Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Ignatia is frequently required and is especially suited to sensitive, delicate women and children; to hysterical women. You will not cure the natural hysterics with Ignatia, but you will cure those gentle, sensitive, fine fibred, refined, highly educated, overwrought women in their nervous complaints with Ignatia when they take on complaints that are similar to such symptoms as come in hysteria.

Hysterical diathesis: The hysterical diathesis is one that is very singular and difficult to comprehend.

But a woman, when overwrought and overexcited and emotional, will do things that she herself cannot account for. She will do things as if she were crazy in her excitement. Will do things she regrets, while the hysteric is always glad of it. No matter how much foolishness there is in it she has only made an exhibition that she is proud of. But our efforts go out for those who imitate them unconsciously. Those who will to do well.

A woman has undergone a controversy at home. She has been disturbed, is excited, and goes into cramps, trembles and quivers. Goes to bed with a headache. Is sick. Ignatia will be her remedy. When she has great distress; unrequited affections. A sensitive, nervous young girl finds out that she has misplaced her affections; the young man has disappointed her; she has a weeping spell, headache, trembles, is nervous, sleepless; Ignatia will make her philosophical and sensible.

A woman loses her child, or her husband. A sensitive, delicate woman, and she suffers from this grief. She has headaches, trembles, is excited, weeps, is sleepless; unable to control herself. In spite of her best endeavors, her grief has simply torn her to pieces. She is unable to control her emotions and her excitement.

Ignatia will quiet her and tide her over the present moment. In all of these instances where all of these conditions brought on from such troubles keep coming back, where your patient dwells upon them, dwells upon the cause, and the state keeps recurring, Natrum mur. will finish up the case.

It will nerve her up and help her to bear her sufferings. Especially useful in constitutions that have been over wrought at school, in science, music, art. Of course, it is natural for very sensitive girls to go into the arts, such as music, painting, etc.

A daughter comes back from Paris after a number of years close application to her music. She is unable to do anything. She flies all to pieces. Every noise disturbs her. She cannot sleep nights. Excitable, sleepless, trembles, jerks, cramps in the muscles; weeps from excitement, and from every disturbing word. Ignatia will tone her up wonderfully.

Sometimes it will complete the whole case. But especially in these oversensitive girls is Natrum mur. very commonly the chronic. It is the natural chronic of Ignatia. When the troubles keep coming back, and Ignatia comes to a place when it will not hold any longer.

Another place where Ignatia and Natrum mur. run close together. A sensitive, overtired girl, after she has been working in music, and in art, and in school, and has tired herself out, is unable to control her affections. Her affections rest on someone whom she would despise. That may be a singular thing, one may not be able to understand it.

A sensitive girl, though she would not let anyone but her mother know of it, falls in love with a married man. She lies awake nights, sobs. She says,

"Mother, why do I do that, I cannot keep that man out of my mind."

At other times a man entirely out of her station, that she is too sensible to have anything to do with, she just thinks about him. Ignatia, if it is very recent, will balance up that girl's, mind. If not, Natrum mur. comes in as a follower. We do not know half as much about the human mind as we think we do. We only know its manifestations.

These little things belong to this sphere of the action of this medicine. The one who knows the Materia Medica applies it in its breadth and its length, and sees in it that which is similar.

Ignatia has quivering in the limbs. Nervous, tremulous excitement.

"Weakness of the body coming on suddenly.

Hysterical debility and fainting fits.

Fainting in a crowd."

It is especially useful in the tearful, nervous, sad, yielding, sensitive minds.

"Jerking and twitching.

Convulsive twitchings."

Children are convulsed in sleep after punishment.

"Convulsions in children in the first period of dentition.

Spasms in children from fright."

The child is cold and pale, and has a fixed staring look, like Cina.

"Convulsions with loss of consciousness.

Violent convulsions.

Tetanic convulsions.

Tetanus after fright.

Emotional chorea.

After fright, or grief."

Choreic girls. Emotional epilepsy, or epileptiform manifestations. Paralytic weakness.

"Great mental emotion."

Nursing; night watching. A loss of one arm with as perfect paralysis as if it had come from a cerebral haemorrhage. In a few hours this passes off, and the arm is as well as ever. That is a hysterical paralysis.

"Numbness of one or the other arm.

Tingling and prickling in the arm."

Ignatia is full of surprises. If you are well acquainted with sickness, well acquainted with pathological conditions and that manifestations, you are then able to say whether you should or should not be surprised. You are then able to say what is natural, what is common to sickness. In Ignatia you find what is unnatural, and what is unexpected.

You see an inflamed joint, or an inflamed part where there is heat, redness, throbbing, and weakness; you will handle it with great care for fear it will be painful. Ordinarily you have a perfect right to expect it would be painful. But you find it is not painful, and sometimes ameliorated by hard pressure. Is not that a surprise?

You look into the throat. It is tumid, inflamed, red; the patient complains of a sore throat and pain. Naturally you will not touch it with your tongue depressor for fear it will hurt.

You have every reason to suppose that the swallowing of solids will be painful. But you ask the patient when the pain is present, and the patient will say:

"When I am not swallowing anything solid."

The pain is ameliorated by swallowing anything solid, by the pressure. It pains all other times. Mentally, the patient does the most unaccountable and most unexpected things. Seems to have no rule to work by, no philosophy, no soundness of mind, and no judgment. The opposite of what would be expected, then, will be found.

The patient is better lying on the painful side. Instead of increasing the pain, it relieves the pain.

"Pain like a nail sticking into the side of the head."

The only comfort that is felt is by lying upon it, or pressing upon it, and that makes it go away.

Stomach: The stomach is just as strange in its indigestion. Some day or other you will have a queer patient, vomiting everything taken into the stomach, and you will have her try gentle food, a little toast, and the simplest possible things, because she has been vomiting for days and people begin to worry about it for fear she will starve to death.

You try this, and you try that, and she can keep nothing down. Finally she says,

"It I could only have some cole slaw and some chopped onions, I think I could get along all right."

It is a hysterical stomach, and the patient eats some raw cabbage and some chopped onions, and from that time on she is well.

Those strange things that are ordinarily hard to digest ameliorate the nausea rather than increase it. While milk and toast, and delicate things, and warm things, such as are usually taken, disturb the stomach and increase the nausea. Cold food is craved, and cold food will be digested when warm food will be disturbing and create indigestion.

Cough: The cough has similar features in it. An irritation will come in the throat, as a rule, that is why people cough.

People cough from smarting in the larynx and trachea, from irritation, from tickling, and from a sensation of fullness or a desire to expel something, and this is better by coughing.

But when the irritation in the larynx and trachea comes in the Ignatia patient you have the unexpected again; because the more she coughs the more the irritation to cough is observed, until the irritation is so great and the cough is so great that she goes into spasms. It has been known of an Ignatia patient, that the more she coughed the greater the irritation to cough, and she was drenched with sweat, sitting up in bed with her night-clothes drenched, gagging and coughing and retching, covered with sweat and exhausted.

