(Menispermum cocculus.)
(From vol. I, 3rd edit., 1830.)
(The tincture prepared by macerating the powdered seeds at a moderate temperature in twenty parts of spirits of wine.)
This vegetable substance, hitherto only used for the purpose of destroying some noxious vermin and for stupefying fish so that they may be taken by the hand, was (like staphisagria) first employed by myself as a medicine after I had ascertained its dynamic effects on the healthy human body. It possesses many curative virtues, as the following symptoms produced by it show, and the tincture prescribed according to the similarity of effect in high attenuation and potency is indispensible for the cure in many cases of common human diseases, more especially in some kinds of lingering nervous fevers, in several so-called spasms in the abdomen, and so-called spasmodic pains of other parts, where the mental state is one of extreme sadness, particularly in the female sex, in not a few attacks of paralysis of the limbs, and in the emotional derangements resembling those that cocculus can itself produce.
Camphor is its principal antidote.
The duration of its action depends on the nature of the disease in which it is used; it quickly passes in acute, but lasts many days in chronic diseases.
[ HAHNEMANN was helped in this proving by BAEHR, FLAMING, GROSS, HAYNEL, HORNBURG, LANGHAMMER, TRINKS and HARTLAUB (from their R.A.M.L.), WAHLE.
The old-school authorities quoted are:
AMATUS LUSITANUS, Cent. iv.
JOHN HILL, Hist. of the Mat. Medorrhinum
RUMPF, Ambcin., v.
In the Fragmenta there are 162 symptoms of cocculus, in the 1st edit. Of the R.A.M.L.
230, in the 2nd edit. 554, and in this last edition 557.]
COCCULUS
Vertigo as of intoxication and stupid feeling in the forehead, as if he had a board before the head. [Gss.]
Attack of vertigo as from intoxication (when sitting) (aft. 1.3/4 h.). [Lr.]
Tendency to vertigo (the 8th d.). [Hnl.]
Vertigo for six hours.
5. When he rises up in bed, there occur whirling vertigo and sickness, which compel him to lie down again.
A sick headache, just as if he had taken an emetic, with nausea.
Stupid in the head.
Stupidity in the head with cold sweat on the forehead and hands and aversion from food and drink.
Distraction (want of memory); he easily forgets something he had just thought of. (This S. occurs almost identically in Hb. And Ts. ‘R.A.M.L.’ [Gss.]
10. Stupidity and confusion of the head, increased by reading, so that he must read a passage several times over in order to understand it. [Hnl.]
Heaviness in the head. [Hnl.]
Feeling as if something heavy lay on the head, but without pain. [We.]
Thinking tries his head much. [Hnl.]
In the morning confusion of the head; there is a humming in it, as after a debauch the previous night.
15. Heaviness and confusion of the head, as after a debauch the day before.
Cloudiness of the head, chiefly aggravated by eating and drinking.
Pain in the head as if it were bound up.
Headache as if the brain were constricted.
Headache in the temples, as if the head were screwed in.
20. (Painful shock in the brain when walking, moving the head and speaking.)
A headache compounded of constriction, burning, tearing, digging and boring.
A violent aching through the whole head, chiefly in the forehead (in the forenoon), which increases to unconsciousness by reading and thinking (aft. 60 h.).
Aching headache in the sinciput. [We.]
Aching headache in the vertex (aft. 10 h.). [Hbg.]
25. Dull compression in the right half of the forehead. [Gss.]
Pressive pain in the head, as if the brain were compressed (aft. 5 h.). [Lr.]
In the right temple a pressing inwards as from a blunt body slowly pressed deep into the brain. [Gss.]
In the left temple, a pressing inwards. [Gss.]
Violent pressing downwards in the whole head, especially in the forehead, increased by walking (aft. 6.1/2 h.). [Lr.]
30. In the left half of the forehead, a dull undulating compression. [Gss.]
Tearing throbbing headache in the forehead in the evening (from 7 to 9 o’clock) (aft. 38 h.)
Frequent attacks of headache lasting some minutes on a small spot in the left frontal protuberance, at first if raging, throbbing shooting pain, which then spreads to the right frontal protuberance as a formication and there goes off.
A fine shooting in the temples.
A severe stitch in the head above the right eye (aft. 12 h.).
35. Several stitches in the right side of the brain. (aft. 24 h.). [Hnl.]
Intermitting boring needle-pricks in the right frontal region.[Lr.]
Fine needle-pricks in the left temple (aft. 6 h.). [Lr.]
Headache as if the eyes would be torn out.
Cramp-like pain in the left temporal muscle (aft. 1.1/2 h.). [Lr.]
40. Headache as if something closed the eyes forcibly.
Convulsive trembling of the head.
