Plantago major

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Plantain.)

Botanical Description. — This is a well known herb, growing in rich, moist places, in fields, by road sides, and in grass-plats. Common in Europe and America; flowering from May to October. A perennial, with a round scape rising from a fibrous root, from one to three feet in height. The leaves are ovate, smooth, somewhat toothed, five to seven nerved, each of which contains a strong fibre, which may be pulled out, and abruptly narrowed into a long channeled petiole. The flowers are white, very small, imbricated, numerous, and densely disposed on a cylindrical spike, from five to twenty inches long. Small plants are frequently found with the spikes only half an inch to two inches long, and the leaves and stalk proportionately small. Stamens and styles long ; seeds numerous.

Officinal Preparations. — Tincture of the fresh root and leaves; with strong alcohol ; dilutions.

Analogues. — Arnica (.?), Hcpar (?), Mercurius (?), Phytolacca (?).

[These symptoms are selected from the pathogenesis published by Dr F. Humphreys, (New York, 1871.) Twelve persons engaged in the provings. (Rale.)']

Moral Symptoms.

General depression and despondency, though the weather is

bright and beautiful. Impatient and restless mood, with dull, stupid feeling in the

brain; very irritable and morose temper; worse in the

evening.

Feeling of great prostration, with a meditative mood, and unable to associate the mind with any external object.

Attempting to exercise the mental faculties would increase the depression and occasion rapid respiration, with a feeling of great anxiety.

Great mental anxiety, pacing backward and forward in the room; then throwing one's self on the bed and rolling from one side to the other in the greatest mental agitation; sleep with the most horrible and frightful dreams, which awaken me.

Mind inactive, with a dull, muddled feeling in the head.

Head.

Twinges of pain in different parts of the head; now through the right temple, extending backward, then through the occiput, from ear to ear, then in other parts of the head, more or less severe.

Oppression deep in the head, and sense of something lying in

the head from one ear to the other. Dull, oppressed feeling through the forehead, with sometimes

a deep pain extending across from the temporal bones,

apparently at the base of the brain. Pains in the head, (of a shooting character,) sometimes in the

right parietal region, sometimes in the left; also in the

mastoid processes. Pretty severe pain in the left side of the head, from the fore.

head extending deep into the brain, coming on in paroxysms.

Pain in the left side of the head, from over the left eye back toward the occiput; somewhat sharp, but soon passing off.

An intermittent, pulsative pain at the vertex of the head, in a small spot beneath the scalp.

Itching of the scalp, with slight eruption on the forehead, which soon disappeared.

Eyes.

Occasional dull, stupefying pain, deep in the orbits, worse on pressure.

Dull, aching pain, deep in right orbit, lasting only a few moments; fifteen minutes after taking the tincture.

Sharp, darting pain in the external and superior side of the orbit of the right eye.

(Edema and redness of the eyelids after rising.

Unnatural sense of dryness of the eyelids, continuing for several hours.

Severe painful stitches, first in the left, then in the right eyeball, more at the internal canthus, for an hour. Ears.

Pains in the head, apparently running from one ear through to the other.

Pains often in the centre of the ear, most in the left, beginning in the head.

Nose.

Sensation across the bridge of the nose as if the nasal bones were being pressed together or pressed inward.

Frequent sneezing, with discharge of sanious mucus from left nostril.

Profuse discharge of sanious mucus from left nostril, continuing all day, then gradually diminishing and affecting the right nostril.

Face and Lips.

Unpleasant sensation of bruised soreness and tension in the integuments of the face, on rising, especially on the forehead, above the left eye, and around it; somewhat sensitive when pressed or rubbed ; continued some time.

Eruption on the face of small, reddish, rough, scaly, erythematous patches the size of a pea; on the left side of the face and most near the commissure of the lips; no decided pain or itching, but an unpleasant sense of tension.

Several papulre around the nose, which are red, and smart when touched.

Eruptions on the lips, dry, scaly, with violent burning and

tension; more the inferior one. Lips have been livid, dark, sickly, and rough, for many days.

