Synonym. Drosera Rotundifolia. Natural order. Droseraceae. Common name. Round-leaved Sundew. Habitat. A plant growing on turfy, mossy ground in Europe, Bavaria, Northern Asia and America. Preparation. Tincture from the entire fresh plant.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Through its influence no the pneumogastric nerve, Drosera acts powerfully upon the respiratory system, producing, as its most characteristic effect, a spasmodic dry cough, simulating that of whooping cough. Is said to cause Tuberculosis in animals.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind. Uneasiness; when reading cannot dwell long on one subject, but is constantly obliged to change to another. Anxious depressed mood, with gloomy forebodings.
Head. Pressive pains in the head, especially in forehead and cheek bones, extending forward. Sore feeling in skin of right simple.
Eyes. Pupils dilated; contracted; pricking burning pains beneath left eyeball.
Nose. Frequent sneezing, with or without fluent coryza.
Face. Face hot and red.
Mouth. Profuse flow of watery saliva.
Stomach. Frequent hiccough. Waterbrash. Vomiting during the chill finally of bile.
Hypochondria. Constrictive pain in both hypochondria, which impedes coughing; must support with the hands when coughing.
Urinary Organs. Frequent urging to urinate, with scanty discharge, frequently only by drops.
Respiratory Organs. Bruised feeling in the larynx while inhaling. Hoarseness and every word he speaks the throat contracts; no systems worse from talking (Causticum). The paroxysms of cough follow each other so violently that he is scarcely able to get his breath. Crawling in larynx provoking cough (Conium), with sensation as if a soft substance were in the larynx; with sticking extending to right side of pharynx. Cough at night; in evening immediately after lying down; waking at 2 A.M. (Ammonium carb., Kali carb.). Dry spasmodic cough, with inclination to vomit. Vomiting of food during the cough and afterward (Ant. tart., Ipecac.). Cough, with purulent or bloody expectoration (Cinchona, Lycopodium, Phosphorus, Plumb., Sepia, Silicea).
Rough, scraping, dry sensation deep in the fauces, and in soft palate, causing a hacking cough, with a yellow mucous expectoration (Pulsatilla), and hoarseness, the voice having a deep bass sound, together with oppression of the chest, as if the air was withheld, on talking and coughing, so that the breath could not be expired. Stitches in muscles of chest on coughing and breathing (Bryonia); better from pressure. Haemoptysis.
Limbs. All the limbs feel lame and bruised; general paralyzed sensation. Painful sticking pressure in muscles of lower limbs in any position. Gnawing and stitching pains in long bones, especially in joints; severe stitches in the joints; less painful during motion than during rest.
Upper Limbs. Twitching in the right shoulder only during rest.
Lower Limbs. Paralytic pain in right hip joint and thigh, with pain in the ankle, as if sprained, only when walking. Occasional single stitches in middle of left thigh, anteriorly. Fine cutting stitch in right calf, coming on when sitting, passing off when walking. Tearing pain in right ankle, as if dislocated, only while walking; as if sprained Stiffness. of the ankles.
Generalities. Whole body feels weak, with sunken eyes and cheeks. Prickling, burning pain in the skin. Febrile shivers over whole body, with heat of face and icy coldness of hands, without thirst.
Compare. Aconite, Ammonium carb., Belladonna, Bryonia, Chelidonium, Cina, Conium, Coral., Cuprum, Hyoscyamus, Ipecac., Kali carb., Nux v., Pulsatilla, Rhus tox., Sambucus, Sulphur, Veratrum alb.
Antidotes. Camph.
THERAPEUTICS.
Drosera is only prominently useful in respiratory affections, especially catarrhal, and when assuming a spasmodic character. Especially useful in whooping cough with violent paroxysms, following each other so rapidly the child cannot get its breath; usually worse at night, immediately after lying down or after midnight, often from tickling in the larynx, frequently ending in gagging, vomiting and cold sweat. There seems to be a contraction of the throat and chest, also sometimes of the abdomen and sides; has to hold is sides with his hands. Sometimes haemorrhages occur from the mouth and nose during or immediately after the paroxysm. With symptoms of a similar character the drug is indicated in laryngitis, also with deep, hoarse, bass voice; laryngeal phthisis; bronchitis, especially of old people. Often of benefit in pulmonary phthisis. Useful in measles, with a hoarse, spasmodic cough. All coughs usually end in a free expectoration (or in whooping cough, vomiting) of mucus.
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).