Sarracenia purpurea

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Huntsman's Gup, Pitcher Plant.) Botanical Description. — This plant, also known as side-saddle flower, fly-trap and pitcher plant, is an indigenous perennial, and " owes its strange appearance to a curious pitcher-shaped metamorphosis of the leaf, which resembles very much an old-fashioned side-saddle. Six of these

generally belong to each plant. The leaf, -which springs from the root, is formed by a large hollow tube, swelling out in the middle, curved and diminishing downward, until it ends in a stem, contracted at the mouth, and furnished with a large, spreading, heart shaped appendage at the top, which is hairy within, the hairs pointing downward, so as to cause everything which falls upon the leaf to be carried toward the petiole. Abroad, wavy wing extends the whole length, on the inside. These lie upon the ground, with their mouths turned upward, so as to catch the water when it falls. They hold nearly a wineglassful, and are generally filled with water and aquatic insects, which undergo decomposition, or a sort of digestion, and serve as a nutriment to the plant. The stem rises direct from the root; it is round, quite smooth, and bears an elegant, deeply reddish purple, terminal flower, having two flower-cups ; the external consisting of three small leaves, the internal of five egg-shaped, obtuse leaves, shining, and of a brownish purple. The blossoms are five, guitar-shaped, obtuse repeatedly curved inward and outward, and finally inflected over the stigma, which is broad and spreading, divided at its margin into five bifid lobes, alternating with the petals, and supported on a short cylindrical style; this is surmounted by the stamens, which are numerous, having short threads, and large, two-celled, oblong, yellow anthers attached to them, on the under surface. In the yellow-flowered species of the Southern States, the bottle is very long, resembling a trumpet, by which name it is often called. — King.

The whole species are water plants, and are found only in wet meadows, wet, boggy places, marshes, mud-lakes, etc., and grow from Labrador to Florida, flowering in June. There are several species.

Officinal Preparations. — Tincture of the root; infusion of the whole plant.

Analogues. — (?) (Perhaps Thuja)

° Small-pox in its worst forms.

° Dyspeptic and gastric difficulties. (?)

° Uterine disorders. (?)

° Psoric diseases. ( ?)

° Scrofulous eruptions.

[Those who care to consult Houatt's provings and pathogenesis, will find it in Vol. 18, page 70, of the North American Journal of Homoeopathy.]

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

This curious plant was first used as a medicine by the Indians, who, according to the reports of certain British officers, cured nearly every case of small-pox, in an epidemic of that disease which raged in Nova Scotia. So glowing were the accounts of its success in that dreadful disease, that it was used extensively in English and American hospitals, for a time, with the most varying success. It is difficult to account for the conflicting reports relative to its value in that malady, some pronouncing it absolutely inert, others asserting it to be a specific. In the first edition of “New Remedies” I published only allopathic testimony. In the second edition appeared a large amount of homoeopathic testimony from English, Continental, and American physicians, nearly all of whom reported favorably of the value of the Sarracenia in the treatment of variola.

Some additional allopathic experience was also reported, but it was as conflicting as that previously given.

Several provings have been made by European homoeopathists; one by Houatt, which is “ too good to be true.” The provings made by the American provers, Drs. Duncan and Thomas, do not throw much light on its applicability to small-pox, although some of the symptoms, according to Lilienthal, verify Houatt’s pathogenesis.

After summing up all the testimony for and against the value of this medicine in small-pox, I am inclined to give it credit for possessing a specific power over that disease. It appears to shorten and mitigate the eruption, and prevent serious complications.

It appears to have been successful when administered in infusion (53s. of the root and leaves to Sviij of hot water ; a spoonful every two hours). Also in the lower dilutions, a few drops every two hours.

It is alleged to have curative effects in various pustular eruptions unattended by fever, such as crusta lactea, prurigo, etc. It has been recommended in scrofalosis and tuberculosis, but upon rather doubtful authority.

I have never had a good opportunity to test its value in variola, as I rarely treat the disease. I have given it in varioloid, but cannot assert that it actually modified it, because it is impossible to know what will be the extent of a varioloid.

Nor have I used it enough in other cutaneous disorders to enable me to speak favorably of it in any.

As a matter of interest I present the first notice of the plant, which appeared in 1860.

