Part 1 (1/2)
New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers.
by Various.
PREFACE.
During the many years that the compiler has had the management of the publis.h.i.+ng department of Messrs. Boericke & Tafel--long to look back over, yet short to live--so many inquiries came in for ”literature,” or, in the form, ”where can I find something about” this, that, or the other, remedy, that finally I became convinced that there might be a niche in the great world's already over-crowded library for a book containing, in part, at least, the information desired by my numerous correspondents. This determined, and the great publis.h.i.+ng house willing to back the enterprise, came the task of collecting the material. The work once begun, it was soon found that it is much easier to plan such a volume than to carry out the plan, for it involved no inconsiderable amount of delving in dusty piles of old journals to discover the sought for matter, which, when brought to light, had to be scanned closely to determine whether it was of a nature to justify this literary resurrection. However, in the odd hours of time that could be bestowed the work was finally completed and--the result is before you, kindly reader.
That this collection of papers has many gems is, I believe, not to be questioned; that some better papers on the remedies than those herein presented may exist is also probable; that it may contain some that are of doubtful value is not to be denied, and even some that have no right in such a book may have crept in. But what it is, it is; take the good and, in the current phrase of the hour, ”forget” the rest.
The part born by the editor, beyond delving for and selecting the remedies, will be found scattered through the book in bracketed small type, and consists simply in announcing who the writer of the paper was and where it may be found; no attempt has been made at editing any of the papers, or commenting on them, beyond a little cutting out of a little verbosity here and there, or of matter not bearing on the use of the remedy.
The material was drawn from journals of all ”schools,” wherever a paper could be found that seemed to contain something not to be found in medical-book literature, and to be honestly written.
The new remedies of the laboratory have been purposely ignored because they do not come in the scheme of this book, they having a literature of their own that, not infrequently, may be had ”free on request” to the laboratories. Only remedies (with a few exceptions) such as nature gives us are included in this work.
And now the task completed naught remains but for the compiler to subscribe himself,
EDWARD POLLOCK ANSHUTZ.
_1011 Arch St., Philadelphia, January 2, 1900._
New, Old and Forgotten Remedies.
ACALYPHA INDICA.
NAT. ORD., Euphorbiaceae.
COMMON NAME, Indian Acalypha, Indian Nettle.
PREPARATION.--The fresh plant is macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.
(Dr. Tonnere, of Calcutta, India, seems to have been the first to call attention to this plant as a remedy. In a small work, _Additions to the h.o.m.oeopathic Materia Medica_, collected and arranged by Henry Thomas, M. D., and published in London in the year 1858, appears the following credited to that physician.)
Tincture of the _Acalypha Indica_, prepared and administered in the sixth decimal dilution, is specific in haemorrhage from the lungs. In three cases in which I have employed it, the persons were affected with phthisis. In one case there was a tuberculous affection of the upper portion of the left lung, of some two years' standing. Haemoptysis had been going on for three months; the expectoration had been in the morning pure blood; in the evening dark lumps of clotted blood, and the fits of coughing were very violent at night. In this case all h.o.m.oeopathic remedies had been tried unsuccessfully, when I accidentally discovered the virtues of the _Acalypha Indica_, that remedy having been given me by a native for jaundice. I prepared the mother tincture upon the h.o.m.oeopathic principle, and took 10 drops, which brought on a severe fit of dry cough, followed by spitting of blood. Having noted all the symptoms experienced by myself, and finding that they were nearly all similar to those of my patients, I gave six drops 6th [decimal] dilution in half a tumbler of water, a spoonful to be taken every half hour, beginning immediately (9 A.M.). At 6 P.M., the blood stopped. I continued this for eight days, and the blood has never reappeared (now three months since). The patient is improving, and auscultation proves the disease has decreased, and I am in hopes to affect a cure, yet one month since I have been giving them the medicine they have not spit any blood, although previously one of them never pa.s.sed a day without spitting a great quant.i.ty. _Calcarea carb._ is an antidote to the _Acalypha_.
Another transatlantic medical friend writes:--”I hope you obtained some of the _Acalypha Indica_ while you were here. I have found it perfectly successful in arresting haemoptysis in three cases of consumption in the last stage; I could not perceive any other effect from its use, but the cessation of the hemorrhagic sputa was, I think, a great advantage.”
Its use in my hands has been very satisfactory, but I have only tried it in similar cases to those already cited. The first instance of my using it--in a hopeless case of phthisis--a continued and wearisome haemoptysis succ.u.mbed to its exhibition, and quiet sleep succeeded its use--the patient eventually died of pulmonary paralysis.
In a case of pa.s.sive haemorrhage from the lungs, after _Arnica_ was used with little benefit, _Acalypha_ benefited, and then failed; after which the use of _Arnica_ entirely stayed the haemorrhagic flow. (Perhaps _Hamamelis_ would have at once cured, but it was not at hand.)[A]
[A] h.o.m.oeopathic Review, vol. 1, p. 256.
K., a phthisical patient, had haemoptysis to a considerable extent; in a short time his voice failed him; he took half-drop doses of 7th [decimal] dilution of _Acalypha_ in water every half hour, and in a few hours the blood spitting left him entirely.