Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Nervous system: Hyoscyamus is hill of convulsions, contractions, trembling, quivering and jerkings of the muscles. Convulsions in vigorous people, coming on with great violence. Convulsions that involve the whole economy, with unconsciousness, coming on in the night. Convulsions in women at the menstrual period; and then the lesser convulsions of single muscles, and contractions of single muscles.

Little jerkings and twitchings. In low forms of the disease it takes on the latter, jerkings and twitchings of muscles. In low typhoid states where there is great prostration with twitching. He feels it himself if conscious, enough to realize it, but others see it. An evidence of great prostration of the nervous system. Sliding down in bed, twitching of the muscles.

All the muscles tremble and quiver, a constant state of erethism throughout the economy. A state of irritability and excitability. Convulsive jerks of the limbs, so that all sorts of angular motions are made, automatic motions. Choreic motions.

But angular motions of the arms, and picking at the bedclothes. Picking at something in delirium. Gradually increasing weakness, whether it be in a continued fever where there has been a delirium or excitement, or in a case of insanity with erethism, of the nerves and mind; excitability and gradually increasing weakness.

Complete prostration, so that the patient slides down in bed, until the jaw drops. So the intermingling of jerkings and quiverings and tremblings and weakness and convulsive action of muscles are all striking features. Infants go into convulsions.

"Falls suddenly to the ground with cries and convulsions. Convulsions of children, especially from fright. Convulsions after eating."

The child becomes sick after eating, vomits and goes into convulsions.

"Shrieks and becomes insensible."

Goes into convulsions, such as the old books used to say, from worms; and the mother goes into convulsions soon after the child is born, called puerperal convulsions.

"Convulsions during sleep.

Suffocating spells and convulsions during labor.

Toes become spasmodically cramped."

Mind: The mental state is really the greatest part of Hyoscyamus. Talking, passive delirium, imaginations, illusions, hallucinations; talking, rousing up and talking with a delirious manifestation, and then stupor. These alternate through complaints. And during sleep talking, crying out in sleep; but, talking and mumbling and soliloquizing. Then, there are wakeful periods, in which there are delirium and illusions and hallucinations all mingled together.

Sometimes the patient is in a state of hallucination, and the next minute in a state of illusion. Which means that a part of the time what he sees as hallucinations he believes to be so; and then these hallucinations become delusions.

Again, the things he sees he knows are not so, and then they are illusions. But he is full of hallucinations. He sees all sorts of things, indescribable things in his hallucinations. He imagines all sorts of things concerning people, concerning himself, and he gets suspicious. Suspicion runs through acute sickness; it runs through the mania in insanity. Suspicion that his wife is going to poison him; that his wife is untrue to him. Suspicious of everybody.

"Refuses to take medicine because it is poisoned."

"Imagines, that he is pursued, that the people have all turned against him, that his friends are no longer his friends.

He carries on conversations with imaginary people."

Talks as if he were talking to himself, but he really imagines that someone is sitting by his side, to whom he is talking.

Sometimes he talks to dead folks; recalls past events with those that have departed. Calls up, a dead sister, or wife, or husband, and, enters into conversation just as- if the per son were present.

Hyoscyamus has another freak in this peculiar mental state. Perhaps, there may be a queer kind of paper on the wall, and he lies and looks at it, and if he can possibly turn the figures into rows he will keep busy at that day and night, and lie wants a light there so he can put them into rows, and he goes to sleep and dreams about it, and wakes up and goes at it again; it is the same idea.

Sometimes, he will imagine the things are worms, are vermin, rats, cats, mice, and he is leading them like children lead around their toy wagons - just like a child. The mind is working in this; no two alike; perhaps you may never see these identical things described, but you will see something like it that the mind is reveling, in strange and ridiculous things.

One patient had a string of bedbugs going up a wall, and he had, them tied with a string, and was irritated because he could not make the last one keep up. Hyoscyamus did him a great deal of good. You do not find that expression in the text, but I will speak of it as analogous to the things that belong to the text. He is in alternate states. One minute he raves, and another he scolds in delirium, in excitement; the next he is in a stupor.

Stupor: Finally, in a typhoid state, after he has progressed some time, he passes into quite a profound stupor. Early in the case he can be roused, and he answers questions correctly, and he seems to know what you have said to him; but the instant he finishes the last, answer he appears to be sound asleep.

Then you shake him and ask him another question, he answers that, and again he is sound asleep. The delirium that belongs to typhoid grows more and more profound, more and more passive, more and more muttering, until he passes into a complete unconsciousness front which he cannot be roused; in which he will lie for days sometimes, and weeks, becoming more and more emaciated; lying there in profound stupor unless this remedy is administered.

Lying there picking the bedclothes, and muttering. Even when he is in a stupor and realizes nothing apparently, that is going on, he makes passive motions, mutters, talks to himself, and once in a while utters a shrill scream. Picking his fingers, just as if he had something in his fingers when there is nothing there. He picks at the bedclothes the same way. Picking at his nightshirt, or picking anything he get his fingers on. Or, picking in the air, grasping as if he were grasping at flies.

This passive delirium goes on until he is in a profound stupor, and lies as one dead. In an insane state it sometimes takes on something of wildness, but not often. It is more passive, talking and prattling, sitting still in one corner and jabbering, or lying down, or going about.

"Undertaking to do the usual things, the usual duties."

That is, the housewife will want to get up and do the things she is used to doing in the house; the cooper will want to make barrels and the unusual things belonging to that business. Wants to carry on the usual occupation in his mind, talks about it, carries on the things of the day, and he keeps busy about it, so it is a busy insanity. Also, the delirium takes on the type of a busy delirium.

Now, to give you something of an idea as to the grading of this general type of insanity it should be compared with Stram. and Bell. You heard in the lecture on Bell. that it is violent, its fever most intense. There is much excitement. In Stram., when we reach that you will see that his delirium, his insanity, is expressed in terms of extreme violence.