Shuddering on the left side of the occiput as if the hair would stand in end. (This S. is also in Hb. And Ts. ‘R.A.M.L.’ [Gss.]
On the outer border of the orbit obtuse pressure (immediately). [Gss.]
Aching in both eyes, as if dust had got into them (aft. 7 h.). [Lr.]
45. Aching pain in the eyes with inability to open the eyelids, at night.
Bruised pain in the eyes with inability to open the eyelids, at night (aft. 5 h.).
Stitches in the eyes from within outwards (aft. 24 h.).
(After severe nocturnal headache, in the morning swelling of one eye and of half of the nose.)
Dryness of the eyelids.
50. Dimness of sight.
Flies and dark spots float before the eyes, as if amaurosis were coming on.
She sees a black figure before the eyes that receded from her; when she turns it turns along with her, and yet she saw everything clearly.
Contracted pupils (aft. 5 h.). [Lr.]
Blue rings round the eyes. [Bhr.]
55. A kind of pressive sensation, more stupefying than painful, in the left zygomatic process. [Gss.]
Cramp in the zygomatic process, in the masseter muscles (aft. 2 h.).
Cramp-like pain in the masseter muscles per se, but increased by opening the jaws (aft. 3 h.).
(Heat in the right ear externally and internally, in the morning in bed).
A sensation alternately in either ear, as if they were stopped up and deaf.
60. Rushing sound in the ear, as when hearing through a tube. [Hbg.]
Noise in the ears like the rushing of water, with hardness of hearing. (aft. 1 h.).
It seems to him as if he were hard of hearing in the right ear.
Swelling of the right half of the nose.
Stitches externally in the skin and muscles of the cheek.
65. Flying heat of the cheeks, without thirst (aft. 27 h.). [Lr.]
Redness of the cheeks and heat in the face, without thirst, in a cold room. [Hbg.]
A pustule under the right outer angle of the mouth, with a red areola, with tensive pain on touching it (aft. 24 h.). [Lr.]
Swelling of the parotid gland.
Fine stitches in the external parts of the throat. (aft. 1 h.).
70. Swollen hard glands under the lower jaw and lumps on the forearm, which are painful when stroked.
Painless glandular swellings under the chin (aft. 8 h.). [Lr.]
Paralytic drawing on the side of the neck and other parts, sometimes almost like intermittent paralytic pressure. [Gss.]
When moving the neck and yawning stiff pain in the cervical muscles. [Gss.]
Fine stitch externally on the right side of the neck. [Hnl.]
75. Pulsating stitches externally on the left side of the neck. [Hnl.]
Weakness of the cervical muscles with heaviness of the head for several days; the cervical muscles seemed unable to support the head; he must lean his head in one direction to another, otherwise the cervical muscles were painful; what gave him most ease was leaning backwards. [Hnl.]
Tearing digging pain in the lower jaw.
Smarting sensation in the upper and lower molars, as after taking a quantity of sea-salt; biting the teeth together causes an agreeable sensation. [We.]
The incisors are as if lifted out and seem to her to be so heavy they must fall out. [Bhr.]
80. The decayed tooth seems to have become longer; it is loose; the gum around it is swollen (aft. 12 h.).
The hollow tooth is painful only when eating even soft food, as if it were quite loose, and yet not on merely closing the teeth wnot eating.
(The gums are sensitive and as if sore.)
(When speaking she has a sort of contraction in the mouth and must speak more slowly.)
In the morning, rough tongue.
85. Dryness in the mouth, at night, without thirst. (This S., without “at night,” is also in Hb. And Ts. ‘R.A.M.L.’)
Dryness of the tongue, with whitish-yellow fur, without thirst (aft. ΒΌ h.). [We.]
Dry feeling in the mouth with frothy saliva and violent thirst. [Bhr.]
Water runs into his mouth without sickness (aft. 1.1/2 h.). [Hnl.]
Sensation as if water collected in the mouth for a long time, without sickness. [Hnl.]
90. If he puts out his tongue far, he feels pain at the back of it as if bruised. [Gss.]
Dryness and roughness in the fauces and oesophagus; especially observed when swallowing, without thirst.(aft. 2 h.). [Lr.]
In the throat scraping, scratching, which goes off on swallowing. [Ts. Hb.]
Great sensitiveness in the interior of the throat; all the food seems sharp and stinging, as if it contained too much salt and pepper. [Bhr.]
Dryness at the back and upper part of the throat, as if it and the tongue were rough.
Hahnemann's three major publications chart the development of homeopathy. In the Organon of Medicine, we see the fundamentals laid out. Materia Medica Pura records the exact symptoms of the remedy provings. In his book, The Chronic Diseases, Their Peculiar Nature and Their Homoeopathic Cure, he showed us how natural diseases become chronic in nature when suppressed by improper treatment.