Polygonum acre, H. B. K. (P. punctatum, Ell.; P. hydropiperoides, Pursh). The closely allied species, P. hydropiper, L., is not perennial, but in other respects is very similar to P. acre; both possess properties nearly, if not absolutely, identical. These are the only American acrid species.

Natural order , Polygonaceæ.

Common names , Smart Weed, Water Pepper, etc.

Preparation , Tincture of the whole plant.

Authorities.

1 , Dr. Wm. E. Payne, Trans. Am. Inst. of Hom., 1859, proving with the tincture, repeated doses of 10 to 60 drops, for eight days; 2 , same, N. M. Payne, proving with tincture, 10 to 20-drop doses, for four days, 20 to 60-drop doses ninth to twentieth day; 3 , Dr. B. F. Joslin, Hale's New Remedies, 2d ed., p. 835, effects of chewing a leaf; 3 a , same, two doses, each of 1 drop of tincture; 4 , Dr. C. C. Cameron, from Hale, proving with tincture, 5 to 100-drop doses, during three days.

HEAD

A slight vertiginous feeling passed over the head, followed, in a short time, by a sensation in the arms and legs as of a galvanic current passing through them (after two hours, third day), 1.
Dizziness and trembling of the limbs, with pain in left temple and left side of head (after second dose, fourth day), 2.
Head feels dull (after third dose, second day), 2.
Obtuseness of the head and general lassitude (third day), 2.
Dull headache all the morning (tenth day), 2.
Dull headache, with pain in epigastric region, after dinner (fifteenth day), 2.
Headache, in the afternoon, with cold feeling in the stomach (eleventh day), 2.
Headache (thirteenth day), 2.
Headache during forenoon and after dinner (fourteenth day), 2. [10.]
Fulness of head (after fifth dose, second day), 4.
Pulsative headache, with sensation of fulness (fourth day), 1.
Dull throbbing or pulsative headache (sixteenth day), 2.
Dull pain in forehead (eighteenth day), 2.
Headache in left frontal region (first day), 4.
Severe frontal headache (third day), 4.
Great pain in the head, shifting from the frontal to the occipital region (third day), 4.
Frontal headache, with darting pains through the temples, in the orbits, the knees, and legs (tenth day), 2.
Momentary pain in the right frontal protuberance, and instantly afterwards in the right occipital protuberance (after half an hour), 3.
1 P.M., pulsative and acute pain in left temple (ninth day), 1. [20.]
Pain in left temple and left side of head, with dizziness and trembling of the limbs (after second dose, fourth day), 2.
Slight pain in the sinciput and trembling of the limbs (one hour after third dose, second day), 2.
Pain in forehead and sides of head, extending into the orbits (three-quarters of an hour after second dose, second day), 2.
Occasional shooting through the occiput (third day), 2.

EYE

Itching and burning in the eyes (after second dose, fourteenth day), 2.

NOSE

Frequent sneezing, as from cold, in the head (nineteenth day), 2.
Smarting raw feeling in pituitary membrane, as from cold (after third dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Irritation and smarting in schneiderian membrane, as is from cold in head (after second dose, sixth day), 2.

FACE

Pain in region of zygoma (left side), 1.

MOUTH

Pain in the right antrum , as if proceeding upwards from a tooth, yet the tooth from which the pain appeared to proceed was sound; this pain occurred frequently (after seven hours, third day), 1. [30.]
Tongue coated yellow (fourth day), 4.
Tongue feels as if swollen (eighteenth day), 2.
Burning all the way from the roots of the tongue to pit of stomach (eighteenth day), 2.
Sensation of heat in the mouth and throat, commencing at the tip of the tongue and extending to much of the mouth, then to the throat at the right upper part (after a quarter of an hour, second day), 3a.
The salivary excretion, which before had been thick and scanty, now became abundant and thin (fourth day), 1.
Taste pungent, like that of black pepper, 3.

THROAT

Sore throat (eighteenth day), 2.
Smarting and scraped feeling in the throat (after third dose, fourteenth day, and after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Burning and scraping in throat (ninth day), 2.
Burning in throat, fauces, and stomach (eighteenth day), 2. [40.]
Scraping in the throat (after third dose, second day), 2.
Sensation of dryness and scraping in throat (after one hour, first day), 2.
Dry tickling sensation in the throat (after third dose, second day), 4.
Burning and scraping in fauces (after second dose, nineteenth day), 2.
Scraping and dryness in the fauces (soon after second dose), 2.
Throbbing of the carotid arteries (third day), 2.

