Pæonia

Pæonia officinalis, Linn.

Natural order , Ranunculaceæ.

Common names (G.), Pfingstrose, Gichtrose; (Fr.), Pivoine.

Preparation , Tincture of the root, dug in spring (preparations from the root dug in August proved inert), (Geyer, Hygeia, 21, 305).

Authorities.

1 , Praktischen Mitthl. d. Corresp. Gesellschft. Hom. Aerzte, 1827; 2 , Helbig, a; 3 , Helbig, b; 4 , Geyer, effects of 6 to 18 drops of tincture; 5 , Heger, effects of 8 to 110 drops of tincture and 1 and 2 grains of dried sediment from tincture; 6 , Schelling, A. H. Z., 28, 182, effects of expressing the juice; 7 , Oppenheim, Zeit., 1850 (Viertljhrschft für Hom., 2, 474, effects of a cupful of a decoction of the flowers taken by a girl of nineteen for suppression of the menses).

MIND

• Slight delirium (fifth day), 7.
• Great nervous excitement, 7.
• Apprehension (second day), 4.
• Great internal anxiety and apprehension, without cause, in the evening (first day), 4.
• Depression, 7.
• Very irritable and depressed, without cause, after 5 P.M. (second day), 4.
• Extremely ill-humored, 5.

HEAD

• Vertigo.
• Constant vertigo, with nausea, that was relieved by a glass of water, 6.
• Vertigo, confusion and heaviness of the head, in a warm room, 6. [10.]
• Vertigo, especially on walking about the room, and reeling to and fro, 6.
• Vertigo on every motion; constant reeling in the head, 6.
• Great reeling and unsteadiness (second day), 6.
• General Head.
• Rush of blood to the head, 4.
• Rush of blood to the head, with pressure and dull pain below the forehead, after 5 P.M. (second day), 4.
• Rush of blood to the head and face, with perspiration (second day), 6.
• Head heavy, dull, dizzy, with a feeling of heat in it (second day), 6.
• Sensation of fulness in the whole head (second day), 4.
• Pain and confusion of the head, 7.
• Pressive headache, with dulness, roaring in the ears, flickering before the eyes, soon, 7. [20.]
• Gnawing headache, 1.
• Forehead.
• Violent pressive pain in the forehead and orbits (in the morning and evening, first day, also on second day), 4.
• Pressure and dull pain in the forehead, 4.
• Temples.
• Boring pain from without inward in the right temporal region, 1.
• Jerking tearing in the right temporal region, extending into the head, 1.
• Parietals.
• Pressure and sticking in the left side of the head, above the eyebrow (second day), 6.
• Pressing headache in the left side, after dinner, 1.
• Occiput.
• Heaviness in the occiput, 4.
• Pressure in the occiput (in the morning and second day), 4.
• Pressive pain in the occiput and nape of the neck (second day), .

EYE. [30.]

• Eyes red and watery (fifth day), 7.
• Eyes dry (smarting) not easy to open (second day), 6.
• Most violent pains in the left eye (third and following days), 4.
• Pressive pain in the left eye, which gradually became more violent, and afterwards a tearing; on the third day the inflammation of the eye was quite violent, the conjunctiva injected, opening of the eye difficult, partly on account of the pain, partly on account of photophobia, with profuse lachrymation; this inflammation continued for eight days, 4.
• Pain in the eye continued and became very violent, until complete conjunctivitis of the eyeball and inner surface of the lids developed, with much lachrymation and contracted pupils, lasting about fourteen days, 4.
• Burning of the eyes and lids, 6.
• Burning in the eyes, itching, and sensation of dryness (second day), 6.
• Pressure in the left eye (third day), 4.
• Lid.
• Very acute stitches in the right upper lid, towards the inner canthus, not relieved by rubbing, 1.
• Itching in the right upper lid at short intervals, 1.
• Ball and Pupil. [40.]
• Inflammation of the left eyeball, with pain in the eye, as if a sharp grain of and were under the upper lid (second day), 4.
• Contracted pupils, with inflammation of the eyes, 4.

EAR

• Very acute stitches from within outward in the right ear (second day), 6.
• Pinching behind the right ear, 1.
• Constant ringing in the ears, 4.
• Ringing in the left ear, 4.