When you are called to the bedside of such a patient, don't wait. You cannot get her to stop coughing long enough to say anything to you about it, only you will see the cough has grown more violent; Ignatia stops it at once. Without any provocation whatever a spasmodic condition will come on in the larynx.

Any little disturbance, a mental disturbance, a fright, or distress, or a grievance, will bring a young, sensitive woman home and to her bed, and she will go on with a spasm of the larynx. It is a laryngismus stridulus that can be heard all over the house. Ignatia stops it at once (Gelsemium, Moschus).

Mind: Nervous affections and troubles of all sorts come on at the menstrual period. The mind is always in a hurry, in a state of excitement.

No one can do things rapidly enough. The memory is untrustworthy. The mind flies all to pieces. It is a sort of confusion. No longer able to classify the things that have been classically put into the mind. Cannot remember her music, and her rules, and her scholastic methods. They have all vanished, and she is in a state of confusion. She is a worn-out, nervous person.

Then come fancies, vivid fancies, that are like delirium. Without fever, without chill. just after excitement. She comes home from some great disturbance of her emotions, and goes into a state that, if looked upon, per se, would appear to be a delirium such as appears in a fever. But upon close examination it is not a delirium. It is a momentarily hysterical excitement of the mind, in which the balance is lost, and she talks about everything.

Sees every manner of thing; it is a hysterical insanity, because after she rests or the next morning it has vanished. But these spells come oftener and oftener after they have once begun, and she gives way to them easier and easier, and, if they are not remedied, she becomes a lunatic, a confirmed mental wreck, so that excitement, grief, insanity, all intermingle together as cause and effect. These come first at the menstrual period, and then they come at other times, until they come from every little disturbance. Whenever she is crossed or contradicted.

"She desires to be alone and to dwell on the inconsistencies that come into her life.

Sits and sobs.

At times she is taciturn; again, she prattles and is loquacious, and talks to herself."

She comes into a state in a little while where she delights to bring on her fits and to make a scare. The natural hysteric is born with that, and Ignatia will do her no good. But when this is brought on from conditions described, Ignatia is of the greatest benefit. It runs closely along by the side of Hyoscyamus.

"A feeling of continuous fright, or apprehensiveness that something is going to happen."

With all these mental states she has a feeling of emptiness in the stomach and abdomen. Emptiness and trembling.

"Melancholy after disappointed love, with spinal symptoms,"

"Great grief after losing persons or objects very near.

Trembling of the hands disturbs her very much in writing.

Dread of every trifle."

She goes into a state where she is utterly unable to undertake anything, even to write a letter to a friend.

The Ignatia patient is not one that has been a simpleton, or of a sluggish mind or idiotic, but one that has become tired, and brought into such a state from over-doing and from over-excitement. From going too much. If rather feeble in body, from too much social excitement. Our present social state is will calculated to develop a hysterical mind. The typical social mind is one that is always in a state of confusion. Asks questions, not waiting for the answer.

A good many remedies have this state; a lack of concentration of mind, that is what it is, but this is a peculiar kind of lack of concentration of mind. Dread, fear, anxiety, weeping, run through the remedy.

"Sensitive disposition; hyperacute."

Overwrought intense. Ignatia has another thing:

"Thinks she has neglected some duty."

That is very much like Puls., Hell. and Hyos., only Aurum believes that she has committed a great wrong.

"Thinks that she has neglected some duty."

Dwells upon that much.

"Melancholy after great grief."

It is full of headaches, and they are all congestive, pressing headaches, or tearing headaches, or headaches as if a nail were sticking into the side of the head or temple; ameliorated from lying upon it. The headaches are all ameliorated by heat. The patient generally is ameliorated by warmth and aggravated by cold. Wants cold things in the stomach, but warm things externally. Jerking headaches, throbbing headaches, congestive headaches.

Headaches in nervous and sensitive temperaments. Those whose nervous system has given way to anxiety, grief or mental work.

"Headaches from abuse of coffee, from smoking, from inhaling smoke, from tobacco or alcohol."

Headache from close attention.

"Headache ameliorated, by warmth and rest; worse, from cold winds and turning the head suddenly; worse when pressing at stool, or from jar, from hurrying, from excitement."

Looking up increases the pain; moving the eyes; worse from noise, from light.

"Pain in the occiput; worse from cold, better from external heat.

Headache better while eating, but soon after it is worse."

"Disturbance of vision.

Zigzags.

Confusion of vision."

Excessively nervous eyes.

"Acrid tears.

Weeping."

Face: The face is distorted, convulsed, pale and sickly. Pains in the face.

"Violent rending, tearing pains in the face."

Let me put it this way: Some of these overwrought girls that come back from Paris, that I described, overworked in their music, will have violent face-ache, pains in the face, or some other hysterical pains. Others will come back with violent headaches; others with the mental state and confusion; others with all the hysterical manifestations.

Prolonged excitement. Musical excesses. Yes, other girls come back fairly crippled with painful menstruation, ovarian pains, hysterical conditions, displacement; prolapsus of the vagina and of the rectum.

"Tearing, shooting pains upwards from the anus and vagina up into the body towards the umbilicus."

Strange antipathies run through the remedy. It will be impossible for you to ever form any conclusion what one of these sensitive women will think of any proposition that is presented. You cannot depend upon her being reasonable or rational.

It is best to say as little as possible, about anything. Make no promises, listen, look wise, take up your traveling bag and go home after you have prescribed, because anything you say, will be distorted. There is not anything you can say that will please

Thirst when you would not expect it. Thirst during chill, but none during the fever, if she has a feverish state. It is suitable in intermittent fever. Excitable, nervous children and women with intermittent fever.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Ignatia amara. (Strychnos ignatia? Strychnos multiflora?-The actual tree from which the so-called "beans" are obtained is not known.) Faba indica. St. Ignatius' Bean. (Philippine Islands.) N. O. Loganiaceae. Tincture and trituration of the seeds.

Clinical.─Abdomen, distended. Anger, effects of. Anus, affections of. Anxiety. Appetite, disordered. Back, weakness of. Catalepsy. Change of Life. Chorea. Clavus. Convulsions. Croup. Debility. Dentition. Depression of Spirits. Diphtheria. Dysmenorrhoea. Epilepsy. Fainting. Fear, effects of. Flatulence; obstructed. Glands, enlargement of. Haemorrhoids. Headache. Heart, affections of. Hiccough. Hysteria. Hysterical-joint. Intermittent fever. Locomotor ataxy. Melancholia. Numbness. Oesophagus. Paralysis. Phlyctenular ophthalmia. Proctalgia. Rectum, prolapse of. Rheumatic fever. Sciatica. Sensitiveness. Sinking. Sleep, disordered. Spinal irritation. Tenesmus. Throat, sore. Toothache. Tremors. Urine, abnormal. Vagina, spasm of. Voice, lost. Yawning.

