Sarsaparilla 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.
“Wild Liquorice. (Smilaceae) For dark-haired persons, lithic or sycotic diathesis. Great emaciation: skin becomes shriveled or lies in folds (Abrot., Iod., Nat. m., Sanic.). Headache and periosteal pains generally from mercury, syphilis or suppressed gonorrhoea. In children; face like old people; enlarged abdomen; dry…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Smilax officinalis, H. B. K. (probably), (the brown Sarsaparilla from Jamaica, St. Domingo, etc.). Natural order , Smilaceæ. Preparation , Triturations of the dried root. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 7 , from Hahnemann, Chr. Krn.). [Dr. C. Wesselhœft's translation, as found in Hering's Materia Medica, is adopted, with…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Smilax (SARSAPARILLA) Renal colic; marasmus and periosteal pains due to venereal disease. Eruptions following hot weather and vaccinations; boils, and eczema. Urinary symptoms well marked. Despondent, sensitive, easily offended, ill humored and taciturn. Pains cause depression . Shooting pain from above right temporal…”
- Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“CALCULI, atheroma, etc. EMACIATION RETRACTED, depressed, drawn back, etc. SEASON, Spring URINARY ORGANS”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Wild Liquorice. The rhizome of several species of Smilax. (The Officinal Sarsæ radix is imported from Jamaica.) N. O. Smilaceæ (by some classed as a sub-order of the Liliaceæ). Triturations and tincture of the dried rhizome. Asthma / Bladder, affections of / Bones, affections of / Breast, scirrhus of / Bright's…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Wild Liquorice. Smilaceæ. Proved by Hahnemann, Hermann, Teuthorn, Brunner, Nenning, Schreter, Chronische Krankheiten ; Hancock, Krahmer, Pehrson, Hering's Monograph ; Berridge, N. Am. J. of Hom., 1872 ; Am. Obs., 1875 ; The Organon, vol. 1, p. 107. CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Melancholia , Neidhard, Raue's Rec., 1870, p…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Generalities : Sarsaparilla is suitable in low forms of chronic disease, especially in complex states resulting from mixed miasms; especially in cases of sycosis and syphilis; cases made complex by Mercury , sycosis syphilis, and psora. Weakness stamps itself on the whole economy, as in Merc., Lach . and other…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Changeable disposition. Morose, with inclination to work. The mental depression is caused by the pains. Giddiness; when looking long at an object; or with nausea and sour vomiting. Headache, with nausea and sour vomiting. Stinging or pressing stinging or pulsating headache. Sound in the head as if a bell were…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: sarsaparilla. Useful in periosteal pain due to syphilis (Asaf., Aur., Mezer.) (Bl.). Headache and periosteal pains from mercury, syphilis, or suppressed gonorrhœa (A.). Dry, itch-like eruptions, prone to appear in the spring; become crusty (A.). Herpetic eruptions on all parts of the body (A.). Eruptions…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“White sand in urine; also slimy or flaky urine. Much pain at the conclusion of passing urine; almost unbearable. Marasmus; neck emaciates and skin lies in folds. Sarsaparilla is another remedy which has excruciating neuralgia of the kidneys. Renal colic and passage of gravel and formation of vesicle calculi. Dr…”
