Myrica cerifera

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Bayberry.)

Description. — This plant, known also by the names of Wax-Myrtle, Wax-berry, etc., is a branching, half-evergreen shrub, from one to twelve feet high, and covered with a grayish bark. It is found in dry woods and open fields. The bark of the root contains tannic acid and gallic acid; a volatile oil; an acrid resin, soluble in alcohol and ether; an astringent resin; myricinic acid (a peculiar principle resembling Saponin); salts of potassa, lime, iron, magnesia and silicic acid. Its taste is bitter, astringent, acrid and spicy. Myricin, its active principle, is a light, grayish-brown powder, with a peculiar spicy smell, and a peculiar, bitterish, astringent taste, with some persistent pungency. It is soluble in alcohol.

Officinal Preparations. — Tincture of the bark of the root with dilute alcohol; dilutions. Myricin ; triturations.

Analogues. — Asarum canadensis, Acidum benzoic, Berberis vulgaris, Bromine, Chimaphila, Cornus circinata, Chelidonium, Cubeba, Eryngium aquaticum, Eupatorium aromaticum, Hydrastis can., Hepar sulphur, Kali bichromicum, Lachesis, Mercurius iodatus, Spongia.

Mind and Disposition. Deficient concentration of mind on any subject. Gloomy, terribly depressed, despondent. Indifference to everything — even to friends. Condemned himself for imaginary faults. Irritable, with constant desire to find fault. He thinks himself better than any one else.

Head.

Dull, heavy aching in the forehead and temples, on waking in morning.

Pain in the head, worse when stooping or moving about. Headache, with pain and stiffness in nape of neck. Headache, with throbbing in the temples.

Headache in morning with aching in small of back. Dull, heavy feeling over the eyes, followed by stricture across the nose.

Soreness of the scalp to the touch.

Pain in back part of head, right side.

Heaviness in back of head, with pressure in nose.

In the top of the head a sensation like foam rising in anything fermenting.

Chills running over the top of the head, with tightness of the scalp.

Empty feeling in the head.

Headache, with drowsiness, also with ringing in the ears. Pressure and dull pain in forehead and vertex, with throbbing synchronous with the pulse.

Sensorium.

Vertigo, with rush of blood to the head on stooping, followed

by full, oppressive headache in right side. Vertigo with nausea, and with yawning, and drowsiness.

Eyes.

Dull pain in the eyes and head, with heaviness in the eyes. Smarting in the left eye.

E3Tes feel swollen, and eyelids heavy and swollen. Yellowness of the sclerotica, with congested appearance. Both eyes feel sore, with flushed face.

Sharp pain in left eye, it is sore and looks inflamed, in morning.

Aching in right eyeball with quivering in the eyelids. Smarting in both eyes, with feeling as of sand in them, and

difficulty of closing the lids. Hot feeling in the eyes, they tire easily on reading.

Ears.

Kinging in both ears, with slight vertigo; also with pressure about the head.

Nose.

Sensation in the nose, as if he had catarrh.

Constrictive feeling across the nose.

Severe coryza, in the morning.

Aching, excruciating feeling in the posterior nares

Tenacious, offensive mucus in the nose. 0 Foetid, bloody ozoena.

Face.

Pressure in the malar bones. Yellowness of the face (jaundice). Itching and stinging in right side of face. Burning in the face, with sensation of fullness. Creeping sensation, as of crawling insects on the face. Fullness about the face and head, with throbbing.

Mouth, Teeth, etc. Tongue furred, with bad taste in mouth and nausea. Tongue thickly coated, dirty white or yellowish. Saliva increased, with heartburn. Dryness of the mouth and fauces. Darting pain in the articulation of jaw, right side. The whole buccal cavity, even the roof of the mouth, was

coated with an adhesive coating, difficult to detach, with

offensive breath and foul taste. ° Aphthae of the mouth. 0 Tender, spongy and bleeding gums. ° Follicular stomatitis.

Throat.

Soreness of the throat in the morning.

Sensation as of a foreign substance in the throat, requiring it to be frequently cleared, with painful deglutition, in the afternoon.

Constricted and rough feeling in the throat, it feels swollen,

with a constant desire to swallow. Stringy mucus in the throat, detached with difficulty. Throat and nasal organs filled with an offensive, tenacious

mucus, detached with difficulty. Dry, sore feeling in the pharynx, as when one has taken cold,

succeeded by difficult deglutition. Lancinating pain in right side of the throat, near the tonsil ° Ulceration of the fauces. 0 Catarrh of throat and posterior nares 0 Aphthous tonsillitis.