The “American Medical Times” had the following letter, by Fred. W. Morris, M.D., Physician of the Halifax Visiting Dispensary :

Sir : You have by this time, in all probability, heard something of an extraordinary discovery for the cure of small-pox, by the use of “ Sarracenia purpurea,” or Indian cup, a native plant of Nova Scotia. I would beg of you, however, to give full publicity to the astonishing fact, that this same humble bog-plant of Nova Scotia is the remedy for small-pox in all its forms in twelve hours after the patient has taken the medicine. It is also as curious as it is wonderful that, however alarming and numerous the eruptions, or confluent and frightful they may be, the peculiar action of the medicine is such that very seldom is a scar left to tell the story of the disease. I will not enter upon a physiological analysis now. It will be sufficient for my purpose to state that it cures the disease as no other medicine does — not by stimulating functional reagency, but by actual contact with the virus in the blood, rendering it inert and harmless ; and this I gather from the fact that if either the vaccine or variolous matter be washed with the infusion of the Sarracenia, they are deprived of their contagious properties. The medicine, at the same time, is so mild to the taste that it may be mixed largely with tea or coffee, as I have done, and given to connoisseurs in these beverages to drink without their being aware of the admixture. Strange, however, to say, it is scarcely two years since science and the medical world were utterly ignorant

of this great boon of Providence ; and it would be dishonorable in me not to acknowledge that had it not been for the discretion of Mr. John Thomas Lane, of Lane’s Park, County Tipperary, Ireland, late of Her Majesty’s Imperial Customs of Nova Scotia, to whom the Micmae Indians had given the plant, the world would not now be in possession of the secret. No medical man before me had ever put this medicine upon trial ; but in 1861, when the whole Province of Nova Scotia was in a panic, and patients were dying at the rate of twelve and a half per cent., from May to August, Mr. Lane, in the month of May, placed the Sarracenia in my hands to decide upon its merits ; and, after my trials then and since, I have been convinced of its astonishing efficacy. The only functional influence it seems to have is in promoting the flow of urine, which soon becomes limpid and abundant, and this is owing perhaps to the defecated poison or changed virus of the disease exclusively escaping through that channel. The Sarracenia I have reason to believe a powerful antidote for all contagious diseases, lepra, measles, varicella, plague, contagious typhus, and even syphilis, also a remedy in jaundice. I am strongly inclined to think it will one day play an important part in all these.

This remedy was believed by the Indians to be so efficacious, that if given to them when attacked with small-pox, they looked forward with confidence to a speedy and effectual cure. An old weird Indian woman was the fortunate possessor of the remedy in question. She had always been known as the doctress of her tribe, and had enjoyed celebrity for many years in consequence of her reputed knowledge of medicine and wonderful acquaintance with the herbs and roots of the woods. So well established was her fame among the Indians that when sick they resorted to her in preference to the white doctors, whom they considered to be “ no good.”

Captain Hardy, of the Royal Artillery, an accomplished and intelligent officer, who had been for years among the Indians, says that “ the old squaw’s remedy had long been known to them as an infallible cure for small-pox,” and that “the Indians believed it to be successful in every case.” ,

From the information gathered from the Indians the following observations have been carefully sifted :

1. In the case of an individual suspected to be under the influence of small-pox, but with no distinct eruption upon him, a wineglassful of an infusion of the plant Sarracenia purpurea, or pitcher-plant, is to be taken. The effect of this dose is to bring out the eruption. After a second and third dose, given at intervals of from four to six hours, the pustules subside, apparently losing their vitality. The patient feels better at the end of each dose, and in the graphic expression of the “ Micmac,” “ knows there is a change within him at once.”

2. In a subject already covered with the eruption of small-pox in the early stage, a dose or two will dissipate the pustules and subdue the febrile symptoms. The urine, from being scanty and high-colored, becomes pale and abundant, whilst from the first dose the feelings of the patient assure him that “ the medicine is killing the disease.” Under the influence of the remedy, in three or four days the prominent symptoms of the constitutional disturbance subside, although, as a precautionary measure, the sick person is kept in camp until the ninth day. No marks of the eruption (as regards pitting, etc.) have been left in cases examined, if treated by the remedy.

With regard to the medicine acting (as is believed by the Indians) in the way of a preventive in those exposed to infection, it is curious to note that in the camps where the remedy has been used the people keep a weak infusion of the plant prepared, and take a dose occasionally during the day, so as to “ keep the antidote in the blood.”

