Saponin. (A glucoside obtained from Saponaria officinalis, Gypsophila, Struthium, Senega, Quillaya, &c.) C32H54O18. Trituration. Solution. (Watery solution speedily decompose.).
Clinical
Boils. Constipation. Diarrhoea. Dysmenia. Enuresis, when walking. Exophthalmos. Fever. Headache. Leucorrhoea. Rheumatism. Sleeplessness. Spleen, pain in. Strabismus. Temperature lowered. Tongue, strawberry.
Characteristics
*Saponin. has had a somewhat extensive proving (in potencies ranging from ix to 30th), conducted by ***A. J. Hills. One prover, who took the 30th, for many years a sufferer from articular rheumatism, had none of his usual pains during the proving, and a great enlargement of the left knee was entirely removed. Two female provers had marked disturbance of the menstrual functions, especially pain and sufferings *before the flow. A miliary eruption, and colic and leucorrhoea before the menses, pain better but not removed when the flow was established. Severe sore throat, worse right side, was experienced by several provers, and Hills had so much swelling of the tonsils that he was obliged to abandon the proving. Nausea and vomiting, colic and diarrhoea, were among the symptoms, and a particular one was “nausea more in oesophagus and throat, worse in a warm room.” This worse by warmth was met with in relation to many symptoms, and is probably a keynote. At the same time there was much chilliness, and lowered temperature is a characteristic feature. One of the provers who took the 12th had his temperature reduced to 96o on the second day. Allen (*Appendix) records an experiment which bears on this: 0.1 gramme of *Saponin. was injected into the left thigh of a man. The immediate effect was to produce intense local inflammation resembling erysipelas, but much more painful, the pain extended to knee and hip, and the glands of the groin swelled. For the first three hours there was rapid increase of temperature, which fell to normal in twenty- four hours. The next two days there was a little fever, evidently kept up by the local irritation, but by the fifth day the temperature had fallen to 93o and the pulse to 65. (The intense local irritation bears on the skin symptoms of the proving, large numbers of boils being produced.) The other symptoms of this experiment were marked bodily and mental depression, and exophthalmos and strabismus of the left eye (the side injected). Among the *Peculiar Symptoms of sap. are: Involuntary emission of urine when walking. Roughness of mucous membrane of mouth, with raised papillae on palate and tongue. Strawberry tongue. The symptoms were markedly worse by moving, even motion of the eyes worse mental labor. Worse by warmth. Better by cold, by cold bathing, while sitting. Worse swallowing. Desire to vomit and defecate, worse when quiet. Better by stool, by onset of menses.
Relations
*Compare: Tough mucus, Kali-bi. ameliorates Onset of menses, Lachesis Spleen pain, Cean. Kidney pain, Santal. worse By movement, moving eyes, Bryonia Sleepy but cannot sleep, Belladonna Early waking, Bels., Nux. Worse In warm room, Pulsatilla As if damp stockings on, Calcarea, Sanicula Strawberry tongue, Frag., Bac. Involuntary emission of urine when walking, Ferrum, Causticum Compare also, *Seneg.
SYMPTOMS.
Mind
Marked bodily and mental depression.- Irritable, cross, wants to be let alone.- Disinclined to study.- Inability to fix mind, to recall names.
Head
Dizziness and nausea on stooping.- Dizziness followed the vomiting.-Dull, heavy headache, with depression, worse 4-6 p.m. After moving about in morning, dull, heavy sensation in head, mostly forehead, especially over left orbit, worse stooping, eyeball sore and aches, later pain spreads to occiput, heat in forehead ameliorates pressure and cold, much worse bending over.- Headache worse by least mental labor or motion.- Severe pain in head, with throbbing carotids, worse left side. Head exceedingly irritable, cannot turn it or even move eyes without causing nausea.-Headache in temples, sensation as if both temples were pressed out.- Sharp pain in left temple.
Eyes
Could not turn eyes up or around they felt so sore, moving them causes pain to dart back to occiput.- Sensation of fullness in eyes, evening.- Conjunctiva yellow and a little congested.-Vision dull.-Pain, exophthalmos and strabismus of left eye (from a subcutaneous injection into left thigh).
Nose
Dry coryza and frequent sneezing.- R. nostril plugged in morning, with headache.- Dull pain at root of nose and in temples.-Nose cold and pale.