Characteristics.─In order to obtain a proper understanding of the power and place of Ignatia it is necessary to get rid of two prevalent erroneous ideas. The first of these is that Ign. is a remedy for hysteria and nothing else; and the second is that it is the only remedy ever required in cases of hysteria. One minor inconvenience attending these notions is, that patients have become very shy of the drug, and resent having it prescribed for them, thinking that their doctor deems them hysterical if he does prescribe it. The recent outbreak of plague in the East has recalled the fact that Ign. has earned a reputation as curative even in that disease. Honigberger relates that it was a common plan when plague was raging in Constantinople for people to wear a bean attached to a string as a prophylactic; he administered "minute doses" of it to patients affected with plague with the best success. Later on he himself caught the disease in India, and cured himself with the same remedy (H. W., xxxiii. 51). In intermittent fever it is the only remedy that will cure certain cases. In the early part of my homoeopathic career I astonished myself once by curing rapidly with Ign. (prescribed at first as an intercurrent remedy) a severe case of rheumatic fever, which had been making no progress under Bryonia, etc. The mental symptoms called for Ign., and along with these the inflammation of the joints, as well as the fever, disappeared under its action. The seeds of Ign. contain a larger proportion of Strychnia than those of Nux vomica, and the great differences in the characteristic features of the two medicines prove the wisdom of considering medicines apart from their so-called "active" principles. There are many activities in plants besides the alkaloids they may contain, and these are often the determining factors of the drug's specific action. It is in the mental sphere that the majority of the keynote symptoms of Ign. are developed. "Although its positive effects," says Hahnemann (M. M. P.), "have a great resemblance to those of Nux v. (which indeed might be inferred from the botanical relationship of these two plants) yet there is a great difference in their therapeutic employment. The emotional disposition of patients for whom Ign. is serviceable differs widely from that of those for whom Nux v. is of use. Ign. is not suitable for persons or patients in whom anger, eagerness, or violence is predominant; but for those who are subject to rapid alternations of gaiety and disposition to weep, or other characteristic emotional states, provided always that the other corporeal morbid symptoms resemble those that this drug can produce." Guernsey thus depicts the Ign. state of mind: "Any one suffering from suppressed or deep grief, with long-drawn sighs, much sobbing, etc.; also much unhappiness, cannot sleep, entirely absorbed in grief; for recent grief at the loss of a friend; affections of the mind in general, particularly if actuated by grief; sadness; hopelessness; hysterical variableness; fantastic illusions." To this list fixed ideas may be added, and desire to be alone. Ign. covers many of the effects of grief, especially if recent. I once gave instant relief with Ign. 30 in the case of a lady who had just heard of her brother's death (not unexpected), and who complained of an intense pain in the head just over the root of the nose. The consequences of worry, or a worrying state of mind, no less than grief, call for Ign.─an introverted state of mind. The special indication of Ign. in cases of hysteria is the rapid alternation of moods. Uncontrollable laughter alternating with outbursts of tears. Laughs when she ought to be serious. Sensitive, impressionable. This condition with the characteristic globus hystericus (a lump rises from the stomach into throat as if she would choke; she swallows it down but it constantly returns; < by drinking water) unmistakably indicate Ign. Nervous twitchings and even convulsions also occur. Distortion of the facial muscles whenever the patient attempts to speak. Pains rapidly alternate in character and are excessive. Exaggerated and outlandish symptoms. Rapid alternation of effects is one of the leading features of the drug; also paradoxicalness. Ign. has cured many cases of diphtheric and other sore throats, when the pain has been > by swallowing. In the fever of Ign., the thirst occurs during the chill and in no other stage. This is a very unlikely condition, and no other remedy has it. Empty retching is > by eating. Suddenness is another note of the Ign. effects. Sudden loss of function in any organ. There are many bodily conditions not associated with mental disturbance that require Ign.; for it must always be borne in mind that the absence of any particular characteristic of a drug is no contraindication to its use provided other indications are sufficiently pronounced. Ign. will cure many painful conditions of the anus and rectum, including piles and prolapse when characterised by "sharp stitching pain shooting up the rectum"; or "constricting pain at anus < after stool, > whilst sitting." Pressure as of a sharp instrument from within outward is a characteristic. "Headache as if a nail were driven out through the side of the head, > by lying on it." Pains 2 change their locality, come gradually and abate suddenly, or come and go suddenly. Headaches terminate with a profuse flow of urine. In dentition it is frequently called for. It has cured hydrocephalus from sudden metastasis from bowels to brain during dentition, with sudden pallor, delirium, rolling of head, difficult swallowing; convulsive movements of eyes and lids. The eye symptoms are also noteworthy. It has cured many cases of inflammatory affections, especially with intense photophobia and nervous excitement; also asthenopia with spasms of lids and neuralgic pains. Ign. is one of the remedies which have "goneness." or sinking at the stomach, in a very pronounced degree. It often occurs in the night, keeping the patient awake. With this there is a disposition to sigh. Sometimes a feeling as if the stomach were relaxed. There is regurgitation of food. Hiccough < by eating, or smoking, or emotional disturbances (especially in children); empty retching > by eating; vomiting at night of food taken in evening. Hysterical vomiting. Sour saliva and sour taste in mouth. Toothache, < after a meal, not so bad whilst eating─another paradoxical condition. The facial expression of Ign. is one of deadly pallor, or it may be flushed at times. There are twitchings of individual muscles of eyelids or mouth, and fluttering in chest, and in smaller muscles of body; heart flutters and rises in chest, causing choking and oppression; it seems to rise and fall as she attempts to sleep. Convulsions, spasms from fright. The child stiffens out and bends backward. Half-unconscious state, thumbs clenched, face blue. Cramps and spasms are prevalent as with Nux. The dysmenorrhoea in which Ign. is indicated has labour-like bearing-down in hypogastrium, > by pressure; by lying down; by change of position. The flow is black, putrid; if profuse, clotted. Spasms and convulsions, ending in long-drawn sighs, are met by Ign. Nash relates a case of puerperal convulsions in which this feature led to a cure. There are a number of characteristic respiratory symptoms: Hysterical aphonia. Laryngismus stridulus; patient sits up in bed, hoarse, hacking cough. The characteristic cough of Ign. is an irritable and irritating cough: the longer the cough lasts the more the irritation to cough increases. Kent describes it as: "Hack, hack-ety-hack, ending in sobbing." Cough every time he stands still during a walk. Hollow, spasmodic cough as from sulphur fumes. Cough as from inspired feathery dust. Sensations of formication and numbness are very general. Pains are apt to be in small circumscribed spots. The fever characters are: Thirst during cold spell only. Red face during chill. Chill > by external heat (wraps, stove). External chilliness and internal heat. As soon as heat commences must be uncovered (opp. Nux). Sensation as if sweat would break out but does not. Sweats: when eating; cold at times, generally warm; sometimes sour. Ign. is one of the chilly medicines like Nux, Caps., Ars. Cold < and warmth > (except in the last stage of fever). Rest > the pains; and so does change of position. Lying down >. Lying on side < headache; lying on painful side > headache. Sitting > anal and many other symptoms. < By stooping, walking, standing. < From slight touch; > from hard pressure. Soft pressure > headache. Slightest touch < stomach pains; cramps in uterus; tenderness of scalp and region of pylorus. There is great aversion to tobacco, which < many symptoms. Aversion to warm food, meat, alcohol. Desire for sour things; for bread, especially rye bread. < From emotion; from sweets; coffee; strong smells; from ascarides; when yawning. > From changing position; while eating; from eructation; when taking an inspiration; from swallowing. Ign. acts rapidly, and the duration of its action, according to Hahnemann, is short. "It is best administered in the morning if there is no hurry. When given shortly before bedtime it is apt to cause too much restlessness at night." It is adapted to the sensitive, excitable, nervous temperament; women of a sensitive, easily excited nature; dark hair and skin, but mild disposition; quick to perceive, rapid to execute. Ign. has been called the "feminine" of the "masculine" Nux. B. Simmons defines the place of Ign. in sciatica thus: "Lancinating, cutting pains, beating, bursting pains, < in winter, > in summer, chilliness with thirst, flushes of heat, chiefly face, without thirst." The limb is swollen and thigh knotty, and she cannot get up or lie down without pain; generally left side.