Jaws and Teeth. Aching of some decayed teeth in the lower jaw of the left side,

after dinner.

Toothache in left side of the face, before and after breakfast; went off in the forenoon, and returned again after dinner, for an hour or two.

Slight toothache on rising, scarcely to be noticed, but afterward increased until noon, when it was very severe; cheek considerably swelled; constant discharge of saliva from the mouth after 12 m.

Pain was in decayed tooth, but the teeth on each side sound; teeth on each side were so elongated and sore that it was difficult to eat.

Excessive boring, digging pain, profuse flow of saliva, aggravated by walking in the cold air, and by contact; also high degree of heat, partial ease obtained only by lying down in a moderately cool room. Could not endure the pain; took Mercury 30 with relief.

Teeth of the left side elongated and sore; violent pain in the upper molars of the left side (sound teeth).

Sensitive feelii g in the teeth, sort of tingling, as if in the

nerves of the front teeth of the upper jaw; these symptoms came on before going to sleep, but were not long continued or very violent.

Soreness and cold sensation in the front incisor teeth, as if they had been chilled by inhaling cold air.

Teeth feel elongated in the morning, and then ache from halfpast two until four p. m., each day; the pain is sharp, stabbing, and severe, running along the course of the superior branch of the trifacial nerve, which is sensitive and the pain readily excited, and cannot lie on that side of the face at night.

Toothache and dull face-ache during the morning, until after two P. M.

Toothache gone, but swelled cheek remains. The tooth was the second submaxillary molar of the left side.

Very rapid decay of the teeth. The filling has fallen out of two.

0 Toothache— The leaf fibres of this plant have long been used in Switzerland for toothache, in the following singular manner. The fresh leaves of the plant are torn, and the green thread-like fibers put into the ear of the aching side. Curiously enough, in cases benefited by the remedy, these fibres become black, and are then renewed, while, if no relief is experienced, they remain green. During last year I prepared a tincture of the whole plant, and from it made the second decimal attenuation. About seven-tenths of the cases of odontalgia which have come under my treatment have been cured by the administration of this remedy, in about fifteen minutes! Many other case have been much benefited. From the wide range of usefulness in this disease, I conclude it will become useful in other diseases. {Dr. Reutlinger, Hale)

0 I have for many years used the Plantago successfully in various forms of odontalgia. I doubt not this use of the Plantago has been confirmed by all who took part in the proving during these intervening years. {Humphreys) Mouth and Throat.

Dryness of the mouth and throat.

Sensation of dryness in the fauces and pharynx.

Tongue slightly coated with a whitish coating.

Unpleasant and constrictive sensation in the pharynx, on

awaking in the morning, soon passed off. Hemorrhage from the gums.

Rawness and soreness in the pharynx in the night; this symptom continuing all the next day, in a modified degree, with dryness and tickling in the throat, inducing a dry, hacking cough.

Hoarseness, as if from dryness in the larynx, on rising in the morning.

Gastric Symptoms.

Constant eructations in the morning, which taste strongly of sulphur; lasted all day, and during the forenoon the sulphur taste always present; taste changed in the afternoon ; strong taste of carbonic acid, as much so as if a bottle of well-charged soda-water had been drank; this gas eructated in large quantities, at intervals of five to fifteen minutes, during the afternoon; the gas passed down into the bowels after supper, causing great borborygmi, and passing off with a strong odor of sulphuretted hydrogen.

Sensation of heat in the praecordia, with fullness of the abdomen in the afternoon, while walking in the open air, going off soon after sitting down.

Peculiar indescribable feeling in the region of the right cardiac orifice of the stomach; especially after eating a hearty meal, there would be a coolish, painful sensation, as if the parts were distended; symptom lasted about a week.

Faint and trembling feeling, with nausea.

Hypochondria and Abdomen.

Slight uneasiness in epigastrium; frequent empty eructations, with slight rumbling in the bowels and occasional emissions of flatus.

Griping pain in the bowels, with nausea almost to vomiting, continued half an hour in the evening.

