Synonym – Heloderma suspectum. Natural order – Helodermatida. Common name – Gila monster. Habitat – Chiefly Arizona, also in Texas and other southern states. Preparation – The virus is obtained by irritating the animal and allowing it to bite the glass, from which triturations are made.
GENERAL ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTICS.
The bite of Gila Monster produces a benumbing paralysis, but there is an entire absence of tetanic conditions, thus directly differing in its effects from Strychnia or Hydroc. acid. It has been used in paralysis agitans, locomotor ataxia and many other nervous diseases characterized by great coldness – “arctic” coldness.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
Mind. Great depression.
Head Sensation as if the head would fall to the right side. Sensation of a cold band around the head. Cold pressure within the skull.
Eyes. Eyelids heavy.
Ears. Pain beginning in the right ear and extending around the back of the head to the left ear.
Face Cold, crawling feeling in the face, as if the muscles were tight.
Mouth. Tongue cold, tender and dry. Great thirst. Swallowing difficult. Breath cold.
Respiratory Organs. Cold feeling in the chest, as if in the lungs and heart.
Heart. Slow labored thumping of the heart.
Back. Coldness across the scapulae. Burning along the spine.
Lower Limbs. Numbness and trembling, also coldness in all the limbs. Sensation as if walking on a sponge, and as if the feet were swollen. Staggering gait. “Cock’s gait” – when walking lifts the feet higher than usual and puts the heel down hard. Feet cold as ice; or burn. Stretching relieves pains in the muscles and limbs.
Fever. Internal coldness as if frozen. Cold rings around the body. Cold waves. Cold spots. Arctic coldness. Temperature sub- normal – 96* (Camph).
Compare Abies, Arsenicum, Camph., Lachesis, Mercurius
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).