STOMACH

Appetite and Thirst.
Voracious appetite (fourth day), 2.
Appetite greatly increased (tenth day), 2.
Increased appetite for breakfast (eleventh day), 2.
Hunger (fifteenth day), 2. [50.]
Appetite diminished (after second dose, sixteenth day), 2.
Voracious appetite for breakfast (seventeenth day), 2.
Loss of appetite (fourth day), 4.
Great thirst for cold water, yet water produces nausea (sixteenth day), 2.
Thirst, with nausea (sixteenth day), 2.
Eructations.
Eructations (third day), 4.
Nausea.
Nausea and rumbling in the abdomen, with diarrhœic stools (two hours after first dose, second day), 2.
Nausea, with slight pains in lower intestines, rectum, and anus (after third dose, second day), 2.
Continual nausea, as if proceeding from the small intestines, and thence extending upwards to the pit of the stomach (third day), 2.
Breakfasted with usual appetite, but felt nauseated after meal, followed by rumbling and movement in the abdomen, as from approaching diarrhœa (fifth day), 1. [60.]
Nausea, with cold feeling in abdomen (sixteenth day), 2.
Nausea, with thirst (sixteenth day), 2.
Constant nausea (after second dose, sixteenth day), 2.
Nausea after eating, as if proceeding from the abdomen (seventeenth day), 2.
Stomach.
Aching in stomach and abdomen all day (ninth day), 2.
Tensive feeling in stomach (thirteenth day), 2.
Throbbing-cutting pain in stomach (after two hours, first day), 2.
Severe pain in epigastrium, lasting for about half an hour (half an hour after second dose), 2.
Pain in the pit of the stomach, with cutting and shooting pains in the lower intestines (one hour after third dose, second day), .

ABDOMEN

Sticking pains in the right hypochondrium (third day), 4.
Severe lancinating pains in left hypochondrium, while walking (half an hour after third dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Dull heavy pains in the umbilical region, relieved by pressure (first day), 4.
Emission of offensive flatus (sixteenth day), 2.
Borborygmus (second day), 4.
Rumbling in the abdomen (two hours after first dose, second day), 2.
Rumbling in the abdomen, with desire to stool (after second dose, fourteenth day), 2. [90.]
Continual rumbling and pain in abdomen, with tenesmus ani and hard lumpy fæces (two hours after dose, seventeenth day), 2.
Constant rumbling in abdomen (twentieth day), 2.
Rumbling pain and griping in abdomen, with copious discharge of clear light-colored urine, which was previously red and scanty (after third dose, second day), 2.
Griping pains in the abdomen, with loose stools and painful urination (seventeenth day), 2.
Aching in abdomen and stomach all day (ninth day), 2.
Lancinating pains throughout the whole abdomen (nineteenth day), 2.
From 5 to 6 P.M. cutting coliclike pains just below the stomach, in region of colon (seventh day), 1.
Sharp cutting pain in intestines and stomach (after second dose, nineteenth day), 2.
Cutting cramplike pain in abdomen (sixteenth day), 2.
Occasional pulsative pains in region of colon, lasting one hour (eighth day), 2. [100.]
Cold feeling in abdomen, more in region of transverse colon and stomach, with nausea (sixteenth day), 2.
Rumbling and gurgling in the lower part of the abdomen, proceeding upward, with desire for stool (sixteenth day), 2.
Cutting and shooting pains in the lower intestines, with pain in the pit of the stomach (one hour after third dose, second day), 2.
Pulsative pains at the pit of the hypogastric region, as if in the left portion of the bladder (fourth day), 1.
Pain in the lower intestines and epigastrium (ninth day), 2.
Pain in hypogastrium and rectum, with rumbling in those parts, proceeding from below upwards, and insufficient stool (after second dose, sixteenth day), .

RECTUM AND ANUS. [110.]

Dull pain in the rectum (after second dose, fourteenth and twentieth days), 2.
Pain in rectum and anus and in hypogastric region (nineteenth day), 2.
In the evening the interior of the anus was studded with itching eminences, as from corrugation, without contraction a kind of hæmorrhoidal tumor (third day); they disappear within two days, 3a.
Ineffectual urging to stool, with discharge of a great quantity of fetid flatus (after two hours and a half, third day), 2.
Constant urging to stool (tenth day), 2.
In the afternoon straining at stool, with mucous jelly-like discharge; yellowish-green stools (after second dose, sixteenth day), 2.
Tenesmus, with nausea, at 9 P.M. (sixteenth day), 2.
Tenesmus ani, with hard lumpy fæces (two hours after dose, seventeenth day), 2.
Ineffectual urging to stool and tenesmus, with pulsative pains in the hips and loins (nineteenth day), 2.

