An Epitome of Homeopathic Healing Art by B. L. Hill (story reading TXT) 📖

value, but it is not to be compared with the Allium.

The most potent and certain remedy for the poison caused by the

Bite of the Rattlesnake

is Alcohol, in the ordinary form, or in common Whisky, Brandy, Rum or Gin. Let the patient drink it freely, a gill or more at a time, once in fifteen to twenty minutes, until some symptoms of intoxication are experienced, then cease using it. The cure will be complete as soon as enough has been taken to produce even slight symptoms of intoxication. It is remarkable how much alcohol a patient suffering from the poison of the Rattlesnake will bear.

An intelligent medical friend of mine in Kanawha County, Virginia, gave a little girl of ten years, who had been bitten by a Rattlesnake, over three quarts of good strong Whisky, in less than a day, when but slight symptoms of intoxication were produced, and that seemed to arise entirely from the last drink. She recovered from the intoxication in a few hours, and suffered no more from the poison of the serpent.

Instances of cures with whisky are numerous, and I have never heard of a failure, when it was used as here directed. I presume it will do the same for the poison of other serpents.

Headache.

This symptom or affection, (if it can be classed as a disease) may depend upon so many causes, and be so very different in its effects, degrees of intensity, and the kind of pain or sensation attending it, that one will find it very difficult to mark out any definite treatment. I shall, therefore, only point out some of the more frequent cases, and the indications for certain remedies.

What is called "sick headache," or "nervous headache," begins by a sense of blindness or blur, before the eyes, of green or purple colors, dazzling or swimming in the head, without, for some time at first, any positive aching or pain. In the course of an hour, a longer or shorter time, the dimness of vision goes off, and the head begins to ache. This may or may not be accompanied with nausea and vomiting. Some persons are always more or less sick at the stomach, when these "nervous headaches" come on, others are not thus affected.

TREATMENT.

If taken as soon as the first blur before the eyes is noticed, or before any pain is felt in the head, Nux Vomica will, in nearly all cases, arrest the disease at once. It may be necessary to take two or three doses at intervals of an hour. Later in the case, though Nux may palliate, it will not cure.

If headache with sickness comes on, Macrotin and Podoph. should be given in alternation, every half hour, if the symptoms are very severe, and the nausea great; but in a mild case, give it once an hour, lengthening the interval as the symptoms abate.

If the feet are cold, as is often the case, putting them into hot water will palliate the symptoms, and not interfere with the medicines.

If the head feels hot, apply hot water to it. Never apply cold to the head, when there are any symptoms of congestion, as of fullness of the blood vessels. For

Common Headache,

If the face is red, and the arteries of the neck and temples throb violently, give Bell. If there is paleness and faintness, Pulsatilla is the remedy, especially if the forehead is principally affected. If the pain is mostly in the back of the head, Nux is to be used; if in the front, and is sharp, affecting the eyes, Aconite; if at the angles of the forehead, with a sense of pinching, Arnica; if a sense of fullness and pressing outwards, or with an enlarged feeling, Macrotin; if intermitting or remitting, Mercurius; if there is ringing in the ears, China. Headache from fright should have Aconite.

For that kind of headache that often occurs during the prevalence of fevers, and is not unfrequently a premonitory symptom of an attack of fever, I have found Baptisia and Podophyllin to be specifics. I give them alternately, every two hours a dose, until the headache ceases. It often subsides in a few minutes after the first dose of either, though I have sometimes failed with one alone and succeeded in the same cases afterwards with both in alternation. I have no doubt but that they act in many cases, as Prophylactics, entirely warding off and preventing fevers, or at least arresting them at the premonitory stage. Podophyllin is a most valuable remedy for headache.

Nose Bleed—Epistaxis.

If it arises from fullness of the vessels of the head, with throbbing of the temples, redness of the face and eyes, Belladonna is the remedy. If fever is present, Aconite must be alternated with Bell.

In females or children who have habitual nose-bleed, Pulsatilla and Podophyllin are to be used alternately, night and morning. During the paroxysm of bleeding, Arnica should be used, one dose repeated in a half hour if it continues.

If it is produced by over-exertion, Rhus is the proper remedy. If it occurs in the early stage of fever, Aconite and Bell.; in the latter stage, Rhus and Phos. are to be used. Hamamelis will frequently arrest nose-bleed immediately after one or two doses.

Worms.

It is difficult to determine the presence of worms in children, much more in adults, yet both are affected by them occasionally. In children, there is more or less fever and restlessness, screaming out in sleep, starting, pain in the bowels, vomiting, choking, diarrhœa, picking at the nose, fetid breath, voracious and variable appetite.

TREATMENT.

