Pulsatilla nigricans. Anemone pratensis. Pulsatilla pratensis. Pasque Flower. (Sunny, sandy pastures in Central and Northern Europe and parts of South of England.) *N. O. Ranunculaceae. Tincture of entire fresh plant when in flower (it flowers in spring and again in autumn).
Clinical
*Acne. Amaurosis. Amenorrhoea. *Anaemia. *Appetite, *depraved. *Bladder, catarrh of. *Blepharospasm. Breasts, pain behind. *Bronchitis. Cataract. *Catarrh. *Chaps. *Chest, pains in. *Chilblains. *Clavus. Cold. *Cough. *Diarrhoea, of phthisis. *Distension. Dysmenia. *Dyspepsia. *Earache. Epilepsy. Epistaxis *Eyes, lachrymal sac, inflammation of, granular ophthalmia. *Fear. Feet, soles painful. Foetus, mal-position of. Freckles. Gonorrhoea. gout. *Haemorrhoids. *Hands, pains in. *Heart, palpitation of. *Heartburn. *Hydrocele, congenital. *Hysteria. *Intermittent fever. *Joints, synovitis of. *Labour, spurious pains of. *Lactation, disorders of. Leucorrhoea. *Measles. *Menstruation, abnormal, vicarious. Moles. *Mumps. *Neuralgia. Nymphomania. *Ovaries, pain in, inflammation of. *Phlegmasia alba dolens. Pregnancy, bladder trouble of, sickness of, heartburn of, diarrhoea of. Priapism. *Prostate, inflammation of. Prostatorrhoea. Puerperal convulsions. Puerperal fever. Puerperal mania. Retained placenta. *Rheumatism, gonorrhoeal. *Side, pain in. *Smell, illusions of. Spine, curvature of. *Stye. Synovitis. Tape-warm. *Taste, depraved, lost. *Tongue, coated. *Toothache. *Urine, incontinence of. Uterus, inflammation of, prolapse of. *Veins, inflammation of, varicose. Whitlow.
Characteristics
As some confusion has arisen as to the *Pulsatilla of homoeopathic use, I will give Jahr’s description of the plant: “Stems simple, erect, rounded, 3 to 5 inches high, leaves radical bipennatifid, oblong, flowers solitary, terminal, having folioles of calyx campanulate, bent at the point, the odour of the herb but slightly evident, taste acrid and pungent. The fresh plant contains an acrid and vesicating principle, and furnishes a corrosive oil, as well as a kind of tannin, which colours iron green, in the dry state it is entirely deprived of this acrid quality. Grows in sandy pasture grounds, on hills and declivities exposed to the sun.” He further distinguishes this *Black Pulsatilla from the *Common Pulsatilla (*Pulsatilla vulgaris, Anemone pulsatilla) which “grows only on dry and sterile hills and flowers in spring only, while the black-coloured *Pulsatilla flowers a second time in August and September.” *P-vulg. is much less downy than *P-nig.: “Its flowers clear violet or pale red, straight and not hanging, seeds surmounted by a long silky tail.” It is called Pasque Flower because it is in bloom at Easter, and its flowers are used for colouring Easter eggs. The Anemone is a medicine of ancient date, and its affinity for the eyes seems to have been noted from the first. Perhaps its tearful propensities gave rise to the legend that it sprang from the tears of Venus. Dioscorides mentions it as a remedy for headache and *ophthalmia. Stoerck was the forerunner of Hahnemann in the modern use of *Pulsatilla, which he employed especially in chronic affections of the eyes (catarrh, amaurosis, spots on cornea). A young girl who had had amaurosis of both eyes since infancy he cured in two months, administering an extract internally, and insufflating a dry powder. The latter “caused at first an acute pain and profuse flow of tears, *after which the pains, which had existed previous to the lachrymation, diminished as soon as it commenced, and finally disappeared with it” (Teste). Other cures by Stoerck are: (1) Foul ulcers on foot with serpiginous tatters on neck and shoulder. (2) Paralysis of right arm of five years’ standing. (3) Paralysis of thighs. (4) White swelling of knees. (5) Melancholia. Hahnemann quotes Stoerck’s experiences in the proving of *Pulsatilla in *M. M. P. “Of the numerous provings left us by Hahnemann,” says Teste, “that of *Pulsatilla seems to be the one to which he has contributed himself more than any other, it is one of the most interesting and most characteristic provings of his materia medica.” Teste himself has given a very luminous account of the remedy. He puts it at the head of a group with *Silica., Calcarea, Hepar as its chief members (*Graphites, Phosphorus in less degree, with Ferrum, Chamomilla, and Gadus as analogues). These drugs act principally, says Tests, on the vascular apparatus. All the symptoms which they have in common depend upon a small number of primordial symptoms (*e.g., impeded respiration, engorgement of air passages, irregular beating of heart), indicating vascular disturbance. Hence arise(1) Throbbings here and there synchronous with the pulse. (2) Blackness and diminished fluidity of the blood. (3) Swelling of veins, capillary engorgement, a sort of ill-conditioned plethora. (4) Diminished vital heat and action. (5) Congestion of blood to head and engorgement of the sinuses. (6) Sensation of heaviness and fullness of brain, and (7) the same kind of pain sometimes with apoplectic shocks, in centre or (more usually) on right side of brain. (8) *Vertigo and cloudiness as in complete apoplexy, especially when atmospheric pressure is low, as at the approach of storms, and on heights [Others follow from which I make a selection. ***J. H. C.] Soft stools, and a passive diarrhoea without colic, which *seems to ease the patient rather than weaken him, and continues for an indefinite period, *e.g., in phthisical patients. Sort of numbness, torpor of the genital organs, with absence of erections and pleasurable sensation (especially among women) during an embrace, or else permanent sexual excitement, “probably from compression of the cerebellum by the blood which flows to it in excessive quantity and remains there, as is the case in certain forms of asphyxia, this is the cause of the sexual excitement with which phthisic persons are so often troubled.” Delay of menses in spite of evident symptoms of a flow of blood towards the uterus, the menstrual blood is black, coagulated, impoverished if menses either too early or too late. One is obliged to lie with the head much higher than the rest of the body. Pains which manifest themselves principally in the parts on which one is not lying, but on changing position aggravated breaking out of those pains on the parts on which one has just been lying. This idea of vascular engorgement usefully strings together many of the leading characteristics of *Pulsatilla, which will serve to indicate its use in a great variety of disorders. The leaves of the recent herb have an acrid, burning, and nauseous taste. Its juice draws blisters “to the extent, it is said, of causing gangrene, if allowed to remain in contact with the part for a sufficient length of time, but these properties are, in a great measure, lost by dessication, and ruminating animals, such as sheep and goats, eat the dry Pulsatilla, if mixed with other herbs, without aversion or inconvenience.” An active principle, *Anemonin, has been isolated, it is inflammable and crystallizes in colourless, odourless neutral needles. Hahnemann says of *Pulsatilla: “This powerful plant produces many symptoms on the healthy human body which often correspond to the marked symptoms commonly met with, hence, also, they admit of frequent homoeopathic employment, and often do good. We can therefore unquestionably reckon it as a remedy of many uses (poly crest). It is useful in acute as well as in chronic diseases, as its action, even in small doses, lasts from ten to twelve days. The homoeopathic employment of this, as of all other medicines, is most suitable when not only the corporeal affections of the medicine correspond in similarity to the corporeal symptoms of the disease, but also when the mental and emotional alterations peculiar to the drug encounter similar states in the disease to be cured, or at least in the temperament of the subject of treatment.” Hahnemann now gives in masterly fashion the picture of the *Pulsatilla disposition and temperament: “A timid, *lachrymose disposition, with a tendency to inward grief and silent peevishness, or at all events a mild and yielding disposition, especially when the patient in his normal health was good- tempered and mild (or even frivolous and good-humoured, waggish. It is therefore especially adapted for slow, phlegmatic temperaments, on the other hand, it is but little suitable for persons who form their resolutions with rapidity and are quick in their movements, even though they may appear to be good-tempered. It acts best where there is a disposition to chilliness and adipsia. It is particularly suitable for females when their menses come on some days after the proper time, and especially when the patient must lie long in bed at night before he can get to sleep, and when the patient is worse in the evening. It is useful for the ill effects caused by eating pork.” Hering gives these additional touches to the *Pulsatilla type: Sandy hair, blue eyes, pale face, easily moved to laughter or tears, affectionate, mild, timid, gentle, yielding