Crocus Sativus
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Saffron. Iridaceæ.
Employed by the ancients both as a medicine and a condiment.
The provings are principally by Stapf and Gross, and associate provers. See Encyclopædia, vol. 3, p. 578 .
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Cerebral disturbance , Schmid, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 1, p. 20 ; Headache during climacteric period , H., Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 1, p. 176 ; Ophthalmia , S. Lilienthal, Med. Inv., vol. 7, p. 64 ; Conjunctivitis , T. C. Fanning, Hom. Clinics, vol. 3, p. 21 ; Epistaxis , Landesmann, Raue's Rec., 1873, p. 81 ; Epistaxis (four cases), Hartlaub, Sonnenberg, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 1, p. 412 ; J. Stein, Raue's Rec., 1875, p. 81 ; Gastric disturbances after operation for hemorrhoids , Schmidt, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 1, p. 636 ; Hemorrhage from uterus (five cases), Diez, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 2, p. 307 ; Kopp, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 2, p. 307 ; Metrorrhagia , Werber, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 2, p. 306 ; Metrorr h agia, Camillo Lederer, Raue's Rec., 1874, p. 245 ; Uterine hemorrhage during pregnancy , H. M. Warren, Med. Inv., vol. 5, p. 35 ; Severe after-pains and hemorrhage , G. Schmid, Hom. Clinics, vol. 4, p. 150 ; Hæmoptysis , H. Ring, Raue's Rec., 1874, p. 159 ; Chorea, Gross, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 4, p. 507.
MIND [1]
Child sits or stands up in bed making various quick movements without being conscious of what he is doing ; this is followed by a short interval of quietness, in which he may regain consciousness, but without any knowledge of what has passed ; this remission followed by another attack, and so on ; febrile condition with congestion to head ; eyes fixed and bright ; redness and heat of face ; urine pale and scant ; desires neither food nor drink.
On attempting to write something down, cannot, on account of loss of recollection.
Greatly concerned about his life, believes that he will die, is no longer fit for business. θ Epistaxis.
Extravagant ideas and great loquacity.
Sings involuntarily, on hearing even a single note sung ; laughs at herself, but soon sings again in spite of her determination to stop.
Jumping, dancing, laughing, whistling ; very affectionate, wants to kiss everybody.
Gayety ; uncommon mirth and cheerfulness ; witty.
Changeable disposition, depression and hilarity.
Alternations of excessive happy affectionate tenderness and rage.
Restless, anxious, sorrowful mood ; deep melancholy.
Excessive timidity.
Vexation, contradicted by bursts of laughter.
He takes everything in anger and suddenly repents of having injured others.
Great ill humor ; behavior of relatives and friends excites her to anger, and she is at the point of permitting an outbreak of passion towards them, but at this moment she feels calm ; at next moment this calmness seems a weakness ; she is vexed with herself, and her anger becomes greater than ever ; this very unusual vacillation of mood lasts several hours.
SENSORIUM [2]
Giddiness with fainting.
Vertigo : as if intoxicated, in forehead ; in room, but not in open air ; with confusion ; and heat of whole body ; staggering and giddiness when raising head after lying down at night.
Congestion of head, with nosebleed.
INNER HEAD [3]
Sudden shock in forehead and temples.
Pain in forehead in evening by candlelight, with burning and pressure in eyes.
Sudden broad thrust in right temple, extending deep into brain, causing him to start ; above left frontal eminence, extending deep into brain.
Pulsating pains in left side of head extending into eye.
Sudden cold sensation on left parietal bone, as if a drop of cold water had fallen on it.
When moving head, sensation as if brain was loose.
Congestion of head ; violent throbbing.
Nervous or menstrual headache.
Headache during climacteric period with throbbing, pulsating pains in various parts of head, pressure in eyes, dilatation of vessels of head and of other parts of body ; < during period in which she was accustomed to have menstrual flow, pain continuing at that time two or three days without remission, preventing sleep.
