Fucus vesiculosus

Volume I — Appendix

(Seaurack.)

Description. — A perennial seaweed found on the shores of Europe and this country. The frond or flat leaf is smooth and glossy, from one to four feet long» from a half to one inch and a half broad, furnished with a midrib throughout its length, dichotomous, entire upon the margin, and of a dark olive green color.

Preparation. — Tincture and trituration of the dried plant. (Infusion.)

Head.

Intolerable headache; forehead felt as if compressed by an iron ring.

Stomach.

• The act of digestion is no longer accompanied by flushings of

the face, fulness, weight in the epigastric region, and fits of heat towards the head. The stomach acts with more rapidity, and the hour of repast is more impatiently looked for. Qualmishness. Weight in the stomach. ° Dyspepsia.

Abdomen.

• Flatulency diminishes and then disappears in those who have

been habitually accustomed to it. Obstinate constipation. ° Chronic diarrhoea.

Urinary Organs.

Urine more abundant, colored, and odorous than usual. It is only after two or three septenaries that the urine becomes more abundant, and begins to present upon its surface a coating or black film.

° Chronic cystitis.

0 Irritable bladder.

Respiratory Organs.

Sense of suffocation, especially during menses. ° Palpitation of the heart, with great dyspnoea.

Extremities. Skin of legs and thighs soft and flabby.

Sexual Organs.

° Amenorrhea with dysmenorrhea.

° Functional derangement of the menstrual function dependent upon some fault of nutrition, or from plethora or excessive obesity. (° Scanty menses.)

Generalities.

Lost upwards of five pounds weight, without any change in habits or diet, or experiencing any inconvenience from the use of the remedy. Diminution of thirty pounds in weight. The resolvent properties are manifested, and the first intimations of becoming thinner are displayed from the period when the urine is affected.

The thinness is not always produced in a uniform manner. I have seen it limited to isolated parts, which are, then, almost always those where the fatty tissue accumulates in the greatest abundance, thus, with one it is in the chest, with another in the abdomen, with a third in the nape of the neck and upper part of the shoulders.

• Emaciation.

0 Debility. Malnutrition. Enlarged glands.

0 Not a reducer of adipose tissue in the healthy subject. For

cold, torpid, individuals, with cold, clammy skin, loose and

flabby rolls of fat, pendulous belly. 0 The plant is beneficial for lean people to use to make them fat

and plump.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

We are often urgently solicited by unfortunate patients, the victims of abnormal obesity, for some remedy that will rid them of their superabundance of fat. If we do not prescribe something they lose faith in our medical skill, and seek elsewhere for remedies which may do them irreparable injury.

The Fucus, or Seawrack, while it is comparatively harmless, seems to be a potent remedy for removing abnormal adiposis. Its

use should, however, be aided by proper diet, such as abstinence from fats, sugar, and alcohol in any form. This drug was first brought to the notice of the profession by a French physician, M. Duchesne, who thus writes of it :

“ This seaweed is perennial, with the frond or leaf flat, smooth, and glossy, from one to four feet long, from half an inch to an inch and a half broad, furnished with a midrib throughout its length, dichotomous, entire upon the margin, and of a dark olive-green color. Small spherical vesicles, filled with air, are immersed in the frond near the midrib. The air in these vesicles has not the exact composition of atmospheric, consisting, according to the analysis of M. Ernest Beaudrimont, in one instance, of 28.3 per cent, of oxygen, and 71.6 of nitrogen ; in another, 26.5 of the former, and 73.5 of the latter. (‘ Journ. de Pharm.,’ 4e ser., ii, 449.) The fruit consists of roundish, compressed receptacles at the ends of the branches, filled with a clear, tasteless mucus. The plant grows upon the shores of Europe and of this continent, attaching itself to the rock by its expanded woody root. On the coasts of Scotland and France it is much used in the preparation of kelp. It contains much Soda in saline combination, and Iodine, according to Gaultier de Claubry, in the state of Iodide of potassium. These ingredients remain in its ashes, and in the charcoal resulting from its exposure to heat in close vessels.”