We find, also, that the following result of a trial of the Sarracenia has been communicated to the “ London Times” by Mr. C. G. Logie, Surgeon-Major :

Some time ago, seeing a paper written by Assistant-Surgeon Miles of the Royal Artillery on the efficacy of the North American plant, called the Sarracenia purpurea, or pitcher-plant, in the treatment of small-pox among the Indians, my colleague, Mr. Agnis, and myself have given this remedy. Four of the cases in my hospital have been severe confluent cases. They have throughout the disease all been perfectly sensible, have had excellent appetites, been free from pain, and have never felt weak. The effects of this medicine, which I have carefully watched, seemed to arrest the development of the pustules, killing, as it were, the virus from within, thereby changing the character of the disease and doing away with the cause of pitting, and thus avoiding the necessity of gutta-percha and India-rubber applications, or opening of the pustules. In my opinion, all anticipations of disfigurement from pitting may now be calmed, if this medicine is given from the commencement of the disease.

A committee of the New York Medical Society (allopathic), made a report on Sarracenia purpurea, which will be found in full, pages 7 to 19, “ American Medical Times,” January, 1854. They thus close their report:

Your committee has endeavored to lay before the society the history and recorded experience, thus far, in the use of the Sarracenia purpurea for the treatment of small-pox ; and, in conclusion, would respectfully submit the following as their deductions from the testimony here accumulated: (1) That the analyses already made of the plant do not give any active principle or elements which would indicate any great medicinal potency. (2) That the discoverers and advocates of the specific remedial power of the Sarracenia purpurea over variola have given, apparently, too great credit to the “post hoc” circumstances as being “ propter hoc ” influences (one reason for this latter inference being suggested by the loose, unscientific, and eulogistic style of the communications). And (3), that the reliable experience, thus far, appears to preponderate against

the remedial efficacy of this plant in those forms of disease which do not generally recover under the administration of ordinary remedies.

From these allopathic deductions we dissent, for, although the reports have been exaggerated in many instances, the testimony, both homoeopathic and allopathic, is too positive to be discarded.

In an article from the pen of Dr. Manuel Miracas. of Spain, and which appeared in “El Criterio Medico,” he says:

During the epidemic of variola which prevailed for so long a time at Barcelona, and which still exists in some of the neighboring districts, I had occasion to try the Sarracenia purpurea, homoeopathically prepared. This remedy, which I have used in low dilution, has invariably given me the finest results, as may be seen from the following observations, selected from the severest cases which I have treated, and given with the greatest exactness possible.

He then relates the history of seven cases of variola treated

with the lx dil., and closes with the following remarks:

/

It seems to me that these observations suffice to demonstrate the powerful action of the Sarracenia purpurea against variola, when it is once developed. Is it possible to attribute to chance the fortunate termination of these cases, and a great number of others, still more severe, perhaps, which might be adduced ? Not at all ; for I have noticed, from my first experiment with the remedy, that it acts with the same efficacy and promptitude in patients differing in age, sex, and temperament. In Barcelona, as well as in Sans Saria, Gracia, Bodalona, etc., many persons owe their safety to this precious remedy, and have escaped the indelible cicatrices which variola so often leaves upon the face.

The Sarracenia seems to act directly upon the cutaneous system, as is indicated by the development of the pustules after the first doses and during the first fortyeight hours, the rapid desiccation of the pustules, and the absence of itching, during the period of suppuration as well as during that of desiccation.

I have had occasion to observe sometimes, in cases of patients affected with variola in the same degree, that those who had been treated allopathically, by bleeding, emetics, and other remedies which are habitually given during the two first periods, resisted the action of the Sarracenia more than those who had done nothing, or who had only taken some harmless decoction, as Scabious, or finally those who had been treated homoeopathically from the outset. With the latter there was no doubt about the result ; as a general thing they all recovered. Of the first class I have seen some sink under the disease before the drug could develop its action ; their organism being depressed by the destructive power of the disease itself, and by the perturbating action of a senseless treatment which prevents nature from reacting against the variolous agent. However, I may say that I have saved many patients who had been previously treated allopathically. I

first modified the state of the patient by dynamized drugs presenting a similitude to the symptoms observed, and then administered the Sarracenia purp.

Dr. D. J. Easton says : “ I have treated twenty-seven cases, out of which but two died, one a child and the other an aged man.”

The “Palmer (Mass.) Journal” states that about sixty cases of small-pox and varioloid have been treated at the State Almshouse with the /Sarracenia with but a single fatal result, and that was in the case of a man who was taken there in the last stages of the disease from a neighboring town.

