AGARICUS MUSCARIUS


AGARICUS MUSCARIUS symptoms from Manual of the Homeopathic Practice by Charles Julius Hempel. What are the uses of the homeopathy remedy AGARICUS MUSCARIUS…


INTRODUCTION

Amanita or Bug Agaric.- See Hahnemann’s Chronic Diseases, Vol. I Duration of Action; forty days in chronic affections.

COMPARE WITH.

Aconite, Belladonna, Coffea, Graphites, Nux vomica, Opium, Phosp., Pulsatilla, Staphysagria

ANTIDOTES.

Camph., Coffea, Pulsatilla, Vinum.

RATIONALE OF ITS ACTION.

This species of mushroom drives its name from killing files, when dissolved in milk. It is highly narcotic producing in small doses intoxication and delirium, for which purpose it is used in Kamtschatka.

From the account of Dr. Langsdorf, it appears that the inhabitants of the North-eastern part of Asia use this variety in the same manner that wine, brandy, arrack, opium, are used by other nations. The fungi are collected in the hottest months, and hung up in the air by a string to dry; some dry of themselves upon the ground, and are far more narcotic. The usual mode of taking the fungus, is to roll it up like a bolus, and swallow it without chewing; which the Kamtschatdales say would disorder the stomach. One large, or two small fungi is a common dose to produce a pleasant intoxication for a whole day, particularly if water be drunk after it, which augments the narcotic principle. The described effect comes on from one to two hours after taking the fungus. Giddiness and drunkenness result in the same manner as from wine or spirits; cheerful emotions of the mind are first produced; involuntary words and actions follow, and sometimes, at last an entire loss of consciousness. It renders some remarkably active and proves highly stimulant to muscular exertion; by too large a dose, violent spasmodic effects are produced. So very exciting to the nervous system, in many individuals, is this fungus, that the effects are often very ludicrous; a person under its influence wishing to step over a straw, takes a stride, of a jump sufficient to clear the trunk of a tree; a talkative person cannot keep silence or secrets; and one fond of music is perpetually singing.- J.C.P.

The most singular effect of the Amanita is the influence it possesses over the urine. It is said that from time immemorial the Kamtschatdales have known that the fungus imparts an intoxicating quality to that secretion, which continues for a considerable time after taking it. For instance, a man moderately intoxicated, to-day, will, by the next morning, have slept himself sober; but (as is the custom), by taking a teacupful of his urine, he will be more powerfully intoxicated than he was the preceding day. It is, therefore, not uncommon for confirmed drunkards to preserve their urine as precious liquor, against a scarcity of the fungus. This intoxicating property of the urine is capable of being propagated; for every one who partake of this intoxicating urine has his own urine similarly affected. Thus, with a very few Amanitae, a party of drunkards may keep up their debauche for a week. Dr. Langsdorf mentions, that by means of the second person taking the urine of the first, the third that of the second, and so on, the intoxication may be propagated through five individuals. J.C.P.

The effects of this active principle of this and other fungi, viz., Amanatine, appear to resemble considerably those of Opium.

It promises to prove homoeopathic to delirium tremens. It was supposed that the Northern hordes, when they invaded the South of Europe, were aided in their victories by its exciting effects.

Several French soldiers in Russia ate a large quantity of the Agaricus-muscarius, which they had mistaken for Agaricus- Caeserea. Some were not taken ill for six hours and upwards. Four of them, who were very powerful men, though themselves sage, because, while their companions were already suffering, they themselves felt perfectly well; and they refused to take emetics. In the evening, however, they began to complain of anxiety, a sense of suffocation, frequent fainting, burning thirst, and violent gripes. The pulse became small and irregular, and the body bedewed with cold sweat; the lineaments of the countenance were singularly changed, the nose and lips acquiring a violet tint; they trembled much; the body swelled; and a profuse fetid diarrhoea supervened. The extremities soon become livid, and the pain of the abdomen intense; delirium ensued, and all four died. Several of their comrades were severely affected, but recovered. Two of these had weak pulse, tense and painfully belly, partial cold sweats, fetid breath and stools. In the afternoon they became delirious, then comatose; the coma lasted twenty-four hours.

The symptoms of deep narcotism and violent irritation are generally observed.

PATHOLOGY.