NOSE, FACE, AND MOUTH

• Stoppage and dryness of the nose, in the morning, in bed (second day), 6.
• Stoppage of the nose, in the evening (second day), 6.
• Face red and puffy (fifth day), 7.
• Violent pressure extending from the articular fossa of the lower jaw through the inner ear; relieved by keeping the jaws open for a long time, as, for example, when drinking; aggravated by pressing them together, 1. [50.]
• Crawling in the upper lip, 1.
• Tongue red (fifth day), 7.
• Biting sensation in the posterior portion of the palate, in the evening (after five days), 2.

THROAT

• Constant scraping in the throat; was obliged to cough and hawk to loosen it; also the posterior nares feel as in catarrh and full of mucus, 3.
• Heat in the throat and fauces, aggravated by hawking (second day), 16.
• Heat in the throat; sensation of burning heat in the fauces, extending up to the pharynx (second day), 6.
• Sensation as of an acrid burning vapor coming up in the throat (second day), 6.
• Difficulty of swallowing, 7.

STOMACH

• Loss of appetite, 7.
• Great thirst, 7. [60.]
• Nausea, soon, 7.
• (Nausea, seething in the head, with vanishing or obscuration of the senses and attacks of faintness, from going into a warm room after a moderate walk), 6.
• Vomiting and painful diarrhœa (third, fourth, and fifth days), 7.
• Cutting in the region of the stomach and transverse colon, followed by a soft stool, 5.
• Periodical, frequently recurring stitches extending upward from the middle of the epigastric region, 5.
• Burning in the epigastric region, at night (first night), 4.

ABDOMEN

• Umbilicus.
• Cutting about the umbilicus, lasting a quarter of an hour, and returning after about three hours, and again after five hours, 5.
• Cutting in the umbilical region, 5.
• Drawing crawling beneath the umbilicus, disappearing on scratching, 1.
• General Abdomen.
• Rumbling in the abdomen, 4. [70.]
• Abdomen sensitive, especially along the transverse colon and epigastric region, that was hard and retracted (fifth day), 7.
• Cutting colic, 5.
• Colic, 7.
• Colic transversely across the upper abdomen, 5.
• Griping pain in the abdomen, lasting only a few seconds, preceded, and especially followed, by anxiety, trembling of the limbs and arms, as though he were frightened he became apprehensive when any one spoke to him, and unpleasant news affected him exceedingly; in the forenoon (second day), 2.
• Pressure in the abdomen, 4 ; (after twenty drops), 5.
• Crawling in the abdomen, 5.

ANUS AND STOOL

• Biting itching in the anus, that provokes scratching; the orifice seems somewhat swollen ; in the afternoon (second day), 3.*
• Diarrhœa.
• Diarrhœa, with colic (after 110 drops), 5.
• Five diarrhœa-like stools, 5. [80.]
• Pasty diarrhœa, with a feeling of faintness in the abdomen and burning in the anus after the stool, that returns after six hours; it came on suddenly, was followed by internal chilliness, occurring generally a few hours after he felt the worst, 1.
• Several thin stools, soon, 7.

URINARY AND SEXUAL ORGANS

• Frequent and copious micturition disturbing sleep at night (first night), 4.
• Micturition somewhat impeded by a constrictive sensation in the region of the neck of the bladder, so that the urine was passed only in driblets, 5.
• Burning micturition, with scanty urine, 7.
• External genitals swollen, painful, 7.

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

• Hawking caused by accumulation of tenacious mucus in the throat, with scanty expectoration, 6.

