Dr. B. Mure's materia medica

by Benoît Mure

ARRANGEMENT ACCORDING TO HAHNEMANN.

Mental, Moral, Head: 1. Sad. Sad, motionless, speechless. Confused ideas. Merry, disposed to sing. 5. Boring pain at the top of the forehead. Lancinations in forehead and left side of the hand. Splitting pain in left parietal bone. Pain and head in forehead, with pressure on the eyes. Numbness and compressive sensation at the head as from a warm bandage. 10. Sensation as if the finger were pressed on the right temple. Lancing pain in the temples, shifting to the vertex where she feels a burning. Pain at vertex, as from a blow. Numb pain, with pressure, in the temples. Heaviness in the forehead when stooping. 15. Headache, with small pulse and hot face. Painful stitch in forehead, worse when opening the eyes. Stabbing sensation in right temple. Dull, beating pain in left temple. Compressive pain in forepart of head. 20. Headache on waking. Heaviness of the head, also at the vertex. Sense of fullness in the head, as if it would split. Sense as if hot water were thrown on the hairy scalp. Deep-seated pain in upper part of the brain, less when walking about. 25. Dull pain at a point on the hairy scalp.

Eyes, &c.: Lachrymation and feeling as of sand in the eyes. Boring pains in right upper lid. Dull pain at the right eye as from a blow. Pain as if the eyes were driven out. 30. Stinging under the left lower lid. Redness of the conjunctiva. The flame of the candle looks yellow. Eyes half closed, bloated. Weight at the eyelids, she has to close them and then sees figures. 35. Dimness of sight. Painful burning at the margin of the eyelids. Toothache. Sense of heat in the face. Itching of the dorsum of the nose. 40. Nose inflamed, shining. Pain at the alæ nasi, followed by bloating of the dorsum of the nose. Stoppage of the right ear. Report in the ears when lying down. The left ear is hot and red.

Mouth, Stomach, &c.: 45. Stitching in the upper lip. Dry mouth. Burning in the tongue. Flow of saliva in the evening, with ash-colored sediment and granulations tasting like bile. Sore throat with difficulty of swallowing saliva. 50. Astringent sensation in the throat. Lancinations in the epigastrium and stomach. Stomach-ache, with cold feeling internally. Acute pain in stomach when rising from a chair. Circumscribed pains in the groins. 55. Rumbling. Lancing pain in the spleen. Dull pain in bowels.

Stool: Constipation. Slimy diarrhœa. 60. She urinates every five minutes, with heat in the urethra. Light-colored urine.

Bronchial: Cough with hoarseness. Suffocation, with cold feet, in bed. Fetid breath. 65. Pain at the sternum when stooping. Deep-seated pain under the sternum. Tightness and beating in the region of the heart.

Extremities: Heat in the loins. Twisting sensation at the shoulder-blade, when stooping. 70. Sensation in the spine as if strained when lying down. Prickings at right shoulder, followed by inflammatory redness. The left arm feels weary and numb. Pain at left arm, with large, red, inflamed spot. Burning pain at left radius. 75. Inflammatory redness at left forearm. Sense of paralysis at the forearm and phalanges. Shootings and itching at the inner forearm. Numbness at the inside of the forearm. Sharp pain and rough feeling at the forearm. 80. Pain in the forearm. Contusive sensation at right forearm. Pricking pain at the outer and middle part of the right forearm. Numbness of the right fingers. Stinging pains at the elbow. 85. Numbness at the wrist with sensitiveness to contact. Internal sharp pain in right wrist. Crampy pain in the palm of the hand. Sweaty in the palms of the hands. Pain in the fingers of the right hand, as from a blow. 90. Pain in the right hand. Dry heat in the palms of the hands. Crampy pain in the muscles of the right hand. Numbness of the tips of the fingers. Itching and inflammatory swelling of the ball of the left thumb. Cramp in the ring-finger. 95. Sudden pain from the little finger to the extent of the forearm, with constriction at the elbow. Darting and heat at the tip of the right thumb. Numbness of the lower limbs. Biting sensation at right thigh, with itching and smarting after scratching. Cramp in the calves, at night. 100. Numbness of the legs, also with weakness. Contusive pain at the calf. Numbness and itching of the right leg. Sudden numbness of the knees. Dull pain in the knee joint. 105. Lancing pain in the metatarsal bone. Painful pricking in the left fifth toe, followed by a sensation as if it would turn.

Sleep: Drowsy, yawning. Deep sleep. Drowsy after breakfast and dinner. 110. Light sleep. Sad dreams about sick persons. Dreams about quarrelling. Unpleasant dreams. Sad dreams. 115. Dreams about dead bodies, she wakes with a start and covered with cold sweat. Quarrelsome dreams.

