Secale cornutum 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.
“Spurred Rye; Ergot. (A Fungus; a Nosode.) Adapted to women of thin, scrawny, feeble, cachetic appearance ; irritable, nervous temperament; pale, sunken countenance. Very old, decrepit, feeble persons. Women of very lax muscular fibre; everything seems loose and open; no action; vessels flabby ; passive haemorrhages…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Spurred rye; Ergot of rye. The fungus Claviceps purpurea , Tulasne, is the cause of this disease in rye (and in other grasses), see Lolium. Moisture favors the development of this fungus; epidemics, known as Raphania, Kriebelkrankheit, etc., are traced to the use of rye flour poisoned by this fungus. Preparation for…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Ergot (CLAVICEPS PURPUREA) Produces contraction of the unstriped muscular fibers; hence a constringent feeling throughout the whole body. This produces an anæmic condition, coldness, numbness, petechiæ, mortification, gangrene. A useful remedy for old people with shriveled skin-thin, scrawny old women. All the Secale…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“Muscles: BLOOD-VESSELS. UTERUS. BLOOD. Nerves. Cord. Limbs. WARMTH. During menses. Pregnancy. Loss of fluids. COVERS. Cold; bathing. Uncovering. Rocking. Forcible extension. Dusky, scrawny and heamorrhagic. Numbness, insufferable tingling, crawling, twitching, gnawing or cramping; with stiffness; in single parts…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Spurred Rye. Ergot of Rye. [The black, horn-like spur into which the grains of Rye (Secale cereale, N. O. Gramineæ) are changed by the fungus Claviceps purpurea.] N. O. Fungi. Tincture of The fresh spurs collected just before harvest. Abortion, threatened / After-pains / Albuminuria / Anus, incontinence of; open /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Ergot ; Spurred Rye. A Fungus. The alcoholic tincture is prepared from the fresh ergot, gathered shortly before harvest. This remedy awaits proving. Toxocological reports and effects of the rye disease are extensive. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 8, p. 551 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Asthenopia , Willebrand, B. J. H…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“The best provers of Secale, those who are most susceptible to its action, are scrawny people, and they are the ones who will most likely need it as their curative remedy. Aspect: Of course, it is not necessarily contra-indicated in fat people. Certain constitutions are mentioned in connection with a remedy as being…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Limbs feel as if beaten. Spasms after fright. Drawing and tearing in the limbs with tingling. Burning in all the parts as from sparks falling on them. Numbness of the limbs. Great debility. Convulsive twitching of the limbs mostly at night. Spasmodic tension in the limbs relieved by violent stretching of them. Asiatic…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Great anxiety. Madness, with inclination to drawn oneself. Mania, with inclination to bite. Fear of death. Stupefaction and unconsciousness. Giddiness, as from intoxication. Stupefaction, with tingling in the head and pain in the limbs, which are worse from motion. Unconsciousness with heavy sleep, preceded by…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: ergot. Particularly useful in tall, scrawny women of lax muscular fibre, feeble, cachectic, or very old decrepit persons (N.). Varicose ulcers wonderfully cured by the action of this medicine. Spasmodic tension in the limbs, relieved by violent stretching of them. Burning in all parts as from sparks…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Passive hemorrhage, everything open and loose, no action, in thin, scrawny, cachectic women. Great coldness (objective) of the surface, yet the patient cannot bear to be covered. Numbness, crawling and paralysis; formication as of mice creeping there, all parts of body. Secale cornutum is a remedy capable of great…”