CHEST

• Rush of blood to the chest, 4.
• Heat in the chest, 4.
• Pressure in the chest, towards the forepart, near the middle of the sternum (fourth and fifth days), 4. [90.]
• Transient pains in the upper and forepart of the chest, beneath the manubrium of the chest, that can scarcely be distinguished from a kind of pressure, lasting a few seconds, in the morning (fifth day), 2.
• Pains in the chest at the same hour, and lasting two hours (second day), 4.
• Dull stitches in the thorax, from before backwards, as if through the heart, 1.
• Front and Sides.
• Violent pressure in the middle of the sternum, which was somewhat relieved during the night, but became more violent the next morning, and continued to recur the whole forenoon (second and third days), 4.
• A very transient sharp pressive pain in the lower portion of the right side of the chest, in the ribs, above the hepatic region, in the morning (after two days), 2.
• Pressing pain near both sides of the lower portion of the sternum, while eating, 1.
• Cutting pressure in the left side of the chest (while sitting bent over), 1.
• Pressure and stitches to the right of the ensiform process (first day), 4.
• Violent stitch extending vertically through the whole left half of the chest, beginning beneath the clavicle and extending down to the diaphragm; it was most violent in the region of the heart, at the moment of inspiration, and was aggravated by walking about; it lasted two hours (first and third days), 4.
• Stitches in the left side of the chest, extending downward (second day), 5. [100.]
• Stitches in the right side of the chest, near the sternum, on a level with the nipples, at 4 P.M., 4.
• A persistent sticking in the left thorax, parallel with the axis of the body, on every inspiration, from 3.30 to 5, and also at 9 P.M., 5.
• Throbbing extending through the right side of the thorax and from the posterior portion to the nape of the neck, where it ended in intermitting pinching, 1.
• Sticking in the left side of the thorax (third day), 5.
• Sticking pains near the right nipple, aggravated by walking (first day), 4.

HEART AND PULSE

• Pressure beneath the heart, as from great anxiety, 1.
• Pulse somewhat contracted (fifth day), 7.

NECK AND BACK

• Periodical sticking pains in the last cervical vertebra (third day), 4.
• Sharp stitches in the scapulæ, 1.
• Fine boring pain in the left scapula, relieved by motion, 1. [110.]
• Stitches in several places in the back, disappearing on scratching, 1.
• Pinching, now in the dorsal, now in the abdominal muscles, 1.
• Griping, at one time in the dorsal, at another in the abdominal muscles, 1.

EXTREMITIES

• Paroxysmal tearing pains in the extremities, followed by a sensation of numbness, 7.
• Jerking and tearing in the extremities (fifth day), 7.

SUPERIOR EXTREMITIES

• Aching in the right upper arm, extending to the region of the elbow, relieved only by motion for several days, 2.
• On flexing the arms, the muscles across the elbow-joint feel tense, as though there were a pressure upon them, 1.
• Violent cramp in the ulna, at the wrist-joint, 1.
• Sticking griping in the left wrist, behind the thumb, 1.
• The right ring finger, upon which he had, four weeks previously, received a blow with a blunt rapier, seemed as far as its first and second phalanges completely dead, cold, devoid of blood, shrivelled, yellow, and without sensation, in the afternoon (fifth day), 4. [120.]
• Slight pain in the tips of the left fingers, almost a tearing, 3.
• Feeling of deadness in one finger (third day), 4.

INFERIOR EXTREMITIES

• Some sudden thrusts on the inner side of the left knee, from within outward, 1.
• Violent cramp in the right knee-joint, while sitting, 1.
• A sensation in the lower portion of the calf, as though the aponeurosis of the muscles and tendons were drawn tense, or as though they had been bruised, making it difficult to walk, towards evening, 3.
• Weary pain in the ankles, while sitting, 1.
• Unusual painfulness of the corns, 5.
• Sensation as though a splinter were sticking in the skin of the right great toe, as often as it was touched, as though the toe pressed against the shoe, in the evening (second day), 2.
• Very violent pain, as from pressure, in the left little toe, for several days (after three days), 4.

GENERALITIES

• No steadiness while walking; reeling about in the head, with staggering of the limbs, 6. [130.]
• Great weakness and prostration of all the limbs, in the evening, 6.
• Weakness, with heaviness of the limbs; better after eating, 6.
• Weakness, 7.
• Weakness; great uneasiness when walking, with heaviness of the chest and limbs, so that she was frequently obliged to stand still (second day), 6.
• Worse after the sleep at night, at noon, and in rainy weather, 3.

SKIN

• *A small ulcer on the perineum, near the anus, that constantly oozes moisture of a very offensive odor; it is painful for eight days, 1.
• Sensation of prickling itching and fine sticking on the skin, in the open air (second day), 6.
• Fine prickling sticking in the skin, first on the chest, then in the muscles of the shoulders and arms down the side of the back, soon, 6.
• Very transient sticking crawling in the fingers, in the sides, 1.
• Burning biting, as from nettles, on the head, chest, and limbs, associated with itching, that provokes rubbing, soon, 6. [140.]
• Crawling in the tip of the nose, 5.
• Crawling, as from something alive, and a bristling sensation in a spot on the left forearm, 1.
• Very painful itching in the concha, 1.
• Itching on the calves, disappearing on rubbing, 1.
• Burning itching in the toes, that are swollen and that seem contracted, and a pain as though a sharp knife were thrust through them at short intervals, 1.