The charcoal, which is sometimes called JEtkiops vegetabilis, or Vegetable ethiops, has long had the reputation of a deobstruent, and has been given in goitre and scrofulous swellings. Its virtues were formerly ascribed chiefly to Carbonate of soda, in which it abounds, but since the discovery of the medical properties of Iodine this has been considered as its most active ingredient. The mucus contained in the vesicles was applied externally, with advantage, by Dr. Bussell as a resolvent in scrofulous tumors. M. Duchesne Duparc having given a trial to this Fucus in inveterate psoriasis, in which it had considerable reputation as a remedy, found it of little value ; but he observed an unexpected effect, that of diminishing fat without in other respects injuring the health, and was thus induced to try it as a remedy for morbid obesity. His anticipations of its efficacy in this affection were not disappointed. He employs the whole plant, either in substance or in the form of pill, in decoction, or in extract. It is not till two or three weeks after beginning with the remedy that its effects in diminishing the obesity begin to be perceived, and one of the first signs of its favorable action in this respect is the increase of the urine, and the appearance of a black pellicle on its surface. Dr. Godsfrey tried the experiment on himself with satisfactory results, confirming the statements of M. Duchesne. — (“Jour, de Pharm.,” Juillet, 1862, p. 65.)

As civilization advances, with all its gigantic improvements, mankind deteriorate. Non- vital temperaments predominate. One of the essential elements of deterioration is obesity or corpulence, an ingredient of a lymphatic habit ; hereditary tendency, overeating, want of proper exercise, sedentary habits, inattention to the secretions and bathing, overstimulation, drinking, carbonaceous food, laziness, absence of sunlight, are productive of it. The true condition is the excess

of fat ; a non-vital element, not a usurpation of the normal structure by adipose tissue, but an excessive secretion of fat. Restricted diet to non-carbonaceous elements ; no excess of fluids ; exercise ; bathing ; sunlight ; no alcohol, as that retards the elimination of carbon ; indeed, all hydrocarbons should be avoided.

A physician, writing of its action, in “ New Preparations,” says :

About fifteen months ago I commenced experimenting with Fluid extract F ucus vesiculosus. I promised at that time that when I had concluded my experiments with the medicine I would inform you in regard to the results. The first case upon whom I used it is the most important and interesting in its results on account of the condition in which I found the patient at first, and the almost magical manner in which the medicine acted. I will therefore give a tolerably complete history of the case :

Mrs. W., set. thirty-eight years, married for several years, but never bore any children, always aborting about the second or third month. She was very corpulent, weighing about three hundred pounds. Her menstrual function was very irregular, and she was at times affected with amenorrhoea, and at times with dysmenorrhoea. When she had the latter, the pain was in the beginning of her nolimen rmmtruale almost unbearable. She was also the subject of severe attacks of palpitation of the heart and great dyspnoea, coming simultaneously, and lasting for from a half to one hour, and these attacks were of almost weekly occurrence. She had been treated by different physicians for these difficulties, but with only temporary relief. It was for these troubles that she called upon me to relieve her. After examining her thoroughly and finding no organic disease, either of the lungs or heart, I arrived at the conclusion that the plethora and excessive obesity produced all of her sufferings ; therefore, acting under the influence of this belief, I requested her to allow me to prescribe a course of treatment designed to diminish her corpulence and plethora, to which she reluctantly consented, and I ordered a bottle of Fluid extract of fucus vesiculosis, as I had seen it recommended in your periodical, “ New Preparations,” and other works on therapeutics.

When the medicine arrived I prescribed it at first in teaspoonful-doses, thrice daily, before meals, gradually increasing to a tablespoonful ; and, finally, after taking three bottles, to two tablespoonfuls. At the same time I prescribed a course of dieting, which consisted in excluding from the food as nearly as possible all starchy and saccharine articles, but allowing as much as wanted of all other articles, such as fruits and vegetables, except potatoes and rice ; meats of any kind, except pork. Of this liberal diet I allowed her to eat all her appetite craved ; and, right here, I wish to say, that the happy result of the treatment was, in a great measure, due to the faithful manner in which she carried out my prescriptions, both in regard to the dietary and medicine, for, from the very first day of the treatment, she never missed a dose of medicine or ate a mouthful of “ forbidden fruit.”

