Cedron

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Simaruba Cedron.) Description. — The origin of this drug was for a long time unknown. Even so late as 1870 Hughes wrote: " Cedron. — It is the fruit of a South American tree, (Simaruba Cedron — supposed to be a kind of cedar,) whose exact description is not yet ascertained." — Pliarmacodynamics, and edit., p. 203.

He was probably misled by Dr. Casanova's papers in the Monthly Homeopathic Review.

Cedron is the seed of the fruit; and by consulting Hooker's London Journal of Botany, Vol. VI, p. 556, it will be seen that M. Planchon had given a name and botanical station to the so-called "nondescript Cedron," long before Dr. Casanova had penned his paper.

The earliest mention of the Cedron is found in The History of the Buccaneers, Anno 1699.

The native Indians first offered the seeds for sale in Carthagena in 1828

Dr. S. A.Jones, who has written up this drug, published in the American Observer, said of his work: "When this resume was begun, a more painstaking piece of work was designed. It has long been laid aside; and now that other and more pressing duties are upon us, it is published simply because from no other single source can the practitioner get all that is pathogenetically known of Simaruba Cedron. The remedy certainly appears capable to fill a larger sphere than our meagre clinical reports show it to have occupied."

' Officinal Preparations. — Tincture of the seed of the fruit; dilutions Analogues. — Arnica., Cimicifuga, Cornus, Cinchona, Quinine, Sepia Sanguinaria, (Nux ? Eucalpytus, and perhaps Eupat. perf.)

Mind.

Gloomy, depressed spirits; disposition to weep; inquietude

and excessive anguish. Dullness of the senses; torpor of the mental faculties, and

uneasiness; dread of friends, (in females particularly.) Head.

Head dull and heavy in the morning; distensive headache, in

creased during the night; temporal arteries enlarged. Bending of the head backward, with pressure on the occiput

and parietal regions, as if these parts were going to burst. Forehead cold, and as if it were empty, in the morning. Pressure at the right temple, causing a dull pain in the whole

right side of the head; disappears wholly toward noon. Headache increases in the open air, (toward 9 a. m.) Pressive pain over the eyes, as if a band were tied round the

parts.

Pressure at the top of the head, slight in the daytime, somewhat violent just at the moment when the shivering begins; it never wholly ceased during the whole proving.

Toward 6 p. m. shuddering soon followed by a dull and heavy frontal headache, spreading to both parietal regions.

Pulsating sensation in the temple, and a twisting pain behind the right ear, changing to a dull pain and extending to the temples.

The whole head feels swollen and heavy, most on the right side. Pressure on the occiput in the morning; in the forenoon,

occasional sharp, jerking pains in the occiput; successive

sharp pains in the occiput, abdomen and lower limbs.

(These pains in the head are dull, except those in the

occiput, which are acute.) At 10 p. m. dull pain in the top of the head, with sharp flying

pains in all the joints of the extremities; worse in the

feet, particularly the first joint of the great toe. Awoke late in the morning, after a sound sleep, with dull pain

in the vertex, and with dull pain in the whole upper head. Throbbing in the temples increasing to pain; pain across the

forehead, over the eyes, from temple to temple; beating

in the temples, increasing to pain and extending over the

ears.

Headache, especially in the bottom of the orbits (compelling him to close the eyes), and extending to the occiput. Eyes.

Eyes protruding and red, with pressive pain extending to the forehead.

Pupils fixed and dilated; dimness of sight. Objects appear red at night and yellow in the daytime. Eyelids injected bright red, and painful when pressed. Enlargement of the meibomian glands and conjunctiva. Sensation in the eyes as if one had wept a good deal; itching

of the eyes; redness of the eyes, and itching of the inner

and outer surfaces of the eyelids. Conjunctiva inflamed and dry.

Rose early, dizzy; could not see to light a candle, and could not tell when it was lighted.

Ears.

Singing in the ears as of crickets; buzzing of the ears toward

noon; hardness of hearing at night. ° Antidotes the effects of Sulphate of Quinine on the auditory

nerves.

Face.

