INTRODUCTION
ACON.– Blue Wolfsbane or Monkshood.– See HAHNEMANN’S Materia Medorrhinum, Vol. I.– Duration of action; from half an hour to 48 hours, or several weeks, according to circumstances.
COMPARE WITH.
Agaricus, Anacardium, Ant.-C., Arsenicum, Asarum europaeum, Belladonna, Bryonia, Cann., Cantharis, Causticum, Chamomilla, Coffea, Colchicum, Croc., Drosera, Dulcamara, Graphites, Hepar, Hyoscyamus, Ipecac., Mercurius, Nitr.-a., Nux-v., Opium, Phosph., Platina, Pulsatilla, Ruta., Sabin., Sepia, Spigelia, Spongia, Stramonium, Sulphur, Veratrum- Aconite is frequently useful as an intercurrent remedy after Arnica and Sulph, unless indicated at the commencement of the disease.–The following remedies are most frequently indicated after Acon; Arnica, Belladonna Bryonia, Cann., Ipecac., Spongia, Sulphur
ANTIDOTES.
In poisoning free vomiting with Mustard, Sulphate of Zinc of ipecac., Wine, vegetable acids(vinegar, acid fruit)_ Homoeopathically, Camph., Nux vomica, Par., Guaco??– Acon, is an antidote to Chamomilla, Coffea, Nux vomica., petrol., Sulphur, Sepia, Veratrum– Oil, and vomiting excited by oil, seem to aggravate the effects of Aconite
RATIONALE OF ITS ACTION.
According to Dr. Gerstel (a homoeopathist) the primary action of Aconite consists;
1. Almost exclusively of an affection of the nervous system,
especially of the vaso-motor portion of the great sympathetic nerve, with a simultaneously affection of a larger portion of that part of the spinal marrow which presided over sensation, viz., the posterior column, while the anterior or motor column only becomes implicated by reflex action.
2. The peculiar character of the primitive action of Aconite is paralyzing or depressing; from smaller doses and slighter degrees of its action, this paralyzing influence is marked by the occurrence of crawling, prickling and creeping sensations, accompanied with a sense of numbness, tom which is added, at a later period, a feeling of swelling, especially in the skin of the arms, fingers, face, external chest, and legs.
3. Frequently the depressing action of the Aconite is confined to the sphere of the sympathetic nerve, and is marked by a confused and depressed state of mind, which seems to proceed from the region of the heart.
4. Then a feeling of chilliness,, or creeping chills over the back, or proceeding from the back, are experience and my gradually increase to man intense sense of coldness, with shaking chills, actual numbness and blueness of the parts most distant from the centre of the circulation, viz., the fingers and toes.
5. From a continuous and more powerful action of it, its paralyzing power will influence the vaso-motor apparatus in particular, marked by intermitting weak, and irregular action of the heart, emptiness of the left side of the heart and great blood-vessels, with corresponding alteration of the pulse, even down to complete pulselessness, with oppression of the chest anxiety, restlessness, vertigo, and swooning, all proceeding from debility of the heart.
6. The simultaneous affection of the sympathetic and spinal nerves is marked by sensation of bruisedness, sluggishness, heaviness, and lameness of the muscles, especially of the mouth, tongue, upper, and still more of the lower limbs, and by entire loss of sensation, especially of the hands.
7. It is to be expected, from this state of depression of the arteries and sensorial nerves, that all the secretions and excretions which depend principally upon the arterial influence will be more or less interrupted; still the urinary secretion seems at times to from an exception, as it may be increased in quantity, and then it is more watery and spasmodic. It is very probable that similar alterations take place in the serous, fibrous, and mucous membranes.
8. From extreme degrees of its action, viz., from more or less complete paralysis of the arteries, a very high state of venosity, or intense venous congestion ensues. The heart is then found to contain retained blood; the lungs are hyperaemic and over-filled with black, thinly-fluid, and venous blood, without exhibiting the slightest trace of inflammation; the sinuses of the membranes of the brain are crowded with black blood; hence the vertigo, staggering as if from intoxication, the bloating of the face, the involuntary sighing, the deep breathing, the blueness of the skin of the face and lips, the icy coldness of the limbs, the venous abdominal plethora, the obstruction of the liver, the crowding of the blood with crude bilious substances, the dark yellow color of the skin, until, finally, death ensues, from complete obstruction of the circulation and respiration, owing to paralysis of the heart, pulmonary apoplexy, and asphyxia- J.C.P.
SECONDARY OR REACTIVE STAGE OF THE ACONITE DISEASE.
