, assisted by Franz, Gutmann, Kummer, Langhammer and Rasazemsky. CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Ague , Bartl., Newmann, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 4, p. 990 ; Typhoid fever , Bœnninghausen, Hom. Cl., vol. 3, p. 54 ; Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 4, p. 790. Constant muttering to himself…”
“TARAXACUM. Taraxacum dems-leenu, Desf. Dandelion. Nat. Ord., Compositce. 1. Pnvings. — I. Hahnemann, Mat. Med. Pura^ vol. v of original, vol. ii of translation. Contains 264 symptoms from 5 provers. 2. A lady, believing herself to suffer from a liver complaint, took a dessert-spoonful of a fl. extr. twice a d. for…”
“The limbs are movable, but it seems to him as if the moving power is obstructed. Painfulness of all the limbs by touch and a like condition when in an improper position. Sensation of great heat on top of head. Sterno-mastoid muscle very painful to the touch. Crampy pains in different parts of the body. Cramp in the…”
“Irresoluteness. Inclined to talk, to laugh, and to be merry. Sensation as if the brain were expanded or constricted. The headache is felt only when standing (or walking). Aversion to light; stinging-burning in the eyes. Red, hot face. Pimples on the cheeks, wings of the now, and corners of the mouth. The upper lip is…”
“Common name: dandelion. The limbs are movable, but it seems to him as if the moving power was obstructed. Painfulness of all the limbs by touch and a like condition when in an improper position. Crampy pains in different parts of the body (Cupr., Mag-P., Sec.). Sensation of weakness through the whole body with a…”
“Tongue coated white, which peels off in patches, leaving dark, red, tender, sensitive spots; mapped tongue.”
Kent's Repertory lists Taraxacum officinale in 740 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (149), GENERALITIES (108), HEAD (106), SKIN (41), MIND (40).
