Extremities, &c.: 25. Hammering sensation in nape of neck. Itching of the back, with smarting after scratching. The hands feel like ice in cold water. Pain at the left wrist. Swelling of the right index-finger. 30. Cramp at the left thumb. Burning at the soles. Pain at the feet when pressing them to the ground. Pain at right knee, as if the flesh would be torn off. Internal shuddering, in the morning. 35. She dreams that she is playing wild beasts. Itching, red spot on the back. Hard and red spot on the back, with pricklings. Smarting ganglion below the right calf. Painful ganglion on left arm, with redness. 40. Weakness, no desire to stir. Lassitude. Profuse sweat on the arms and hands, with insensibility of the skin and little pimples.
HIPPOMANE MANCINELLA. (L.)
HIPP. MANCINELLA VENENATA, TUSS.
Although the poisonous properties of the mancinella have been very much exaggerated, it is nevertheless a very poisonous tree, which, happily, becomes more and more rare, owing to its being rooted up with great care wherever it shows itself. It is a tree from 12 to 15 feet high, with a trunk having a white and soft wood and covered with a greyish bark. Its branchy top gives it the appearance of a European fruit-tree. Its leaves are alternate, oval-acute, somewhat cordate at their base, with fine indentations, and a red gland at their apex. They are attached to long petioles; stipulate while young. Flowers monoïchous, forming long terminal spikes, the male flowers being above, the female below or at the axilla of the leaves. The male flowers have a bifid perianth whence emanate the stamens, the united filaments of which form a column that supports the anthers. The female flowers have a perianth with two or three divisions and a rudimentary foliole; the ovary is round and superior; style straight, terminating in 6 or 7 red, radiating, reflexed stigmata. The fruit is round, pulpy, from 5 to 6 inches in diameter, umbilicate at the top, and inclosing a wooden kernel with seven monosperm compartments.
The fresh leaves are triturated. When we were informed that a mancinella had been discovered near Rio, we requested Mr. Ackermann, a pupil of the institute, to repair to the spot for the purpose of verifying the identity of the plant, and collecting its juice. Having accomplished his mission, he drunk a portion of the liquid, on the 10th of January, 1847, in a public sitting of the institute. He was joined in the proving by several of our pupils. Some of the following symptoms were so violent, that they had to be counteracted by antidotes. The pathogenesis of the mancinella is one of the most precious additions which our Brazilian provers have furnished to our Materia Medica.
Prover: M. E. T. Ackermann.
FIRST PROVING.
First day.—1. Merry mood, desire to sing. Is disposed to take every thing in good part. Buzzing in the ears and whizzing like the wind, when walking. Urine scanty and whitish. 5. Sensation of heat and trembling in the chest. Constant eructations like volumes of air. Watery vomiting. Violent pain in the abdomen, as if he had been struck by the point of a stick.
Second day.—10. Heavy sleep, and late waking. Evanescent ideas. Sensation of paralysis immediately after rising, his hand trembles a good deal; he is unable to open the door of his room. Absence of thought. Disposed to be silent. Deep tranquillity of mind, in the morning. 15. Sadness. Drowsy after breakfast. Embarrassed breathing when falling asleep again. Redness of the skin. Sweat in the palm of the hands whereas the rest of the body is perfectly dry. 20. Pain at the lower part of the head, and weight as if he had knocked it against any thing. Small pimples. Beating pain at the left side of the neck. Pain all around the neck like beats with a hammer. Pain at the right side of the head while hearing the strokes on an anvil, he felt as though he were struck with a hammer. 25. Pain at the nape of the neck and forehead when stooping; it is a dull, confused pain which he cannot describe. In the day-time the hands become red. Sense of weight over the eyes. His nose is looser than usual. Pain all round the head as from a blow after having remained in the sun for a time. 30. Redness and heat of the ears. Alternate hunger and loss of appetite. Weak stomach. Loathing. Profuse urine, but always a little white. 35. Acute pain with weight in the pit of the stomach, for a minute. Eructation during an expiration, like a volume of hot air, which ascends to the mouth with a feeling of oppression. Metallic taste in the mouth. White expectoration. Beating pain in the abdomen after breakfast. 40. Disagreeable sensation while hearing the noise of a saw. When hearing blows with a hammer the counter-shock is felt in the whole body. He alternately lays himself down and raises himself again. Swelling of the veins of the hands. Constant pain all day, in the wrist and metacarpus, as if strings were tied round very tightly. 45. Three slight beats on the arm, as if touched with the finger. Easy stool. The face is yellow and the body red. Copious emission of wind. Weak all over in the day-time. 50. Two attacks of colic and diarrhœa, with pulling and pinching in the bowels, at midnight.