Fever: Febrile heat, pale face, cold hands. Heat all over. Dry heat all over. 120. Shuddering all over. Cold feeling in the bones. Profuse cold sweat and chilliness, first part of the night.

Cutaneous: Violet-colored spots on the right hypochondrium. Two yellow spots on the neck.

General: 125. Heaviness and numbness of the extremities. Weakness every morning. The body feels insensible when lying down, as if in a swoon. Prostration. Dartings through the whole body, followed, by itching and violet-colored spots on the arm, back and feet. 130. Numbness of the arms and legs. Contusive pain in the arms and legs. Heaviness of the limbs.

JANIPHA MANIHOT. (Kunth.)
JAN. JATROPHA MANIHOT. (LIN.) MANIHOT UTILISSIMA. (Pohl.) MANIOCA MANDI.

The manioca which is cultivated, a good deal in South-America, for its nutritious root, is a bush with a round and ramose stem, often growing to the size of three feet high. Its leaves, which are of a sea-green color, and supported by long petioles, are alternate, palmate, with five to seven lanciolate, smooth and entire lobes. The flowers, which are monoïchous, form branching panicles either terminal or axillary; their perianth is calicoïd, campanulate, with five deep divisions of a light-yellow color, changing to a brown at the extremity of the divisions. Flowers male, ten stamens, with alternately long and short filaments inserted in a fleshy disk, which, in the female flowers, surrounds the base of a sub-globular ovary, with three uni-ovulate chambers; no style, but three stygmata presenting six or seven thick, compressed lobes that constitute a thick and sinuous mass. The roots, which are tuberculous and very big, contain an abundance of milky juice which is very poisonous when fresh, and which is extracted first by pressure and afterwards by the desiccation of the feculent portion that constitutes the chief nutriment of the Brazilian farmer. It is this juice that we employ in medicine.

On the second of July, 1845, a large quantity of this dangerous liquid was expressed before the institute, and an ounce of it was taken by Dr. Jo. Vincente Martins, and several pupils among whom Messrs. Antonio de Souza, Dias and Chedifer, seemed to be the most eager. The symptoms were so violent that most of the provers were obliged to antidote them. We trust that the devotedness of the Brazilian physicians will excite a corresponding enthusiasm among their brethren in other parts.

First day.—1. Eructations, at half past 6 in the morning. Slight feeling of dryness in the œsophagus. Slight weight in the stomach. Drowsy in the day-time. 5. Thirst. Falls asleep late. Stool easier than common. Pain at the velum palati. Pain in the orbits. 10. Pain in the chest. Weakness of the knees in going up-stairs. Sad. Feeble. Dizzy. 15. Acute pain in the left arm, at night.

Second day.—Vague pain in the abdomen, while urinating, at 6 in the morning. Copious light-colored, watery, fetid stools. Renewed ineffectual urging to stool, at 8. Appetite when commencing breakfast, it suddenly ceases after taking a little milk. 20. Sense of swelling in the left tonsil. Profuse sweat during sleep, ceasing on waking. Watery, greenish, fetid stools. Slight dull pains in the stomach and bowels, with rumbling. Sudden pain, with lancination in the urethra, above the fossa navicularis, for two minutes. 25. Tenesmus and pressure in the sphincter ani, with pricking, at 3 in the afternoon. Weight in the head, especially high up in the forehead, at 4 in the afternoon. Drowsy, at 4 in the afternoon. Distressing dreams, he wants to save a child from asphyxia, but the parents refuse to have it treated. Dizzy. 30. Wakes in bad humor. Trembling of the knees and limbs, with violent emotion when hearing other persons talk about the malady which he fears he is afflicted with. Pain in the side of the chest and in the shoulders, worse during motion.

Third day.—Uncertain and transitory, but very acute pains in the stomach. Fetid sweat in the axillæ and about the scrotum. 35. Doughy mouth, with bad breath. Noise in the ears like that of rushing steam. Slight heat in the urethra. Swelling of the ankles, rather less at night. Pain in the back. 40. Pain at the left elbow. Moral and physical prostration.

Fourth day.—Heaviness in the stomach, all night, eased by placing the hands upon the part. Optical illusions. Bitter mouth. 45. Pain in the forehead and the nasal fossæ.

Fifth day.—Pain at the inside of the thigh. Dreams about a fire with little flames like those which were observed during the examination at the institute of Rio Janeiro from the tenth attenuation of the crotalus cascavella, by means of the solar microscope.

Sixth day.—Drowsy. Diarrhœa in the morning. 50. Pain at the loins. Icy coldness of the knees.

Seventh day.—Icy coldness under the shoulder-blades, in bed, even when well covered. Cold feet and hands.

Eighth day.—Rheumatic pain in the right thigh. 55. Icy coldness in the arm, even to the marrow. The whole head, especially the nape of the neck, is cold.