disposition, women and children, women inclined to be fleshy, the pregnant state. The behavior of the “Wind Flower,” the sport of every gust, has been said to typify the action of the remedy change ableness is one of its most important keynotes. Erratic temperatures in Fevers. Wandering pains shift rapidly from one part to another, also with swelling and redness of the joints. Haemorrhages apparently stop and in a few hours return. Stools constantly changing colour, no two stools alike. Alternate pallor and redness of face. When one set of symptoms comes on another vanishes. A patient of mine, after a mental strain and fright, had severe occipital pain. I gave *Pulsatilla 30. Each dose caused the pain to fly from the occiput to the left leg, the mental balance was soon restored. Metastasis of mumps to testes or mammae. *Nash says Pulsatilla will often clear up those cases which have no “head or tail” to them, in which the symptoms are always changing and contradicting, pains run here and there. The *Pulsatilla patient is chilly, but at the same time there is extreme aversion to heat. The chief of all the keynotes of *Pulsatilla is worse by warmth, in arm, close room, by warm coverings, warm applications, and better in open air, cold air or cool room, eating or drinking cold things, cold applications. Another keynote of *Pulsatilla is thirstlessness, and Teste gives a useful clue to that in suggesting that it depends on the congestive action of the remedy. The loss of thirst and even aversion to liquid food is “as if one had an instinctive dread of increasing the excessive fullness of the vessels.” The wandering pains of *Pulsatilla are generally *distensive, again suggesting congested vessels, and the headaches are congestive, worse on stooping forward, better by tightly bandaging, as if the brain would burst and the eyes would fall out of the head. The three characters, “chilly, worse by warmth, thirstless,” serve to define the fever of *Pulsatilla in whatever from it may be measles, mumps, typhoid, bilious, catarrhal, intermittent, rheumatic, &c. The chilliness may be one-sided, and associated with numbness, it may be *flitting, in spots now here, now there. With the heat there are distended veins and burning hands that seek cool places, and still there is no thirst. In the rheumatic the pains shift from joint to joint. The sweat is profuse, may be one- sided, sour, sweetish sour, or musty in odour. The last completes the similarity of *Pulsatilla to the “mousey” odour of measles, the cough, catarrhal symptoms, and rash giving other strong points of correspondence. The ear trouble which is a common sequela and complication of measles or other fever is frequently met by *Pulsatilla, which also meets the consequences of suppressed exanthemata and metastases, as of mumps to testes or mamma. As a prophylactic against measles *Pulsatilla has a reputation almost equal to that of *Belladonna Against scarlatina: I generally give *Pulsatilla 3 three times a day. The generative organs of both sexes are strongly acted on by *Pulsatilla, which may almost be regarded as an organ-remedy in relation to them. Gonorrhoea, with thick, purulent secretion, and the effects of suppressed gonorrhoea, orchitis, and cystitis, prostatitis, sarcocele, varicocele, hydrocele all come within the sphere of Pulsatilla In the female *Pulsatilla ranges over the whole sexual period, from puberty to the climacteric, including disorders of menstruation, pregnancy, the puerperium and lactational of which present many points of correspondence with the symptoms of *Pulsatilla Epilepsy with absence or irregularity of menses has been cured with *Pulsatilla Bojanus (*B. J. H., xxxix. 218) relates two cases: (1) Girl, 18, of good constitution, with no hereditary predisposition, had amenorrhoea for six months, and a fit occurred at the time each period was due. Aura: sad, pale as death, chewing movements. *Pulsatilla 6 one dose a day. Next month menses returned and there were no more fits. (2) Robust girl, 14, with no hereditary predisposition. Fits twelve months. Exciting cause: non-appearance of menses. One great fit per month, small fits daily. Aura: self willed, angry, stands on one spot, stares into vacancy, stamps her foot. In fit: cries, deathly paleness, biting tongue, flow of urine, continuing the occupation she was engaged with at commencement of fit. *Pulsatilla 30 one dose a day. Some weeks after a slight fit. Month later menses came on for first time, no great fits, small ones
