Sanguinaria appears in 11 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.
“Bloodroot. (Papaveraceae.) The periodical sick headache; begins in morning, increases during the day, lasts until evening; head feels as if it would burst, or as if eyes would be pressed out; relieved by sleep . American sick headache, > by perfect quiet in a dark room ("tired headache" from over mental or physical…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Sanguinaria Canadensis, Linn. Natural order , Papaveraceæ. Common names , Blood-root, Puccoon, etc. Preparation , Tincture of the root. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 6 , from Dr. Downey's Thesis).”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Blood Root (SANGUINARIA) Is a right-sided remedy pre-eminently, and affects chiefly the mucous membranes, especially of the respiratory tract. It has marked vaso-motor disturbances, as seen in the circumscribed redness of the cheeks, flashes of heat, determination of blood to head and chest, distention of temporal…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“RIGHT SIDE: Head. LIVER. Chest. Deltoid. VASO-MOTORS. Capillaries. Mucous membranes. Stomach. Periodically: WITH SUN. Weekly. Night. Climaxis. Odors. Jar. Light. Raising arms. Looking up. SLEEP. Lying on back. Vomiting. Cool air. Passing flatus. Redness ; abdominal; tongue, etc. BURNING HEAT AND EBULLITIONS. Dry…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“canadensis. Blood-root. Puccoon. N. O. Papaveraceæ. Tincture of fresh root. (The resin, leaves, seeds, seed-vessels, powdered root, and expressed juice have also been used.) Acetum. Alcoholism / Aphonia / Asthma / Breast, tumour of / Bronchitis / Cancer / Catarrh / Chest, pains in / Climaxis / Cold / Croup / Deafness…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Bloodroot. Papaveraceæ. Introduced by G. Bute. Experiments by Downey, Inaugural Dissertation, 1803 ; Tully, Prize Essay, Am. Med. Recorder, 1828 ; Bute, Freitag, Jeanes, Huseman, Helfrich, Hering's Compilation, N. Archiv für Hom., vol. 2, p. 114 ; Tinker, Trans. Am. Inst., 1870 ; Billing, Thesis ; also symptoms by…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Generalities: Blood root is an old domestic remedy. A great many eastern farmers' wives will not go into the winter without blood root in the house. In the cold winter days, when the coryzas come on, a " cold " in the head, throat and chest, then they get the blood root ready and make a tea of it. With them it is a…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Angry irritability; moroseness. Anxiety preceding the vomiting. Vertigo, when moving the head rapidly and looking upward, with nausea; ringing in the ears. Congestion of blood to the head, with ringing in the ears; flushes of heat accumulation of water in the mouth. Headache, with rheumatic pains and stiffness of the…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: blood root. Is pre-eminently a rightsided remedy (Bell., Lyc.) (D.). Acts intensely on the right lung and chest (N.). Roundish or oval, whitish and raised patches on the mucous membrane of the nose, mouth, prepuce and anus (Bt.). Burning in the palms and soles (Ars., Lach., Phos., Sep., Sulph.) (D.)…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Pain beginning in occiput; spreads over the head and settles over the right eye, with nausea and vomiting. Sensitive to noise and light. Loose cough with badly smelling sputa; the breath and sputa smell badly to the patient himself. Pain in right arm and shoulder; worse at night in bed; cannot raise the arm. Also pain…”