These three run so close together that something can be brought out by associating them together. When considering Hyoscyamus in its mental state it is well to realize that it seldom has much fever in its insanity. It has a fever sometimes in the low form, but when Hyoscyamus is thought of in relation to a febrile state the intensity of the heat would be this order:

Bell., Stram., Hyoscyamus. Now, Bell. is very hot in its mental states. Stram., most violent and active, murderously violent, is moderately hot in its fever, as a rule. Hyoscyamus has a low fever, not very high, sometimes none at all, with its insanity. When one comes to take into consideration the violence of its delirium, or the maniacal actions, then it changes the order.

The order as to violence of conduct would be: Stram., Bell., Hyoscyamus. That brings you to see that even when associated with those medicines that look most like it, it is at the bottom of the list. It goes as a passive medicine, while the upper ones are more active. Hyoscyamus has a passive mania. Does not go into violence.

That is, the patient will sometimes become murderous, but it is more likely to be suicidal. Sometimes the patient will talk and prattle, sometimes sit and say nothing.

"Full of imaginations and hallucinations when asleep and when awake.

Religious turn of mind" with women who have been unusually pious; they take on the delusion that they have sinned away their day of grace. They have done some awful things.

"She imagines that she has murdered, that she has done some dreadful thing.

She cannot apply the promises that she reads in the Word of God to herself."

She will say:

"They do not mean me, they do not apply to me, they mean somebody else."

"Thinks he is in the wrong place.

Thinks he is not at home.

Sees persons who are not and who have not been present.

Fears being left alone.

Fears poison or being bitten."

These phases sometimes take on fear in the sense of fear, but it comes from that suspicion that was spoken of; he suspicions or fears these things will take place. He imagines these things are to take place, and hence he is suspicious of all his friends.

Another thing running through the remedy, in insanity and in the delirium of fevers, is a fear of water, fear of running water. Of course, hydrophobia, which is named because of that symptom being a striking feature, has fear of water, but some remedies also have that fear of water.

"Anxiety on hearing running water.

A fear of water."

That runs through Bell., Hyoscyamus, Canth., and, of course, the nosode Hydrophobinum. Stram. has the fear of water. Stram. has the fear of anything that might look like water, shining objects, fire looking-glass. Fear of things that have in any manner whatever the resemblance of fluids, and hence the sound of fluids. Hydrophobinum has cured

"involuntary urination on hearing running water.

Involuntary discharge from the bowels on hearing running water."

It has cured a chronic diarrhea when that symptom was present. Hyoscyamus "makes short, abrupt answers to imaginary questions."

Imagines that somebody has asked a question, and he answers it; hence, you will find a patient with typhoid fever answering questions that you have not asked. He imagines that persons are in the room and asking him questions. You hear nothing but his answers; he is in delirium or insane.

"Mutters absurd things to himself.

Cries out suddenly."

There is another form of his delirium, and there are two phases of this. He wants to go naked; wants to take the clothing off, and this must be analyzed. At first you might not understand that. Hyoscyamus has such sensitive nerves all over the body in the skin that he cannot bear the clothing to touch the skin, and he takes it off. That occurs in insanity and sometimes in delirium, and he has no idea that he is exposing his body. He appears to be perfectly shameless, but he has no thought of shamelessness, no thought that he is doing anything unusual, but he does it from the hyperesthesia of the skin.

There is another phase running through the insanity, which is salacity, and it is violent at times, so violent that nobody but the old doctor can form any conception of the awfulness of it, and the dreadfulness of its effects upon those in the room. With a woman, a wife or a daughter, this state of salacity is manifested in this way: she exposes her genitals to the view of everybody coming into the room. There are instances where in these violent attacks of salacity a woman has gathered her clothing up under her arms to expose her genitals to the doctor as he walked into the room.

"Violent sexual excitement and nymphomania.

Obscene things.

Speech illustrated by urine, faeces and cow dung," and all sorts of things come out in this state of insanity and delirium - and yet - this is only sickness.

"He is violent and beats people.

Strikes and bites.

Sings constantly and talks hastily.

Erotic mania, accompanied by jealousy.

Lascivious mania.

Sings amorous songs.

Lies in bed naked, or wrapped in a skin during summer heat."

Not because he is cold, but because of a fancy. Complaints involving any of these mental phases may come on in a young woman from disappointed affections, from coming to the conclusion that the young man in whom she has reposed her confidence has become wholly unworthy of her. It drives her insane, and she may take on any of these phases.

Eyes: Patients who have come out of continued fevers, convulsions, or insanity have paralytic condition of the eyes, of the muscles of the eyes.

"Disturbances of vision.

Far-sightedness.

Drawing tension in some of the muscles, and paralysis in others. Strabismus."

This is one of the most frequently indicated remedies. The strabismus that comes on from brain disease should be cured with a remedy.

In the Hyoscyamus fevers there is so much brain trouble, and there is left behind a tendency to muscular weakness of the eyes, disturbances of the eyes, and congestion of the retina, and disturbances of vision. Double sight.

"Obscuration of vision.

Night-blindness.

Distorted appearance of the eyes.

Spasmodic action of the internal recti."

"Pupils dilated and insensible to light."

Sometimes contracted, but in these low unconscious states of typhoid it is likely to be dilated. Then again, after he recovers from these low forms of disease there is quivering of the lids, and jerking of the lids, jerking of the muscles of the eye, so that the eyeball is unsteady. It moves from little spasms of the various muscles of the globe of the eye.

All of these symptoms occur either along with the fever, or afterwards. The child goes into convulsions, or has periods of convulsions, where, during the course of a week or ten days, there have been from fifteen to fifty convulsions, and it may be the convulsions have been remedied with Bell. or Cuprum, or any one of a number of remedies, and afterwards these eye troubles, strabismus and disturbances of vision.

"An object looked at jumps."

The letters jump while reading. Spasmodic complaints, periodical complaints, paroxysmal complaints of a nervous character will run through the remedy in various regions, and especially in its coughs, its stomach troubles and abdominal conditions.

Mouth and tongue: The mouth brings forth a lot of symptoms. The mouth is very dry, "as dry as burnt leather."

The tongue tastes like sole leather. because of dryness. Sometimes the patient will say,

"My tongue rattles in my mouth, it is so dry."'