Relations.─Antidoted by: Puls. (chief antidote); Arn., Camph., Cham., Coccul., Coff. It antidotes: Brandy, coffee, chamomile tea, tobacco, Selen., Zinc. Compatible: Ars., Bell., Calc., Chi., Lyc., Nux, Puls., Rhus t., Sep., Sulph., Zinc. Incompatible: Coffea, Tabac., Nux (sometimes). Compare: Croc. (irresistible fits of laughter; rapidly alternating mental states); Lyc. (sinking sensation at night, preventing sleep canine hunger at night; also Chi.); Sep. (sinking, gone sensation with Ign. it is attended with sighing); Phos. ac., Gels., Coloc. (grief Phos. ac., especially for chronic condition); Asaf., Asar. (nervous persons); Ars., Nux (fevers; > from external warmth). In difficult swallowing of liquids, Bell., Caust., Cin., Hyo., Lach., Lyc., Pho. Globus hystericus, Lach., Lyc., Plumb. Piles (> sitting, Ign.─< sitting, Lyc., Thuj., Phos. ac.). Piles during menses, Lach., Collins., Puls., Sul. Worry and its effects, Nux, Sul. (Sul. worried by trifles). Laughter when ought to be serious, Anac., Pho. Sadness, Puls. (Ign. hides her grief, Puls. shows it). Prolapsus ani, Pod. Jealousy, Apis, Hyo. Disappointed love, Phos. ac. > From hard pressure hollow cough as from sulphur fumes, Chi. Laryngismus, Gels. Headache ending in copious flow of clear limpid urine, Gels., Aco., Sil., Ver. Worms, Cin. In functional paralysis from fatigue, emotions, or worms, Stan., Coccul., Pho. Hysteria, Cupr., Plat., Hyo., Asaf., Mosch. (faints easily), Valer., Nux mosch. Spasms in delicate women, Bell. (but Bell. has bright red face, shining eyes, hot head, fever: Ign. has no fever with spasms), Hyo. (Hyo. has unconsciousness, Ign. not). Sudden effects of emotions, Opium (very similar, but Op. has dark red, bloated face), Glon. (in the convulsions of Glon. the fingers spread out widely, also Secal.), Ver., Cupr., Cham. In uterine spasms, Coccul., Cham., Mag. mur., Act. r. Hiccough (Ign. < by eating, smoking, emotions), Hyo. (after operations on abdomen), Stram. and Ver. (after hot drinks), Ars. and Puls. (after cold drinks), Teucr. (children, after nursing). Nervous cough, the more he coughs the more annoying the irritation, Apis. Sadness, indifference, profound melancholy, Tarent. (Ign. introverted state of mind; Trnt. cunning attempts to feign paroxysms and wild dancing, no paroxysms if no observers). Chorea; eye symptoms, Agar. Extreme sensitiveness to pain; flushing of one or other cheek, Cham. Ear symptoms, Phos. (Ign. hard of hearing except to human voice; Pho. exact opposite, over-sensitiveness to ordinary sounds, deaf to voice). Nervous women, Mg. c., Mg. m. Tears, fevers, Nat. m. (Nat. m. is the chronic of Ign.). Teste places Ign. in his Ipec. group: Nausea and vomiting; reversed peristalsis; congestive headaches and engorgements resulting from vomiting; tenesmus; intermittent fevers are the leading characteristics of the group.

Causation.─Grief. Fright. Worry. Disappointed love. Jealousy. Old spinal injuries.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Taciturn, with continuous sad thoughts; still, serious melancholy, with moaning.─Sadness and concentrated sorrow, with sighing.─Irresolution; anxious to do now this, now that.─Impatience.─Strong disposition to be frightened.─Morose and discontented humour, and involuntary reflections on painful and disagreeable things.─Intolerance of noise.─Effrontery.─Tenderness of disposition and of conscience.─Inconstancy.─Alternation of foolish gaiety and tearful sadness.─Laconic speech.─Great weakness of memory.─Love of solitude.─Anguish, esp. in the morning on waking, or at night, sometimes with palpitation of the heart.─Lachrymose and apathetic humour, with dread of exertion.─Inclination to grief, without saying anything about it.─Changeable disposition; jesting and laughing, changing to sadness, with shedding of tears (hysteria).─Despair of being cured.─The least contradiction excites rage and passion, with redness of face.─Fearfulness, timidity.─Anger, followed by quiet grief and sorrow.─Fear of robbers at night.─Cries, and complete discouragement, at the least provocation.

2. Head.─Vertigo; with sparks before the eyes.─Great heaviness of the head, as if it were full of blood.─Pressive headache, esp. above the root of the nose, and often accompanied by inclination to vomit, < or > by stooping.─Stinging pain, from within to without in the forehead.─Cramp-like pressure on the forehead and occiput, with obscuration of sight, redness of the face, and weeping.─Painful sensation of expansion in the head, as if the cranium were going to burst, esp. when conversing, reading, or listening to another.─Pain, as from a bruise in the head, esp. in the morning, on waking.─The headaches are < by coffee, brandy, tobacco-smoke, noise, strong smell, from reading and writing; from the sunlight; from moving the eyes; > when changing the position and when lying on the painful side.─Headaches with zigzags before the sight.─Skin across forehead feels drawn, with a lost and drowsy feeling, and thousands of stars float before sight.─Headache, as if a nail were driven into the brain; or out through the side of the head; > when lying on painful side.─Pressive headache in the forehead and vertex.─Piercing and shooting tearings, deep in the brain and forehead, > by lying down.─Pressive, pulsative headache.─Trembling of the head.─Throwing of the head backwards (during spasms); > by heat.─Falling off of the hair.