Face
Miliary eruption on face, neck, and head before menses.-Face pale. Lips dry and burning.
Mouth
Tongue coated yellowish white on back, red on tip and edges, raised papillae (strawberry tongue), especially on tip.-Tongue brown in center, deep yellow on edges.- Hard palate rough.- Salivation.- Taste: sweet, sickish, flat, acrid.
Throat
Tough, tenacious mucus on posterior nares, extending to larynx.- Throat sore, worse right side, feeling of constriction, hardly able to swallow. Throat: smarting, scraping, raw, rough.- Irritation as from dust.- Tonsils much swollen, bright red.
Stomach
No appetite. Loathing of food for two days till nausea set in.- Thirst not better by drinking.- Nausea, retching, vomiting of greenish-yellow fluid, with agonising pain in both temples, which disappeared as desire to vomit was better.- On returning home one cold night from place of amusement nausea in oesophagus and throat as soon as she got comfortably warm, as nausea increased cold feeling began at tip of fingers and toes and slowly spread to abdomen, where they met, giving an electric-like shock, then followed griping pain and diarrhoea and vomiting.- Sinking at pit of stomach without appetite, with fullness and heat in forehead.
Abdomen
Dull pain in left hypochondrium, changing to epigastrium, very severe, then shooting up under left scapula, worse motion, better sitting. Painful stitches in left hypochondrium.- Dull pain in umbilical region after each stool.- Colic 3 a.m. on waking. For twenty-four hours preceding menses, colic, cramps, and profuse watery leucorrhoea, better when menses established.- Sudden colic, ameliorates immediately by stool. Pain in left inguinal region.
Stool & Anus
Intense itching in rectum, afternoon and night.-Burning in rectum.-Smarting in anus, with constipation.-Constant urging, stool insufficient, rather white.- Desire for stool in evening as well as morning.-Diarrhoea with tenesmus.-Stool: profuse diarrhoeic, painless but urgent, with colic, first hard, then liquid, becomes involuntary, brownish, slimy, desire to defecate or vomit as soon as there is a little ease, both worse by warmth.
Urinary Organs
Kidneys torpid, sharp pain in region of right kidney.-Burning during micturition.- Waked early to pass water, which left brick dust sediment.- Involuntary emission of water on walking.-Urine more profuse and high-coloured.
Female Sexual Organs
Menses delayed and diminished.- Menses: a week early, profuse, worse on motion, blood dark red, paralysed bearing down all through period (unusual), before menses, shuddering all over body, intolerable aching in back and lower limbs, wants to be let along.- Colic with menses.- For twenty-four hours preceding menses, colic, cramps, and profuse watery leucorrhoea, when menses established pain was less, but persisted through the four days of the period, leaving her weak and depressed.- Fine miliary eruption on face, neck, and head before menses.
Respiratory Organs
At 4 p.m. peculiar cough, which is excited at every forced inspiration through nose, only one cough at a time.
Chest
Formication deep in tissue of lung.- Repeated sharp stabbing in right lung, middle lobe, dull aching in left lung.-Dull pains through thorax.- At time of chill constriction in left chest.
Heart
Dull pain in region of heart.- Pulse: accelerated, weak, hardly perceptible.
Back
Back and limbs tired walking, boots feel extremely heavy. Dull throbbing in left scapula, running up.- Severe dull pain in small of back, and sense of weight as if all clothes hanging from back, this sense of supporting a heavy weight extended to hips and knees, worse from jar of riding in horse cars.- Dull aching in lumbo-sacral region, extending down thighs, with increased tingling in soles.- Lancinating pains in loins, worse walking.
Limbs
Exhausted, weary feeling in limbs, with slight inclination to nausea.- Weakness in hands and feet.
Upper Limbs
Sudden pain in left arm, apparently muscular, in region of insertion of deltoid, arms weak, muscles exhausted, as after lifting heavy weights.- Pain in bones of left forearm.-Numbness and tingling in left third and little fingers (ulnar nerve).
Lower Limbs
Dull aching in lower limbs, and left loin, muscular pains.- Dull pain in left lower limb.- Aching in calves.- Soles sore, swollen, tender, numb, and tingling.
Generalities
Restlessness. Muscular weakness. Exhaustion. Faintness: and prostration, with the chill.
Skin
Miliary eruption before menses.- Angry-looking pustules on chest. Boils, single or in crops.- Itching and crawling tingling in various parts.