Very great dryness of the mouth, throat and nose, wherever the mucous membranes are. Dry, cracked, red, will bleed in low forms of typhoid. About the second week, going into the third, the teeth are covered with black blood, lips cracked and bleeding.

"Tongue cracked and bleeding.

Patient unconscious, except by much shaking or repeated calling be is roused" and slowly puts out that trembling tongue, which is covered with blood, cracks, and is dry.

"Sordes on the teeth" in low forms of fever.

"Twitching of the muscles of the face upon attempting to put out the tongue."

It trembles like it does in Lach., catches on to the teeth from its great dryness, and the jaw hangs down, relaxed, the mouth wide open.

The whole mouth is dry and offensive. Sometimes during fever the jaw becomes fixed as if it were locked, and it is with great difficulty that it can be moved.

"Closes the teeth tightly together.

Pulsating pains in the teeth.

Jerking, throbbing, tearing in the teeth.

Sordes on the teeth;" and in sleep in these low forms of fever he is grinding the teeth. Children, either in convulsions, or between convulsions, in congestion, also grind the teeth in the night, and in this comatose state. It says in the text,

"The tongue is red, brown, dry, cracked, hard.

Looks like burnt leather.

The tongue does not obey the will.

Difficult motion of the tongue; it is stiff, protruded with great difficulty.

Biting the tongue in talking."

The tongue becomes paralyzed.

"Loss of speech.

Utters inarticulate sounds.

Speech embarrassed.

Talks with difficulty."

The muscles of the throat, of the tongue, those that take part in swallowing, the muscles of the oesophagus, of the pharynx, become stiff and paralyzed so that swallowing is difficult.

"Food taken into the throat comes up into the nose."

Fluids come out of the nose, or go down into the larynx.

"The sight of water, or the hearing of running water, or the attempt to swallow water produces spasmodic constriction of the oesophagus."

Stomach and abdominal symptoms: The next very important feature of this medicine is its stomach and abdominal symptoms. Vomiting. Dread of water. Unquenchable thirst. Aversion to water, as it were, from the stomach; a mental fear of water.

The stomach is distended. Great pain in the stomach. Dryness evidently in the stomach like there is in the mouth, because it occurs along with it. Burning and smarting in the stomach; and when there is no inflammation there is vomiting of blood. Stitching pains, colicky pains, distension. The distension of the whole abdomen.

"Abdomen wonderfully distended, almost to bursting."

Feels like a drum, tympanitic.

"Great soreness; can hardly touch the abdomen because of the soreness.

Cannot be handled, cannot be turned except with great difficulty, very slowly, and with caution.

Cutting pains in the abdomen."

Inflammation of all the viscera of the abdomen in low typhoid state, with great distension. Petechia upon the abdomen, such as is found in a typhoid.

Then comes the diarrhoea, very much like that which is found in low forms of continued fever.

"Bleeding from the bowels; ulceration of Peyer's glands," and the yellow, cornmeal mushy stool. In Hyoscyamus there is that mushy stool that occurs in typhoid fever, pappy consistency. Again, a watery, horribly offensive, bloody fluid. Most of the time the stools and the passages are painless.

"Painless discharges from the bowels.

Watery mucus, sometimes odorless, but commonly very offensive."

Then, another part of it is that the patient has no realization of the passage. It is involuntary. Both the urine and the stool are passed without his knowledge. Watery. bloody, or mushy. Hysterical females and young girls, who are subject to attacks of diarrhoea and bloody stools. Relaxed state of the bowels connected with relaxation of the uterus.

"Diarrhoea during pregnancy.

Diarrhoea during typhoid fever.

Paralysis of the sphincter ani.

Paralysis of the bladder after labor, so that the urine remains in the bladder, with no desire to urinate."

Bladder: The routine remedy for retention of urine after labor is Caust. Caust., like Rhus, is a great remedy for the effect of strain upon muscles and parts, and the violent effort that a woman passes through in expelling the child in many instances leaves all the pelvic muscles tired, relaxed, paralyzed.

Then comes that which was mentioned, which really belongs to the general state more than the local; violent sexual desire. Violent sexual desire in girls who never had that desire. Coming on and manifesting itself only during the inflammation of the brain.

"Labour-like pains from taking cold."

A cold settles in the uterus, bringing on painful menstruation. Hyoscyamus has various crampings; cramps in the fingers and toes and of the muscles here and there, temporary paralysis, etc. It has suppressed menstruation. There are many conditions belonging to menstruation, pregnancy and parturition that are hysterical in character.

Twitchings, cough, constipation, diarrhea, etc., that belong to a hysterical nature.

"Puerperal convulsions.

Jerks violently at the oncoming of the convulsions.

After miscarriage, haemorrhage of bright red blood, No desire of the bladder to expel the contents."

Voice: And then comes the voice, the larynx, respiration, and cough.

Constriction of the larynx. Much mucus in the larynx and air passages, makes the speech and voice rough. Hoarseness with dry and inflamed throat. Speech difficult. Hysterical aphonia. Hyoscyamus and Veratrum are two medicines that cure and make a nervous hysterical woman a great deal more sensible.

"Difficult spasmodic respiration from spasm of the chest.

Apparently loss of breath; rattling in the chest."

Hysterical cough. Sensitive, hysterical girls, or sensitive women, with spinal irritation, have paroxysmal cough, coming on periodically, coming on from excitement. When this patient lies down in the daytime, at night, any time, on will come the spasmodic cough with contractions in the larynx, spasms in the larynx, choking, gagging, and vomiting.

"Redness of the face, and suffocation."

It is a dry, hacking, choking cough, that racks the whole body, in spinal affections.

"Tickling in the larynx.

Dry, hacking, and spasmodic cough, worse lying, better sitting, worse at night, after eating, drinking, talking and singing.

Dry, spasmodic, persistent cough."

But its characteristic cough is a dry, racking, harassing cough, worse lying down. Those young women and girls with sore spots on the spine from the coccyx to the brain, sore places that manifest themselves when leaning back against a chair.