Dr. Taylor, of London, has employed this remedy very extensively, and considers its utility unmistakable in arresting the progress of small-pox. The following formula was employed : Two ounces of sliced root, three pints of water, boiled in a close vessel down to two pints, and strained.

The first case was a little girl six years of age. She was seen on the third day of eruption of primary small-pox, and immediately began to take the decoction, four ounces per diem in divided doses, and in less than twenty-four hours the mother reported her “ better ever since she began to take the medicine.” The eruption was very extensive, pustules large, and in some places confluent. The case advanced apparently without interruption until the seventh day, when the pustules began to shrivel, and on the eleventh day the desiccated scales had nearly all fallen oft'; no pitting; patient convalescent. Every succeeding case was treated in the same manner, and with the same success. Only two patients perished ; one, an infant three years old, who took it from its mother ; and the other, an adult female, who seemed to sink from pyaemia on the third day of the eruption.

A poor woman brought her child, a year and a half old, to my office one night, with an eruption of small-pox, which had on that day made its first appearance. I gave her the decoction with directions to give a dessertspoonful four times a day. On the fourth and eighth days the visits were repeated, each time speaking in laudatory terms of the efficacy of the medicine. On the eleventh day of the eruption she made her last visit, making at the same time the following pertinent remarks : “ I have called to thank you, sir, for your great kindness. My child is now quite well, all the scabs have fallen off, and the skin has not a blemish on it. That medicine must be very valuable, sir ; for a little girl, the daughter of one of my lodgers, caught the small-pox three days before mine did, and it has not changed a bit ; the pock is all over the body yet, in great mattery heads, and here is my child with her skin nearly as clean as when she was born.” I was somewhat incredulous as to this perfect clearance of the skin, but in half an hour she brought the child for my inspection, and the appearance fully corroborated all she had said. She had not been vaccinated.

One man took it on the fourth day of the eruption, up to which time the disease had progressed in exactly the ordinary manner, the vesicles containing clear lymph ; but here they were arrested ; they never went on to suppuration, and there was no odor perceptible. Prior to his getting the infusion he complained much of restlessness and sleeplessness at night, but after he commenced taking it he slept well.

Another patient, aged twenty-five, was a man of full, plethoric habit. The symptoms were severe, and the eruption abundant, quite of the confluent form on the face ; the mouth and fauces were also covered ; delirium was present. The treatment by Sarracenia began on the fifth or sixth day. Relief was almost instantaneous ; he slept soundly the next night without delirium, and continued rapidly to improve, and soon recovered.

Dr. Bilden (homoeopath ist) reports his clinical experience :

Early in the spring of 1864 the small-pox made its appearance in this vicinity. Fifty-eight cases came under my treatment, four of which were fatal. More than half were malignant-confluent. All were treated strictly homceopathically. The disease had somewhat abated when I heard for the first time in my life of the Sarracenia purpurea as a specific in small-pox. I at once ordered a package of the dried plant, and not knowing how to prepare or to use the same, I began by careful experiment. First, I filled a gallon pot full of the crude plant, on which I poured boiling water, to which it yielded its properties readily. I then put Alcohol (equal parts). When it had macerated forty-eight hours I began using the tincture. Mr. S. had two children, a boy of eight and a girl of ten years of age ; confluent pustules, well filled ; vaccine virus had never taken effect. Gave the boy five drops on a lump of sugar every two hours. Called several times during the day to watch the effect ; could discover none ; discontinued all other medicines. The next morning found that the scabbing had commenced, which was followed by a rapid convalescence. I questioned the boy from time to time, but could learn nothing satisfactory of his symptoms. The girl lingered along, as all the others had done. I began to feel a strong confidence in my unofficinal tincture ; carried an ounce vial of it continually with me.

Mrs. D., a young married lady, was taken with violent headache, nausea, with pain in the loins ; had been vaccinated, but did not think it had taken effect. Commenced by giving one drop of the tincture every hour, carefully watching the effect. On the second day she appeared to be much worse. I began to think the medicine was aggravating her symptoms, but thought I would continue it awhile longer. On the third day found an abatement. A burning rash made its appearance on the skin, which mostly disappeared in the course of forty-eight hours, leaving some twenty pustules on her face and neck, which soon filled and scabbed, and she was well again in a short time.