After she had taken the first bottle her menstrual function was greatly improved, the palpitation had nearly disappeared, and she had diminished in flesh so that the most casual observer could notice it. In all she has taken twelve pound-botties of the medicine, and to-day she claims to be perfectly healthy in every respect. Her menstrual function is completely and permanently restored , coming on at the regular time and continuing the natural time, and passing off without hardly a pain. The palpitation of the heart from which she used to suffer so much has entirely disappeared, never having the least symptom of it since taking the second bottle of medicine ; and in embonpoint she has diminished wonderfully, weighing at present only one hundred and ninety pounds. This does not hardly seem reasonable, yet it is as true as it is that I am writing about it. I am requested to withhold her name, but if any person wishes to correspond with her they can have her address by applying to me and inclosing a three-cent stamp for reply. To use her own words, Mrs. W. says : “ I feel better than I have for years in every respect, and I have not had a pain or an uncomfortable feeling hardly worth mentioning since beginning the use of the medicine.”

Now some persons may ask the question whether it was the Fucus vesiculosus or the strict attention to dieting that accomplished the result. Indeed, I asked myself this question while treating the case, and not wishing to be misled in regard to the effects of the medicine, I determined to ascertain, if possible, a true solution of the question. I therefore discontinued the medicine for awhile, still allowing her to continue the dietary as usual, when the unfavorable symptoms began to return ; but, as soon as the medicine was resorted to again, she commenced to rapidly improve ; then I discontinued the dietary, still allowing her to take the medicine as usual, but could notice but little change, except that she did not seem to improve quite so rapidly as when using the two in conjunction.

I therefore conclude that the medicine is the facile princeps, or the chief agent in accomplishing the results above mentioned, although the dietary is a valuable auxiliary in the treatment.

Since using the medicine upon this case, I have used it upon others with equally certain results, but none with such rapid action.

In conclusion I will say that for reducing corpulency there is no better or more certain agent known to the profession. It is perfectly harmless, and on the other hand seems to invigorate the system in general to a healthy action, regulating the assimilation of the food, and thus overcoming the excessive accumulation of adipose. It is said also to increase the amount of fat, where the system seems to be abnormally deficient. In fact it seems to act by regulating the function of assimilation to a healthy condition, and thus bringing the system to a natural and healthy condition.

Again, when there is a functional derangement of the menstrual function dependent upon some fault of nutrition, or from plethora or excessive obesity, the medicine seems to control the disorder with great facility. In fact, any disorder resulting from faulty nutrition, it seems to me, that if I am right in regard to the action of the medicine, it will be a valuable agent in controlling, e. g., tuberculosis, etc.

Subjoined is the mode in which Fucus vesiculosus is employed by M. Duchesne Duparc, who was the first to extol it as a means of counteracting obesity. He says :

This remedy is best taken in the morning, fasting. Its use requires no change in the ordinary diet ; I have always allowed persons to eat according to their desire ; and apart from too much farinaceous food, beer, prolonged baths, and a too sedentary life, which is always necessary to avoid, I never impose serious privations.

The action of the Fucus on the system is very easily proved. After using it some time the patient feels lighter and more active, the stomach acts with more rapidity, and the hour of repast is more impatiently looked for. Flatulency diminishes and then disappears with those who have habitually been accustomed to it. The act of digestion is no longer accompanied by flushings of the face, by fulness and weight in the epigastric region, and flashes of heat toward the head.

It is not till after two or three weeks that we begin to observe special and characteristic phenomena ; then the urine of those under its influence becomes generally more abundant, and begins to present on its surface a coating, or black film. It is from this period that the resolvent properties are manifested, and the first intimation of becoming thinner are displayed. This result, which some look forward to with much impatience, is every day more decided, and, although variable in degree, has never yet failed.

These different phenomena show us then in the Fucus vesiculosus a real stimulant of the absorbent system, concentrating principally its actions on the fatty globules. The thinness which it determines is not always produced in a uniform manner. I have seen it limited to certain isolated parts, which are then almost always those where the fatty tissue accumulates in the greatest abundance. Thus, with one it is the chest, with another the abdomen, and with the third the nape of the neck and the upper part of the shoulders.

But the destruction of fatty matter is not all that the resolving properties of the Fucus vesiculosus is capable of accomplishing ; for many observations seem to prove that the same properties may become useful in certain other diseases, such as cutaneous infiltration, passive dropsy, atonic gout, etc.