Flying heat of the face alternated with chills, toward evening, with bloated appearance.

Cheeks red and burning at night, pale and cold in the morning.

Pressing or tearing pain in one or both cheeks, with occasional shoots under the orbits.

Spasmodic twitchings of the levator palpebrce superioris during three successive nights.

Toward 6 p. m. constant heat in the face, which looks animated.

Icy coldness of the tip of the nose, even in the midst of febrile reaction, the face being red and burning.

° Prosopalgia, more frequently in women than in men, generally on the right side, recurring in regular paroxysms of indefinite duration, with spasmodic distortion of the muscles corresponding to the affected region (the zygomatic process almost always).

c Chronic intermittent prosopalgia always coming on at 7 or 8 p. m., and lasting from two to four hours.

Mouth, Tongue, Throat.

Mouth dry, with viscous saliva when talking; lips dry, with desire to moisten them often.

Intolerable prickling itching of the tongue, obliging her to rub it incessantly against the palate.

Slightly yellowish coat on the root of the tongue, with a nasty, sickish, bitter taste of the mouth.

On rising in the morning, gulping up of a bitter wind; tongue coated yellow; bitter taste in the mouth.

Awoke with dull pain in the whole head; tongue coated yellow; sickish taste; sour taste; the saliva becomes sour at night.

After talking, the saliva becomes white and thick like cream.

Taste as of iron in the mouth, causing a profuse flow of saliva;

constriction of the throat, which scarcely allows her to

swallow the saliva. 0 Mouth and tongue very dry; difficulty of speech; great

thirst all the time. She felt at times as if the tongue was paralyzed, with pricking

of the tongue.

(These symptoms appeared only with the catamenia, and lasted as long as that discharge; at the termination of which she had a profuse ptyalism and leucorrhoeal flow.) Appetite— Thirst.

Loss of appetite; appetite is impaired as the proving progresses.

Thirst; desire for cold water at noon and warm during night. Aversion to cold water during the evening; great thirst and desire for cold water; thirst, and craves only warm drinks. Stomach.

Eructations of bitter wind from the stomach before rising in the morning, with dull pain in the temples.

Sensation as of a stone on the stomach; rolling pain in the stomach; sensation of heat and fullness in the stomach.

Distension of the stomach, and disposition to nausea, generally aggravated by rest, but relieved by walking, and by eating.

0 Uncomfortable feeling of the stomach, which obliged him to lie down; great sensitiveness of the precordial region; pulse small and hard; dryness of the mouth and fauces; depressed spirits and inquietude, relieved by food and drink.

(These symptoms appeared every day from 10 to 11 a. m., lasted from one to two hours, after which there was prostration of body and mind for an hour or two.) Abdomen.

Abdomen hard and distended toward evening; flatulence in the morning, with slight colic and discharge of foetid wind.

Borborygmi in the left side of the abdomen.

Sharp pain alternately in the coecum, liver, and spleen.

Successive sharp pains in the occiput, abdomen and limbs;

pains only in one place at a time; on getting warm in bed, flying pains in the region of the ascending colon, liver and spleen — kept him awake most of the night. Stool.

Constipation; unsuccessful urging to relieve the bowels. Copious stool, with excessive tenesmus.

Yellowish loose evacuations (three days after taking large doses of Cedron).

Whitish stools, mixed with fragments similar to clotted milk (in other provers, three days after large doses).

Slight colic, followed almost immediately by a copious evacuation of a substance that looked like curdled milk, white, with a slightly yellowish tint (from chewing the nut as an antidote to the bite of a coral snake).

° Semi-liquid, whitish faeces, somewhat like starch; white, frothy, and papescent evacuations immediately after meals, accompanied with slight colic and discharge of inodorous wind.

° Involuntary discharge of urine and fasces.

Urine.

Scanty urine; frequent ineffectual urging to urinate. Frequent emission of large quantities of pale urine. Dark urine with sediment; urine of a dark-red color; scanty urine, with deep yellow color.

Genitals.

Nocturnal erections and intense venereal excitement (many provers.)

