Chenopodium Anthelminticum
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Worm Seed. Chenopodiaceæ.
A rank, odorous plant, known by the names Worm seed, Stinking weed and Jerusalem oak, grows about waste places in almost all parts of the United States. The tincture is prepared from the fresh herb in flower. The seeds of this species of Chenopodium are in common use as a vermifuge. Chenopodium ambrosoides , sometimes confounded with anthelminticum , has been employed as a remedy in hysterical nervous affections, particularly chorea, and in Frank's Magazine, vol. ii, is reported a case of paralysis of the tongue, in and old woman, after apoplexy, which had lasted several years ; one of aphasia in a young man suffering from nervous prostration after smallpox ; one of hemiplegia in a girl, æt 10, after scarlatina, and in vol. iii, another of paralysis of both feet in a man, æt. 52. In Oestr. Med. Wochenschrift, 1842, No. 28, is reported a cure of right-sided hemiplegia with aphasia in a primipara, æt. 35, of eight weeks' duration. Another species, Chenopodium Botrys, has been used in France in catarrh and humoral asthma.
For remarks by Jeanes (proving by chewing the seed), see Raue's Record, 1872, p. 30.
To Jacob Jeanes the profession is indebted for the principal characteristic of this remedy, the infrascapular pain, right side ; the same was verified in his proving by olfaction, also clinically by C. Hg.
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Hemicrania and Tonsillitis , C. Hering, MSS. ; Asthma , Jeanes, Hahnemann Monthly, vol. 6, p. 332 ; Suppressed menstruation , G. Bute, MSS.
MIND [1]
Weeping mood. θ Suppressed menses.
SENSORIUM [2]
Vertigo with transient vanishing of sight. θ Hemicrania.
Sense of giddiness in forehead accompanies infrascapular pain.
INNER HEAD [3]
Pain in head and eyes ; neuralgia.
Pain in whole right side of head, with roaring in ears and dimness or complete loss of vision. θ Hemicrania.
Dull, pressive pain in vertex, extending through head.
(OBS :) Megrim and frontal headache.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Vanishing of sight. θ Hemicrania. θ Suppressed menses.
HEARING AND EARS [6]
Roaring in ears ; deafness ; ringing in ears.
SMELL AND NOSE [7]
Papular eruption on lower portion of right naris between ala and column.
UPPER FACE [8]
Pale face, infrascapular pain right side.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Subacute inflammation of tonsils.
Chronic enlargement of tonsils in pale, scrofulous children.
Caseous deposits, with painful inflammation of tonsils.
HYPOCHONDRIA [18]
(OBS :) Hepatic affections.
URINARY ORGANS [21]
Slight pain in region of kidneys.
FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS [23]
Menses suppressed ; has leucorrhœa instead.
VOICE AND LARYNX. TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA [25]
Soreness in larynx, cannot sing. θ Suppressed menses.
A rough furry feeling in throat. θ Suppressed menses.
RESPIRATION [26]
Difficulty of breathing. θ Suppressed menses.
INNER CHEST AND LUNGS [28]
Pains through breast, under right scapula, and in right shoulder.
Pain through right chest, beginning at the attachment of the sixth rib to its cartilage and extending to inferior angle of right scapula.
(OBS :) Cough, with expectoration and rattling of phlegm.
NECK AND BACK [31]
Pain beneath the point of the right shoulder blade, with sense of giddiness in forehead, ringing in ears and pale face.
Slight dull pain a little lower down than the inferior angle of the right scapula, but nearer the spine. θ Hemicrania. θ Asthma.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Pain in right shoulder.
FEVER [40]
(OBS :) Fever after a fright.
ATTACKS, PERIODICITY [41]
Attacks of right-sided hemicrania return at intervals of from one to five weeks.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Right : pain in side of head ; eruption in naris ; pains under scapula and in shoulder ; pain through chest to inferior angle of scapula.
SENSATIONS [43]
Pain : in right side of head ; in region of kidneys ; through breast ; under right scapula ; in right shoulder ; through right chest.
Neuralgic pain : in head and eyes.
Soreness : in larynx.
Dull pain : below inferior angle of right scapula, near spine.
Dull pressive pain : in vertex and through head.
Rough, furry feeling in throat.
SKIN [46]
(OBS :) Dropsy.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Pale, scrofulous children, with inflamed and swollen tonsils.
Mary S., æt. about 20 ; suppressed menstruation.
A man, æt. 35 ; hemicrania.
Old lady ; asthma.
RELATIONS [48]
Compare : Pimpinella saxifraga (tonsillitis), Chel. maj . (r. infrascapular pain), Aphis chenopodii glauci (l. infrascapular pain).