These take a little cold in the larynx, and sometimes it is purely from a nervous attack. Sometimes spinal irritation, spinal cough in those that have curvature of the spine.

"During cough, spasms in the larynx.

Cough worse after midnight; wakes the patient from sleep.

Cough in cold air, and from eating and drinking.

Cough after measles.

Violent spasmodic cough."

The cough is most exhausting. A cough will sometimes last until the patient is covered with sweat and is exhausted, and leans forward to get a little relief; and he coughs until he is exhausted.

"Spasms of the muscles of the chest.

Contraction of the muscles of one side of the neck.

Spinal meningitis with convulsions."

Paralytic weakness of the limbs. Convulsions of the muscles. Twitching. Frequent twitchings of the muscles of the hands and feet.

Sleep: Many complaints come on during sleep.

The sleep is a great tribulation to this nervous patient. There are times of sleeplessness. Again, profound sleep.

"Sleepless, or constant sleep."

Either awake or asleep, there may be muttering,

"Long continued sleeplessness.

Lascivious dreams.

Lying on the back he suddenly sits up and then lies down again."

That means that the patient wakes out of sleep, looks all around, wonders what terrible thing he has been dreaming about; his dreams seen real. He looks all about and sees nothing of the objects of his dream, he lies down and goes to sleep again.

He keeps doing that all night. Starts up in a fright. jerks in sleep, and cries out. Grates the teeth. Laughing during sleep. With so much brain trouble as belongs to this medicine, we would expect the dreams and the fright, the disturbances, the twitching and trembling in sleep. Its fevers are low forms of fever, the continued fever, the typhoid.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Hyoscamus niger. Henbane. N. O. Solanaceae. Tincture of fresh plant.

Clinical.─Amaurosis. Angina pectoris. Bladder, paralysis of. Bronchitis. Chorea. Coma vigil. Cough. Delirium tremens. Diarrhoea. Dysmenorrhoea. Enteric fever. Epilepsy. Epistaxis. Erotomania. Eyes, affections of. Haemoptysis. Haemorrhages. Hiccough. Hydrophobia. Hypochondriasis. Lochia, suppressed. Mania. Meningitis. Mind, affections of. Neuralgia. Night-blindness. Nymphomania. Paralysis. Paralysis agitans. Parotitis. Pneumonia. Puerperal mania. Rage. Sleep, disordered. Stammering. Tetanus. Toothache. Urine, retention of. Vision, disorders of.

Characteristics.─Hyoscyamus ("Hog-bean") is nearly allied to Belladonna botanically, and in pathogenetic action the two drugs are much alike in their main features. But when examined closely, their differences are sufficiently well marked to render their distinction easy. Though sometimes growing near rivers, Bell. flourishes best in a chalky soil. Hyo. is found growing on old rubbish heaps, near ruins, on roadsides, and sometimes by the seashore. The flower of Bell. is of a dull, purplish brown; of Hyo. a dirty yellow, with claret-coloured streaks. Bell. is a smooth plant, whilst Hyo. is densely covered with thickly woven hairs, and by a sticky, heavy-smelling exudation. A case of poisoning by Hyoscyamus seeds, put into soup instead of celery seeds, communicated to the Times (May 14, 1892), by Mr. F. Mackarness, one of the sufferers, gives a good general idea of the drug's action. "About ten minutes after taking the soup I began to feel quite dizzy, and could hardly swallow the food I was eating, which tasted as if it was nothing but dust and ashes. At the same time my wife became so faint that she asked me to help her up to her room at once. This I did with some difficulty, having to hold on to the bannister with one hand while I supported her with the other. At the same time, also, our sight became blurred, our mouths and throats parched, and we began to feel cold. I tried in vain to get warm by sitting over the drawing-room fire, but only felt intensely drowsy. . . . When Dr. Martin arrived I had great difficulty not only in getting up to receive him, but in making him understand what had happened, so indistinct was my articulation. However, from the dilatation of our eyes, the parched condition of our tongues, and the state of our pulse (my wife's having gone up to 140), he, of course, saw that we had been badly poisoned, and prescribed drastic remedies which saved us probably from very serious consequences; for even the next day our sight was still defective, and my wife's hands were slightly paralysed." Dr. W. S. Mills communicated to N. A. J. H., November, 1899, an experience of his own. A patient had objected to the taste of water in which Hyo. Ø had been mixed, so Dr. Mills took a teaspoonful just to taste it. "A few moments later I found that it produced a queer feeling throughout the body. I felt as though without weight, as though I walked through and on air. My head felt light. I had an insane desire to laugh and shout. It was only by the utmost use of my will-power that I could keep myself from doing something ridiculous. Even when I forced myself to think of my position of responsibility as medical attendant on this very sick man, and the absolute necessity of keeping my wits about me, it was hard for me to restrain my hilarity. I can liken the condition only to one of mild hilarious intoxication─a "funny drunk." I knew I was silly, but I could not help it. To keep myself from losing my dignity before the nurses and the family, I locked myself in the bathroom for a few minutes and made faces at myself in the mirror." The condition passed off in half an hour. These two experiences, brief as they were, cover a large share of the ground occupied by Hyo. The delirium of Hyo. is more of the low, muttering type, whilst that of Bell. tends to be violent and furious. Hyo. also has fits of ungovernable rage, but the violence is not so sustained as that of Bell. The face of Bell. is red, of Hyo. pale or bluish. Hyo. corresponds to a greater variety of cases of melancholia than Bell., and here one great characteristic is "suspicion," so frequently met with in cases of insanity or of those on the borderland. A patient of mine, a clever lawyer, suffering from nervous breakdown, had had to abandon his business entirely some time before he came under my care. He had improved considerably, when I heard from his wife in the country that he had had a kind of a fit, and became cold and senseless, his face working much. After that he fell asleep, and had another attack an hour and a half later. After this he was suspicious, and said that his wife was poisoning him. I sent a single dose of Hyo. 1m, to be given in food or in drink without his knowing. It was repeated once a week. He began to improve forthwith, and in a few months was perfectly restored to health; though some other medicines were given later on. In this case there was an additional indication for Hyo. in the working of the muscles of the face. Twitching is one of the grand characteristics of Hyo. "Every muscle in the body twitches, from the eyes to the toes," clonic spasms: twitching of groups of muscles; spasms in general; with unconsciousness. Another feature of the Hyo. insanity is uncovering. This is not because the patient feels too warm (for Hyo., like the other Solanids, is a chilly remedy), but because they will not remain covered: nymphomania; lascivious mania; lies naked in bed and chatters. There are violent outbreaks in the delirium of Hyo., but they cannot be kept up (as are those of Bell.), on account of the weakness. Hyo. corresponds to the typhoid state: tongue dry and unwieldy, sensorium so clouded that if the patient be aroused to answer he falls back into a stupor again. The sight is disordered; sees things too large or too near and grasps at them; picks the bed-clothes and mutters. Twitchings, subsultus tendinum, and picking at the bed-clothes. Teeth covered with sordes. Involuntary passage of urine and faeces. When influenza takes the typhoid form it often finds its remedy in Hyo, (I rapidly cured a boy in whom influenza attacked the meninges of the brain with pains in the head, especially forehead, piercing to the brain.) Parotitis with metastasis to brain. Hyo. is suited to many pulmonary conditions. The characteristic cough is < on lying down, almost completely removed by sitting up, < at night, < after eating, drinking or talking. Cough from elongated uvula. The drowsiness of Hyo. has another side in restlessness. The patient lies awake for hours; children twitch in sleep, cry out, tremble, and awake frightened. Hyo. is one of our best remedies in toothache, having well-defined symptoms. It is also an ancient domestic remedy for toothache, the application being peculiar. A penny is made hot in the fire, and when taken out a pinch of Henbane seeds is dropped on it and fumes come away. A wineglass is inverted over it, and this is soon filled with the fumes, and applied to the mouth, when the fumes are inhaled. The popular idea is that the fumes expel the "worms" of toothache, but, as Lauder Brunton has shown (H. W., xxv. 286), the supposed "worms" are the embryos of the seeds forcibly expelled on the rupture of the seed coats by the heat. Hyo. 30 is one of the most useful remedies in restlessness and sleeplessness. Hyo. is suited to nervous, irritable, excitable, sanguine people; to light-haired people. The symptoms of Hyo. are < by touch; the abdomen is sore to touch; < evening and night < lying, down; < from cold and cold air. > From sitting up; motion; walking; warmth. < From mental affections; jealousy unhappy love; approaching menstruation; commencing menstruation; during menstruation.