OUTER HEAD [4]
Vertigo when raising head, with heat of body.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Eyes fixed and shining. θ Cerebral disturbance.
Sudden flashes before eyes like electric sparks.
Appearance of a spot jumping up and down before sight.
On reading, the paper looks pale red or rose color, shines.
The light seems dim, as if obscured by a veil.
Acute tearing pain in head and right eye, with dimness of vision, and a sensation as if cold air was rushing through eye.
Sore burning in eyes after reading awhile ; also dimness, must wink frequently.
Pupils much dilated.
Pain in eye to top of head, pain in left eye darting to right ; sensation of cold wind blowing across eyes. θ Sclero-choroiditis post. θ Asthenopia.
A few moments' use of eyes causes feeling in them as if room was filled with smoke ; feeling of dryness and burning, very soon succeeded by lachrymation ; pressure on closed lids relieves somewhat.
Feeling in eyes as if she had been violently weeping, with corresponding appearance of weeping ; beginning in left and extending to right eye ; feeling of something alive and moving in abdomen (r. side). θ Conjunctivitis.
Feeling as though water was constantly coming into eyes, only in room.
Sensation as if she had been looking through too sharp spectacles.
Feeling as of biting smoke in eyes.
Worse from looking fixedly at an object, cannot even thread a needle.
Ophthalmia menstrual in patients of a sanguine temperament, subject to attacks of congestion and inclination to spasms (hysterical) at climacteric period.
Extreme photophobia and most copious lachrymation ; impossible to read without a torrent of tears inundating eyes, so that light gets confused and veiled.
Lachrymation in room ; not in open air.
Constant winking, with tearful suffusion of eyes.
Must wink and wipe eyes frequently, as though a film of mucus was over them.
Twitching of eyelids.
Jerking, twitching and itching in upper lid.
Nightly spasms of lids.
Sensation as if eyelids were swollen.
Inclined to press lids tightly together from time to time.
Heating and lancinating pains in eyes after surgical operations.
HEARING AND EARS [6]
Humming and roaring in ears, causing impairment of hearing, < when stooping.
SMELL AND NOSE [7]
Mild pressure in forehead precedes attack of nosebleed ; he is very anxious, believing that he will die, constant coldness of hands and feet ; towards evening, congestion of blood to head, with warmth of face, quivering in left eyelid, sour taste in mouth, pulse full and quick.
Epistaxis of very tenacious, thick, black blood, every drop drawn into a thread, with cold sweat in large drops on forehead.
Violent sneezing ; coryza with stringy mucus.
Bloody mucus, or dark, stringy blood from nose.
UPPER FACE [8]
Yellowish, sallow color of face. θ Epistaxis. θ Metrorrhagia.
Livid complexion, or circumscribed, burning red spots.
Red, hot face, or alternate redness and paleness.
Redness and heat of face, with congestion to head. θ Cerebral disturbance.
Sensation of warmth in face, with congestion to head and twitching in left eyelid. θ Epistaxis.
LOWER FACE [9]
Lips cracked.
TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE [11]
Tongue moist, dirty and coated in centre. θ Metrorrhagia.
Tongue coated white, papillæ elevated, > after breakfast.
INNER MOUTH [12]
Unusual warmth in mouth.
Sour taste in mouth. θ Epistaxis.
Foul odor from mouth. θ Metrorrhagia.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Feeling as if uvula was elongated, during and when not swallowing.
Elongation of uvula.
Sensation in œsophagus as from a plug.
Scraping in throat in evening before and after, but not during time he takes his food.
Scraping rough throat.
APPETITE, THIRST. DESIRES, AVERSIONS [14]
Excessive thirst for cold drinks ; thirst in evening.
HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING [16]
Eructations, tasteless.
Violent heartburn.
Feeling of nausea in chest and throat.
Nausea, disappearing in open air.
SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH [17]
Great feeling of emptiness in pit of stomach.
Distension of stomach and abdomen.
Sensation of fermentation in stomach, or of motion upward and downward, hither and thither.