3. Eyes.─Pressure on the eyes, sometimes, as if sand had been introduced into them.─Inflammation of the eyes.─Redness of the eyes.─Acrid tears in the eyes during the day; agglutination of the eyelids during the night.─Lachrymation, esp. in the brightness of the sun.─Swelling in the upper lid, with enlargement of the (bluish) veins; the eyelid is turned upward.─Inflammation of the upper part of the eyeball as far as it is covered by the upper lid.─Convulsive movements of the eyes, and of the eyelids.─Fixed look, with dilated pupils.─Photophobia.─Sight confused, as if directed through a mist.─Flickering zigzags (and stars) before the eyes.

4. Ears.─Swelling of the parotids, with shooting pain.─Redness and burning heat in one of the ears.─Hardness of hearing; except for the human voice.─Itching in the ears.─Noise before the ear, as from a strong wind.─Worry takes away hearing and intensifies the noises.

5. Nose.─Itching in the nose.─Nostrils excoriated and ulcerated, with swelling of the nose.─Epistaxis.─Stoppage of one nostril; dry coryza, with dull headache, and excessive nervous excitement.─Dryness of the nose.

6. Face.─Face pale, red, or blue, or earth-coloured and wan.─Alternate redness and paleness of the face.─Clay-coloured, sunken face, with blue margins around the eyes.─Perspiration on the face alone.─Redness and burning heat in one of the cheeks (and in one ear).─Convulsive startings and distortion of the muscles of the face.─Eruption on the face.─Lips dry, cracked, and bleeding.─Pain, as of excoriation, in the internal surface of the upper lip.─Scabs on the commissurae of the lips, and on the lips.─Pains in the submaxillary glands.─Convulsive jerking of the corners of the mouth.─Ulceration of one of the corners of the mouth.─Spasmodic clenching of the jaws (lock-jaw).

7. Teeth.─Odontalgia, as if the teeth (the molars) were broken.─Looseness of the teeth.─Toothache towards the end of a meal, < after its conclusion.─Difficult dentition, with convulsions.

8. Mouth.─Inflammation and redness of the mouth, and of the palate.─Constant secretion of mucus, or accumulation of acid saliva in the mouth.─Aptness to bite the tongue, on one side posteriorly, when chewing or speaking.─Moist tongue, loaded with a white coating.─Stitches in palate, extending to the ear.─Foam at the mouth.─Voice weak and tremulous.

9. Throat.─Sore throat, as if there were a plug in it, when not swallowing.─Palate red and inflamed, with a sensation as if what is swallowed passed over a burning and excoriated tumour.─Shootings in the throat, extending sometimes to the ear, chiefly when not swallowing.─When swallowing sensation as if one swallowed over a lump, causing soreness and a cracking noise.─Inflammation, swelling, and induration of the tonsils, with small ulcers.─Impeded deglutition (of drinks).─Constriction of the gullet, with sobbing risings.─Pain in the submaxillary glands when moving the neck.

10. Appetite.─Repugnance to food and drink, esp. to milk, meat, cooked victuals, and tobacco-smoke.─Want of appetite, and speedy satiety.─Insipid taste, like chalk, in the mouth.─Weakness and difficulty of digestion.─Sour taste in the mouth.─Bitter and putrid taste of food, esp. of beer.─Repugnance to, or strong desire for, acid things.─Dislike to wine and brandy.─Painful inflation of the abdomen after a meal.─Feeling of hunger in the evening, which prevents one going to sleep.─Desire for different things, which are disregarded when obtained.─Food has no taste.─Milk taken in the morning leaves an after-taste for a long time.─After smoking, hiccough, nausea, sweat, and colic.

11. Stomach.─Regurgitation of food, or of bitter serous matter.─Hiccough from smoking.─Hiccough, always after eating or drinking.─Acid risings.─Nausea, with agitation and anguish.─Vomiting of food, even at night.─Vomiting of bile and mucus.─Periodical attacks of cramp in the stomach, which disturb sleep at night, and are < by pressure on the part affected.─Dull aching or shootings in the epigastrium.─Coldness, or sensation of burning in the stomach, esp. after taking brandy.─Sensation of emptiness, and of weakness, in the epigastrium.─Sensation of weakness (sinking) in the pit of the stomach.─Heaviness and pressure in the pit of the stomach.─Fulness and swelling in the epigastrium.─Painful sensitiveness of the pit of the stomach to the touch.

12. Abdomen.─Sensation of fulness and inflation of the hypochondria, with difficulty of respiration.─Pain in the l. hypochondrium, < by pressure, and by walking.─Shooting sensation of burning and pressure, or swelling and hardness in the region of the spleen.─Expansive pain in the abdomen, as if the intestines were going to burst.─Inflation of the abdomen.─The flatulence presses on the bladder.─Cutting pains in the umbilical region.─Spasmodic pains, cutting, stinging, like labour pains.─Violent aching in the abdomen.─Rolling sensation around the navel.─Drawing and pinching in the region of the navel.─Sensation of protrusion in the umbilical region.─The pains in the abdomen are < after taking coffee, brandy, or things sweetened with sugar.─Shootings and pinchings in the abdomen, esp. in the sides.─Periodical cramp-like pains in the abdomen.─Cramp-like pressure in the inguinal region.─Beating in the abdomen.─Borborygmi in the intestines.─Flatulent colic, esp. at night.─Sensation of weakness and trembling in the abdomen, with sighing respiration.

13. Stool and Anus.─Constipation from taking cold; from riding in a carriage.─Hard evacuations, with frequent ineffectual efforts.─Unsuccessful urging to stool, felt mostly in the upper intestines.─Faeces yellow, whitish, of a very large size, soft but difficult to eject.─Diarrhoea of sanguineous mucus, with rumbling in the abdomen.─Slimy evacuations, accompanied by colic.─Discharge of blood from the anus.─Prolapsus of the rectum while at stool.─Itching and tingling in the anus.─Ascarides in the rectum.─Contraction of the anus.─Contractive pain, as of excoriation, in the anus, after evacuation.─Prolapsus ani, with smarting pain, from slight pressure to stool.─Shootings from the anus high up into the rectum.─Smarting in the rectum during the loose evacuations.