Genital excitement at daybreak, with a discharge similar to leucorrhoea, and swollen mammas with some pain (in two married women.)

A discharge like gonorrhoea, continuing three days and ceasing spontaneously on omitting the drug (in a young man.)

Dreamed all night (I seldom dream) of pleasant social interviews with female acquaintances, and woke with firm erections in the morning.

Larynx.

Larynx constricted and tender; difficulty of swallowing; difficult respiration with partial loss of voice recurring at intervals.

Chest.

Oppression of the chest and throbbing of the heart. Oppressive pain in the chest every now and then, extending to

the back, with frequent desire to moan and take a long

breath.

Palpitation of the heart and hurried breathing with headache.

Pulse increased from 12 to 15 impulses per minute, in from 20 to 30 minutes after the dose. (This was a constant phenomenon in all the American provers — three women and two men. The doses were from one to three drops of the crude tincture.)

The oppression of the chest and throbbing of the heart occurred in nearly all the provers in whom febrile paroxysms were developed.

Back.

Pains in the loins and back on rising in the morning.

0 Rigidity of the nape of the neck.

0 Pain all along the spine.

Superior Extremities.

Laming and weary pains in the shoulders; passing pains in the elbows and forearms, with a cold sensation extending to the hands toward noon; sharp flying pains in all the joints of the extremities; arthritic flying pains continue, more or less, for more than four weeks, most in the feet and hands, some in the elbows.

Laming passing pains in the joints, especially the right elbow; pain at the elbow and right forearm, as from a shock or blow, lasting one quarter-of-an-hour.

Various uupleasant sensations, such as contusive pains at the elbow, etc., recurring periodically every morning at nine o'clock; hands unusually pale; hands cold; pains (when not febrile concomitants) relieved by friction.

0 Numbness of the arms and legs.

° Irregular and uncontrollable movements of the left arm and legs.

Inferior Extremities.

On getting warm in bed, severe, sharp flying pains in all parts of the system; the pains in the limbs seem to be

in the cartilages of the joints, particularly in the first joint of the great toe, and streaking up the bones; lancing pains in the joints of the knees; sharp flying pains in all joints of extremities, worse in the feet, particularly the great toe joint; smart rheumatic pains in all the joints of the limbs; sharp, lame pain in the right ankle; swelling of the feet, with extreme pain in all the joints; in the morning, pain at the heel as from an abscess, only when walking, for an hour, after which period it ceases entirely. Various unpleasant sensations, such as contusive pains in the elbow, or pains as from an abscess of the heel, recurred periodically every morning at nine o'clock; arthritic flying pains continued, more or less, for more than four weeks, most in the feet and hands, some in the elbows, more in the hips and knees; but most troublesome in the first joint of the great toes; pain relieved by motion and cold before soreness of the joints came on, when they are aggravated by motion and cold, worse at night.

Sleep.

A general feeling of fatigue after awaking, if the sleep has exceeded more than six hours, and a general weakness of body and mind.

No sleep, with a flow of confused ideas until five in the morning; all night very restless, frequently waking fatigued from lying in one position. Dreamed of quarreling with a dead sister and other dead friends, cried about it and awoke with a nightmare, and sensation of a stone on the stomach.

Fever.

Feverish paroxysms every day in some provers, every other day in others, toward eight p. m., preceded by depressed spirits, dullness of the senses and pressing headache at noon ; cramps, then contracting and tearing pains in the upper and lower extremities, with a cold sensation in the hands and feet; mouth dry, great thirst and desire for cold water; chills and shivering; sometimes very strong shuddering of the whole body; palpitation of the heart

and hurried respiration; pulse weak and oppressed. These symptoms lasted from one to two hours, varied much in intensity, and were followed by a sensation of dry heat, and then of profuse perspiration, full and quick pulse with animated red face; cold and pale in the apyrexia; thirst and desire for warm drinks.