There is one point to be mentioned which relates to the choice of the Fucus which is of great importance. We know that the Fucus vesiculosus belongs to a family which contains hundreds of species ; that many of these are almost inactive, and the greater number of the others perfectly useless as remedial agents ; hence it is absolutely necessary not to lose sight of the botanical characters of the true Fucus vesiculosus. The neglect of this has given rise to daily deceptions, and I have seen many persons from this cause lose their time in prolonged and useless experiments. It was thus also that a patient complained of having taken for three months, without any result, large quantities of Fucus which I had prescribed for him, and, which upon being brought to me, I found to be common seaweed. I am not ignorant of the difficulty which is experienced even in Paris in procuring the true Fucus vesiculosus ; because I have had repeatedly offered to me, under that name, by justly celebrated houses, Fucus nodosus, which is far from possessing the same activity. It may be added that Fucus nodosus is frequently sold in this country for Fucus vesiculosus ; and that the same care is necessary here for the discrimination between the true Fucus vesiculosus and the various “seaweeds” and “gulfweeds” which are offered for sale.

Dr. Griffiths, in a pamphlet entitled “How to get Lean,” writes :

Since practicing medicine in the State of Delaware I have discovered a species of seaweed, or seawrack, as it is commonly called here (Fucus vesiculosus ; common names, seawrack, bladder-wrack, etc.), that possesses the peculiar properties of diminishing the excessive accumulation of adipose tissue in the human system without otherwise injuring the general health. An infusion is made from the weed by using one ounce, or a small handful, to a pint and a half of boiling water allowed to draw in a covered vessel. Cool, strain, etc. The dose is a small teacupful three times per day, but no particular nicety need be paid in regard to dose or quality. Drank ad libitum, it will reduce a burdensome deformity and at the same time ameliorate the general state, which may have been the primary source of the development of the adipose tissue. My attention was attracted to it by finding a patient who had been drinking of the infusion with the expectation that it would cure an inveterate form of psoriasis, a form of skin disease, as it has a popular reputation as a specific for that affection. He informed me that it had done him no good, but found that it diminished his fat quite considerably. I immediately took the hint, and secured a quantity of it myself, and commenced drinking an infusion of it; and, taking little or no other drinks, in the course of a few weeks my burdensome form grew “ small by degrees and beautifully less,” much to my satisfaction. I had ransacked the whole medical literary curriculum for a remedy that would do this without injuring the stomach and producing a worse disease than the one it was given for, but failed to find it. Knowing with what anxiety the corpulent look upon their deformity, and how anxious they are for relief, I am anxious that the public should know of this harmless remedy. I administered it to three of my corpulent neighbors, with the following results :

In neither of the cases was it administered with any regard to regularity. In one case the loss was from twelve to fifteen pounds in about two months; in another the diminution in weight was thirty pounds in three months ; in the third there was decided relief from the discomfort under which the patient labored, but as no attention was paid in regard to weight, etc., the record was not complete.

Great care should be taken in collecting, as there are many varieties of seaweed, and it is easily confounded with other marine plants, which are entirely inert, so far as the peculiar efficacy is concerned in removing obesity.

Within the last few years many individuals, whom nature or their habits have endowed with an uncomfortable burden of polysarcia or pinguitude, have carefully endeavored to follow the rules of diet and habits prescribed by Banting in his work on corpulency, and a great portion of these, after months of sacrifice of the pleasures of gastronomy, have abandoned the task, with the verdict, “Humbug 1” But if those afflicted with embonpoint excessif will use the infusion of gulfweed, as suggested, they may arrive at the desired degree of attenuation. I can assure them that it will absorb fat with greater certainty than any other remedy known. It seems to act by the absorption of the adipose tissue, and modifies or lessens the secretions from the oily sudoriferous glands.

“ The above article was published in the ‘ Baltimore American ’ over a year

ago, and extracts from it were pretty generally published by the papers throughout the country. I received hundreds of letters making inquiry for the seaweed, price, the source from which a supply could be obtained, etc. There was but a small quantity of it in the market at that time. I had a small quantity of the fresh weed gathered at considerable expense. The weed was bulky and inconvenient for shipping, and the domestic form of the infusion was troublesome to prepare, and not an eligible form of administration. I, therefore, had manufactured a compound fluid extract, containing all the properties of the weed in a concentrated form, with the addition of the other drugs known to be efficacious. To many of the applicants I sent the weed, and more preferring the fluid extract prepared by myself, it being a more convenient form of administration. I have received numerous letters confirming all we have claimed for it. Some few have stated that they received no benefit, or could not faithfully follow the directions. In most of the cases I have suggested a system of dieting in accordance with my ideas of the cause of corpulence, presented elsewhere. We have but few, if any, specifics in medicine ; it is hardly expected that we should, owing to the diversity of constitutions, diseases, etc. We have no medicine applicable to all cases. That it is a specific, I do not claim. But that it will prove beneficial in a very large number of cases, I have not the least doubt, if the rules of dieting suggested are faithfully followed, and the fluid drank is reduced to the least possible amount consistent with comfort. — ‘ Corpulence, or How to get Lean.’ Dr. Griffith in ‘ New Preparations.’ ”