14. Urinary Organs.─Frequent and copious emission of watery urine.─Urine lemon colour.─Involuntary emission of urine.─Urgent and irresistible want to make water.─Continual want to urinate after taking coffee.─Sensation of burning and smarting in the urethra during micturition.─Itching in the fore part of the urethra.─Urging to urinate with inability.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Much itching in the genital parts, and in the penis, in the evening after lying down, removed by scratching.─Pain, as of excoriation and ulceration, on the margins of the prepuce.─Strangling sensation, and aching in the testes, esp. in the evening, after lying down.─Sweat on the scrotum.─Lasciviousness, with weakness of genital power (without erections).─Contraction of the penis; it becomes quite small.─Absence of sexual desire.─Erections, with painful uneasiness, and aching at the pubis.─Erections during every evacuation.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Catamenia premature and violent, every ten or fifteen days.─Blood of the catamenia black, of putrid odour, mixed with clots.─Metrorrhagia.─During the catamenia, heaviness, heat, and pain in the head, photophobia, colic, and contractive pains, anxiety, palpitation of the heart, and great fatigue, even to fainting.─Cramp-like and compressive pains in the region of the uterus, with fits of suffocation; pressure, and lying on the back, mitigate the pain.─Cramp in the uterus, during the catamenia.─Uterine spasms, with lancinations, or like labour pains.─Corrosive and purulent leucorrhoea, preceded by contractive pressure in the uterus.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Sensation of soreness in the larynx.─Constrictive sensation in the trachea and larynx.─Voice feeble, inability to speak loud.─Catarrh, with coryza and headache.─Cough, excited by a sensation of constriction at the fossa of the neck, as from the vapour of sulphur.─Hollow spasmodic cough, caused in the evening from a sensation of vapour or dust in the pit of the throat; in the morning, from a tickling above the pit of the stomach, with expectoration in the evening difficult, tasting and smelling like old catarrh. (Whooping-cough).─Obstinate nocturnal cough.─Dry cough, sometimes with fluent coryza.─Cough, continuing equally day and night.─The longer he coughs the more the irritation to cough increases.─Dry, hoarse cough.─Spasmodic shaking cough.─Short cough, as from a feather in the throat, becoming stronger from repetition (the more he coughs, the more he wants to).─Hoarse dry cough, excited by a tickling above the stomach.

18. Chest.─Desire to draw a long breath.─Slow breathing.─Difficulty of respiration, and oppression of the chest, esp. at night (after midnight).─Oppressed breathing, alternating with convulsions.─Difficult respiration, as if hindered by a weight upon the chest.─Shortness of breath when walking, and cough as soon as one stands still.─Sighing respiration.─Feeling of suffocation on running.─Aching of the chest.─Constriction of the chest.─Shootings in the chest and in the sides, excited by flatulency (flatulent colic).

19. Heart.─Palpitation of the heart at night, with shootings in the heart, or else in the morning on waking, as well as when meditating, and during repose.─Throbbing in the chest.─Sticking in precordial region on expiration.─Cardiac hyperaesthesia.─Anxious feeling in precordia; sinking sensation and emptiness at stomach; constriction, with anxiety and disposition to cry.

20. Neck and Back.─Stiffness of the nape of the neck.─Stitches in the small of the back; in the nape of the neck.─Aching pain in the glands of the neck.─Enlarged glands (painless), like nodosities, in the neck.─Pain in the os sacrum in the morning, when lying on the back.─Violent sacral pains, like shootings or pullings, or like squeezing by a claw.─The back is bent forward.─Convulsive bending backwards of the spine.─Lancinations as by knives, from the loins to the thighs.─Weak back, with sciatica.

22. Upper Limbs.─Lancinating, cutting pain in the shoulder-joint, when bending the arm forward.─Insupportable pains in the bones and joints of the arms, as if the flesh were being loosened, or with a paralytic sensation and pain of dislocation (on moving the arm).─Convulsive startings in the arms (in the deltoid muscle) and in the fingers.─Tearing in the arms, excited by cold air.─Tension in the wrist.─Hot sweat of the hands.─Sensation of torpor and digging in the arms, at night in bed (with the sensation as if something living were running in the arm).─Warm perspiration in the palm of the hand and fingers.

23. Lower Limbs.─Incisive, tearing pains in the posterior surface of the thighs, on fatiguing the muscles.─Sciatica, with weakness of back and lower limbs.─Limbs swollen, thigh knotty, cannot get up or lie down without pain (generally l.).─Heaviness of the legs and of the feet, with tension in the legs, and calves of the legs, on walking.─Heat of the knee, with coldness and itching of the nose.─Convulsive startings of the legs.─Stiffness of the knees and of the feet.─When walking, the knees are involuntarily drawn up.─Cracking in the knee.─Painful sensibility of the soles of the feet, when walking.─Shootings and pain, as from ulceration in the soles of the feet.─Sensation of burning in the heels at night, on placing them near one another; when they come in contact they are cold to the touch.─Coldness of the feet and legs, extending above the knee.─Sensation of burning in corns.

24. Generalities.─Simple and violent pain, in various parts, when they are touched.─Incisive or acute, and sometimes hard pressive pain (as from a hard pointed body pressing from within to without), in the limbs and other parts.─Trembling of the limbs.─Lancinations, as by knives.─Sensation of pressing asunder, or constriction in the internal organs.─Arthritic tearing in the limbs.─Pain, as of dislocation, or of a sprain in the joints.─Heaviness, and crawling numbness, in the limbs.─Convulsions alternating with oppressed breathing.─Attacks of cramps and of convulsions, sometimes with anxiety, fits of suffocation, throwing back of the head, bluish or red face, spasms in the throat, loss of consciousness, etc.─Epileptic convulsions, with foam at the mouth, frequent yawning, convulsed eyes, retraction of the thumbs, face red, or alternately pale and red, etc.─Convulsive twitchings, esp. after fright or grief.─Involuntary movements of the limbs, as in St. Vitus' dance.─After the convulsions, profound sighs, or drowsy sleep.─Great sensitiveness to the open air.─Convulsions, with cries and laughter.─Tetanus.─Hysterical debility, and fainting-fits.─Hysterical spasms.─The symptoms chiefly manifest themselves just after a meal, also in the evening, after lying down, or in the morning, immediately after rising.─Coffee, tobacco, brandy, and noise aggravate the pains.─The pains are removed either by lying on the back, or by lying on the part affected, or on the healthy side, and always by change of position.─Nocturnal pains which disturb sleep.

25. Skin.─Itching (over the whole body), which is easily removed by scratching.─Chilblains.─Excoriation of the skin; (esp. round vagina and mouth.─Cooper).─Itching on becoming warm in the open air.─Great sensitiveness of the skin to a draught of air.─Nettle-rash over the whole body, with violent itching (during the fever).

26. Sleep.─Profound and comatose sleep, with stertorous respiration.─Violent spasmodic yawnings (with pain in the lower jaw, as if dislocated, with running of the eyes), esp. in the morning, or after a siesta.─Very light sleep; hears everything that happens around him.─Sleep, disturbed by nightmare, or by starts and frequent dreams.─Starting of the limbs on going to sleep.─Dreams, with reflection and reasoning, or with fixed ideas.─Dreams with fixed ideas, continuing after waking.─Restless sleep, and great restlessness at night.─Starts with fright on going to sleep.─Whimpering during sleep.