Sensation as if something living was jumping about in pit of stomach.
Fulness and bloatedness of stomach ; eructations and rancid pyrosis ; nausea and difficult vomiting of decomposed fluids ; fine cutting pain beginning in cardiac region, extending to and fixing itself in stomach ; abdomen sunken ; no stools during paroxysms ; pulse about 60, intermittent, as also beat of heart ; great dyspnœa ; icteric symptoms. θ After operation for hemorrhoids.
Very violent heartburn.
ABDOMEN AND LOINS [19]
Bloated abdomen.
Sensation in abdomen as if something living was jumping about, with nausea, faintness and shivering.
In night when waking she experiences repeated kicks in l. side of abdomen as from a fetus.
Stitches in abdomen arresting respiration, with uterine inflammation.
Sensation of heaviness in abdomen, with pressing towards uterus.
Cutting pains deep in lower abdomen extending towards small of back. θ Uterine hemorrhage.
Pain in groins.
STOOLS AND RECTUM [20]
Obstinate constipation caused by stagnation in portal system ; costiveness of newborn children when based on venous disturbances.
Stools contain dark, stringy blood.
Sensitive, dull, long stitch near left side of anus, from time to time.
Stitches and itching at anus ; stitch extending from anus through small of back into left groin, < during an inspiration.
Crawling in anus, as from thread worms.
Intolerable writhing in anus affecting whole nervous system painfully.
Urine scant and pale. θ Cerebral disturbance.
MALE SEXUAL ORGANS [22]
Excitement of sexual desire.
FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS [23]
Sensation as if menses would appear, with colic and pressing towards genitals.
Menstruation too early and too profuse.
Uterine flow during new or full moon.
Menses profuse and lasting too long, but come at proper time ; blood dark, clotted, stringy, viscid.
Dysmenorrhœa, with dark, stringy blood ; sensation of commotion in stomach upward and downward, hither and thither, during painful menstruation.
After non-appearance of menses for ten weeks, sudden severe bearing down pains in abdomen and small of back with severe hemorrhage ; blood flowing in large, black, coagulated masses from uterus, greatly exhausting patient.
Menses suppressed ; sensation of rolling or tumbling in abdomen.
After dancing or a long walk during catamenia, with or without pain, when there is a discharge of dark, stringy blood ; it comes away in dark or black strings ; sense of rolling or bounding in stomach or abdomen ; violent cephalic throbbing.
Nervous excitement ; palpitation of heart ; fearfulness.
Metrorrhagia of dark, viscid, stringy blood, in black clots, or after overheating, straining or lifting, also after abortion or delivery ; < from slightest motion.
Daily discharge of bright red blood, viscid, slimy, coagulated, with vertigo, pains in head, stitches in both sides under false ribs, frequent palpitation ; small and frequent pulse, pains in back and great exhaustion.
Leucorrhœa with paroxysms of acute stitches from pudendum to right thigh, as if a knife was suddenly thrust into these parts every now and then, gradually penetrating into the parts and with increasing pain.
PREGNANCY. PARTURITION. LACTATION [24]
Imaginary pregnancy.
Motions of child are felt too violently, and are painful.
Threatened abortion, especially when there is a hemorrhage of dark, stringy blood ; miscarriage third month.
Quarter of an hour after delivery, placenta still remaining, blood in large clots ; womb dilated, soft ; fainting ; pale as death ; pulseless, extremities cold as ice. θ Post-partum hemorrhage.
Lochia dark, stringy ; abdomen distended.
Discharge composed of black strings ; as fast as blood flows from vulva it is formed into black, string-like masses.
Offensive smelling uterine hemorrhage ; or when the patient, in consequence of long-continued hemorrhage, has fallen into a state of nervous erethism.
RESPIRATION [26]
Oppression of chest, with desire to draw a long breath, > by yawning.
Offensive, sickly odor of breath.
COUGH [27]
Violent attack of exhausting dry cough, relieved by laying hand on pit of stomach.