SLEEP

• Extremely sleepy the whole afternoon (first day), 4.
• Sleep very restless during the whole proving; during the first night, disturbed by burning in the epigastric region, afterwards by voluptuous dreams, with emissions, or by anxious, sad, and vivid dreams of death, etc., 4, 5.
• Sleep restless, dreamy, with unremembered dreams, 6.
• Starting on falling asleep, even during the day, 2.
• Sleep unrefreshing, and disturbed by numerous and unrefreshing dreams, at night, 4. [150.]
• Sleep, after midnight, disturbed by amorous dreams (first night), 4.
• Sleep became very much disturbed by anxious dreams, that amounted to real nightmare, even with a dream of a distinct figure sitting upon the chest, making respiration very anxious, 4 . [At this time I was utterly ignorant of the fact that both Dioscorides and Plinius had stated that nightmare could be cured by this drug, the former by the use of the seeds, the latter by the use of the root. -GEYER.]
• Sleep disturbed by anxious and frightful dreams (dreams of the death of relatives, etc.), (second night), 4.
• Vivid, wonderful, and amorous dreams, at night (first night), 4.
• Dream of a ghost, who was sitting upon his chest and oppressing his breath, so that he frequently woke groaning (fourth night), 4.
• Numerous dreams, at night, and also amorous dream, with emission, 5.
• Many unremembered dreams, at night (after 110 drops), 5.
• Amorous dream, with emission (after 110 drops), 5.
• Anxious dreams, at night (after 40 drops), 5.
• Very anxious dreams (second night), 4. [160.]
• Quarrelsome dreams (second night), 5.

FEVER

• Shivering, 7.
• Woke after midnight with great heat over the whole body, and also with unusual warmth in the region of the stomach, 4.
• Heat over the whole body, disturbing the sleep, at night (first night), 4.
• Skin very warm (fifth day), 7.
• Heat in the head, 4.
• One ear was hot, the other cold, at 5 P.M. (second day), 4.
• Burning heat in the face, 1.
• Burning heat in the face, back, and chest, with cold extremities, 1.
• Heat and burning, as of nettles, on the chest, neck, back, and shoulders (second day), 6.

CONDITIONS

• Aggravation.
• ( Morning ), Pressure in occiput; in bed, stoppage and dryness of the nose; pain in chest; pressive pain in right side of chest.
• ( Morning and evening ), Pressive pain in forehead.
• ( Forenoon ), Pressure in the middle of the sternum.
• ( Noon ), All symptoms.
• ( Afternoon ), After 5 P.M., irritable and depressed; rush of blood to head, with pressure and pain; 5 P.M., one ear hot, the other cold; 4 P.M., stitches in right side of chest; biting itching in anus; sleepy.
• ( Toward evening ), Sensation as if muscles and tendons of calves were drawn tense.
• ( Evening ), Anxiety and apprehension; biting sensation in palate; stoppage of the nose; weakness and prostration of all the limbs.
• ( Night ), Burning in epigastric region; unrefreshing sleep, disturbed by dreams; heat over the whole body.
• ( After midnight ), Sleep disturbed by amorous dreams; woke by heat over the whole body.
• ( Open air ), Pricking, itching and sticking on the skin.
• ( After dinner ), Pressing headache in left side.
• ( While eating ), Weakness and heaviness of the limbs.
• ( After eating ), Pressive pain near both sides of sternum.
• ( Hawking ), Heat in throat and fauces.
• ( Inspiration ), Sticking in left thorax.
• ( Motion ), Vertigo.
• ( Pressing jaws together ), Pressure from lower jaw to inner ear.
• ( After sleep at night ), All symptoms.
• ( Going into a warm room after a moderate walk ), Nausea; seething in the head; obscuration of senses; attacks of faintness.
• ( Warm room ), Confusion and heaviness of head.
• ( Sitting bent over ), Cutting pressure in side of chest.