CRATÆGUS OXYACANTHA.
Nat. Ord., Pomaceæ.
Common Name, White or May Thorn. English Hawthorn.
Preparation.—The fresh berries are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two times their weight of alcohol.
(The The New York Medical Journal, October 10, 1896, published a communication from Dr. M. C. Jennings, under the heading "Cratægus Oxyacantha in the treatment of Heart Disease," of which the following is the substance):
Dr. Green, of Ennis, Ireland, for many years had a reputation for the cure of heart disease that caused patients to flock to him from all parts of the United Kingdom. He cured the most of them and amassed considerable wealth by means of his secret, for, contrary to the code, he, though a physician in good standing, refused to reveal the remedy to his professional brethren. After his death, about two years ago, his daughter, a Mrs. Graham, revealed the name of the remedy her father had used so successfully. It is Cratægus oxyacantha. So much for the history of the remedy. Dr. Jennings procured for himself some of the remedy, and his experience with it explains Dr. Green's national reputation. He writes:
"Case I was that of a Mr. B., aged seventy-three years. I found him gasping for breath when I entered the room, with a pulse-rate of 158 and very feeble; great œdema of lower limbs and abdomen. A more desperate case could hardly be found. I gave him fifteen drops of Cratægus in half a wineglass of water. In fifteen minutes the pulse beat was 126 and stronger, and breathing was not so labored. In twenty-five minutes pulse beat 110 and the force was still increasing, breathing much easier. He now got ten drops in same quantity of water, and in one hour from the time I entered the house he was, for the first time in ten days, able to lie horizontally on the bed. I made an examination of the heart and found mitral regurgitation from valvular deficiency, with great enlargement. For the œdema I prescribed Hydrargyrum cum creta, Squill and Digitalis. He received ten drops four times a day of the Cratægus and was permitted to use some light beer, to which he had become accustomed at meal time. He made a rapid and apparently full recovery until, in three months, he felt as well as any man of his age in Chicago. He occasionally, particularly in the change of weather, takes some of the Cratægus which, he says, quickly stops shortness of breath or pain in the heart. His father and a brother died of heart disease."
Another case was that of a young woman, who, when Dr. Jennings appeared in response to the summons, was said to be dead. "I went in and found that she was not quite dead, though apparently so. I put five or six drops of Nitrite of amyl to her nose, and alternately pressing and relaxing the chest, so as to imitate natural breathing, I soon had her able to open her eyes and speak. I gave her hypodermically ten drops, and in less than half an hour she was able to talk and describe her feelings. An examination revealed a painfully anæmic condition of the patient, but without any discoverable lesions of the heart, except functional." Under Cratægus she made a good recovery. "Her heart trouble, though very dangerous, was only functional, and resulted from want of proper assimilation of the food, due chiefly to the dyspeptic state and dysentery."
Another case was that of a woman who "was suffering from compensatory enlargement of the heart from mitral insufficiency," was taken with dyspnœa when Dr. Jennings was called and was nearly dead. Under Cratægus and some other indicated remedies she made an excellent recovery. "In a letter from her, three months afterward, she said she was feeling well, but that she would not feel fully secure without some of the Cratægus."
"The forty other cases ran courses somewhat similar to the three cited—all having been apparently cured. Yet I am not satisfied beyond a doubt, that any of those patients were completely cured except those whose trouble of the heart were functional, like the second case cited. And it is possible and even probable that in weather of a heavy atmosphere or when it is surcharged with electricity, or if the patient be subjected to great excitement or sudden or violent commotion or exercise he may suffer again therewith. That the medicine has a remarkable influence on the diseased heart must, I think, be admitted. From experiments on dogs and cats made by myself, it appears to influence the vagi and cardio inhibitory centres, and diminishes the pulse rate, increases the intraventricular pressure, and thus filling the heart with blood causes retardation of the beat and an equilibrium between the general blood pressure and force of the beat. Cardiac impulse, after a few days' use of the Cratægus, is greatly strengthened and yields that low, soft tone so characteristic of the first sound, as shown by the cardiograph. The entire central nervous system seems to be influenced favorably by its use; the appetite increases and assimilation and nutrition improve, showing an influence over the sympathetic and the solar plexus. Also a sense of quietude and well-being rests on the patient, and he who before its use was cross, melancholic and irritable, after a few days of its use shows marked signs of improvement in his mental state. I doubt if it is indicated in fatty enlargement. The dose which I have found to be the most available is from ten to fifteen drops after meals or food. If taken before food it may, in very susceptible patients, cause nausea. I find also that after its use for a month it may be well to discontinue for a week or two, when it should be renewed for another month or so. Usually three months seem to be the proper time for actual treatment, and after that only at such times as a warning pain of the heart or dyspnœa may point out.
