Mentha piperita, Huds.

Natural order , Labiatæ.

Common name , Peppermint.

Preparation Tincture of whole plant.

Authority.

Dr. Demeures, Journ. de la Soc. Gall., first series, IV, p. 115, symptoms observed from one drops of the tincture.

MIND

Eager for work, and dispatches it quickly (soon).
All my life, after rising earlier than usual in the morning, my head has felt heavy and my ideas have ben confused for some time, so that I could scarcely study. Since this proving, I have been able to rise as early as I wished without misgiving, always finding that I had slept enough, even after going to bed late, and my mind clear and ready for work.

HEAD

Confusion of the head (soon).
Headache, beginning in the morning; tension towards both ears, especially the right (second day).
No headache while in bed, but on rising to see what time it was, headache from one ear to the other; on returning to bed the pain ceased, but came back when I got up, at 7 o'clock (third day).
Acute lancinations from ear to ear, on stooping or turning the head (third day).
Frontal headache from one temple to the other, on waking at night (third day).
Very sharp pain in the left temple when writing; it soon ceases (third day).
The hair, which previously was falling out very fast, now stays in (twenty-second day).

EYE. [10.]

Flashes before the eyes when writing, although I had written but little (twenty-first day).

EAR

All day when walking, shooting from one ear to the other, as if abscesses were forming in them, especially in the left ear (second day).
When writing, sharp lancinations in the left ear, which extend to all the teeth on that side (third day).

NOSE

Tip of nose sore to touch (eleventh day); swollen, but not painful (twenty-first day).

MOUTH

Very severe toothache in the lower molars, when chewing a bit sugar; it soon passed off (third day).

THROAT

Throat dry and painful when swallowing, as if a pin were sticking crosswise in the pharynx (second day).
Momentary lancinations in the parotid glands; the pains cease during breakfast and dinner (second day).
When fingering the neck, it is painfully sensitive to touch (second day).

STOMACH

In the evening, two hours after dinner, feeling of weight in the stomach, which seems to extend to the ears (second day).

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

The entire trachea, from the larynx to the pit of the throat, is painful to touch (second day). [20.]
Husky voice from reading aloud (after five hours).
Given to a singer a few hours before he is to sing, this remedy will certainly enable him to hold out to the end without straining his voice.
Frequent cough (third day). Dry cough, excited by merely speaking; expectoration every morning of thick mucus like the core of a boil (fourth to eighth day).

*Dry cough continues; it is not caused by titillation, nor by mucous accumulations in the bronchi, but merely by the passage of air into the larynx (ninth day). The least feeling of cold excites a cough (eleventh to twenty-first days). Cough still troublesome; excited by reading aloud, exposure to cold, tobacco-smoke, and smoke of all kinds (twenty-eighth to forty-sixth days). Cough still continues (third month). [I cured with this remedy every case of influenza which came under my care during the winter of 1847-8. It is to dry cough, however caused, what

Arnica is to injuries and Aconite to inflammatory complaints. It relieves even the cough of consumptives. A single dose (one globule of the 30th) was always sufficient whenever there was dry cough; however long it might have lasted, I could safety promise a cure in twenty-four hours, provided the affection corresponded with that caused by this agent.]

NECK

All the muscles around the neck are painful to touch (third day).

INFERIOR EXTREMITIES

Sensation under the right foot, at the extremity of the metatarsus, as if the shoe-sole was too thick at that place, and made walking painful (twenty-eighth to forty-sixth days).

SKIN

Liability of the skin to inflammation; every scratch becomes a sore (eleventh to twenty-first days).
Pimple, with much itching, near left ear, with heat of the part; in the evening (ninth day).
Formication in the arm and hand when writing (twenty-first day).
Frequent itching behind the lobe of the right ear, compelling to scratch (eleventh to twenty-first days).

SLEEP

Good sleep (after five hours). [30.]
Sleep good, refreshing, and quiet.
Wakes very early in the morning (third day).

CONDITIONS

Aggravation.
( Cold air ), Cough.
( Rising from bed ), Headache.
( Smoke ), Cough.
( Stooping ), Pain from ear to ear.
( Turning head ), Pain from ear to ear.
( Writing ), Pain in temple; flashes before eyes; pain in ear.
Amelioration.
( During a meal ), Pain in parotid glands.

SUPPLEMENT: MENTHA PIPERITA. Authority.

2 , P. C. Remondino, M.D., Med. and Surg. Reporter, vol. xiv, 1866, p. 278, a boy, aged six years, took between 1 and 2 ounces of the essence, and died in two hours.

Insensible (after five minutes). Motionless; limbs relaxed; slow, full pulse; stertorous breathing; cold skin; livid lips; immovable pupils; eyes fixed (in twenty minutes), 2.

Mentha Piperita