(Sowbread.)
(From vol. v, 2nd edit., 1826.)
(The expressed juice of the fresh root, obtained in autumn, mixed with equal parts of alcohol.)
From the earliest times this valuable plant has lain under the unfounded suspicion of acting violently and uncertainly. Even should we grant that Discorides really referred to this plant, still all he says about it was only from hearsay. The Arabians employed this root under the name of Arthanita as one of the ingredients of a purgative ointment for rubbing in (unguentum de Arthanita), which contains a number of the most powerful remedies, and in this dangerous combination they brought it into the unmerited reputation of a drastic purgative medicine, which it is far from being.
Modern physicians know nothing more respecting it scarcely as much as the ancients romanced about it.
But as our new (homoeopathic) medical art takes nothing on the authority of unintelligent tradition, and neither accepts anything because it has been praised, not rejects it because it has been condemned, without having first subjected it to impartial trial, I undertook the investigation of this much decried root.
Just as the virtue of a man cannot be determined by the deceptive appearance of his outward form, nor by the colour of his coat, nor by the shallow gossip of the multitude, but as it assuredly displays itself in no doubtful manner to the honest observer in the goodness of his conduct, so, truly, the real value of a medicine can be determined neither by its outward appearance, nor by any unfounded reputation it may have obtained. It is only by our own careful proving of medicines on healthy persons that we can truly learn what are the peculiar qualities of a medicine, what changes it can produce in the health, and thence the similar changes in the sick it can cure.
And so from the following few pure symptoms we may learn that cyclamen is one of the most excellent remedies in the most desparate morbid states.
Hitherto I have given it in a very small portion of a drop of the million-fold dilution of the juice, but even this I have found to be a too strong homoeopathic dose for many cases.
[HAHNEMANN (who only contributed five symptoms) was aided in this proving by FRANZ, HARTUNG, HERRMANN, LANGHAMMER.
He only cites one old-school authority of one symptom.
ABANO, PETRUS DE, De Venenis.
The 1st edition has 200 symptoms, only two more appear in this 2nd edition.]
CYCLAMEN
The memory is sometimes very obtuse, and he can hardly recollect what has occurred quite recently; but sometimes it is very active – in quick alteration. [Fz.]
His mind is in a constant state of stupefaction, all its powers are in abeyance; he can neither rejoice nor be sad, although he is always as if after some great (though passed) sorrow; only when he is excited his head becomes somewhat clearer, and he behaves like a person wakened up from sleep, having only half understood what has happened about him (2nd d.). [Fz.]
Obtuseness of the mind; he is neither inclined for, nor capable of any work (3rd d.). [Fz.]
Vertigo; on standing still when he leans against something, he feels as if the brain moved in the head, or as if he was riding in a carriage with his eyes shut. [Fz.]
5. Dizziness in the head. [Hrr.]
Continual stitches in the fore part of his brain, on stooping.
When lying in bed in the evening, perceptible pulsation in the brain and delay in falling asleep.
Dull pain in the occiput. [Htg.]
Painful drawing in the brain from the left side of the occiput forwards, through the left temple to the forehead, in a line (aft. 1 h.). [Hrr.]
10. Slight pressure in the vertex, as if the brain were enveloped in a cloth, and he were thereby deprived of consciousness (2nd d.) [Fz.]
Aching pain in the middle of the vertex, that sometimes causes dizziness. [Fz.]
Aching drawing pain from the right side of the forehead to the left, and then back again to the right side; then in the left temple; the pain went off on touching (aft. 9 h.). [Lr.]
Dull stitches in the right temporal region in all position (aft. 3 h.). [Lr.]
Some drawing stitches in the left temporal region, that went off on touching (aft. 16 h.). [Lr.]
15. Twitching stitches, first in the left then in the right temporal region. [Htg.]
Pains in the head with yawning, without drowsiness (aft. 5 h.). [Lr.]
Tearing pressive pain, externally on the head. [Fz.]
Fine, sharp, itching pricking on the hairy scalp, which, when he scratches, always recommences on another spot. [Fz.]
Breaking out of an eruption of pimples on the hairy scalp of the occiput, without sensation, and painless even when touched (aft. 1.1/2 h.). [Lr.]
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.