Cough, with spitting of dark, stringy blood.
INNER CHEST AND LUNGS [28]
Heaviness of chest, must frequently take a deep breath.
Sensation as if something living was hopping in chest.
Jumping, as if from something living in lower portion of right chest, as if beneath the ribs.
Dull stitches in left chest.
HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION [29]
Anxious palpitation of heart. θ Uterine hemorrhage.
Palpitation of heart on going up-stairs ; great debility.
Pulse : feverish, accelerated ; full and quick (epistaxis) ; slow, scarcely 60 (cerebral disturbance) ; weak and intermitting, hardly accelerated (metrorrhagia) ; pulseless.
Excited circulation. θ Hemorrhages.
OUTER CHEST [30]
Peculiar jerking pain in interior of left breast, as if drawn towards the back by means of a thread.
NECK AND BACK [31]
Swelling of neck.
Sensation of coldness in back.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Pain on moving upper arm, as if head of humerus was loose and easily dislocated ; cracking.
Sensation as if arms and hands had gone to sleep.
The arms (forearm) feel heavy, as if bruised.
Burning, tingling and tension in tips of fingers.
Chilblains on hands and fingers.
LOWER LIMBS [33]
Sudden concussion in buttocks as from a fall, while sitting.
Violent cracking of hip or knee joint, when stooping.
Great sensation of weariness in knee joint and lower legs.
Knees give way.
Trembling of feet on falling asleep.
Burning and tingling of feet.
Aching of soles from standing.
Chilblains on toes.
LIMBS IN GENERAL [34]
Limbs go to sleep (at night).
Constant coldness of hands and feet. θ Epistaxis.
Extremities cold as ice. θ Metrorrhagia.
REST. POSITION. MOTION [35]
Sitting : sudden concussion in buttocks, as from a fall.
Motion : metrorrhagia < from slightest.
Raising head after lying down : staggering and giddiness ; vertigo.
On moving head : as if brain was loose.
On moving upper arm : pain, as if head of humerus was loose and easily dislocated.
Stooping : < humming and roaring in ears ; violent cracking of hip or knee joint.
On going up-stairs : palpitation of heart.
Child sits or stands up in bed, making various quick movements, without being conscious of what he is doing.
After dancing or long walk during catamenia, blood dark and stringy, bounding in stomach or abdomen, violent cephalic throbbing.
NERVES [36]
Great nervous exaltation and depression.
Excessive prostration and weariness in evening, as from severe physical exertion, accompanied by great sleepiness, with feeling as if eyelids were swollen ; literary occupation relieves.
Fainting. θ Epistaxis. θ Metrorrhagia.
Hysteria ; excessive mirth and cheerfulness alternating with melancholy ; childish follies ; pleasant dementia, with paleness and headache.
Jerking in muscles.
Spasmodic contractions of single sets of muscles.
Chorea, every seven days, with great hilarity, singing and dancing.
SLEEP [37]
Continuous yawning and desire to sleep.
Drowsiness ; somnolency ; sleepiness daytime, after meals.
Sings in sleep.
Dreams ; confused ; frightful.
TIME [38]
In daytime : sleepiness.
In afternoon : chill, growing < towards evening, with shivering and trembling.
Towards evening : violent heat over whole body, great thirst, chill <.
In evening : pain in forehead ; when reading, sees as through a gauze ; congestion of blood to head, quivering in left eyelid, sour taste in mouth, pulse full and quick ; scraping in throat ; thirst ; excessive prostration, weariness and sleepiness.
At night : staggering and giddiness when raising head after lying down ; when waking, as of kicking of fetus in left side of abdomen ; limbs go to sleep ; sweat.
TEMPERATURE AND WEATHER [39]
In room : vertigo ; lachrymation.
In hot weather : epistaxis.
Open air : nausea > ; desire for.
Cold drinks : excessive thirst for.
FEVER [40]
Chill in afternoon, growing < towards evening, with shivering from back down legs ; trembling.