STOOL

Diarrhœic stools (two hours after first dose, second day), 2. [120.]
Diarrhœic stools discharged with considerable force (ninth day), 2.
Diarrhœic fæces and abundant flow of urine (tenth day), 2.
Frequent diarrhœic stools (nineteenth day), 2.
Copious liquid stools, followed by a smarting sensation of the anus, at 2.15 (my bowels had moved as usual at 8 A.M., and are generally very regular), (three-quarters of an hour after third dose, second day), 4.
Stool at usual time; first part of fæces hard and painful, last part soft (sixth day), 1.
Hard lumpy fæces, with tenesmus ani (two hours after dose, seventeenth day), 2.
Alternating constipation and diarrhœa (after second dose, twentieth day), 2.
Constipated since the second day (fourth day), 4.

URINARY ORGANS

Bladder and Urethra.
Cutting pains extending apparently along the ureters down to the bladder (nineteenth day), 2.
Pain in neck of bladder (after second and third dose, fifteenth day), 2. [130.]
Constricted feeling at the neck of the bladder while urinating, with pain in the testicles and spermatic cords (after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Painful cutting and feeling of strangulation at neck of bladder when urinating, lasting a long time (after third dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Feeling of strangulation in the neck of the bladder (after second dose, sixteenth day), 2.
Pain in neck of bladder (sixteenth day), 2.
Pulsative pain in region of prostate gland, occasionally extending along the urethra, continuing for half an hour (eighth day), 1.
Burning sensation in prostate gland (after second dose, fourteenth day), 2.
When voiding urine, slight pain apparently in prostate gland (after second dose, fourteenth day), 2.
Itching in the orifice of the urethra and around the glans penis, and constant desire to urinate (fifteenth day), 2.
Micturition and Urine.
Increased desire to urinate (after third dose, second day), 2.
Urging to urinate, with smarting in the urethra (two hours after second dose, thirteenth day), 2. [140.]
Constant desire to urinate (sixteenth day), 2.
Voided urine at three several times during the night, an occurrence that has never happened before with the prover (second day), 1.
Copious discharge of light-colored urine, which previously was red and scanty, with rumbling pain and griping in abdomen (after third dose, second day), 2.
Free discharge of light-colored urine (soon after dose, fourth day), 2.
Urine scanty and dark (third day), 2.
Voiding of an unusually large quantity of urine (ninth day), 2.
Abundant flow of urine and diarrhœic fæces (tenth day), 2.
Copious flow of urine, with continued pains in spermatic cords and testicles; worse in left (Staph. seemed to relieve the pain considerably), (twelfth day), .

SEXUAL ORGANS

Pain in left spermatic cord and testicle, continuing all day, with soreness of the testicle; at the same time, occasional darting pains in right spermatic cord and testicle (eleventh day), 2.
Pain in spermatic cord and testicles continues (thirteenth and fourteenth days), 2.
Pain in left spermatic cord and testicle (seventeenth day), 2.
Itching and stinging of prepuce (after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Pain and soreness in left testicle, and extending along spermatic cord (nineteenth day), 2.

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

Constriction of the larynx (first day), 4.
Dry cough, in the night, excited by titillation, in the upper anterior part of the chest, with a dry sensation in the larynx when coughing (after about twelve hours), 3a.
Cough excited by a pricking-tingling sensation behind the upper part of the sternum (after forty minutes, second day), 3a.

CHEST. [160.]

Sharp pain under the right scapula, extending into the chest and to the pit of the stomach, with heavy beating of the heart and throbbing of the carotid arteries (third day), 2.
Pulsative pressive pains just above the xiphoid cartilage (eight day), 1.
Cutting pain in left side of chest (eighteenth day), 2.
Burning in chest, with cold feeling in pit of stomach and shooting pains (two hours and a half after second dose, nineteenth day), 2.

HEART AND PULSE

Sharp cutting, shooting pains in region of heart, extending through to left shoulder-blade (two hours and a half after third dose, second day), 2.
Heavy beating of the heart (third day), 2.
Pulse 65 (after third dose, second day), 2.

NECK AND BACK

About midnight awoke with severe lameness of the muscles of the left side of the neck, extending to the shoulder, and rendering movement painful (third day), 1.
Lameness of muscles of neck continued, with the same pulsative and wandering pains (fourth night), 1.
Pulsative pains in left lumbar region (fourth day), 1. [170.]
Aching in the loins, with pain around the left hip-joint (nineteenth day), 2.
Pain in the sacrum and bladder, with desire to urinate, not relieved by voiding large quantities of urine (one hour after a dose, nineteenth day), 2.

EXTREMITIES

Trembling of the limbs (ninth and sixteenth days), 2.
Limbs feel bruised (sixteenth day), 2.
Shooting pains in the arms, back, and legs (fourth day), 4.