Santonine is a remedy which I have used for years, and I have treated many hundreds of cases, with such unvariable success, that I feel disinclined to use or to recommend any other. It brings away the worms entire, and relieves the patient of all morbid symptoms immediately, or in much less time than any other remedy of which I have any knowledge. It seems to act specifically upon the worms, causing them to leave the bowels by being evacuated with the feces, without producing any sensible impression upon the bowels, the evacuations remaining natural, if they were so, or becoming so, if deranged, and the worms coming away not quite lifeless.

I have often prescribed this remedy for children suffering under intermittent or remitting, and even typhoid fever, in the summer season, when there were not present any well defined symptoms of worms, and yet the fever would soon abate, and in due time worms appear in the fecal evacuations. It often arrests entirely intermittent fever, when worms are present, and are the probable cause of the fever.

I give either the crude salt in from one-fourth to one-half grain doses, or a trituration of one grain to four of sugar, giving in the latter case, from one to two grains of the trituration. Give one dose at bed-time, or in an urgent case at any other time, but never repeat the dose under thirty-six hours, and in an ordinary case, under forty-eight hours.

This is the medicine par excellence for worms. It may be repeated once a week, when there is a tendency in the patient to the development of worm symptoms, or, in other words, the breeding of worms. The idea held out by some that it is hurtful, or unimportant to remove the worms, in itself considered, is simply nonsense, and worse, for children are sometimes sacrificed to this idea.

Earache—Otalgia.

This may arise from various causes, but a common one is sudden cold. If it arises from cold, and there is general fever, or if the ear is red, or the side of the head and ear hot, Bell. and Baptisia should be given in alternation, every hour, or in a violent case, more frequently. These remedies will soon relieve such cases. Cloths wrung out of hot water should be laid over the ear, or the side of the head steamed, or it may be laid into water quite warm, with good effect.

Where the disease is a chronic affection, and the patient is subject to frequent attacks of pain in the ear, especially on a change of the weather, from dry to moist, Mercurius is the proper remedy, especially if it is worse at night, when warm in bed.

If it arises from a shock or blow, Arn. is to be used. In scrofulous persons, whether there is ulceration or not, Phosphorus and Pulsatilla are the remedies.

Children and even adults, not unfrequently suffer from earache, without any known cause sufficient to account for it. On examination into the ear you will often find either the cavity filled or nearly so, with a hard black substance, (the inspissated "earwax") almost as hard as horn, or else the ear will be quite empty, and the sides of the cavity dry and red, though perhaps not properly in a state of inflammation.

The natural condition of the cavity as it can be seen by straining the ear outwards and backwards a little in a strong sun light, is moist, the surface covered slightly with a yellowish, greasy, soft substance (the cerumen) "earwax." When this is wanting or in excess, or its character changed, it is evidence of disease, and pain is likely to occur. The

TREATMENT

for this condition is to remove the accumulation when that exists, as the first step. But this must be first softened by pouring some warm oil, pure olive oil, or good pure sperm oil, into the ear, and repeat it two or three times a day for several days, until it is so far softened as to be easily removed with the probe end of common small tweezers, having a spoon-bowl point.

When there is dryness, moisten the surface with oil. In either case, it is best, for a while, to protect the delicate surface from the air, by putting oiled wool into the external ear.

If the ear was filled, give Mercurius once a day until there appears a natural secretion. If dry, use Belladonna.

Toothache.

It is difficult to determine the cause of toothache, and more difficult to select the remedy. It often depends upon decay of the tooth, and exposure of the nerve to air, and contact with food or drinks, or even saliva, which irritate and produce pain.

Pulsatilla will as often relieve such cases as any other remedy, yet if it has been aggravated by a recent cold, Bell. and Nux V. may be better. If the nerve is not exposed, and there is a disposition to a return of the pain on exposure to cold air, or a change of weather, the pain being of a rheumatic character, give Rhus and Macrotin in alternation. These will relieve many cases. For decayed teeth, the pain being dull aching, with soreness, use Chamomilla. The body of the tooth, that is the dentine, sometimes becomes very sensitive when there is no decay or cavity, the pain being experienced when some hard substance hits, or the air or water, either cold or hot, comes in contact with the tooth. The temporary pain will generally yield to Arnica, and in most instances, the daily use of Arnica at the first decimal dilution, applied to the surface, and upon the jaws, will effect a cure.

The chloride of Zinc applied to the surface of such teeth for a few moments will destroy the sensitiveness of the dentine.

Teeth that are ulcerated at the roots, or have ulcerated gums around them, the teeth being decayed, should be extracted at once, for, besides the pain and inconvenience they cause, they are a very prolific source of disturbance to the digestive organs, from the positive poison generated by the decaying process.

If people will use soft brushes upon the teeth with soap and water, followed by rinsing