Severe colic pain in the left side of the abdomen, deep beneath the cartilage of the floating ribs, increased by deep inspiration, and by lying on that side.

Occasional eructations, which do not relieve the pain.

Pain during the day in the right iliac region, as if a stone was

in the right inguinal canal. Acute pain in the right hypochondria and abdominal muscles,

manifest themselves, and continue m a greater or less

degree during the afternoon and evening.

Urine.

'Unusually free and profuse discharge of urine. Urine of a deep orange color; secretion increased. Frequent micturition of colorless urine.

Nocturnal enuresis ; arose twice during the night, passed each time a pint or more of light-colored urine (never before).

Passed a large quantity of very dark red urine, of a very strong

odor, on rising in the morning. Urine very profuse and light-colored, and deposits a white

sediment.

Urgent desire to urinate on arising in the morning, with slight tenseness of the bladder, but passing very little urine.

Tickling, with unpleasant itching in the orifice of the urethra; came on suddenly, and lasted a few minutes in the morning, and again in the evening.

Sudden, darting, stinging pain running up the urethra while sitting.

Tenderness over the region of the bladder, on pressure.

° In enuresis. — " Since my attention was called to the subject, some fifteen years ago, I have used this remedy with great success, in enuresis. It is especially applicable to the nocturnal enuresis of children, particularly when depending on laxity of the sphincter vesica. In most of these cases the children usually secrete a larger quantity than normal, of a pale, watery urine, and though great pains are taken to have the bladder thoroughly emptied before retiring, yet the pressure on the weak sphincter will cause its escape before morning. It has seemed of no effect when, instead of laxity, there was paralysis of the sphnicter. We think it not so useful when the urine

50*

and its deposits. The bladder itself and the sphincter are in an irritable condition, and cause frequent micturition by night as well as by day; in this condition, while the Plantago affords no relief to adults, children frequently receive great benefit from it." {Dr. E. W. Jones.) Stool and Anus. Unpleasant sensation of uneasiness in the bowels, and yet no stool.

Uneasiness in bowels, as if compelled to go to stool before eating.

Looseness of the bowels, with feeling of weakness.

Loose stool every day, and sometimes twice per day, with some

pain in the rectum and slight colic before stool. Very watery stool, with very little pain or desire for stool,

about ten p. m. Eructations still continuing. Frequent discharge of stinking flatus, with uneasiness of the

bowels, and followed by loose stool. Stool at one a.m., and at daylight; stools watery at first thin,

then thicker and more papescent; then thin again, and

so on; also passed large quantities of wind. Passage of some blood during an easy stool. Partial prolapsus of the rectum during stool. Pain in the rectum and lumbar region; stools of a normal

character.

0 A physician, Dr. , remarked at the Illinois State Medical Society that he had cured, during the season, every case of cholera infantum in his practice with the 3d of Plantago. {Dr. Hale.)

Male Genital Organs. Diminished sexual excitement all through, thus far. Unconscious emission of semen at night whilst asleep.

Chest.

Orgasm, or flow of blood to the chest, with sensation of heat. Great weakness and oppression of the chest, with shortness of

breath, followed by nausea, almost to vomiting. On talking or reading aloud, obliged to stop several times in

a sentence to take a breath ; continued all the evening.

Difficulty of breathing, as if there were no air in the room.

Frequent, involuntary, deep breathing, approaching to yawning.

Panting breathing, on the least exercise, particularly on ascending stairs, with violent palpitation of the heart, and accelerated pulse.

Stitch in the heart after dinner.

Violent beating of the heart on ascending stairs, which lasted about five minutes.

Dull, aching, sub-cutaneous pain near the left side of the sternum; a little below its centre; worse by pressure, and also on sitting, but passing off on moving.

Sharp, darting pain in the left side, several times during the day; then in the right side; at one time a very sharp, darting pain passed up the right side; very peculiar in its character.