Relations.─Antidoted by: Vinegar, Citric acid, Bell., Chi., Stram. It antidotes: Ether, Bell., Stram., Merc. Is followed well by: Bell., Puls., Stram., Ver., Phos. Follows well: Bell., Nux, Op., Rhus. Compare: Suppression of lochia, Nux, Secal., Con., Col., Pul.; loquacity, Stram., Lach., Op., Cup., Ver.; gossiping, babbling, Ver. (religious subjects, Ver.); difficult swallowing of liquids, Hydrob., Bell., Caus., Con., Ign., Lach., Lyc., Pho. Convulsions from fright or worms, Cin. Every muscle of the body twitching, Nux (but Nux retains consciousness, Hyo. has unconsciousness); cough < lying down, Dros.; (> lying down, Mang., Fer.); cough < at night, after eating, drinking, talking, singing, Dros., Phos.; haemoptysis of drunkards, Nux, Op.; meningitis, Bell. (Bell. has < from shaking head; from sitting with head bent forward; Hyo. has > from both); tickling cough > in warm air, Rumex; convulsions, spasms, twitchings, Cic. v.; chorea, Stram., Ver., Agar; jealousy, Apis, Ign.; waves through head, Act. r.; mania, Stram. (Stram. has desire for light and company, Hyo. aversion to both; Stram. uncovers whole body, Hyo. especially the genitals; sexual mania, Grat., Calc. ph.; Stram. sees objects─mice, dogs, etc.─rise from every corner and come towards him); sees ghosts and demons, Plat., Kali bro.; fears being poisoned, Glo., Rhus, Kali bro., Bapt.; hiccough, Ign. (Ign. after emotions, Hyo. after abdominal operations); spasms, twitchings, Ign., Tarent.; levitation, Phos. ac., Sticta pul., Hyp.; fits of ungovernable rage, Staph. Teste puts Hyo. in the Mur. ac. group with Viol. od. He also puts it in the Bell. group.

Causation.─Jealousy. Lochia, suppressed. Milk, suppressed.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Melancholy.─Melancholy from unfortunate love, with rage or inclination to laugh at everything.─Anthropophobia.─Suspicious.─Anguish and fear.─Fright followed by convulsions and starts from sleep.─Desire to run away from the house at night.─Fear of being betrayed or poisoned.─Disposition to make a jest of everything.─Loquacity.─Talks more than usual, more animatedly and hurriedly.─Jealousy; with rage and delirium.─Unfortunate love with jealousy, with rage and incoherent speech.─Peevish and quarrelsome humour.─Rage, with desire to strike and to kill.─Stupor, with plaintive cries, esp. on the slightest touch, and complete apathy.─Loss of memory.─Delirium without consciousness; does not know anybody, and has no wants (except thirst).─Loss of consciousness, with eyes closed, and raving about business.─Delirium tremens, with clonic spasms; unconsciousness and aversion to light and company.─Delirium, sometimes with trembling, and fits of epileptic convulsions.─Delirium, sees ghosts, demons, etc.─Wandering thoughts.─Perversion of every action.─Mania, with loss of consciousness; or with buffoonery and ridiculous gestures.─Lascivious mania, and occasional mutterings; uncovers his whole body.

