Verbascum thapsus. Great Mullein. *N.O. Scrophulariaceae. Tincture of fresh plant at the commencement of flowering. (“Mullein Oil” is prepared by placing the crushed yellow blossoms in a bottle, which is corked and allowed to stand in the sun (Cushing), or by steeping the blossoms in oil and keeping in a warm place till the oil has absorbed them).
Clinical
*Anus, *itching of. Colic. Constipation. Cough. Deafness. Enuresis. *Hemorrhoids. *Neuralgia. *Prosopalgia. *Urine, *incontinence of.
Characteristics
“The thick woolly leaves of *V. thapsus, the Great Mullein, have a mucilaginous, bitterish taste, and a decoction of them is employed in domestic practice in catarrhs and diarrhoea. They are also used as emollient applications to hard tumours and in pulmonary complaints in cattle hence one of its popular names is Bullock’s Lung-wort. It is also called Adam’s flannel, from its flannel-like leaves” (*Treas. of Bot.). Hahnemann proved *Verbascum, and his proving confirms many of the old uses. It produced neuralgic pains of very great intensity, pressing and lancinating, and especially in the facial bones, navel, and limbs, and a peculiar cough. “Cough, deep, hollow, hoarse, in sound like a trumpet,” is Nash’s description. He has cured many cases and always used it low. It is more especially a night cough. It occurs in children during their sleep. Some years ago Mullein was brought forward as a popular specific for phthisis, the leaves being boiled in milk, which was then strained and given warm. Among its traditional uses Gerarde mentions it as a remedy for piles, and I do not know a better application for itching hemorrhoids or pruritus ani than an ointment made of the O tincture in the proportion of 3i to the 3i of Cetaceum ointment. I generally direct it to be applied at bedtime. Gerarde says that the oil of the yellow flowers is also curative in piles. The flowers contain “a yellow volatile oil, and fatty acid, free malic and phosphoric acids, and their ate salts of lime, a yellow resinous coloring matter, and the general plant constituents including an uncrystallisable sugar ” (Millspaugh). Cushing prepared from the flowers an “oil” (1) by putting the blossoms in a bottle and laying the bottle in the sun, and later (2) by expression. This “Mullein Oil” has found many uses, and especially for instilling in the ears in cases of deafness, or earache, in cases of enuresis nocturna (Cushing had good success with the 3x), and painful micturition. The provings brought out some very marked symptoms in the ears, especially the left ear (*Verb. is predominantly left-sided) W.B. McCoy (*Hom. News, xxviii. 36) gives several illustrations. According to him *Verb. (i.e., the “oil”) has a “soothing effect on the entire nervous system, in many cases acting as a soporific.” In summer diarrhoea he gives one to four drops in two ounces of warm water, a teaspoonful every hour. In enuresis or dribbling of urine one- drop doses in warm water three or four times a day. Among his cases were those of two boys who had become deaf from getting water in their ears when swimming. They were cured by having three drops of the oil instilled “in each ear alternately night and morning.” O.S. Laws cured a youth, of 16, of enuresis with fifteen drops of the oils three times a day (*N.Y. Medorrhinum Times, xxiv. 318). The oil plainly acts on the indications of the proving, and may be regarded as an alternative preparation to the official tincture. It might be called *Verbasci oleum. E.E. Case reports a case of neuralgia cured by *Verb. (*Medorrhinum Adv., quoted A. H., xxvii. 234): A widow, 36, black-haired, had been for a long time overworked, sewing, and her life made miserable by neuralgia. The symptoms were: Tearing, stitching pain above left ear, downward and inward, outer ear numb, dulness of hearing left side, heavy pressure in vertex. Shivers run up back and left side with the pain. Irritable and despondent. *Verb. 1M. one powder taken in four doses at three-hour intervals, cured. Among the *Sensations are: As if everything would press out at forehead. As if left ramus of jaw were pressed against upper jaw. As if temples were pinched and crushed. As if ears were stopped up. As if nose and larynx were stopped up. As if something had fallen before ear. As if one were violently pressing on left malar bone. As of a crushing with tongs. Pressure as from a stone on umbilicus. As from needles from umbilical region to back. As if intestines were adherent to wall of abdomen and were being torn away. As of a twist around navel. As if a weight were hanging on lower extremities. As if cold water were poured over side of body from shoulder to thigh. “Salt water collects in mouth” is a guiding symptom. The symptoms are worse By touch, by pressure. Rest causes sticking in left metatarsal bones. Lying causes tension across chest, stitches in region of heart. Sitting causes pains, sitting up better. Motion better some pains, worse prosopalgia. Stooping worse, (better pressure in forehead). Walking worse.
