Synonym. Anacardium Orientale. Natural order. Anacardiaceae. Common name. Marking Nut. Habitat. A small tree, native of the East Indies. Preparation. Tincture from the crushed seeds. General Analysis Acts directly upon the sensorium, depressing the cerebral centers and the organs of special sense, producing symptoms of cerebral weakness as well as general nervous prostration. It also acts prominently upon the skin. The characteristic symptom is that of a plug. According to Allen, this drug is “essentially similar to Rhus tox.” Characteristic Symptoms Mind Great weakness of memory (Argentum, Ambra, Kreosotum, Lachesis, Mercurius, Natr. mur., Nux moschata, Phosphorus ac.), especially as regards single names, worse forenoons. Labor difficult, like absent-mindedness. Vanishing of thought, deficiency of ideas, and loss of subject without knowing it. Loss of comprehension in mornings, with confusion and emptiness of head. Illusions of fancy, with apprehension. Melancholy. Sadness. Indifference. Anxiety; in evening; about every trifle; with dullness of senses; as if pursued with suspicion of everything around him, as if surrounded by enemies; feeling of impending misfortune. Irresistible desire to curse and swear (Nitr. ac., Veratrum alb.). Very irritable, passionate and contradictory (Bryonia, Chamomilla, Nux v., Hepar s., Kali chlor.). When walking, anxious, as if some one were pursuing. He is separated from the whole world and has so little confidence in himself that he despairs of being able to do that which is required of him. Head Weakness of all the senses. Tearing headache during hard labor. Vertigo as if turning in a circle, on stooping. Dull pressure as from a plug, on left side of vertex. Pressive pain on top of the head when coughing or taking a deep inspiration. Pressive pain in temples, as from a nail (Agaricus, Arnica, Coffea c., Ammonium muriaticum is useful in catarrhal conditions in all parts of the body, characterized especially by increased secretion from the mucous membranes, and free discharge. In nasal catarrh the discharge is watery and acrid, making the inside of the nostrils a nd the upper lip sore; bronchial catarrh may be either dry, with dry, hacking cough, and stitches in the chest (kali c.), or three may be a profuse expectoration with much rattling of mucus in the chest (Stannum), especially in old people. The same symptoms indicate the drug in phthisis. In all chest affections a coldness between the shoulder blades is characteristic. Catarrhal aphonia with hoarseness, rawness and burning in the larynx. An excellent remedy for constipation, with the characteristic crumbling stools, or when the hard faeces are coated with mucus. Diarrhoea, greenish mucous stools. Chronic congestion of the liver if the symptoms correspond. Albuminous leucorrhoea is most characteristic, or else brown and slimy, after urination. With leucorrhoea and the characteristics stool, the drug may be indicated in uterine displacements, ovarian diseases, and in complaints during pregnancy. Sciatica. Neuralgic pains in stump of an amputated limb. Has been used in the treatment of chronic sprains.
THERAPEUTICS
Anacardium is a remedy for insanity, in its various degrees, from hypochondriasis to mania, also for various nervous disorders accompanied by the characteristic mental condition. It is an excellent remedy for the bad effects of over use of the mind, or brain-fag. Headache associated with great mental irritability. Also for alcoholism, restlessness and sleeplessness, other symptoms corresponding. Especially useful in melancholia and hypochondriasis. The patient is irritable and inclined to swear, or feels himself possessed of two wills. Has been found useful in the morning sickness of pregnancy, which is better while eating but returns soon after. The latter is characteristic of all the gastric symptoms of the drug. Rheumatic pericarditis with deep stitches through the cardiac region, and mental oppression. Palpitation of the heart in the aged, associated with slight disturbances, such as coryza. Is useful in diseases of the spinal cord where there is a feeling of a plug in the spine, or a band tied around the body, and the knees feel paralyzed, and as if bandaged tightly. Very valuable in eczema, especially when there is also great mental irritability. The skin symptoms are very similar to those of Rhus tox.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).