Ignatia amara appears in 12 of the 13 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.
- Allen HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“St. Ignatius Bean. (Loganiaceae) Especially suited to nervous temperament; women of a sensitive, easily excited nature; dark hair and skin but mild disposition, quick to percieve, rapid in execution. In striking contrast with the fair complexion, yielding, lachrymose, but slow and indecisive, Pulsatilla. The remedy of…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Strychnos Ignatia, Bergius (Ignatia amara, Linn., formerly applied to this plant, seems to belong to one entirely different; see Flückiger and Hanbury, Pharmacographia, p. 387, note). Natural order , Loganiaceæ. Common names , St. Ignatius's bean; Faba Sancti Ignatii. Preparation , Triturations of the bean…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“St. Ignatius Bean (IGNATIA) Produces a marked hyperæsthesia of all the senses, and a tendency to clonic spasms. Mentally, the emotional element is uppermost, and co-ordination of function is interfered with . Hence, it is one of the chief remedies for hysteria. It is especially adapted to the nervous temperament-women…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“MIND. NERVOUS SYSTEM. Cerebro - spinal axis. EMOTIONS: GRIEFS. Chagrin. WORRY. Fright. Shock. AIR: Open. Cold. Odors. Touch. Coffee. Tobacco. Position: Change of. Lying on part. Urination. If alone. Pressure. ERRATIC, CONTRADICTORY OR SPASMODIC EFFECTS; often violent; with rigidity, twitchings, tremor, etc.; during…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“amara. (Strychnos ignatia? Strychnos multiflora?-The actual tree from which the so-called "beans" are obtained is not known.) Faba indica. St. Ignatius' Bean. (Philippine Islands.) N. O. Loganiaceæ. Tincture and trituration of the seeds. Abdomen, distended / Anger, effects of / Anus, affections of / Anxiety /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Loganiaceæ. Bean of St. Ignatius. A species of strychos native to the Phillipine Islands. The tree bears a pear-shaped fruit, containing intensely bitter seed, from which is obtained the alcoholic tincture. Introduced and proved by Hahnemann and his provers. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 5, p. 66 . CLINICAL…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Ignatia is frequently required and is especially suited to sensitive, delicate women and children; to hysterical women. You will not cure the natural hysterics with Ignatia, but you will cure those gentle, sensitive, fine fibred, refined, highly educated, overwrought women in their nervous complaints with Ignatia when…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Bad effects from fright and sorrow, offenses and unfortunate love affairs. Fickleness. Pain, as from the pressing of a pointed hard body from the inside to the outside. Pressing asunder or constriction in internal organs. Spasmodic and hysterical complaints. Convulsive twitches. Spasmodic yawning. Convulsions with…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Sensitiveness of feeling; delicate conscientiousness. Fearfulness, timidity. Irresoluteness; anxious; to do now this, now that. The slightest contradiction irritates. Intolerance of noise. Taciturn, with continuous sad thoughts; still, serious melancholy, with moaning. Anger, followed by quiet grief and sorrow…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: st. ignatius bean. Especially suited to women of a sensitive, easily excited nature (Puls.) (A.). BAD EFFECTS FROM FRIGHT AND SORROW, OFFENCES AND UNFORTUNATE LOVE AFFAIRS. In talking or chewing they bite themselves in the cheek or tongue (N.). The remedy of great contradictions: the roaring in the ears…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Remedy of paradoxicalities. Head better lying on painful side, moody, goneness not > by eating, sore throat < by swallowing, thirst during chill, face red during chill, etc. Sad, sighing, changeable, moody disposition. Twitchings or spasms, or convulsions from exciting or depressing emotions, fright, etc. All-gone…”