Chilliness, only on back part of body.
Thirst, with chill and heat.
Flushes of internal heat, prickling and crawling in skin.
Heat, principally of head and face, with paleness of cheeks and thirst.
Heat in face and in front of head.
Heat, intense redness of face, distension of bloodvessels.
Violent heat over whole body, chiefly in head, with redness of face and great thirst, without much dryness of mouth ; towards evening.
Internal heat and great anguish. θ Metrorrhagia.
Sweat scant, only at night, and then cold and debilitating.
Sweat only on lower half of body.
Continual foul-smelling sweat, which aggravates the debility. θ Hemorrhage after confinement.
ATTACKS, PERIODICITY [41]
Sudden : shock in forehead and temples ; broad thrust in right temple, or above left frontal eminence ; cold sensation on left parietal bone ; flashes before eyes like electric sparks ; severe bearing down pains in abdomen and small of back, after non-appearance of menses.
Frequent : winking ; palpitation ; drawing a long breath ; changes in sensations.
Constant : winking ; coldness of hands and feet ; yawning and desire to sleep ; foul-smelling sweat.
Nightly : spasms of lids.
Every seven days : chorea.
During new or full moon : uterine flow.
For two or three days : headache during climacteric period.
For twenty-two days : hemorrhage from uterus.
For six weeks : daily discharge of blood, with disturbed menses.
For three months : discharge of blood from uterus.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Right : sudden broad thrust in temple ; acute tearing pain in eye, and sensation as if cold air was rushing through eye ; as if something was alive and moving in side of abdomen ; stitches from pudendum to thigh ; jumping, as from something living in lower portion of chest, as if beneath ribs.
Left : sudden broad thrust above frontal eminence ; pulsating pains in side of head, extending into eye ; sudden cold sensation in parietal bone ; quivering in eyelid ; as of kicking of fetus in side of abdomen ; stitch near side of anus ; stitch from anus through small of back into groin ; dull stitches in chest ; jerking in interior of breast.
From left to right eye : pains darting ; feeling as if she had been weeping, with corresponding appearances.
SENSATIONS [43]
As if a drop of cold water had fallen on left parietal bone ; as if brain was loose ; as if cold air was rushing through right eye ; as if cold wind was blowing across eyes ; as if room was filled with smoke ; as if she had been violently weeping ; as if something was alive and moving in abdomen ; as though water was coming constantly into eyes ; as if she had been looking through too sharp spectacles ; as of biting smoke in eyes ; as though a film of mucus was over eyes ; as if eyelids were swollen ; as if uvula was elongated ; as of a plug in œsophagus ; as of fermentation in stomach, or of motion upward and downward, hither and thither ; as if something living was jumping about in pit of stomach, or in abdomen ; as of kicking of fetus in left side of abdomen ; as if menses would appear, with colic or pressing towards genitals ; as of rolling and tumbling in abdomen ; as if a knife was suddenly thrust into pudendum and right thigh, gradually penetrating into these parts with increasing pain ; as of something living and hopping in chest, also in lower portion of right chest, as if beneath ribs ; as if left breast was drawn towards back by means of thread ; as if head of humerus was loose and would be easily dislocated ; as if hands and arms were gone to sleep ; arms as if bruised.
Pain : in forehead ; in eye to top of head ; in groins ; in head ; in back.
Stitches : in abdomen ; sensitive, dull, long, near left side of anus ; in anus ; from anus through small of back into left groin ; in both sides under false ribs ; from pudendum to right thigh ; dull in left chest.
Thrust : sudden broad, in right temple, extending deep into brain ; above left frontal eminence.
Lancinating : in eyes.
Cutting : in cardiac region, extending to and fixing itself in stomach ; in lower abdomen extending towards small of back.
Jerking : in upper lid ; in interior of left breast ; in muscles.
Tearing : in head and right eye.
Concussion : sudden, in buttocks as from a fall.
Shock : sudden, in forehead and temples.