A t three o'clock p. m., shuddering all over the body, with malaise and desire to lie down; the shuddering is renewed by motion; hands, feet, and nose are cold; flying heat in the face several times; lastly, toward six o'clock in the morning, constant heat in the face, which looks animated, with smarting in the eyes, especially when closing them; lips dry, with desire to moisten them often; headache, especially in the bottom of the orbits, compelling him to close the eyes, and extending to the occiput.

While this congestion of the head lasts, the shuddering continues all the time; the hands, feet, and nose remain cold; urine of a dark-red color.

Toward six o'clock in the evening (immediately after dinner) cold all over; shuddering in the back, icy coldness in the feet; the hands are burning; sensation in the eyes as if one had wept a good deal.

In the evening toward 6^-, half-an-hour after dinner, shuddering in the back and legs; unusual paleness of the hands; red face; heaviness of the head, stretching toward seven in the evening; general coldness all evening; increase of the headache in the open air (toward nine o'clock); pressive pain over the eyes as of a band of iron tied round the parts; no thirst during the shuddering; dry heat at night.

At 6£ p.m., feverish paroxysms with itching in the eyes, which is only stopped for a moment by rubbing; laming and weary pains in the shoulders; profuse emission of watery urine. Toward 5:30 p.m., prickings in the tongue; itching of the eyes; half-an-hour later shiverings, with heat of the face, hands pale, feet and tip of the nose cold.

Toward six p. m., shuddering, soon followed by a dull and heavy frontal headache spreading to both parietal regions, with redness of the eyes, itching of the internal and external surfaces of the eyelids; icy coldness of the hands and tip of the nose, even in the midst of the febrile reaction (the pulse is 80), the rest of the face is red and burning; lastly, dimness of sight, dilatation of the pupils; objects look red; mouth dry, with thick, viscous saliva; constriction of the throat, which scarcely allows her to swallow the saliva; anxiety, restlessness, general malaise. The medicine being taken by the healthy prover, was followed by—

1st. A certain state of mental excitement, and augmentation of vital energy; florid face, and a sensation of heal throughout the body; full and strong pulse; more or less perspiration and no thirst.

This group lasted from twenty to forty minutes in some, and disappeared after that time to return no more, without any other abnormal manifestation in their health; whilst in others, the symptoms were prolonged for one to two hours, and were followed by —

2nd. Depressed spirits; dullness of the senses, and torpor of the mental faculties; general debility, languor and faintings in some. When these symptoms are followed by those of the first group, the phenomena of both sets are often repeated, and at certain intervals of time; but neither of the two occur periodically, unless when they are together. Nor are they absolutely concomitant to pyrexia; for the paroxysms generally take place without them, as in the natural disease. It is for this reason that such phenomena were disconnected from category of the physical group; but whenever pyrexia occurs, or follows that condition, the symptoms, after weakness of the mind and body, are as follow: —

3rd. Great thirst; yawning; cramps and painful feelings of contraction in the lower extremities; cold sensation in hands and feet; chills and shivering of the whole body; palpitation of the heart; pulse weak and oppressed; hurried respiration; chattering of the teeth and shaking of the whole body; scanty and highly-colored urine; slight nausea in some, with yellow color of the skin and face in

others; great debility; dilated pupils and confused sight. These symptoms lasted from one to two hours, and varied much in their intensity; after which — 4th. Dry heat follows, with full and quick pulse; animated face; profuse perspiration; longing for cold in some, and for warm drinks in others; and discharge of pale urine in large quantities. These symptoms lasted from two to three hours, and were generally followed by a desire to sleep. The pro vers felt as if they were contused; sound sleep in some, and somewhat agitated in others during the night.

The apyrexia generally lasted from fifteen to seventeen hours, after which and in about the same time as the previous day, the paroxysms were repeated as per group third, and continued almost quotidian.

The chief characteristic of this remedy is a periodicity which is often clock-like in its regularity.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

Cedron is the seed of the fruit of the Simaruba Cedron, — according to Hooker’s London Journal of Botany.

Teste’s “Materia Medica,” p. 577.

“North American Journal of Homoeopathy,” vol. viii, p. 120.

“ Monthly Homoeopathic Review ” (London), vol. v, pp. 164, 208, 251; vol. vi, pp. 71, 136, 203.