Sharp stitch or catching pain in the lower lobe of the left lung,

on drawing a long breath at night in bed. ° I have repeatedly used an application of Plantago with

prompt and decided benefit, in erysipelatous inflammations of the female breast. Its action has proved far more

satisfactory in allaying and arresting the inflammatory

process than Arnica or Hamamelis.

Neck, Back, and Loins. Soreness and stiffness of the neck, upon moving or turning

the head, passing off after some time. Soreness and stiffness of the sterno-cleido mastoid muscles

of the right side of the neck; worse on moving the head

to side affected, and relieved on moving it to opposite

side; continued for ten days. Great weakness across small of the back, extending around

the body, as if the body were broken. Sharp pain in the left side, sometimes extending to the right

shoulder, then to the right side, then spreads over the

upper part of the back. Pulsative pain between the scapulae, passing from one to the

other, and from thence to the dorsum of the right arm,

in the extensor muscles, darting from above toward the.

elbow

Dull, aching pain in the sacrum, a little below its union with the lumbar vertebrae; worse during motion or standing.

Tenderness on pressure along the spinal column.

Upper Extremities.

Lead-like weight and heaviness of the extremities, arms and legs. Great weariness and desire to lie down.

Aching rheumatic pains in left shoulder, going off in a few minutes.

Rheumatic pains in right shoulder, came on while sitting,

lasted for an hour. Pains in the muscles of right arm, chiefly below the elbow. Rheumatic drawing or sticking pains in the joints of the

fingers.

Itching in the commissure of the fingers of the left hand;

worse at night, but more or less constant.

Lower Extremities. Pain and uneasiness of the loins and lower extremities. Dull, aching pain in the right shoulder, alternating with a

dull, aching pain in the right hip, which passes down the

limb.

Pain in the right side and right knee-joint, continued at

irregular intervals. Drawing pains in the posterior muscles of the right thigh,

with tenderness on pressure. Sharp, shooting pain, passing from the trochanter major of

the right leg into the hip joint. Painful soreness of the left leg, below the knee, as if it had

been strained.

Skin.

The skin of the whole body is sensitive, and leaves a burning sensation when scratched.

Itching in the lower limbs, also in other parts of the body; rubbing feels grateful, but does not relieve ; when the rubbing ceases, a burning sensation is experienced.

Prickling or stinging pains in the skin of different parts of the body and limbs ; these pains are sometimes of a prickling character, as if produced by very fine needles; at others with a burning sensation, as if from nettles,

never appearing in different parts of the body simultaneously, but always confined to one spot at a time; they manifest themselves chiefly in the afternoon and evening, and almost exclusively while sitting in a warm room, and seldom felt during exercise in the open air.

Eruption about the hips and thighs, particularly on the inside of the thighs; the papulae are isolated, hard, white, and flattened; some of them have a small red point in the centre; they itch slightly on first making their appearance; when scratched, the itching becomes more violent; and a burning sensation supervenes, and deep redness is diffused through the part, which lasts about five minutes; in several hours they become more elevated and acuminated, and, finally, in about twenty-four hours, gradually disappear, without suppuration or desquamation, and others spring up. Several appeared on the wrist and between the fingers.

Papulae exude a yellowish humor, soon forming a crust.

Soreness and slight tumefaction of the submaxillary glands on each side.

• The hand and a portion of the face, in the case of a young lady, were red, swelled, itching violently, and in places covered with vesicles; she took pellets medicated with Plantago 1st, and applied a lotion made by a teaspoonful of the tincture to a cup of water. The relief was prompt, and a cure was effected in three days.

0 It is reported to have cured cases of poisoning with ivy, poison shumach (Rhus ven.), where the face has been fearfully swollen and red like erysipelas. The leaves were wilted under a roller and applied to the part, with prompt relief and subsidence of the swelling.

0 The Plantago is used with benefit as an application for lacerated or incised wounds or injuries, and especially when attended with painful swelling and tendency to erysipelatous inflammations or sphacelus.

0 A young man cut his thumb through the root of the nail; it was dressed and treated by an allopathic physician for two or three weeks ; it became inflamed, fearfully swollen.

and was ver) painful. I made two prescriptions, using the Plantago externally, with the tincture, and cured it.