Taste and Appetite.

Taste bitter and nauseous, with offensive breath. Feeling of fullness in the digestive organs, as if food was slowlj digested.

Craving, unnatural appetite, with feeling of fullness in the stomach, after a hearty meal, {primary.)

Complete loss of appetite, but with a feeling of fullness and repletion in the abdomen, {secondary.)

Strong desire for acids.

Gastric Derangements.

Nausea followed by heavy headache.

Empty eructations, relieving the pressure in the stomach foi

a short time only. Heartburn with water-brash.

Hepatic Symptoms. Dull pain in the region of the liver.

Complete jaundice, with bronze-yellow skin, loss of appetite; fullness in the stomach and abdomen; scanty, yellow, frothy urine; loose, mushy, clay-colored (or straw-colored) stools, destitute of bile, much debility, and drowsiness almost amounting to stupor.* [This jaundice was not relieved by Podophyllum, Leptandra, Nux

vomica, Arsenicum, or Mercurius dulcis, but was speedily removed by

Digitalis l-10th dil.]

• The icteric symptoms of Myrica are undoubted. Dr. Walker proved the drug under my own observation. By reference to the two provings made by him, it will be seen that during the first proving he had "drowsiness, with heavy frontal morning headache, yellowness of the eyes, scantiness of urine, and light-colored faeces," — all the premonitory symptoms of jaundice. At this point the medicine was suspended, and the above symptoms disappeared. At the next proving the same symptoms recurred, but this time were kept up by the action of the drug until complete jaundice obtained. This jaundice, I believe, was owing to suspended secretion, and not obstruction. Had the latter condition been the cause of the jaundice, critical discharges of black, tarry matters would have been noticed, whereas, in this case, the fasces, under the action of Digitalis, gradually resumed a healthy color and appearance, and the same change occurred in the condition of the urine. Jaundice appears to be a secondary effect of Myrica; consequently when used as a curative agent in that disease, the lower attenuations will be best indicated.

(Since the above was written several cases of jaundice have been reported cured by Myrica.) {Hale.)

*" Black jaundice." (Eclectic.)

Stomach and Abdomen.

Distress in the stomach after dinner. Acidity of the stomach.

Weak, sinking feeling in the epigastrium, approaching nausea,

increased after eating, relieved by rapid walking. "Vomiting, with heat in the stomach.

Severe griping pains about the stomach, followed by empty eructations.

Stinging, cramp-like sensation in left precordial region, under the ribs.

Griping pressure in stomach, extending to a place on the left

of the naval. Grumbling pain in the bowels, in the afternoon. Griping pain in bowels at night, followed in the morning by

loose stool, with tenesmus. Colic-like pains in umbilical region, in a small spot, with

accumulation of flatus, and passage of offensive flatus. Constant, unusual rumbling in abdomen, above the navel. Griping pain in region of umbilicus, with rumbling. Weak, faintish feeling about the bowels, as when one has

diarrhoea.

Stool and Anus.

Loose stool after dinner, with pain and tenesmus.

Sensation as of approaching diarrhoea, followed by small, costive discharges and griping, colic-like pains.

Constant discharge of flatus when walking.

In a. m. felt as though diarrhoea would occur, followed by weakness about the bowels, with urging and pressing,, without stool.

Constipation, after previous loose stools.

Soft, copious, papescent stool, attended by tenesmus and cramplike sensation in umbilical region.

Urging to stool, with no other result than the expulsion of a, great amount of flatus.

Excessive flatulence in p. m., with frequent rumbling, as if; diarrhoea would set in.

Stool nearly natural in consistency, but lighter colored.

• Loose, light-colored stool, growing lighter-colored daily, until it became ash-colored and destitute of bile.

° Chronic diarrhoea. ° Diarrhoea of consumptives.

Sexual Organs.

Amorous dreams, with emission of semen (this never occurred to the prover before).

° Chronic gonorrhoea.

0 Leucorrhoea, excoriating, foetid, thick and yellowish, (of several years' duration). Cured by injections of the infusion.

{Hale.)

Urinary Organs.

Sharp, plunging pain in region of the left kidney.