“ New Remedies, Symptomatology of,” 4th edition.

According to Dr. S. A. Jones, in the latter work :

The earliest mention of the Cedron is found in the “ History of the Buccaneers,” A. D. 1699.

The native Indians first offered the seeds for sale in Carthagena in 1828.

Analogues. Arnica, Cinchona, Cornus, Cimicifuga, Eucalyptus, Eupatorium perf., Gelseminum, Nux vom., Sepia, Sanguinaria. It has some analogous relations to Pulsatilla, Chelidonium, Lachesis, and other polychrests.

The sphere of action of Cedron appears to include both the cerebro-spinal and sympathetic systems, and is a decided “antiperiodic” remedy.

“Its chief characteristic is a periodicity, which is often clock-like in its regularity.” (Dr. S. A. Jones.)

The clinical uses of Cedron have been mainly confined to obstinate inter mittents, which resist the usual ague remedies. After the appearance of Teste’s “ Materia Medica,” the demand for it was very

large, especially from Western and Southern physicians. At that time a few clinical reports were published favorable to its efficacy in ague; but very many failures were also reported. It did not give general satisfaction. But now that we have a fuller pathogenesis, it will probably be selected with greater certainty. The general opinion, with which I coincide, is that cerebral congestion is one of the keynotes for its use in ague. To illustrate this, I copy some of the head symptoms collected by Dr. Jones, and published in the 4th edition of “New Remedies.”

“Head dull and heavy in the morning; distensive headache, increased during the night ; temporal arteries enlarged ; bending the head backward, with pressure on the occiput and parietal regions, as if these parts were going to burst ; forehead cold, as if it were empty, in the morning.” All these symptoms were more marked in the women than in the men.

“ Pressure at the right temple, causing a dull pain in the whole right side of the head, disappears wholly toward noon ; heaviness in the head ; headache increases in the open air (toward 9 A.M.); pressive pain over the eyes, as if a band were tied round the parts; pressure at the top of the head, slight in the daytime, somewhat violent just at the moment when the shivering begins; it never wholly ceased during the whole proving; towards 6p.m. shuddering, soon followed by a dull and heavy frontal headache, spreading to both parietal regions ; pulsating sensation in the temple, and a twisting pain behind the right ear, changing to a dull pain and extending to the temples; head felt as if swollen; whole head feels swollen and heavy, most on the right side; pressure on the occiput in the morning; in the forenoon, occasional sharp jerking pains in the occiput ; successive sharp pains in the occiput, abdomen, and lower limbs. These pains in the head are dull, except those in the occiput, which are acute. At 10 p.m. dull pain in the top of the head, with sharp flying pains in all the joints of the extremities, worse in the feet, particularly the first joint of the great toe; awoke late a.m., after a sound sleep, with dull pain in the vertex ; awoke with dull pain in the whole upper head ; throbbing in the temples; throbbing in the temples increasing to pain ; pain across the forehead, over the eyes, from temple to temple ; beating in the temples, increasing

to pain and extending over the ears; throbbing in the temples, increasing to pain, and extending over the eyes ; throbbing pain in the head, commencing in the temples and extending around the forehead; sharp pain in the occiput; dull pain in the vertex ; pain over the ears ; headache, especially in the bottom of the orbits (compelling him to close the eyes), and extending to the occiput.”

The resemblance to the China headache is very marked. These headaches are decidedly periodic, and the following clinical cases illustrate its efficacy in this direction :

1. Tearing, shooting pain on the left orbit, extending to the inner canthi and to the superciliary ridge of the os frontis. This pain came only post coitu, and when the circumstance had occurred which gave rise to it, his sufferings were so intense on waking in the morning that he was compelled to keep his room for several days, and was unable to eat or drink during the greater part of that time. 2. A similar pain over the left eye followed involuntary nocturnal spermaperthy in the case of a woman ; pain came on when waking in the morning, and was very severe until noon. 3. Chronic intermittent headaches, with shooting and pressing pains in different parts of the head, recurring at certain periods of the day or night.