° The second was a young man who had his finger bitten through the first joint, so as to almost sever the end of the finger. When I first saw it, it was swollen to about the size of a hen's egg, and very much inflamed. I made two or three external applications, and cured the finger.

0 A young man with a frost-bite on the top of his foot; it was badly swollen, and he was unable to walk. With about a two-ounce vial of the Plantago-wash it was cured.

0 A lady, about forty -five or fifty years old, had been troubled with a milk-leg for many years. At times it would swell and be very painful. I gave her a solution of Plantago, for external applications, and it relieved her at once, and with the aid of Sepia and Rhus, internally, she remained quite comfortable until she passed from my knowledge. {Dr. George Washhume.)

0 A lady, while dressing a codfish, thrust one of the fins into the palmer surface of the middle finger, just over the second or large joint. The wound was deep and bled profusely; but no attention was paid to it at the moment, except to bind it up with a rag. The night following, the part became excessively painful, the pain extending from the wound up to the shoulder, causing great distress. The next morning the whole hand was swelled, back and front, especially the injured finger. The arm also even swelled up to the shoulder, and there were two distinct light pinkish streaks running up the front of the arm, from the hand to the shoulder. The third day, after some fruitless applications, being almost agonized with the pain and suffering, she applied bruised plantain leaves to the part, removing them as often as they became dry. In about half-an-hour after the application, she felt so relieved that she fell asleep, and slept probably an hour the first sleep she had after the accident. In two oi three days the finger was well. {Dr. C. Cresson.) Sleep.

Restless at night, with inability to sleep, frequent dreams of

a gloomy character, rousing me from sleep ; worse about midnight.

Some throbbing of the arteries at night, and restlessness until twelve or one in the morning.

Restless sleep, with every variety of fanciful dreams, with grinding of the teeth. The highest degree of restlessness at night, with the most vivid, congruous, and coherent dreams, also incoherent and disgusting dreams, all in rapid succession.

Fever.

Some chilliness and slight headache; cold hands and feet, and ringing in the ears for some time.

Cold chill running over me, and goose-skin; fingers cold.

Sharp, transient pains in the left temple, while sitting by the furnace and after having been out.

Chilliness on rising, after being seated for three hours, with sensation of heat in the chest and erratic pains in the limbs, chest and head; these symptoms continuing from one until three o'clock, with disposition to stretch.

Dull and stupid feeling, with an inclination to stretch and yawn frequently, with oppression in the chest, and aversion to mental and physical labor.

Strong, full, and intermittent pulse, varying from 70 to 80 beats per minute in a recumbent position, and increased to from 95 to 100 in an erect position, in the evening.

Intermittent and irregular pulse.

Almost imperceptible pulse; 100 per minute, and easily compressible.

Highest degree of excitability; high fever; strong, bound1' ng pulse; 120 per minute; sensation of great heat, with thirst; imagined the room to be very hot and close.

Unnatural heat of the head, hands, and feet, all the time; pulse 72.

"(Intermittent fever.)

it was in high repute among the ancient medical writers as a remedy for intermittents, they recommending a drink made from an infusion of the roots of the plant.

e Dr G. "Washburne relates the cure of several cases made with the tincture or first dilution.

0 That it will prove valuable in intermittents is quite certain. The symptomatic indications, as well as the genus of the remedy, point to its value in typhus and typhoid conditions.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

The oldest common name of the Plantain is “Waybread.” The characteristic symptoms, in "Vol. I, were taken from Dr. F. Humphreys’s “ Monograph,” to which Dr. Hering contributed from his immense and apparently exhaustless stores of pathogenetic lore.

.My industrious coadjutor, Dr. S. A. Jones, once published, in the “ American Homoeopathic Observer,” a supplement to Hering’s “Classical History” of the plant, which covers its history during a period dating from A.D. 1000 to the dawn of the eighteenth century.