Skin yellow; round pale red spots upon the body pupils natural; abdomen somewhat distended; mucous and bloody froth from the mouth; vessels of the scalp congested; all the vessels of the brain filled with dissolved, dark-red blood; dura-mater and arachnoid quite red; the blood-vessels which penetrate between the convolutions of the brain, enormously distended with blood; the cortical substance of the brain much reddened, and the medullary substance marked with numerous bloody points, from the size of a pin’s head to that of a pea; one teaspoonful of bloody serum in each lateral ventricle; vessels at the base of the brain, especially the circle of Willis, crowded with blood; tentorium-cerebelli covered with a net-work of minute vessels; cerebellum unusually soft, with an extravasation of blood of the size of a pea in its arbor-vitae. Pleural diaphragm, and pericardium much reddened. Lungs much congested, blue and marbled, in a state of splenization, and crowded with black blood. Heart filled with black fluid blood. Arch of the aorta much reddened. Gall-bladder filled with much grass-green fluid bile; pharynx, oesophagus, trachea, omentum, pancreas, peritoneum, external surface of the stomach, and small bowels, and the internal surface of the bladder much reddened, and all the blood-vessels filled with black fluid blood. Internal coat of the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, and colon of a scarlet-red color; brownish-red appearance of the base of the stomach and pylorus; two large excoriations in the fundus of the stomach, and one in the duodenum; contraction of the cardiac and pyloric orifices.- J.C.P.

ANTIDOTES.

It is well known that the noxious qualities of the most virulent species of Agaricus are communicated to brine, vinegar, the olive-tree Agaric loses all its poisonous properties when salted, and becomes eatable; the pickle is thrown away. In fact, two poisonous principles have been discovered in Agaricus, one of which is so volatile that it is dispelled by heat, or the act of drying, or by immersion in acids, alkalies, or alcohol; the other is more fixed, and resists such processes. With the aid of these processes, especially in Poland and Russia, even those kinds of mushrooms which are elsewhere refused by common consent as poisonous, are eaten with perfect impunity, being extensively dried or pickled in salt or vinegar.

In poisoning with mushrooms, emetics and cathartics should be used; as vinegar dissolves out all the noxious principle, it should be avoided; the strength must be sustained by mild tonics and stimulants; Ether, and infusion of Galls are particularly recommended Teste asserts that Camphor and Nitric acid are antidotes to this drug Mr. Gerard has recently shown, before a committee of the Paris Council of Health, that the poisonous mushrooms may be entirely deprived of their deleterious properties by being simply macerated, and then boiled in water to which a little vinegar has been added. The poisonous principle is perfectly soluble in water, and is entirely removed. It is not soluble in alcohol, except by virtue of the water which it may contain. This furnishes an important hint for the pharmaceutical preparation of the Agaricus and other fungi, in which the alcohol used should be as largely diluted with water as is consistent with its preserving powers.

ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. Nervous of Sensation.

It produces excessive sensitiveness to all external impressions; great sensibility of the skin, so that the slightest produces intense and long-continued pains.

Nerves of Motion.

It causes great liability to twitching of the muscles, irregular convulsive movements, and desire to dance; also a curious state of the nervous system, which becomes so acted upon by mental emotions, or the exercise of the will, that muscular twitching and convulsive movements are excited, a condition of body closely resembling that of a patient suffering from chorea and hysteria.

It is asserted by some physiologists, that the principal office of the cerebellum is to preside over the regulate the faculty of locomotion, and Agaricus acts specifically upon the cerebellum.- J.C.P.

ON THE VASCULAR SYSTEM.

Like all the narcotic remedies, Agaricus seems to act far more powerfully upon the venous than upon the arterial system. It seems to prevent the arterialization of the blood, and render it more venous. It is more homoeopathic to venous congestion than to inflammation. J.C.P.

Charles Julius Hempel
Charles Julius Hempel (5 September 1811 Solingen, Prussia - 25 September 1879 Grand Rapids, Michigan) was a German-born translator and homeopathic physician who worked in the United States. While attending medical lectures at the University of New York, where he graduated in 1845, he became associated with several eminent homeopathic practitioners, and soon after his graduation he began to translate some of the more important works relating to homeopathy. He was appointed professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1857.