(The Kansas City Medical Journal, 1898, contained a paper on the remedy, by Dr. Joseph Clements, from which the following pertinent extracts are taken):
About twelve years ago I was suddenly seized with terrible pain in the left breast; it extended over the entire region of the heart and down the brachial plexus of the left arm as far as the wrist. I pressed my hands over my heart and seemed unable to move. My lips blenched, my eyes rolled in a paroxysm of agony; the most fearful sense of impending calamity oppressed me and I seemed to expect death, or something worse, to fall upon and overwhelm me. The attack lasted a short time and then began to subside, and soon I was myself again, but feeling weak and excited. I consulted no one; took no medicine. I did not know what to make of it, but gradually it faded from my mind and I thought no more of it until two years afterwards, when I had another attack, and again nearly a year later. Each of these was very severe, like the first, and lasted about as long and left me in about the same condition. I remember no other seizure of importance until about three years ago, and again a year later. These were not so terrible in the suffering involved, but the fear, the apprehension, the awful sense of coming calamity, I think, grew upon me. From this time on, two years ago, the attacks came frequently, the time varying from two or three months to two or three weeks between.
I took some nitro-glycerine tablets and some pills of Cactus Mexicana, but with no benefit that I could perceive. This brings me down to about fifteen months ago. I was feeling very badly, having had several attacks within a few weeks. My pulse was at times very rapid and weak, and irregular and intermittent.
(About this time he got hold of Cratægus with the following result):
After getting my supply I began with six drops, increasing to ten before meals and at bedtime. The results were marvellous. In twenty-four hours my pulse showed marked improvement; in two or three weeks it became regular and smooth and forceful. Palpitation and dyspnœa soon entirely left me; I began to walk up and down hills without difficulty, and a more general and buoyant sense of security and well-being has come to stay. During the three months that I was taking the medicine, which I did with a week's intermission several times, I had several slight attacks, one rather hard seizure, but was relieved at once on taking ten drops of the medicine.
(He adds that hypodermic of Morphia does not give relief from these heart pains as quickly and as surely as does fifteen drops of Cratægus. He also says, "of course I consider it the most useful discovery of the Nineteenth century." He also names a number of "the most reputable and careful men in the profession," who are having good results with this remedy.)
(Dr. T. C. Duncan contributes the following illustrative cases):
Mrs. A., a printer, came to me complaining of some pain in the side as if it would take her life. She did not have it all the time, only at times, usually the last of the week, when tired. I prescribed Bryonia, then Belladonna, without prompt relief. One Saturday she came with a severe attack, locating the pain with her right hand above and to the left of the stomach. The pulse was strong and forcible. On careful examination I found the heart beat below the normal, indicating hypertrophy. I examined the spine, and to the left of the vertebra about two inches I found a very tender spot (spinal hyperæmia). She told me that when a girl she had several attacks, and that her own family physician (Dr. Patchen) gave her a remedy that relieved her at once. She had tried several physicians, among them an allopath, who gave hypodermic injections of morphia, without relief. Hot applications sometimes relieved.
I now recognized that I had a case of angina pectoris, and that her early attacks were due, I thought, to carrying her heavy brother. Now the attacks come when she becomes tired holding her composing stick; at the same time she became very much flurried, so much so that she had to stop work because she was so confused.
I now gave her a prescription for Cactus, but told her I would like to try first a new remedy, giving her Cratægus, saturating some disks with the tincture (B. & T.). I directed her to take two disks every hour until relieved, and then less often. If not relieved to take the Cactus.
She returned in a week reporting that she was relieved after the first dose of Cratægus. More, that hurried, flurried feeling had not troubled her this week. Her face has a parchment skin, and the expression of anxiety so significant of heart disease was certainly relieved. I have not seen her since.
In my proving of this drug it produced a flurried feeling due, I thought, to the rapid action of the stimulated heart. One prover, a nervous lady medical student, gives to-day in her report "a feeling of quiet and calmness, mentally." This is a secondary effect, for it was preceded by "an unusual rush of blood to the head with a confused feeling."
"One swallow does not make a summer," neither does one case establish a remedy; but I think that as Cactus has a clearly defined therapeutic range, so it seems that Cratægus may prove a valuable addition to our meagre array of heart remedies.