Difficulty of urinating; the bladder seemed to lack contractive

expelling power. Copious flow of limpid urine, [primary effect^ Urine deposits a light-colored sediment.

Urine darker than usual — grows darker every day, until it is a

deep brownish-yellow, {secondary effect.'] A pinkish-brown sediment in the urine.

Scanty, high-colored urine, saturated with the coloring matter

of the bile. Frothy, high-colored urine — (froth yellow).

Respiratory Organs. Smarting in larynx and trachea.

Dull pain in right lung, middle lobe, lasting a few minutes. Constriction in the chest when lying on the left side in bed,

with such increase of the impulse of the heart that its

pulsations were audible. Sharp pain in the region of the heart.

° Cough very much aggravated by talking. ° Tickling cough at night on lying down. c Cough, with profuse expectoration. ° Chronic bronchitis.

Back and Neck.

Dull, aching pain in lumbar region all day.

Dull pain under both shoulder blades.

Sensation of warmth along the whole spine, particularly

between the shoulder blades. Pain in the back of the neck.

Dull, dragging pain in small of the back. Pain under left scapula.

Upper Extremities.

Lancinating pain in left axilla.

Pain (tearing) in left arm, between shoulder and elbow. Pain in third and little finger of left hand. Severe pain in shoulder and arm, extending to little finger. Right arm felt lame and heavy, particularly about the wrist joint.

Dull, aching pain in all the extremities.

Lower Extremities.

Soreness of the muscles of both thighs.

Trembling and aching in calves of the legs; worse in the left. Sharp, shooting pain in right thigh, followed by a similar pain in left thigh.

Sharp, piercing pain at the inner side of left knee joint. Soreness and pain in the left tendo-Achillis, worse on pressure and motion.

Severe pain midway between the knee and ankle, a little outside of the tibia; a contractive pain, with soreness to the touch, changing to a burning; worse on motion.

Pain in the hollow of the right foot.

Burning in the soles of the feet.

Bruised pain in heel of left foot.

Coldness of lower extremities, with pain from knees downward.

Skin.

Itching and stinging sensation on the skin of the face, neck,

shoulder, fore-arm, and right leg. Persistent itching in different parts, worse near the point of

insertion of the deltoid muscles, in both arms. Itching of the face, giving way to creeping sensation, as of

insects.

• Yellowness of the skin of the whole body

Sleep.

Restless night, with tossing about.

Waking with dull frontal headache.

Waking in a gloomy state of mind, unrefreshed.

Sleep disturbed at night; bad dreams and frequent waking.

Drowsiness, with and after headache.

Falls asleep in chair, in the daytime, (an unusual occurrence.)

Dreams of enormous bugs, which attacked his head, and which he killed with much difficulty.

Sleeplessness, with exhilaration of nervous system, in evening. Fever, Pulse and Heart.

Warmth along the whole spine, especially between the shoulders, followed by chill, gentle perspiration, more perceptible over the dorsal vertebrae.

Chilliness upon going out of doors, with aching pain in the lumbar region.

Severe chill, with quivering sensation in calf of right leg.

Feverish acceleration of the pulse, attaining its height about four o'clock.

Excited, feverish feeling, alternating with chilliness, at ten

o'clock p. m., with pain in the lumbar region. Feeling of feverishness, with the pulse at 60. Pulse 51, feeble and irregular.

Impulse of heart's action increased, but the number of pulsations diminished to sixty per minute, (ordinary pulse 75 to 80.)

Increased pulsation, and audible beating of the heart when

lying in bed on left side. ° Night sweats — in phthisis.

Generalities.

General malaise, and feeling of unfitness for duty. General languor, with depression of spirits. Weak, sick feeling; every kind of exertion was irksome. Shifting pains.

General muscular lameness and soreness, affecting chiefly the lower limbs.

Staggering gait, with confusion of thought and purpose in the head.

° Great debility, with the jaundice.

Conditions.

Worse by the warmth of the bed— disturbing sleep. Better when moving, and in open air (gastric symptoms). Left side predominantly affected.

The headache worse when stooping or moving. Digitalis removed the hepatic symptoms.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

The Bayberry is a near relation, both chemically and therapeutically, to Hydrastis, Berberis, Coptis, and Geranium. It contains Berberina, united with a very large percentage of Tannin. A study of the pathogenetic effects of these drugs will show them possessed of similar qualities.