The eye-symptoms somewhat resemble those of Gelseminum ; also Pulsatilla and Cimicifuga.

“ Eyes protruding and red, with pressive pain extending to the forehead ; pupils fixed and dilated ; objects appear red at night and yellow in the daytime; eyelids injected bright red, and painful when pressed ; enlargement of the meibomian glands and conjunctiva ; smarting in the eyes, especially when closing them ; sensation in the eyes as if one had wept a good deal ; itching of the eyes ; dimness of the sight; the left eyelid seemed dried to the ball ; conjunctiva inflamed and dry ; when exposed to the air the eyes feel dry ; eyes felt swollen ; misty vision, as from thick smoke ; dizzy, could not see to light a candle, and could not tell when it was lighted.”

It has cured ° flashes of light before the eyes ; 0 dull appearance of the eyes; 0 tumid face, with pupils much dilated ; ° a peculiar, unsteady, glistening appearance of the eyes, and intolerance of light.

It has many of the ear-symptoms of China :

Singing in the ears as of crickets ; buzzing of the ears toward noon ; hardness of hearing at night ; it antidotes the effects of Sulphate of quinine on the auditory nerves.

Its value in facial neuralgia is substantiated by the following clinical cases :

° Prosopalgia, more frequently in women than in men, generally on the right side, recurring in regular paroxysms of indefinite duration, with spasmodic distortion of the muscles corresponding to the affected region (the zygomatic process almost always). ° Chronic intermittent prosopalgia always coming on at 7 or 8 P.M., and lasting from two to four hours.

“ In facial, especially supraorbital neuralgia, in more than one instance a single dose was sufficient where the periodicity was well ma7'ked.” Dr. Liebold, “ New York Journal of Homoeopathy,” vol. i, p. 362.

Its action on the throat is quite specific. The following case contains its peculiar symptoms :

° Mouth and tongue very dry ; difficulty of speech ; great thirst all the time; painful pricking of the tongue, with a sensation of heat ; she felt at times as if the tongue was paralyzed ; face pale ; deep-sunken eyes; odontalgia every night; fetid breath; lips cold, bluish, dry; now and then slight bleeding of the gums. These symptoms appeared only with the catamenia , and lasted as long as that discharge, at the termination of which she had a profuse ptyalism and leucorrhoeal flow.

The gastric symptoms remind one of Arnica , especially in the amelioration by eating , thus :

Eructations of bitter wind from the stomach before rising in A.M., with dull pain in the temples; sensation as of a stone on the stomach ; rolling pain in the stomach ; sensation of heat and fulness in the stomach ; distension of the stomach and disposition to nausea, generally aggravated by rest, but relieved by walking, and by eating; ° uncomfortable feeling of the stomach, which obliged him to lie down; great sensitiveness of the praecordial region ; pulse small and hard ; dryness of the mouth and fauces ;

depressed spirits and inquietude relieved by food and drink. These symptoms appeared every day from 10 to 11 a.m., lasted from one to two hours, after which there was prostration of body and mind for an hour or two.

The following cases illustrate its curative power over abnormal stools and urine ; it ought to be useful in cholera infantum , with tendency to brain trouble:

° Semiliquid, whit sh feces, somewhat like starch ; white, frothy, and papescent evaeuat’ons immediately after meals, accompanied with slight colic and discharge of inodorous wind; ° involuntary discharge of urine and feces.

0 Scanty urine; profuse emissions of watery urine; frequent emission of large quantities of pale urine; frequent ineffectual urging to urinate ; dark urine with sediment; urine of a dark-red color; scanty urine and deep yellow color; frequent desire to urinate; ° urine very high-colored ; ° urine precipitates a branlike sediment; 0 involuntary emission of urine; ° a great deal of pain in the kidney.

