BELLIS PERENNIS.
Nat. Ord., Compositæ.
Common Names, English Daisy. Garden Daisy. Hens and Chickens.
Preparation.—The fresh plant, in flower, is pounded to a pulp and submitted to pressure. The expressed juice is then mixed with an equal part by weight of alcohol.
(The following is from Thomas' Additions to the Homœopathic Materia Medica, 1858. To it we may add Dr. J. C. Burnett's statement that Bellis is a remedy for all ills that may be traced to a sudden wetting when overheated.)
Bellis perennis or daisy, formerly called consolida, on account of its vulnerary properties; the roots and leaves were used in wound drinks, and were considered efficacious in removing extravasated blood from bruises, etc. It is said to be refused by cattle on account of its peculiar taste. Lightfoot, in his Flora Scotica, says: "In a scarcity of garden-stuff, they (daisies) have, in some countries, been substituted as pot herbs." My first trial with this plant as a curative agent was in the autumn of 1856. While on a visit in the neighborhood of Bangor, a countryman, understanding that I was a "doctor," wished me to prescribe for his foot, which he had sprained very badly. Not having either Arnica or Rhus with me, I determined to try the effects of the daisy; so directed him to procure a handful of the leaves and flowers of the plant, chop them up small, boil them for a quarter of an hour in half a pint of water, and apply them in linen as a poultice round the ankle at night. The application was not made until the next morning, but in half an hour's time the ankle admitted of very fair motion. A piece of calico wetted and wrung out of the daisy water was then wrapped round the ankle, and the man put his shoe on and limped about all day, walking not less than five miles. He repeated the poultice at night, and found his ankle so much restored in the morning that he was able to walk four miles to his work without experiencing any difficulty. The success, in this instance, so far exceeded the previous use of Arnica and Rhus, especially in the time gained, that I had a tincture from the whole plant made for such uses, and have used it in sprained ankle from a fall—the ankle was well the second day. A sprain of the wrist, which had been a week ailing, yielded to the daisy in three days. I have also successfully used it in several severe whitlows; in every case the pure tincture was used externally. The only provings I have made with this remedy have been with the pure tincture in ten or twenty drop doses at a time. After taking the medicine for fourteen days without any symptoms, I suspended the use of it—in two weeks after leaving it off, for the first time in my life I had a large boil on the back of my neck (right side), commencing with a dull aching pain; some difficulty and a bruised pain in keeping the head erect; slight nausea, want of appetite, and a little giddiness in the head at times. Pain in middle finger of the left hand, as of a gathering, for a short time only; and at the same time pain in inner side of left forearm, as of a boil developing; two nights before similar pains in corresponding parts of the right arm—query, are these effects of Bellis (this was written December 11, 1856). The boil on the neck came December 7, 1856; began as a slight pimple with burning pain in the skin, increasing until in six days' time it was very large, of a dark fiery purple color, and very sore burning and aching pain in it, accompanied with headache, extending from occiput to sinciput, of a cold aching character; brain as though contracted in frontal region, dizziness, etc. (as before stated). I now set to work to cure myself, which by use of hot fomentations and lint dipped in θ tincture of Belladonna externally, taking at the same time 3d dil. Belladonna internally, was soon accomplished. Three days after this was cured, another made its appearance, which speedily succumbed to the same remedies. As I had never previously had a boil, and had not made any change in my diet, I suspected Bellis tincture to be the cause of the trouble. On the 12th of January, 1857, feeling my left foot somewhat strained after running, I applied Bellis θ to the strain, which for several days aggravated the feeling; and in five hours after the application I had another small boil (three weeks after disappearance of the last), which yielded to same treatment as the others, by January 19, 1857. On March 7, 1857, I chewed some daisy flowers. On the 11th, a small boil appeared at the angle of the inferior maxilla, right side; Belladonna θ, externally, cured it. The last trial I made with the third centesimal dilution of Bellis, taking three drops on Tuesday, 2d March, 1858, on the following Friday a small pimple appeared a little behind the angle of left inferior maxilla; it increased very much in size and pain by Saturday, when I treated it with Belladonna θ externally, to which it soon yielded. As at no other time in my life have I suffered from boils, I am inclined to think these are due to the use of the daisy.
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM.
Nat. Ord., Berberidaceæ
Common Names, Oregon grape. Mountain grape.
Preparation.—The fresh root and stem is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.
(This unintentional proving was published in August, 1896, under the signature J. d. W. C. The paper referred to by J. d. W. C. was a clipping from the Eclectic Medical Journal.)
In the Homœopathic Recorder for March, 1896, p. 133, there appears an interesting article on the virtues of the plant named above—it starts out with: "From the fact that it will make a 'new' man of an old one in a short time it is an excellent remedy."