The Myrica was first brought into use and notice as a medicine by Samuel Thomson. This man, although uneducated, had in him the elements of a great reformer, and had he had the literary advantage of some of his allopathic persecutors, would have done more for the advance of medical science than almost any other man of his day. He was born in Alstead, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, February 9th, 1769. Hr. Hollenbach declares that he was “ one of the greatest and best of medical benefactors, whose crude system of practice broke the mysterious chains which had bound the people of America and Europe for about two centuries.” Certain it is that Thomson was the first to publicly attack allopathy in America, and his attack may be said to be the first that shattered the foundations of that school, and made way for such scientific reforms as homoeopathy. In every State of the Union the “Botanic” practice of medicine preceded the homoeopathic, and broke down those legal barriers that allopathy had placed round her. The crude practice is now nearly extinct, or has been merged into “eclecticism.”

Hr. Thomson observed that Myrica “ has the power of disengaging the thick viscid secretions of the mucous membrane of the stomach.” He named it “canker powder,” and used it very extensively. It was the principal ingredient in the ever-famous “ composition powder,” with which many people tortured themselves, in preference to the calomel and bleeding of the allopaths. Thomson advised it in all discharges from mucous surfaces, especially in lcucorrhoea, dysentery, and nasal catarrh.

From Rafinesque, I find that the Bayberry was used at an early day for “uterine Hemorrhages, hysterical complaints, palsies,

colics, and scrofula.” He says the leaves are “ pectoral, emetic, astringent, nervine, subnarcotic, cephalic, vermifuge, emmenagogue, stomachic,” etc. “ The bark chewed is a good sialagogue ; made into a snuff it is a powerful errhine.” (It forms the basis, nowadays, of all the “catarrh snuffs ” sold in the country.) “The taste of the bark is acrid and stimulating ; in large doses of a drachm it produces a burning sensation and vomiting , sometimes diuresis .”

Dr. Fahnestock announced in 1822 that it was a specific for typhoid dysentery. This valuable property has been confirmed. I have verified it on myself in diarrhoea, and on others in cholera morbus.

The wax procured from the berries is removed from them by boiling in water, upon the top of which it floats. It is a concrete oil, or fatty substance, of a pale green color, about the consistency of beeswax, but more brittle and not so unctuous to the touch, of a faintly balsamic and pleasant odor. It can be made into candles, and burns at a temperature of 109° F., emitting a pleasant perfume. It has also been used as a simple salve for cuts and ulcers ; also as a vehicle for other medicines. One bushel of the berries will yield about four pounds of wax. When the properties of the medicine are fully understood, the $wax may come into use as an external application when it is indicated.

Dr. Coe (eclectic) says : “ While it possesses specific and decided therapeutic properties, it is entirely innoxious in itself.” This assertion is preposterous ! A medicine cannot have therapeutic action, and at the same time no pathogenetic effects. The Myrica cannot be taken as a food, and if not it is a poison, or an agent capable of deranging the normal action of the organism. The same writer says also, “ With the exception of a mild diuretic action, it is never visibly evacuant, except in very large doses, when it sometimes proves emetic.” If Dr. Coe would make an experiment, as did Dr. Walker, he would change his opinion relative to its “ innoxiousness.”

Among the diseases for which Coe recommends the Myrica, are : Aphthous affections of the mucous surfaces, scrofula, diarrhoea, and dysentery (but not until the morbid accumulations have been expelled and the functions of the liver regulated), jaundice, leucorrhoea, suppression of urine ; also ulcers, chancres, fistulous passages, in all of which latter he advises the local application.

But perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Myrica is its power, in connection with Lobelia, of allaying false labor pains. The peculiar therapeutic property here manifested is the result of the combination. Neither will answer the purpose alone. As soon as the pains are ascertained to be spasmodic, place the patient in bed, and administer the following :

Myrica, 15 grains ; Wine tincture Lobelia, one-half ounce ; boiling water, one ounce.

Add the Myrica to boiling water, and after a few minutes the tincture of Lobelia. Exhibit at one dose, and repeat in two hours if necessary. This will seldom or never disappoint the practitioner, and rarely is a second dose necessary. It allays the pains, quiets the nervous system, and postpones parturition to the proper period. Delivery will frequently be delayed from one to four weeks, and the matured energies of the system will then insure a safe and easy accouchement.