. The genital symptoms are not as prominent as the cures alleged to be made, namely :

° A tic-like pain over the left eye, for more than thirteen years, with the singular circumstance that such a pain never came on except postcoitu (radically cured in 3 days); ° involuntary nocturnal spermaperthy (in a woman). ° Post coitum, irregular and uncontrollable movements of the left upper and lower extremities, and of some portions of the face, manifested by grimaces and contortions of different kinds; these symptoms lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes. She could not speak without stammering, and her respiration was very much affected. She also had involuntary discharge of urine and faeces at times during the attack {choreic). ° Leucorrhoea regularly every month, five or six days previous to the appearance of the catamenia, with pain in the uterus and enlargement of the vulva; ° leucorrhoeal discharge appearing in the place of the catamenia. Menstrual epilepsy (epileptoid convulsions), precursory symptoms of which were manifested precisely the same day that the catamenia commenced ; vertigo, tinnitus aurium, and irregularity in the action of the heart; then the aura epileptica, followed with loss of consciousness and falling ; a

distressing cry, now and then alternated with risus sardonicus and slight foaming at the mouth during the attack. ° Epileptiform eclampsia (hysteria) ; attacks came on regularly twice a day, morning and evening, at the same hours, with these symptoms : intense pain in the forehead ; tumid face, with pupils much dilated ; then a feeling of giddiness, resulting in her falling down in the most distressing convulsions ; insensibility, closed teeth, and frothy secretions from the mouth ; difficult respiration, irregular pulse, and palpitation of the heart — the whole lasting for six or eight minutes. On recovering consciousness she felt very weak, and discharged a large quantity of inodorous urine as clear as pure water (primipara, in seventh month of utero-gestation).

The nerves of the larynx are evidently irritated by the drug, reminding us of the action of Lachesis and other serpent poisons. (It is considered almost a panacea for the bites of serpents in the countries where it grows.)

° Larynx constricted and tender; difficuly of swallowing ; difficult respiration with partial loss of voice recurring at intervals ; 10 breath cold ; ° hurried respiration and feeling of suffocation in the throat; 0 chronic intermittent laryngitis, the attack comes on every evening, with shivering chills, lasts about two hours, terminates with a profuse perspiration ; 0 suffocating fits regularly every day from 10 to 12 o’clock; there are sensations of choking or stifling; difficulty of breathing, obliging her to stand in an erect position; enlargement of the tonsils during the attack, with redness of the velum palati, and constant need of swallowing — all these symptoms were aggravated after sleeping, and mitigated by eating; ° troublesome cough, coming on regularly every morning at about 6 o’clock, and lasting from two to three hours ; the patient was perfectly free from it during the rest of the day.

We see the similarity to Lachesis again in its effects on the cardiac nerves , especially on the accelerators and regulating nerves.

Oppression of the chest and throbbing of the heart; oppressive pain in the chest every now and then, extending to the back, with frequent desire to moan and take a long breath ; palpitation of the heart and hurried breathing, with headache; pulse increased from 12 to 15 impulses per minute, in from twenty to thirty minutes after the dose. (This was a constant phenomenon in all

the American provers — three women and two men. The doses were from one to three drops of the matrix.)

° It has cured irregularity in the action of the heart; 0 irregular pulse and palpitation of the heart; ° rapid intermittent pulse, impossible to reckon the strokes; also, palpitation of the heart, rapid and intermittent. The oppression of the chest and throbbing of the heart occurred in nearly all the provers in whom febrile paroxysms were developed.

Many of the symptoms of the spinal region, such as “stiff-neck,” “ pain all along the spine ,” verified by cures, point to its homoeopathicity and possible usefulness in cerebro-spinal meningitis, especially when the cerebral, laryngeal, febrile, and spasmodic symptoms correspond.

I quote the fever symptoms in full, as a guide to its future administration in ague :

1. Feverish paroxysms every day in some provers, every other day in others, toward 8 p.m., preceded by depressed spirits, d illness of the senses, and pressive headache at noon ; cramps, then contracting and tearing pains in the upper and lower extremities, with a cold sensation in the hands and feet; mouth dry, great thirst, and desire for cold water; chills and shivering; sometimes very strong shuddering of the whole body; palpitation of the heart and hurried respiration ; pulse weak and oppressed. These symptoms lasted from one to two hours, varied much in intensity, and were followed by a sensation of dry heat, and then of profuse perspiration, full and quick pulse, with animated red face ; cold and pale in the apyrexia; thirst and desire for warm drinks.