The ancients used it in intermittent fevers. An infusion was prescribed, to be taken two hours before the expected paroxysm. The provings do not give us a clear picture of intermittent or remittent febrile paroxysms, although some of the symptoms bear some resemblance to miasmatic fever.

Dr. G. Washburn (homceopathist) claims to have cured agues with the tincture and lx dilution. The testimony relating to ague-remedies cannot always be considered reliable, owing to the singular character of that disease.

• All the Papaveracese have this symptom.

Plantago seems to exercise a specific irritant action on the skin when taken internally. The irritation takes the form of prurigo, urticaria, and papulae, accompanied by severe itching, pricking, and burning sensations.

It does not seem capable of causing actual lesions of the skin.

In domestic practice it is constantly resorted to as an application in all affections of the skin, with irritation, pain, and heat. The leaves are wilted and bruised, and applied upon the affected part.

It certainly possesses some other than a simple emollient influence, for the testimony that it relieves pain and ameliorates the inflammation is almost universal.

By reference to the clinical cases published in the pathogenesis (Vol. I), you will see that the external application of a lotion of the tincture, infusion, or leaves, has been of great benefit in erysipelas, rhus-poisoning, erethyma, burns, scalds, inflammation of glands (notably the mammae), bruises, incised wounds, bites of animals, frostbites, chilblains, etc.

The surgeon should not disdain the use of this simple herb, for the testimony of Drs. Washburn and Cresson shows it to be a powerful curative agent in some very severe and painful injuries.

It is recommended for worms, and it has one sleep-symptom which is very suggestive of verminous affections, namely, “ grinding of the teeth at night.” The mental symptoms are of the same character that we find in children afflicted with helminthiasis.

It appears to be a grand remedy for odontalgia. It had a reputation for the relief of toothache even among the ancients. In the “Herbal of Dodoens,” A. D. 1558, we read:

The juice or decoction of the leaves or roots do cure and heal the naughtie ulcers of the mouth, the toothache, and bleeding of the gums.

John Parkinson, in his “ Theatre of Plants,” A.D. 1640, says:

The root, taken fresh out of the ground, washed and gently scraped with a knife, then put into the ear (?), cures the toothache like a charm.

In the provings you will find that it causes toothache in sound and carious teeth ; also sensitiveness of the teeth to cold air and

contact, and they feel very greatly elongated. The symptoms resemble those of Mercurius.

Dr. Reutlinger narrates the singular manner in which they cure toothache with the Plantain in Switzerland. The leaf-fibres are frayed out and put in the ear of the affected side.

Curiously enough, in cases benefited by the remedy, these fibres become black, and are then renewed, while, if no relief is experienced, they remain green.

Dr. R. states that with the 2X dil. of the plant he cures seventenths of all cases of odontalgia in about fifteen minutes!

Dr. Humphreys confirms this statement. I was at first inclined to doubt its efficacy, but have been obliged to admit its value, for of all homoeopathic remedies for toothache, none can compare with the Plantago.

It cures when taken on the tongue in the attenuations, and applied to the cavity of a carious tooth on cotton. I have never tried the plan of putting it in the ear.

It is alleged to be useful in otalgia , applied in the same manner. The warm juice of the leaves, or a wilted leaf, rolled up and put in the ear, is a popular remedy for earache.

It has been used successfully in colic, diarrhoea, and dysentery, and some physicians of my acquaintance value it highly in summer complaint and cholera infantum.

The urinary symptoms are noteworthy, and I predict a sphere of usefulness in that direction. It has only been used successfully in enuresis. It appears to be especially applicable to the nocturnal enuresis of children, particularly when depending on laxity of the sphincter vesicse. The urine in such cases is pale, profuse, and watery. When actual paralysis is present, or when the urine is scanty, it is not so effectual. It acts better in children than adults. I suggest that it may be useful in wetting the bed from the irritation of worms.

I have seen the happiest effect from the application of warm, wilted Plantain leaves in mastitis. It allays the pain and mitigates the heat and swelling. To make them more effectual, spread on them a piece of oiled silk, or oiled paper, to prevent evaporation.