27. Fever.─Pulse hard, full and frequent, or very variable.─Febrile shivering, esp. in the back and arms, with thirst for cold water, and sometimes with nausea and vomiting.─Chill, frequently only of the back part of the body.─Mitigation of the cold by external heat.─External heat with internal coldness.─Universal heat, esp. in the head, with redness, principally (of one) of the cheeks, and adipsia, sometimes with internal shuddering, coldness of the feet, shootings in the limbs, and headache.─Chill and coldness, causing the pains to increase.─Sudden flushes of heat over the whole body.─Troublesome sensation of heat, sometimes with sweat.─Absence of thirst during the heat, and perspiration, or during the apyrexia.─Only external heat, without thirst, with aversion to external heat.─Fever, with headache, and pain in the pit of the stomach, great fatigue, paleness of face, or paleness and redness alternately, lips dry and cracked, nettle-rash, tongue white, profound sleep with snoring, etc.─Intermittent fever; chill with thirst, followed by heat (without thirst), followed by chill with thirst, or afternoon fever; shiverings with colic (and thirst), afterwards weakness and sleep, with burning heat of the body.─During the fever violent itching; nettle-rash over the whole body.─Burning heat of the face, only on one side.─Very little perspiration, or only in the face.─Sweat, with shootings and buzzing in the ears.─Sweat during a meal.

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

St. Ignatius Bean (Loganiaceae)

Especially suited to nervous temperament; women of a sensitive, easily excited nature; dark hair and skin but mild disposition, quick to percieve, rapid in execution. In striking contrast with the fair complexion, yielding, lachrymose, but slow and indecisive, Pulsatilla. The remedy of great contradictions: the roaring in ears > by music; the piles > when walking; sore throat feels > when swallowing; empty feeling in stomach not > by eating; cough < the more he coughs; cough on standing still during a walk (Ast. fl.); spasmodic laughter from grief; sexual desire with impotency; thirst during a chill, no thirst during the fever; the color changes in the face when at rest. Mental conditions rapidly, in an almost incredibly short time, change from joy to sorrow, from laughing to weeping (Coff., Croc., Nux m.); moody. Persons mentally and physically exhausted by long-concentrated grief. Involuntary sighing (Lach.); with a weak, empty feeling at pit of stomach; not > by eating (Hydr., Sep.). Bad effects of anger, grief, or disappointed love (Cal. p., Hyos.); broods in solitude over imaginary trouble. Desire to be alone. Finely sensitive mood, delicate consciousness. Inconstant, impatient, irresolute, quarrelsome. Amiable in disposition if feeling well, but easily disturbed by very slight emotion; easily offended. The slightest fault finding or contradiction excites anger, and this makes him angry with himself. Children, when reprimanded, scolded, or sent ot bed, get sick or have convulsions in sleep. Ill effects, from bad news; from vexation with reserved displeasure; from suppressed mental sufferings; of shame and mortification (Staph.). Headache, as if a nail was driven out through the side, relieved by lying on it. (Coff., Nux, Thuja). Cannot bear tabacco; smoking, or being in tabacco smoke, produces or aggravates headache. In talking or chewing, bites inside of cheek. Sweat on the face on a small spot only while eating. Oversensitiveness to pain (Coff., Cham.). Constipation; from carriage riding; of a paralytic origin; with excessive urging, felt more in upper abdomen (Ver.); with great pain, dreads to go to the closet; in women who are habitual coffee drinkers. Prolapsus ani from moderate straining at stool, stooping or lifting (Nit. ac., Pod., Ruta); < when the stool is loose. Haemorrhoids: prolapse with every stool, have to be replaced; sharp stitches shoot up the rectum (Nit. a.); < for hours after stool (Rat., Sulph.). Twitchings, jerkings, even spasms of single limbs or whole body, when falling asleep. Pain in small, circumscribed spots. Fever: red face during chill (Fer.); chill, with thirst during chill only; > by external heat; heat without thirst, < by covering ( > by covering, Nux). Complaints return at precisely the same hour. Ignatia bears the same relation to the diseases of women that Nux does to sanguine, bilious men. There are many more Ignatia persons in North America than Nux vomica persons - Hering.

Relations. - Incompatible: Coff., Nux, Tab. The bad effects of Ign. are antidoted by Puls.

Aggravation. - From tabacco, coffee, brandy contact, motion, strong odors, mental emotions, grief.

Amelioration. - Warmth, hard pressure (Cinch.); swallowing; walking.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Remedy of paradoxicalities. Head better lying on painful side, moody, goneness not > by eating, sore throat < by swallowing, thirst during chill, face red during chill, etc.

Sad, sighing, changeable, moody disposition.

Twitching or spasms, or convulsions from exciting or depressing emotions, fright, etc.

All-gone, weak, empty sensation in stomach not > by eating.

Anal troubles (piles, prolapsus, soreness and pain after stool, pains shooting up into abdomen).

Adapted to emotional, hysterical subjects.

Modalities: < slight touch, smoking, coffee; > lying on painful side; hard pressure; profuse watery urination.

Cough; dry, spasmodic; not relieved by coughing; the longer he coughs the more the irritation to cough increases.

Pain; in small circumscribed spots; over-sensitive (Coff., Hep.).

In most cases Ignatia should be given in the morning.

Ignatia bears the same relation to the diseases of women that Nux does to bilious men.

* * * * *

Ignatia is another one of the long list of our nervous remedies. Its peculiar mental symptoms, like those of Aconite, Chamomilla, Nux vomica and many others, are most characteristic. Like these remedies, it seems to exalt the impressionability of all the senses; but unlike the others, it has in it a marked element of sadness, and disposition to silent grieving. Anyone suffering from suppressed, deep grief, with long drawn sighs, much sobbing, etc., and especially if inclined to smother or hide that grief from others, is just the subject for this remedy. She desires to he alone with her grief. Sighs much and seems so sad and weak. The weakness is complained of right in the pit of the stomach. She feels weak, faint, and "all gone" there. Another equally characteristic state or mind is a changeable mood. No remedy can equal Ignatia for this. Aconite, Coffea, Nux moschata and a few others have it, but Ignatia in the greatest degree. And so this remedy becomes one of our best in the treatment of hysterical affections. The patient is at one time full of glee and merriment, to be followed suddenly with the other extreme, of melancholy sadness and tears, and so these states of mind rapidly alternate. Again, we have in Ignatia an impatient, quarrelsome, angry mood (but not to the degree of Chamomilla) at times. Again the Ignatia patient is, because of her excessive impressibility, easily frightened. Here it becomes one of our best remedies for the effects of fright, vying with Aconite, Opium and Veratrum album. In short, Ignatia may justly be termed Pre-eminently the remedy of moods.

