Natural order. Araceae. Common names. Indian Turnip. Jack in the Pulpit. Habitat. Grows in moist, shady places throughout America. Preparation. Tincture from the fresh root. Should be kept in a dark, cool place. General Analysis Arum acts as an irritant poison to mucous surfaces, affecting especially the mucous membrane of the mouth and fauces, and to some extent of the larynx and bronchi, producing violent inflammation, tumefaction, and ulceration. Characteristics Symptoms Mind During delirium, boring in the nose (Cina.); picking at one spot or on the lips. Head Violent headache. Nose Fluent coryza afternoons with heat in head and face. Continual discharge from left nostril. Coryza in the morning with streaks of blood and hardened mucus; yellow and thick during the day; watery, and at the same time obstruction, worse in the morning. Discharge of burning ichorous fluid from the nose, excoriating the nostrils and upper lip (Ailanth. Ammonium, carb., Arsenicum, Cepa, Mercurius); in scarlet fever. Nose obstructed and must breathe through the mouth (Aurum). Drink passes up and through the nose. Nostrils sore and chapped (Antim crud., Graphites, Nitr. ac.). Constant picking of the nose (Cina, Selenium). Face Nose, lips and face chapped, as after exposure to cold wind (Antim crud., Graphites). Great heat in the face and head afternoons, with fluent coryza. Picks the lips until they bleed. Corners of mouth sore, cracked and bleeding (Antim crud., Graphites, Lycopodium, Nitr. ac.). Scalded feeling in the face in morning. Sprained pain in left articulation of jaw when swallowing. Mouth Cracked tongue, painful and burning. Root of tongue and palate feel raw. Buccal cavity raw, sore and bleeding. Mouth burns, and is so sore that the child refuses to drink, and cries when anything is offered. Excessive salivation; saliva acrid. Dryness of mouth. Throat Our knowledge of the action of this drug is derived chiefly from clinical sources. It has been found especially useful in the treatment of catarrhal diseases in scrofulous subjects, where many arsenic symptoms are present, together with enlarged lymphatic glands. Nasal catarrh. Hay fever. Ophthalmia. Otitis. Catarrhal inflammation of the nose, throat and ears, with swelling and stoppage of Eustachian tube. Diphtheria. Leucorrhoea. Mammary abscess. Mammary tumors, with ulcerated nipples sensitive to touch and painful. Enlarged spleen, after intermittent fever treated with quinine. Tabes mesenterica; cholera infantum. The clinical use of this drug in chest diseases is admirably summed up by Dr. Allen (Handbook of Materia Medica, p. 133) as follows: “Pulmonary tuberculosis with cavities in lungs, hectic fever, etc. Chronic catarrhal pneumonia, with muco-purulent expectoration, dyspnoea, night sweats, etc. Chronic pneumonia with abscess in the lung, hectic fever. Acute catarrhal pneumonia, with caseous degeneration and fibrosis. Fibroid degeneration of the lung, with inflammation and haemorrhage; commencing cavity. In general, many cases of pulmonary disease, pneumonia, sub-acute and chronic, and various forms of phthisis pulmonaris have been cured, the special indications being great debility, night sweats, either after the cavity is formed or when a cavity threatens to form, with a decidedly cachectic condition of the patient. It seems probable that in the Iodide of Arsenic we have found a remedy most closely allied to manifestations of tuberculosis; it will be indicated by a profound prostration, rapid, irritable pulse, recurring fever and sweats, emaciation, tendency to diarrhoea, etc. It is especially valuable, in non- tubercular phthisis. A number of cases of weakness of the heart have been reported as relieved, and it undoubtedly acts similarly to Arsenic in such cases; unfortunately nearly all the cases reported have been treated with a combination of other drugs with this one, so that perhaps as much credit should be given to the other drugs, as to Arsen. iod.” This drugs has also been successfully used for chronic skin affections; psoriasis; eczema of the beard, watery oozing, great itching; worse from washing. Not only useful in the night sweats of phthisis, but also in that of other debilitating diseases. Compare Arsenic. Iodine.
THERAPEUTICS.
Arum has been found an excellent remedy in malignant forms of scarlatina and diphtheria, characterized by the acrid ichorous discharges above noted, the patient continually boring the nose and picking the lips. Sometimes the nose becomes ulcerated, and the ichorous discharge very offensive. Coryza with characteristic discharge. Hay fever, with severe pain over the root of nose; nose and throat feel raw and sore. Laryngitis, especially the so- called clergymen’s sore throat, occurring in public speakers, auctioneers and singers; great hoarseness and loss of voice, constant hawking and clearing the voice. In all inflammatory affections of the mouth, tongue and buccal cavity where symptoms indicate. In typhoid forms of fever.
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).