Burning : in eyes ; red spots on face ; of feet ; in skin.
Burning-tingling : in tips of fingers.
Sore burning : in eyes.
Pulsating pains : in left side of head extending into eye ; in various parts of head.
Throbbing : in various parts of head.
Writhing : intolerable, in anus, affecting whole nervous system painfully.
Twitching : in upper lid.
Quivering : in left eyelid.
Scraping : in throat.
Bearing down : in abdomen and small of back.
Aching : of soles from standing.
Tension : in tips of fingers.
Oppression : of chest.
Pressure : in eyes ; in forehead ; towards uterus.
Heaviness : in abdomen ; of chest ; of arms as if bruised.
Weariness : in knee joints and lower legs.
Heartburn : violent.
Tingling : of feet ; in skin.
Crawling : in anus, as from thread worms ; in skin.
Prickling : in skin.
Itching : in upper lid ; in anus.
Dryness : in eyes.
Fulness : of stomach.
Emptiness : in pit of stomach.
Nausea : in chest and throat.
Warmth : in face ; in mouth.
Heat : in eyes ; in face and head.
Coldness : on left parietal bone ; in back ; of hands and feet.
TISSUES [44]
Irritation and congestion of brain, causing hysterical mania, congestion of womb and metrorrhagia.
Hemorrhage from various parts, blood black, viscid, clotting, forming itself into long, black strings, hanging from the bleeding orifice.
Tumors, with ulceration and characteristic bleeding.
TOUCH. PASSIVE MOTION. INJURIES [45]
Laying hand on pit of stomach : > attacks of exhausting dry cough.
Pressure : on closed lids > dryness and burning in eyes.
Inclined to press lids tightly together from time to time.
Bruised parts : painful suppuration.
SKIN [46]
Pricking, crawling, burning and tingling in skin.
Scarlet redness of whole body, or scarlet spots on skin.
Painful suppuration of bruised parts, old, cicatrized wounds reopen and suppurate.
Lipoma and encephaloma of scalp.
Chilblains.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Frequent and great changes in sensations ; the feelings changing suddenly from greatest hilarity to deepest despondency.
Especially suitable for women.
Headache during climacteric period.
Epistaxis in children who develop too rapidly or slowly.
Boy, æt. 10, whose father died suddenly in insane asylum ; a febrile condition with congestion to head, followed by cerebral disturbances, after awaking from a sleep.
Girl, æt. 10, lively disposition ; chorea.
Girl, æt. 20, hemorrhagic diathesis ; bright red epistaxis, particularly in hot weather.
Woman, æt. 36, haggard and weak ; for three months discharge of blood from uterus.
Woman, æt. 36, good constitution, poorly nourished, after an apparent abortion ; hemorrhage from uterus for 22 days.
Woman, æt. 38, pale, thin, of slender build, menstrual function disturbed, menses lasting three weeks ; for six weeks daily discharge of blood.
Woman, æt. 40, with tendency to hemorrhoids, after non-appearance of menses for ten weeks in consequence of which she imagines herself pregnant ; uterine hemorrhage.
Mrs. M., æt. 48, medium size, fair skin, blue eyes, light hair, mild and sensitive disposition ; hæmoptysis.
Man, æt. 50, subject to hemorrhoids, for which he had undergone an operation ; icteric symptoms, with gastric disturbance.
Man, æt. 56, strongly built, able ; epistaxis.
Man, æt. 70 ; epistaxis, in spells, without apparent cause.
RELATIONS [48]
Antidoted by Acon., Bellad., Opium .
Compatible : with Cinchon . at intervals has cured many cases of menorrhagia ; Nux vom., Pulsat., Sulphur .
Compare : Acon., Act. rac., Bellad., Calcar., Fluor. ac . (sensation of cold wind blowing across eyes), Ipec., Ignat., Laches . (pains in eye to top of head), Nux vom., Opium, Platin., Pulsat., Rhus tox., Ruta, Sabina, Sepia and Sulphur .