2. Head.─Confusion and heaviness of the head.─Vertigo, as from intoxication, or with obscuration of the sight.─Attacks of cerebral congestion, with loss of consciousness and snoring (with delirium; answering all questions properly; pupils dilated).─Headache, as from concussion of the brain.─Congestion of blood to the head; red, sparkling eyes; face purple-red; < in the evening.─Pressive and numbing pain in the forehead, esp. after a meal.─Headache as if brain shattered and shaken, when walking.─Pressive, stupefying headache, esp. in forehead, occurring in alternation with needle-like stitches, particularly on l. side.─Forehead feels as if screwed inward.─Sticking in head over r. eye, when coughing.─Violent throbbing headache, waking him at night; with throbbing carotids.─Headache in base of brain.─Brain feels as if loose.─Constrictive obstruction in the forehead.─Sensation of fluctuation, or of commotion in the brain, esp. on walking.─Heat, and tingling in the head.─Inflammation of the brain, with unconsciousness; heat and tingling in the head; violent pulsation in the head, like waves; the head shakes; < from becoming cold and after eating, > by bending the head forward (stooping) and from heat.─Hydrocephalus, with stupor; the head is shaken to and fro; sensation of swashing in the head.─Heat of the head, with general coldness of the body, without thirst.─Liability to catch cold in the head, principally from dry, cold air.─Headache, alternately with pain in the nape of the neck.─Waving or shaking of the head from one side to the other; with loss of consciousness and red sparkling eyes.

3. Eyes.─Eyes downcast and dull.─Eyes red, fixed, convulsed, and prominent.─Spasmodic movement of the eyes.─Redness of the sclerotica.─Swelling of the eyelids.─Strabismus.─Staring, distorted eyes.─Contortion of the eyes.─Quivering in the eye.─Spasmodic closing of the eyelids.─Inability to open the eyelids.─Pupils dilated.─Dimness of sight.─Myopia, or presbyopia.─Errors of vision.─Diplopia.─Objects seem to be much larger than they are in reality, or else of a red colour.─Objects have coloured borders, chiefly yellow.─Nocturnal blindness.─Weakness of sight, as from incipient amaurosis.

4. Ears.─Buzzing in the ears.─Hardness of hearing, as if stunned.

5. Nose.─Epistaxis.─Cramp-like pressure at the root of the nose and the zygomata.─Dryness of nose.─Nostrils sooty.─Loss of smell.

6. Face.─Face: cold, pale bluish, or puffed and blood-red.─Face flushed, excited; bloated; dark-red.─Twitching of muscles of face.─Distorted, bluish face, with mouth wide open.─Cramp-like pressure on the cheek-bone.─Dryness of the lips.─Cramps in the jaw.─Lock-jaw.─Heat and redness of the face.

7. Teeth.─Pulsative and tearing pains in teeth, from cheek to forehead, esp. after a chill in the cold air, or in the morning, and often with congestion of the head, heat and redness of the face, swelling of the gums, and spasms in the throat.─Toothache driving to despair; in sensitive, nervous, excitable persons; causing spasmodic jerks of fingers, hands, arms, and face muscles.─Teeth feel too long.─Toothache < from cold air, morning.─Dentition.─Pulsating toothache, as from inflammation of the periosteum.─Painful drawing in a single tooth, here and there, as if a tooth were becoming pithy.─Toothache during sweat.─Tearing in the gums, with buzzing and sensation as if the teeth were loose.─Clenching of the teeth.─Grating teeth.─Teeth covered with mucus.

8. Mouth.─Dryness in the mouth.─Salivation of a salt taste.─Sanguineous saliva.─Foam at the mouth.─Fetid exhalations from the mouth, perceptible to the patient.─Heat and numbness of the tongue, as if it had been burned.─Tongue dry, and loaded with a brownish coating Redness of the tongue.─Utters inarticulate sounds.─Paralysis of the tongue.─Loss of speech.

9. Throat.─Dryness and burning heat of the throat.─Stinging dryness of fauces.─Constriction in the throat, and inability to swallow liquids.─Elongation of the uvula.

10. Appetite.─Loss of taste.─Bulimy, with violent thirst, with inability to swallow.─Thirst with drinking but little at a time.─Dread of drinking.─Hiccough, esp. after a meal (with spasms and rumbling in the abdomen).─After a meal, headache, intoxication, great anguish, and sadness.─After drinking, convulsions.

11. Stomach.─Nausea, on pressing the epigastrium.─Bitter eructations.─Retching and vomiting, with cutting pains which extort cries.─Vomiting and retching after coughing.─Aqueous vomiting, with vertigo.─Vomiting of mucus (sanguineous) and of blood, of a deep red, sometimes with convulsions, choking, pains in the pit of stomach, great exhaustion, and coldness in the limbs.─Vomiting of aliments, immediately after a meal, and sometimes with violent pain at the pit of the stomach.─Cramps (colic) in the stomach in periodical attacks, and > by vomiting.─Painful sensitiveness of the epigastrium to the touch.─Inflammation of the stomach, with burning pain.

12. Abdomen.─Dull pains in the hepatic region.─Abdomen tight, inflated, painful when touched.─Cramp-like pains in the abdomen, and cuttings, sometimes accompanied by vomitings, pains in the head, and cries.─Shootings in the umbilical region, on walking and breathing.─Pain, as from excoriation in the abdominal muscles, on coughing.─Spasms and rumbling in the abdomen, with hiccough.

13. Stool and Anus.─Constipation.─Frequent want to evacuate, with scanty and unfrequent relief.─Watery diarrhoea.─Painless diarrhoea.─Mucous diarrhoea.─Diarrhoea of lying-in women.─The stool is small in size.─Involuntary evacuations, from paralysis of the sphincter ani.─Haemorrhoids; profusely bleeding.