Dr. Leonard, commenting on the above, says :

“ There is much testimony of Fucus vesiculosus being a positive fat reducer ; then, too, there is some testimony, decidedly in the minority, however, that goes to show that Fucus is really a fat producer. ( Vide ‘ New Preparations,’ page 23, July, 1877.) Here are two extremes to be harmonized ; how is it to be done? It is our opinion (we do not assert it to be a fact, mind) that the proper cases are not selected in these cases of reported failures. From our study of the drug we do not believe Fucus to be a reducer of the adipose tissue of healthy subjects. It is mostly on those cold, torpid individuals, with a cold, clammy skin, loose and flabby rolls of fat, pendulous belly, etc., that Fucus will display its powers to the best advantage. In this class of cases everything about them is apathetic ; fat, to them, is a morbid condition, a result of vitiated function. In this class of cases the remedy acts beneficially by overcoming this torpid and morbid tendency, thus reducing the size by toning up the vascular and sympathetic system. This, we say, is our belief of what the action of the remedy is. Possibly it also acts upon the starchy matters of the food in some manner so as to prevent their easy change into fat when introduced into the human economy.”

Of course, then, if a person is perfectly healthy, the flesh solid and firm, the fat not in rolls or flabby, the prirnce via in good order, the action of Fucus, if it be possessed of this peculiar tonic principle we have attributed to it, would

necessarily go to building up the tissues of the body rather than to the destruction of them. Still, in spite of this, we had a young man, apparently of excellent health, flesh firm and muscles hard, grow thin on the use of the remedy. He was, however, exceedingly large, weighing over three hundred pounds, the bony framework of his body being quite short.

Another gentleman of our acquaintance, a doctor, whose weight is about three hundred pounds, has been taking the remedy — he belongs to our class of healthy, active, large men — with the result of overcoming a chronic constipation, or lethargy of the liver and bowels, but with no effect on the diminution of his weight. He says, however, that he feels lighter in spirits anyway, if not in bodily flesh. He has given the remedy in other cases of chronic constipation or intestinal lethargy, and with the same favorable results. In this respect he thinks the remedy a valuable one.

This, in fine, is the sum of the testimony upon the drug, as reported to us. It is altogether too new yet to allow one to define its action very minutely, or to assign the cases that it will benefit ; it is yet in the school of empiricism. Still, in the class of torpid, unhealthy fat-producers, as above described, we believe it will be of benefit.

A. F. Pattee, M.D., in the “ Druggists’ Circular,” says :

The great bank of gulf-weed, which extends, at the westward of the Azores, from the 20th degree to the 36th degree of north latitude, still occupies the same position it did in the time of the earliest navigators, and between this and European shores are various detached tracts in ridges from ten to twenty yards, wide and of indefinite length.

In this situation it continues to grow luxuriantly, and appears to multiply itself by offsets, at first accidentally broken off, and immediately establishing themselves as independent plants.

The gulf- weed that is now sold is the Fucus vesiculosus and nodusus. The common names are Twin-bladder, Fucus, Bladder-weed, Bladder-wrack, Bockweed, Shore-weed, Seaweed.

Habitat. — Along the seashore, on rocks and stones left exposed at low water ; also on artificial piers and quays, in estuaries extending up rivers. As long as the water remains sensibly brackish, it can be found, both summer and winter, in great abundance. It requires no particular care in gathering, as all species of the Fucus have similar properties.

I have used it since 1860, and can say that I have seen several cases of morbid obesity cured by drinking freely of a tea made from this plant. I consider a decoction of the weed the most eligible form in which it can be given.

The plant is equally as beneficial for lean people to use to make them fat and plump. It changes the unknown morbid condition that exists in either case to a healthy state. I have used it in the following diseases with apparently good results : Chronic cystitis, irritable bladder, debility, chronic diarrhoea, dyspepsia, enlarged glands, mal-nutrition, etc.

It is also largely used in the manufacture of kelp and iodine. It furnishes a good food for cattle.