2. At 3 o’clock, p.m., shuddering all over the body, with malaise and desire to lie down ; the shuddering is renewed by motion ; hands, feet, and nose are cold ; flying heat in the face several times ; lastly, toward 6 o’clock in the morning, constant heat in the face, which looks animated, with smarting iu the eyes, especially when closing them ; lips dry, with desire to moisten them often ; headache, especially in the bottom of the orbits, compelling him to close the eyes, and extending to the occiput. While this congestion of the head lasts, the shuddering continues all the time ; the hands, feet, and nose remain cold ; urine of a dark-red color.

3. Toward 6 o’clock in the evening (immediately after dinner) cold all over; shuddering in the back, icy coldness in the feet; the hands are burning; sensation in the eyes as if one had wept a good deal. In the evening toward half past six, half an hour after dinner, shuddering in the back and legs; unusual paleness of the hands; red face; heaviness of the head; stretching toward seven in the evening; general coldness all evening; increase of the headache in the open air (toward 9 o’clock) ; pressive pain over the eyes as of a band of iron tied round the parts ; no thirst during the shuddering; dry heat at night. At 6.30 p.m., feverish paroxysms with itching in the eyes, which is only stopped for a moment by rubbing; laming and weary pains in the shoulders; profuse emission of watery urine. Toward 5.30 p.m., prickings in the tongue; itching of the eyes; half an hour later shiverings, with heat of the face, hands pale, feet and tip of the nose cold. Towards 6 p.m., shuddering, soon followed by a dull and heavy frontal headache, spreading to both parietal regions with redness of the eyes, itching of the internal and external surfaces of the eyelids; icy coldness of the hands and tip of the nose, even in the midst of the febrile reaction (the pulse is 80), the rest of the face is red and burning; lastly, dimness of sight, dilatation of the pupils; objects look red; mouth dry, with thick, viscous saliva ; constriction of the throat, which scarcely allows her to swallow the saliva; anxiety, restlessness, general malaise.

The medicine being taken by healthy provers, was generally followed by —

1st. A certain state of mental excitement, and augmentation of vital energy; florid face, and a sensation of heat throughout the body; full and strong pulse; more or less perspiration, and no thirst.

This group lasted from twenty to forty minutes in some, and disappeared after that time to return no more, without any other abnormal manifestation in their health ; whilst in others the symptoms were prolonged from one to two hours, and were followed by—

2d. Depressed spirits; dulness of the senses, and torpor of the mental faculties; general debility, languor, and faintings in some. When these symptoms are followed by those of the first group,

the phenomena of both sets are often repeated, and at certain intervals of time; but neither of the two occur periodically, unless when they are together. Nor are they absolutely concomitant to pyrexia; for the paroxysms generally take place without them, as in the natural disease. It is for this reason that such phenomena were disconnected from the category of the physical group ; but whenever pyrexia occurs, or follows that condition, the symptoms, after weakness of the body and mind, are as follows :

3d. Great thirst; yawning; cramps and painful feelings of contraction in the lower extremities; cold sensation in hands and feet; chills and shivering of the whole body ; palpitation of the heart; pulse weak and oppressed ; hurried respiration; chattering of the teeth and shaking of the whole body; scanty and highlycolored urine ; slight nausea in .some, with yellow color of the skin * and face in others; great debility; dilated pupils and confused sight. These symptoms lasted from one to two hours, and varied much in their intensity; after which —

4th. Dry heat follows, with full and quick pulse; animated face; profuse perspiration ; longing for cold in some, and for warm drinks in others; and discharge of pale urine in large quantities. These symptoms lasted from two to three hours, and were generally followed by a desire to sleep. The provers felt as if they were contused ; sound sleep in some, and somewhat agitated in others during the night.

The apyrexia generally lasted from fifteen to seventeen hours, after which, and in about the same time as the previous day , the paroxysms were repeated as per group third, and continued almost quotidian.