I quote the above entire, in order that the homoeopath may see what delectable mixtures an opposing school prescribe ! How many women in the eighth month of pregnancy, threatened with premature labor, could bear such a dose ! If Dr. Coe practiced entirely among the lowest order of people, he may not have seen dangerous aggravations. Yet how can we account for the fact that Dr. Wilkinson, of England, who is §said to be a homoeopathist, quotes this prescription with his sanction (!) Any physician who has ever seen a patient under the action of half an ounce of tincture of Lobelia, need not be told of the distressing nausea, vomiting, and prostration caused by that drug. Imagine it, then, given to a delicate woman threatened with premature labor !

Away with such vile polypharmacy and crude drugging. The second or third attenuation of Caulophyllin, Cimicifuga, Secale, or Aletrin, is all-sufficient in such cases.

This drug was proven several years ago by a Dr. Walker. Twice he brought himself under its pathogenetic influence, and its effects were characteristic and decided. An analysis of its symptoms will show that many of its old applications were according to the law of similars.

The head, nose, and throat symptoms show unmistakably its applicability to catarrhal disorders of those organs.

The gastric, intestinal, and hepatic symptoms were of the greatest

importance. At first there was unnatural hunger, then indigestion, then jaundice, with bronze-yellow skin, fulness of the hepatic region and abdomen; scanty, yellow, frothy urine; loose, mushy, clay-colored stools, destitute of bile; much debility, drowsiness, almost amounting to stupor. This jaundice appeared in both provings. A very suggestive fact occurs in this relation, namely, the statement of old botanic physicians that the Bayberry has cured many cases of “ black jaundice.” I have ventured the opinion, in my previous lectures, that the jaundice was from suspended secretion, and not from obstruction. I believe, however, that the Myrica is homoeopathic to both. The astringent principle causes suppression, and the Berberina the catarrhal condition like that caused by Hydrastis.

The jaundice in this proving was not relieved by Podophyllum, Leptandra, Nux vom., or Mercurius, but was promptly cured by Digitalis, 1* dilution. This remedy was selected because of the slowness and irregularity of the heart’s action — an infallible indication for the use of that remedy in many diseases.

I would recommend you to try it in chronic intestinal catarrh ; for chronic, offensive, irritating leucorrhoea, and all profuse catarrhal discharges of long standing. Its topical use should aid its internal administration.

It has a reputation in old coughs, with profuse expectoration and much irritation of the throat. It should be used by means of a spray or gargle, to granulated eyelids and throat, and ulcerated mouth and throat. In diphtheria as a local application it rivals Guaiacum.

In Dr. Farrington’s comparison of Digitalis and Myrica, he says: “By diminishing the secretion of bile, both develop symptoms of cholsemia, drowsiness, stupor, languor, slow pulse, jaundice, yellow eyes, swollen, heavy lids, clay-colored stools, frothy brownish-yellow urine,” etc.

In both we find indifference, sadness, irritability. Only Myrica has, “ thinks himself better than any one else.”

Digitalis causes serous or jelly-like secretions from the mucous membranes, easily detached. Aphthae, stomatitis, with fetid or sweetish saliva. Myrica causes thick, vitiated mucous secretions, difficult

to detach. Stomatitis, with spongy gums, fetid mucus, mouth coated with an adhesive coating, difficult to loosen.

Both give weak, sinking feeling in the epigastrium after eating; Digitalis, specifically, after breakfast ; Myrica better from rapid walking.

In jaundice Myrica has ash-colored stool, drowsiness, slow pulse, but increased in intensity; dull, aching liver; dragging in back ; tongue dirty, yellow; catarrh of posterior nares. Digitalis differs in having clean tongue, or tongue covered with easily detached slime; pulse slower than- the beating of the heart; hardness in region of liver; yellow in corners of eyelids.

Both cause palpitation while lying on the left side ; constriction of chest; tickling cough, made worse by lying or by talking. But Myrica produces an audible pulsation (more like Chelidonium) ; Digitalis exhibits the quick but small pulse of the weakened heart, laboring under the superadded pressure of the body.

Myrica, with its slow but intensive pulse, shows the system temporarily weakened by blood poisoned with bile, health returning with the resumption of hepatic activity ; Digitalis gives us an enlarged liver, made so by organic heart disease, the enervating bile but intensifying the weakness of organic defect.