14. Urinary Organs.─Retention of urine, with pressure in the bladder.─Retention of urine in child-bed.─Frequent want to make water, with scanty emission.─Urine copious and clear, like water.─Involuntary emission of urine, as from paralysis of the bladder.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Increase of sexual desire, lascivious; exposes his person.─Impotence.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Lascivious, uncovers sexual parts.─Lascivious furor, without modesty.─Excited sexual desire without excited fancy.─Catamenia more abundant.─Suppression of the catamenia.─Suppressed lochia.─Spasms of pregnant women, esp. during parturition.─Puerperal fever.─Metrorrhagia, of a bright-coloured blood.─Metrorrhagia, the blood pale, with convulsions.─During the catamenia, delirium, flux of urine, sweat and convulsive trembling.─Before the catamenia, hysterical cramps and fits of laughter.─During the menses, convulsive trembling of the hands and feet; severe headache; profuse perspiration.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Catarrh, with accumulation of mucus in the larynx and in the trachea, rendering the speech and the voice indistinct.─Constant cough when lying down, which ceases on rising up.─Fits of coughing, as in the whooping-cough.─Cramp-like cough at night, esp. when lying down, sometimes with redness of the face, and vomiting of mucus.─The cough is < at night (after midnight), when at rest, during sleep, in the cold air, from eating and drinking.─Dry, shaking, sobbing cough, with pain, as of excoriation, in the abdominal muscles.─Dry, spasmodic cough at night (in old persons) from continuous tickling in the throat (as if the palate or uvula were too long).─Greenish expectoration with the cough.─Cough, with expectoration of blood, and convulsions.─Violent spasmodic cough; short consecutive coughs, caused by a tickling sensation in the throat, as if some mucus were lodged in it; during the day, expectoration of saltish-tasting mucus, or of bright-red blood, mixed with clots.─Haemoptysis, blood bright-red with spasms.─Haemoptysis of drunkards.

18. Chest.─Slow, rattling breathing.─Oppression, and embarrassed and rattling respiration.─Pressure on r. side of chest, with great anxiety and shortness of breath, on going up stairs.─Spasms in the chest, with shortness of breath, which forces the patient to bend forward.─Shootings in the sides of the chest.─(Inflammation of the lungs.)

19. Heart.─Pressure, tightness, and anxiety in precordial region.─Oppression of heart with transient stitches.─Tearing, sticking in heart.─Violent stitch in precordial region.─Soreness in spots to l. of nipple alternating with stitches.─Soreness, tightness of heart region.─Heart's action violent; tremulous; irregular.─Palpitation, unable to move body without greatest anxiety; apprehension of suffocation, or swooning; unquenchable thirst in morning; frequent copious discharge of limpid urine.─Pulse: full, hard, strong; rapid, intermitting; slow, small; scarcely perceptible.

20. Neck and Back.─Tettery spots on the nape of the neck.─Pains in the back, and esp. in the lumbar region, with swelling of the feet.─Lancinations in the loins, and shoulder-blades.

22. Upper Limbs.─Trembling of the arms and of the hands, esp. in evening, after movement.─Painful numbness and stiffness of hands.─Swelling of hands.─Fists clenched, with retraction of the thumbs (in convulsive fits).─Carphologia (picking of the bed cover or of the face).─Fingers look and feel too thick.─Hands slightly paralysed.

23. Lower Limbs.─Painful cramps in the (anterior part of the) thighs, and calves of the legs, which contract the legs.─Gangrenous spots and vesicles on the legs.─Stiffness and lassitude in the joint of the knee.─Coldness and swelling of the feet.─Contraction of the toes when walking and ascending.

24. Generalities.─Incisive tearing, and dull pulling in the limbs and joints.─Limbs, cold, trembling and numbed.─Convulsive movements and shaking of some of the limbs, or of the whole body, sometimes on making the slightest effort to swallow liquid.─Spasms and convulsions (with watery diarrhoea).─Jerking of the feet and of the hands.─Epileptic fits, sometimes with bluish colour and puffing of the face, involuntary emission of urine, foaming at the mouth, drawing back of the thumbs, sensation of hunger and of gnawing at the pit of the stomach, eyes prominent, cries, grinding of the teeth, etc.─Epileptic convulsions, alternately with attacks of cerebral congestion (apoplectic fit).─Convulsions resembling St. Vitus' dance.─Convulsions with cries, great anguish, oppression of the chest and loss of consciousness.─After the epileptic convulsions, profound sleep, with snoring.─Uncommon sinking of strength.─Fainting fits (repeated attacks).─Great weakness and debility.─Sensation of levitation; as if walking on and through air.─Paralysis.─Jerking of the tendons (subsultus).─The majority of, and the principal symptoms, manifest themselves after eating or drinking, as well as in the evening.

25. Skin.─Skin dry and rough.─Hot, dry, brittle skin.─Miliary eruption.─Eruption of dry pimples, like confluent small-pox.─Brownish (or gangrenous) spots on the body, from time to time (as in typhus).─Frequent, large furunculi.─Spots and gangrenous vesicles on different parts.─Rash from the abuse of Belladonna.─Bleeding of ulcers.

26. Sleep.─Somnolency, like coma vigil.─Retarded sleep, or sleeplessness caused by excessive nervous excitement, or by great anguish, sometimes with convulsions and starts.─Nightly sleeplessness.─Child sobs and cries in sleep without waking.─Profound, comatose sleep, with convulsions and involuntary movements of the limbs, esp. the hands.─When sleeping, carphologia; or smiling countenance; or starts with fright.

27. Fever.─Shuddering from head to foot.─Burning heat of the body, and esp. of the head.─Fever, with fits of epilepsy, great weakness, flames before the eyes, and congestion in the head, quartan or quotidian type.─Pulse quick (full hard), with swelling of the veins (arteries).─Universal coldness over the whole body, with heat of face, ascending from the feet.─Nightly coldness, extending over the back from the small of the back.─Heat in the evening, with thirst (congestion of blood to the head), and putrid taste.─Debilitating perspiration during sleep.─Cold, sour-smelling perspiration.─Perspiration, principally on the legs.

Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica (Allen's Keynotes), Henry Clay Allen

Henbane (Solanaceae)

Persons of sanguine temperament; who are irritable, nervous, hysterical. Convulsions: of children, from fright or the irritation of intestinal worms (Cina); during labor; during the peurperal state; after meals, child vomits, sudden shriek, then insensible. Diseases with increased cerebral activity, but non-inflammatory in type; hysteria or delirium tremens; delirium, with resplessness, jumps out of bed, tries ot escape; makes irrelevant answers; thinks he is in the wrong place; talks of imaginary doings, but has no wants and makes no complaints. In delirium, Hyoscyamus occupies a place midway between Belladonna and Strammonium; lacks the constant cerebral congestion of the former and the fierce rage and maniacal delirium of the latter. Spasms: without conciousness, very restless; every muscle in the body twitches, from the eyes to the toes (with conciousness, Nux). Fears: being alone; poison; being bitten; being sold; to eat or drink; to take what is offered; suspicious, of some plot. Bad effects of unfortunate love; with jealousy, rage, incohorent speech or inclination to laugh at everything; often followed by epilepsy. Lascivious mania; immodesty, will not be covered, kicks off the clothes, exposes the person; sings obscene songs; lies naked in bed and chatters. Cough; dry, nocturnal, spasmodic; < when lying down, relieved when sitting up (Dros.); < at night, after eating, drinking, talking singing (Dros., Phos., - > when lying down,, Mang. m.). Intense sleeplessness of irritable, excitable persons form business embarrassments, often imaginary. Paralysis of bladder; after labor, with retention or incontinence of urine; no desire to urinate in lying-in women (Arn., Op.). Fever: pneumonia, scarlatina, rapidly becomes typhoid; sensorium clouded, staring eyes, gasping at flocks or picking bed clothes, teeth covered with sordes, tongue dry and unweildly; involuntary stool and urine; subsultus teninum.

Relations. - Compare: Bell., Stam., Verat. Phos. often cures lasciviousness when Hyos. fails. Nux or Opium in haemoptysis of drunkards. Follows: Bell. well in deafness after apoplexy.

Aggravation. - At night; during menses; mental affections; jealousy, unhappy love; when lying down.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

High-grade delirium, similar to that of Stramonium and Belladonna; alternating with low-grade, delirium, with stupor, equal to that of Opium. Face pale.

Grasping at flocks, picking the bed clothes and subsultus tendinum.

Persistent cough, worse lying down, relieved on sitting up, especially in elderly people.

Dementia senilis; fears imaginary things, being poisoned, etc.; sees persons and things that are not present; foolish laughter.

General twitching of all the muscles of the body; in spasms or convulsions.

The mania often takes on the lascivious form. The patient uncovers and exposes himself, sings and talks amorously.

Fears being poisoned; Suspicious and jealous.

Constant staring at surrounding objects, self-forgetful (fevers). Pupils dilated; insensible; small objects seem very large. Sordes on teeth; grating the teeth. Alternates well with Rhus tox. (fevers).

* * * * *

Hyoscyamus is as delirious as Belladonna, but the high grade of delirium alternates with the low. With Belladonna the violent form predominates, while the quiet or stupid form is the exception. With Hyoscyamus it is just the other way. The stupid muttering form predominates, with occasional outbreaks of the violent form. The face of the Belladonna patient is red, that of Hyoscyamus pale and sunken. The Hyoscyamus patient is weak and the weakness increases. His violent outbreaks of delirium cannot keep up long on account of weakness. This is not so much so with either Belladonna or Stramonium. The Hyoscyamus patients may begin with the violent form or outbreaks of delirium, but they grow more mild and less frequent, and the low or stupid form increases until there is total unconsciousness; so much so that it sometimes becomes difficult to choose between it and Opium.

The case takes on typhoid symptoms fast. The tongue gets dry and unwieldy, the sensorium so cloudy that even if you can arouse the patient to answer questions correctly he immediately lapses right into stupor again. This unconscious condition may continue even with the eyes wide open, staring around the room, but seeing nothing but flocks, at which the patient reaches and grasps; picks the bed clothes, indistinctly muttering, or not saying a word for hours. The teeth are covered with sordes; the lower jaw drops; stools and urine pass involuntarily; thus presenting the most complete picture of great prostration of mind and body. This is a picture of Hyoscyamus as we find it often in typhoid fever, or typhoid pneumonia (where it is the best remedy I know of), scarlatina and other diseases. It is a wonderful remedy, but not of wide range like Belladonna.

Hyoscyamus is not only a great remedy in the acute affections of which we have written, but it is also one of the most useful in chronic manias. If acute delirium passes on into the settled form, called mania, this remedy is still one of our chief reliances. It is much oftener of use here than Belladonna. Again, if the mania comes on after an acute disease it is still one of our leading remedies. In these forms of mania there are certain very marked symptoms calling for its use, such as, the patient is very suspicious; will not take the medicine because he thinks you are trying to poison him, or thinks some plot is being laid against him. He is jealous of others, or the first cause of the attack is jealousy. Again, the mania often takes on the lascivious form.

The patient uncovers and exposes himself, sings and talks amorously. Hyoscyamus leads all the remedies for this form of mania.

The patient, like the one in acute delirium of this remedy, is liable to alternate between the mild and violent manifestations; at one time so mild and timorous as to hide away from every one, and again so violent that she will attack, beat, fight. scratch, and try to injure anyone within reach.

The Hyoscyamus maniac is generally weak, and so this remedy is found particularly adapted to mania consequent upon the infirmities of age. Of course it is useful in all ages if indicated by the symptoms.

The nervous manifestations of this remedy are not confined to the cerebral symptoms; but seem to involve the whole system.

As H. N. Guernsey says: "Every muscle in the body twitches, from the eyes to the toes". This is one of his chief indications for its use in convulsions, whether epileptic or not. The spasms are generally of the clonic, not the tonic order, as in Nux vomica or Strychnia. Nor are they so violent as those under Cicuta virosa; but the general twitching is characteristic in convulsions, as is the subsultus tendinum in typhoids.

Hyoscyamus is very useful in a form of dry cough which is aggravated when lying down and relieved by sitting up. Here, too, it is particularly useful in old people. I have already referred to its great usefulness in pneumonia. I wish to emphasize it, and believe it to be the leading remedy in the typhoid form of the disease. At least it has performed wonders for me.

It is also very useful in scarlatina of the typhoid form, and is complementary to Rhus tox. in those cases. I never alternate the two, but if the depressed sensorium and delirium goes beyond the power of Rhus to control I suspend the Rhus for a day or two and give Hyoscyamus, which will so improve the case that Rhus may again come into use and carry it to a successful termination. This is the only alternation I am even guilty of. It is like that of Hahnemann when he alternated Bryonia and Rhus in fevers.