Relations
Compare: In neuralgia, Platina (pressure), Stannum (gradually increasing and decreasing). Deep cough, Coral., Drosera, Spo., Sul. Sheep-dung stools, Mg. mur. Cough from tickling in chest, Verbascum
SYMPTOMS.
Mind
Apathy. Moroseness, ill-humor, and irascibility. Excessive gaiety, with laughter. Mental excitement, with voluptuous images. Weakness of memory. Distraction. A great concourse of ideas, and liveliness of imagination.
Head
Dullness and confusion in the head. Vertigo: when pressing one (left) cheek while supporting the head, sudden, as from pressure on whole head. Headache, with a forcing outwards at forehead. Pressive, stupefying headache, principally in forehead, or semilateral, and mostly when passing from a warm into a cold temperature (*and vice versa). Heaviness of head, with dull pain. Pinching in temples. Deep, stupefying stitches in brain (pressing, slow stitch from behind forward through left hemisphere of brain). Stupefying shooting in temples (in right temple when eating, worse from pressure, extending into upper teeth of right side). Resonance in head, when walking.
Eyes
Pains in eyes, as from contraction of the sockets, with burning in eyes. Sight confused, as if directed through a veil.
Ears
Tearing in ears, sometimes when eating, with lancinations. Sensation as if ear were drawn inwards. Deafness as from stoppage of ear. Sensation of a stoppage of ears (first left, then right, also of nose and larynx) when reading aloud, hearing unaffected. Numbness in left ear. Oil of Mullein (Verb. ol.) relieves earache at once. Verb. is said to meet many cases of deafness (R.T.C.).
Nose
Sensation of stoppage of larynx and ears. Profuse coryza from frontal sinuses, with hot, burning, profuse lachrymation.
Face and Teeth
Facial neuralgia (especially caused and worse by a change of temperature), generally with stupefying, pressive or tensive pains, principally in cheek-bones, and commencing from maxillary joint, worse by clenching teeth, and by external pressure. Violent pressure in left malar bone and zygoma. Stitches in left zygomatic arch. Shootings in the cheek-bones, with dull pressure. Violent tension in integuments of chin, masseters, and throat. Toothache, with tearing pain in the molars. Pinching pressing pain on lower side of jaw.
Mouth
Copious accumulation of salt saliva in the mouth. Root of tongue brown, without bad taste, in morning and during forenoon. Tongue of a brownish yellow color, loaded with viscid mucus in morning and after dinner.
Throat
Very severe pain in throat on swallowing.
Appetite
Mawkish taste, with fetid breath. Hunger, without relish for food. Insatiable thirst.
Stomach
Regurgitation of insipid serum. Empty, or else bitter risings, with nausea. Frequent hiccough. Aching of stomach. Sensation of emptiness at pit of stomach, which disappears with a rumbling below left ribs.
Abdomen
Cuttings and shootings in left hypochondrium. Incessant gurgling and rumbling beneath left ribs. Inflation of the abdomen, violent and painful pressure on navel, as by a stone, worse by bending double. Spasmodic constriction of the hypogastrium, towards the umbilical region. Pains in abdomen, which extend deeply downwards, with want to evacuate, and spasmodic contraction of anus. Pinchings and gripings in abdomen. Shootings in abdomen, principally in umbilical region, sometimes tearing and tending downwards. Sensation as if intestines had adhered to umbilical region, and were torn away.
Stool and Anus
Fearful diarrhoea, griping, much pain as if pierced with a lance through inside of left ankle-joint, pain in both cheekbones and above eyebrows, menses came on early this time, and she has coughed a good deal. Suppressed evacuation. Faeces hard, like sheep-dung, and expelled with effort. (Itching hemorrhoids. Pruritus ani.).
Urinary Organs
Frequent want to urinate, with profuse emission (afterwards scanty). Enuresis nocturna, (obstinate, l with seminal emissions. Cushing).
Male Sexual Organs