In those cases where the primary action of the Aconite is not too powerful, the organism reacts at once against it, and nervous erethism, hyperaesthesia, and arterial reaction ensue thus, the creeping, crawling and numb sensations give way to more or less painful piercing, rending, aching, and pressing sensations; the sense of weariness, lassitude, lameness, and powerlessness are supplied by trembling, jerking, partial or general convulsions, the coldness, faintness, weakness, irregularity, and slowness of the pulse are supplanted by arterial reaction, heat of the face, sensation of swelling of external parts, and erethistic or synochal fever; the heart beats more powerfully; the pulse becomes quicker and fuller, and occasions congestion and irritation in all the secreting organs, and in parts abundantly supplied with blood, as the bronchial mucous membrane, exudation of blood and inflammation may ensue.- J.C.P.
GENERAL EFFECTS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Nerves of Sensation. Aconite seems to exert a very decided and specific action upon the nerves of sensation, as evidenced by the peculiar feelings of tingling, prickling, numbness, creeping, and crawling, which it causes in so marked a degree in almost every organ and part of the body. It is some what a matter of doubt whether it acts primarily and paralyzing upon the nerves of sensation, or whether the numbness, tingling, and loss of sensation, which it produces in so eminent a degree, arises from its depressing action upon those ganglionic, or vaso-motor, or great sympathetic nerves which follow the blood-vessels to their most minute ramifications and preside over their functions. My own impression is, that the pains caused and cured by Aconite are not purely nervous or neuralgic pains, but are such as arise form some acrid, or rheumatic, or other irritation of the ganglionic nerves about the blood-vessels, or else are congestive in their nature, or owing to the return of the circulation and nervous energy to the blood-vessels and nerves of the afflicted parts, similar to what happens when the foot or leg is said to be asleep. Veith Meyer thinks that Aconite stimulates, or excites, or arouses the sensibility of the nerves of sensation, and assumes that the few symptoms that indicated an opposite condition are so insignificant that they may be considered as the results of secondary action. But it is impossible to read a well described case of poisoning with Aconite or Aconitine without becoming aware of the prominent and primary importance of the signs of paralysis of the circulation and the nervous energies, or direct depression of the vital powers; thus, the most manifest symptoms are, slight wandering delirium, the consciousness being partly retained; general muscular tremors, or very slight convulsions; failure of the circulation; a feeling of numbness and tingling over the entire body; coolness of coldness of the skin; loss of sight, and death by exhaustion or syncope. If the above views be correct, it cannot be a specific in cases of pure neuralgia, in which the nerve alone is affected- J.C.P.
Nerves of Motion.
Aconite does not irritable the nerves of motion primarily like Nux-vomica, Angustura, Ignatia, and Strychnine, but rather produces great muscular debility, which may, however, in the reactive stage, be followed by increased muscular energy, or irritation, and even convulsions. Still it is to be supposed that the convulsions caused by Aconite are similar to those which follow an excessive loss of blood, or the use of Tobacco, Digitalis, Prussic acid, – J.C.P.
MUSCULAR SYSTEM
If Aconite is homoeopathic to any form of inflammation at all, it is so to rheumatic inflammation, inflammation of the muscular and fibrous systems. Latham says: Acute rheumatism of the severest kind may have the start of us for full ten or fourteen days, during which nothing whatever has been done for its relief, and when at length the proper remedy has been applied, it has been cured as easily and rapidly as any one could promise himself that it would have been if he had taken it in hand one or two weeks sooner; surely there is something remarkable enough to make us stop and think for a moment. An inflammation of the brain, the liver, or the lungs, would not thus wait our pleasure or our neglect, and be as curable ten or fourteen days hence as it is to day. For inflammation in these organs does not stand still in its first stage. It is progressive from stage to stage, and each succeeding stage carries if farther and farther away from the remedy. But it is the very peculiarity of acute rheumatism that it does, in a certain sense, stand still, or rather does to get beyond the first stage. All its actions and movements are as forcible and rapid as possible, yet it does not get beyond the dirts stage. All its energy is expended upon one stage, and there is no apparent profession beyond it. A fortnight ago there was great in no apartment profession beyond it. A fortnight ago there was great heat, and nervous and vascular excitement, and great pain and swelling of the joints, and to day we have nothing more, and perhaps nothing less. There is not more sign of inflammatory exudation, or suppuration, or of parts disorganized, or parts destroyed, now than then Verily, it seems as if the disease had wanted to be cured all the while. In fact, all the principal German writers on the materia medica place great stress upon the proclivity of Aconite to cause rheumatic symptoms; thus Vogt, Dierbach, and Sobernheim agree that, after the first tumult caused by taking large quantities of aconite has passed off, that the head is apt to become very painful, and pains appear in the limbs, especially the so-called bone and joint pains and persist until a more or less profuse sweat and increased flow of saturated urine set in.