I began to use the medicine as a prophylactic. Sac. lac., one ounce ; mother tincture, five drops ; triturated in a Wedgwood mortar. From this I made the second trituration. Was called to see many who had the premonitory symptoms ; had no more cases of small-pox, although Dr. - , an allopathist, had

quite a number of cases among his patrons for several weeks later. Should the small-pox ever make its appearance in this vicinity again, the Sarracenia purpurea will be my “Samson,” and I shall try to learn the best method of administering it. In my opinion, it is, like Gelseminum, a homoeopathic medicine in every sense of the word. What Gelseminum is in bilious fever Sarracenia purpurea is in small -pox.

The following is the adverse opinion of Dr. James Watson on the action of Sarracenia purpurea:

The cases occurred in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In one of the smallpox wards, under Dr. Haldane’s charge, the Sarracenia purpurea, in infusion, was administered to eight patients, the effect carefully watched in each, and the result in all was that the disease ran its natural course. The Sarracenia purpurea was found absolutely inert ; it produced no effect whatever. Dr. Watson then reports one case which he especially watched, and observes: “In this case it is most certain that the Sarracenia purpurea did not in the least shrivel or wither up the eruption, nor did it seem to affect the patient in any way. It has the virtue which, happily, many — unfortunately not all — new drugs possess, of being perfectly innocuous. So much, and no more, can we say in its favor.”

The following testimony adverse to the reputed virtues of the Sarracenia purpurea we select from English practice, with the desire of ascertaining, if possible, where the truth may be found:

In the autumn of 1862 an epidemic of small-pox broke out in the city of London, and Dr. Marston (then surgeon of the small-pox hospital) selected fifteen cases which were treated with the Sarracenia. Those were selected which, from the severity of their symptoms, he believed would not recover under ordinary treatment. He says: “The cases were selected on admission in the early stage of the disease, on account of the severe symptoms manifested, and because I felt it was of no use to try the efficacy of the Sarracenia on mild or vaccinated cases, which I knew very well would recover under ordinary treatment, suitable diet, etc. I cannot say that the Sarracenia had any effect whatever. It did not save life, for of the fifteen all died. It did not modify the small-pox eruptions in the least. It did not influence any of the secretions, not even to increase the urine; in only one case did it seem to act on the bowels, and this seeming effect might have been from other causes. The remedy was administered in the form of a decoction, made by simmering an ounce of the root in a pint and a half of water for four hours, until reduced to a pint, and a quarter of this given at a dose, twice a day, for two days or more. The liquor Sarracenia was also given in some cases, in drachm doses, every four or five hours. Two cases were admitted who had taken the Sarracenia decoction. The first, a mild case, had four vaccine cicatrices, which I believe highly modified the disease. The second was not vaccinated, was not severely confluent, and was wholly unmodified. They both recovered. The recovery might, perhaps, by some be attributed to the Sarracenia, but I believe it had nothing to do with it, as about half our confluent unvaccinated cases recover under ordinary treatment.”

As corroborative of the clinical history I will quote to you the following paper on Sarracenia, by Dr. Cigliano, of Naples, Italy, a translation of which was published in the “ American Observer,” 1871, p. 467, by Professor S. Lilienthal, M.D. :

Eruptions similar to crusta lactea ; on forehead and hands papular eruptions, changing to vesicular with the depression, as in small-pox, lasting from seven to eight days.

Dr. Cigliano gives five cases of small-pox in which the Sarracenia appeared to act very promptly, to which he adds :

From our own observations, and those of other colleagues whose communications we cannot give for want of space, we draw the following conclusions :

1. Soon after giving the remedy the temperature increases a little, but finally diminishes in direct proportion to the fever ; usually in a few hours.

2. Sarracenia shows its influence at every stage of the disease. In the prodromal stage it breaks up the fever and the disease.

3. In the stage of eruption the temperature oscillates between 37° and 39°. The whole disease is over by the ninth day, without any suppurative fever. •

4. The pulse always diminishes about ten beats a minute. It does not always coincide with the abatement of temperature, but will always be found in direct ratio of the individual frequency.

5. The variolous papulae become vesicular, without becoming enlarged at their base.

6. The vesicles never pass into perfect pustules, but dry up, assuming a semispheric form, and in consequence of it the suppurative stage does not set in, and no depression will be found.

7. The contents of the vesicles are always serous, or at most sero-purulent.

8. Sarracenia not only develops a curative power, but it is also a preventive against the variolous infection, diminishing greatly the individual disposition to catching the disease without entirely extinguishing it.