Aside from its mental symptoms, it is a great nervous remedy. Its acts upon the spine as decidedly as Nux vomica, affecting both motor and sensory nerves. It is one of our best remedies for spasms or convulsions, and is especially adapted to spasmodic affections originating in mental causes, as after fright, punishment of children or other strong emotions. In one case of puerperal convulsions, other remedies having failed to do any good, the consulting physician while observing the patient during one of the spasms noticed that she came out of it with a succession of long drawn sighs. He inquired if the patient had had any recent mental trouble, and learned that she had lost her mother, of whom she was exceedingly fond, and whom she had mourned for greatly, a few weeks before. Ignatia 30th quickly cured her. Again, short of actual convulsions, Ignatia has, in a most marked degree, twitchings all over the body, hence it becomes one of our best remedies for chorea, especially if caused by fright or grief on the mental side, or teething or worms on the reflex irritation side. There is only one remedy that comes near it for these twitchings and that is Zincum metallicum. Of course, Agaricus, Hyoscyamus, Cuprum met., etc., come close, and some might think are equal. Veratrum viride, when better known, may lay claim to high rank here. Ignatia is sometimes recommended for paralysis, but will be found, I think, exceptionally useful, and that mainly in hysterical cases, which are not of a very dangerous character. Like Aconite, Chamomilla and Coffea, Ignatia is over-sensitive to pain.

Ignatia, like its male partner, Nux vomica, is a great remedy for headaches of nervous, especially hysterically nervous, subjects. That would be about the same as saying, that while Nux vomica is adapted to nervous men Ignatia is the same for women, which is quite true. You will remember that hysterical, nervous headaches are often one-sided. Hence Ignatia is such an efficient remedy for headaches as expressed in these words: "Headache as if a nail there driven out through the side of the head relieved by lying on it". These headaches come on in highly nervous and sensitive subjects, or in those whose nervous systems have suffered from over-anxiety, grief or mental work. The ever-changeable and contradictory symptoms so characteristic of the drug shows here as elsewhere. Not only does the pain in head change locality but at one time the pain will come on gradually and abate suddenly (like Sulphuric acid ), or, like Belladonna, it will come on suddenly and abate as suddenly as it came. Like Aconite, Gelsemium, Silicea, and Veratrum album, the headache often terminates with a profuse flow of urine. That is often the case in headaches of nervous hysterical women. (Lac defloratum, profuse flow during headache).

Finally the headaches are aggravated by coffee, smoking, the abuse of snuff, inhaling tobacco smoke, alcohol, close attention, from pressing at stool, and, while it is sometimes relieved while eating, is aggravated soon after. The Ignatia headache is sometimes accompanied by hunger like that of Psorinum. It is also < by cold winds, turning head suddenly, stooping, change of position, running, looking up long, moving the eyes, noise and light.

It is ameliorated by warmth, lying on it, soft pressure, external heat and profuse flow of limpid urine. Ignatia has some strong throat symptoms. In the first place it has the so commonly observed symptom called "globus hystericus", or as if a lump came up from the stomach into the throat as if she would choke. She swallows it down but it comes right back and is very distressing. It is especially apt to come if she gets grieved and wants to cry. These are of course purely nervous sensations, but Ignatia goes further, and also cures real serious affections of the throat like tonsillitis and diphtheria. In these cases the real characteristic symptom is, that the pain and suffering in the throat is relieved by swallowing or is worse between the acts of deglutition. (Capsicum). A very peculiar symptom for such troubles, for such cases are generally aggravated by swallowing, hence we would not expect to frequently find a case in which this would be the remedy; but such cases do arise occasionally and baffle us if we haven't the remedy. Here is where Homoeopathy, as we say in base ball, "scores some of its best runs", and the satisfaction of curing such a case with an unusual remedy is, to say the least, very gratifying to him who performs the cure. With Ignatia cases, in addition to the aggravation when swallowing liquids and relief from swallowing solids. This is like Lachesis, you remember, but is the reverse of Baptisia, which can swallow liquids only; the least solid food gags. It is necessary to keep these correspondences and opposites in mind, for it often enables us to make what are called "snap shot" prescriptions and save much time, study and suffering.

Some of the particularly valuable "guiding symptoms" of Ignatia, in addition to those already noticed, are "extreme aversion to tobacco smoke". This is a general aversion and aggravates many, many complaints. "Weak, empty, gone feeling at the pit of the stomach." In the case of Ignatia this symptom is apt to be accompanied by a disposition to sigh or take a long breath. Two other remedies have this symptom of goneness in the stomach as prominently as Ignatia. They are Hydrastis and Sepia. The other symptoms must decide between them. This weak feeling in the stomach in Ignatia is sometimes described as a feeling of flabbiness, as though the stomach hung down relaxed. Ipecacuanha has a similar feeling. Sometimes we come across very severe cases of gastralgia in women of hysterical tendencies. Here this remedy is the first to be thought of.

Ignatia has as positive action upon the anus and rectum as does Nux vomica. Prolapsus of the rectum is marked. (Ruta graveolens). Like Nux vomica it has frequent desire for stool, but in place of stool, or with it, comes the prolapsed rectum. The patient is afraid to strain at stool, to stoop down or lift, for fear of the prolapsus. A contractive sore pain follows after a stool and lasts for an hour or two. This is like Nitric acid, which has the same symptom only after a loose stool. There is also some pain in anus without reference to stool. Dunham, that prince of observers, gave us the characteristic: "Sharp pains shooting upward into the rectum". (Sepia has similar pains in uterus). It is a gem, and has often been verified. So we see that Ignatia is one of our important anal and rectal remedies.

This remedy is also very unique in its fever symptoms. There is no disease in which we are better able to show the power of the potentized remedy to cure, than intermittent fever. Chronic cases that have resisted the Quinine treatment for years are often quickly and permanently cured by the 200th and upwards. The following symptoms indicate Ignatia: 1st. Thirst during chill and in no other stage. 2d. Chill, relieved by external heat. 3d. Heat aggravated by external covering. 4th. Red face during the chill. Here are four legs to the stool, and we may sit upon it in perfect confidence. No other remedy has thirst during chill and in no other stage. In Nux vomica, you will remember, the chill is not relieved by the heat of the stove, or the bed, and during the heat Nux vomica must be covered, as the least uncovering brings back the chill. So we see that notwithstanding the alkaloid of both drugs is strychnia they differ widely when we come to apply them to the cure of the sick. The red face during chill led me to the cure of an obstinate case, and after I noticed the red face I also noticed that the boy was behind the stove in the warmest place he could find. The 200th promptly cured. Two other cases in the same family, at the same time, and from the same malarious district, were cured, one by Capsicum, 200th. the other by Eupatorium perfoliatum, same potency. The former had chill beginning between shoulders, in the latter the chill in the A. M., great pain in bones before, and vomiting of bile at the end of chill. I do not know but I have mentioned these three cases before; but it will bear repeating, for it illustrates the efficacy of potencies in obedience to our great law of cure. can any reasonable man doubt such evidence?