SUPERIOR EXTREMITIES

Shooting pain in the left arm, from the elbow to the tips of the fingers (third day), 4.
Dull pain in extensor muscles of left arm, from shoulder to wrist (after third dose, second day), 2.
Sharp pain in right shoulder-joint, extending to elbow in one direction, and the trapezius muscle in the other, with occasional shooting through the occiput (third day), 2.
Pulsative and intermittent pains in left shoulder-joint (fourth day), 1.
Aching in the left shoulder, when recumbent, about 11 P.M., soon after going to bed (second day), 3. [180.]
Painful pressure on the left palmar-radial side of the right forearm, an inch and a half above the wrist, at the spot where the radial artery is distinctly felt, lasting seven minutes (after ten minutes), 3a.
Throbbing, shooting pain in the left wrist, extending to the tip of the middle finger (first day), 4.

INFERIOR EXTREMITIES

Aching pains in lower extremities (eighteenth day), 2.
Dull pain in legs, with tensive pain in calves and weariness (after third dose, second day), 2.
Pulsative pains in the hips and loins, with ineffectual urging to stool and tenesmus (nineteenth day), 2.
Pains around left hip-joint, with aching in the loins (nineteenth day), 2.
Pain in knee-joints, extending down to ankles (eleventh day), 2.
Aching pain in knees (after second dose, nineteenth day), 2.
Pain in the left knee, with a feeling of great weakness (third day), 4.
Severe aching at the forepart of the left tibia, about four inches below the knee, from 1 to 2 P.M. (second day), 3. [190.]
Pain, pressive and remittent, for two consecutive evenings, at the anterior-inner surface of the head of the left tibia (third and fourth days), 3a.

GENERALITIES

Trembling of the whole body, with profuse perspiration from moderate exercise (third day), 2.
Great weariness after walking (twentieth day), 2.
Extreme lassitude, after taking a short walk (third day), 2.
Feeling of excessive debility (seventeenth day), 2.
Sensitiveness to cold (thirteenth day), 2.
Pains moving from place to place; erratic (after third dose, second day), 2.
Pains move suddenly from place to place, in the ball of the little toe of the left foot, in the right shoulder-joint, in the right foot, at the left extremity of the stomach, in the knees, etc. The pains were momentary, but frequently recurred. Sometimes a single pulsation, at other times several, before the pains appeared in another place. The character and movement of these pains reminded the prover of the flashing of the Aurora borealis, or rather, perhaps of the distant electrical phenomenon sometimes observed in a thunderstorm after the cloud has passed far away; a tremulous electrical movement (fourth day), 1.
Same erratic pains continue in region of mastoid processes, at the insertion of the deltoid muscles, etc. (fifth day), 1.
Pulsative and wandering pains continue in wrist and finger-joints, more in the metacarpo-phalangeal joints, in epigastrium, abdomen, etc. (fifth day), 1. [200.]
Pulsative and wandering pains continued through the day, but mostly when within doors, scarcely felt when in open air (sixth day), 1.
Pulsative and erratic pains continue, especially when in the house (seventh day), 1.
Erratic pains continue (eighth and ninth days), 1.

SKIN

Skin of the whole body dry (after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
In the evening a scarlet eruption, about three inches in width, made its appearance around the waist, itching and burning, attended with pain (third day). Appeared on two successive evenings, 2.
Itching and burning around the waist, and fine, red eruption (sixteenth day), 2.
Itching under the eyes (after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Itching and burning around the waist during forenoon (fourth day), 2.
Intolerable itching in the left shin, a little above the ankle, at 6 A.M. (second day), 3.
Burning tingling in the whole body, more in legs and feet, forearm and bands (nineteenth day), 2.

SLEEP. [210.]

Restless sleep, with unpleasant dreams; awoke unrefreshed (ninth day), 2.
Uneasy sleep and dreams (fourteenth day), 2.
Dreams, but could not recall them (tenth day), 2.
Dreamed of having a severe headache, and awoke with the head aching violently (after third dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Laborious and fatiguing dreams (sixteenth day), 2.

FEVER

Alternations of chills and heat (after second dose, fifteenth day), 2.
Feet alternately cold and hot (thirteenth day), 2.
Great heat and burning of the feet, continuing one and a half hours, and the suddenly becoming uncomfortably cold (third day), 2.
Profuse perspiration and trembling of the whole body, from moderate exercise (third day), 2.

CONDITIONS

Aggravation.
( Morning ), Dull headache.
( Afternoon ), Cold feeling in stomach.
( After dinner ), Headache; pain in epigastric region.
( Within doors ), Wandering pains.
( After eating ), Nausea.
( When recumbent ), Aching in left shoulder.
( While urinating ), Constriction in neck of bladder; cutting in neck of bladder.
( After walking ), Weariness.
Amelioration.
( Open air ), Wandering pains.
( Food ), Pain in stomach.
( Pressure ), Pain in umbilical region.

Polygonum