Natural order – Umbelliferae. Common names – Drop Water. Water Hemlock. Habitat – A plant growing in moist and swampy places in England, Sweden, France and Spain. Preparation – Tincture from the fresh root.
GENERAL ANALYSIS
Acts powerfully upon the cerebro-spinal nervous system, producing epileptiform spasms, and causing inflammation and softening of the medulla oblongata and contiguous nerve tissue. It is the most powerful and energetic poison of its family, which includes AEthusa, Cicuta and Conium, though it has been used but little clinically.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
Mind. Furious delirium (Belladonna, Cantharis, Stramonium), as if drunk (Opium); insanity. Sudden and complete loss of consciousness (Belladonna, Opium).
Head Violent vertigo, with falling; with nausea, vomiting, syncope and convulsions. Violent pain in the head. Apoplectic conditions; speechless; insensible; face puffed and livid; pupils dilated; respiration laborious; limbs contracted; trismus (Belladonna). Coma after the convulsions.
Eyes. Pupils dilated (Belladonna, Hyoscyamus, Opium, Stram); eyes turned upward and inward.
Nose. Bleeding from the nose.
Face Rapid convulsive twitching of muscles of the face (Agaricus, Belladonna, Cicuta, Nux v., Ignatia). Face livid and turgid, pale and cold; ghastly; anxious. Trismus; jaws rigidly closed (Absinth., cic., Ignatia, Hyoscyamus, Laur., Naja, Nux v.). Rose-colored spots on face.
Mouth. Tongue swollen and protruded; slightly furred. Foaming at the mouth (Cicuta, Cuprum, Hyoscyamus, Laur.); bloody mucus. Mouth dry and parched; speechless.
Throat Violent constriction and burning in throat.
Stomach Hiccough; cardialgia. Nausea and vomiting.
Abdomen. Much distended, with colic pains.
Stool Involuntary; diarrhoea.
Respiratory Organs. Convulsive respiration; breathing labored, hurried, stertorous, short; interrupted by constant sighing and convulsive cough; hardly perceptible.
Heart and Pulse. Pain in the region of heart. Pulse small, feeble, irregular, scarcely perceptible.
Generalities. Epileptiform convulsions. Terrible convulsions, followed by coma or deep sleep. Convulsions, with vertigo, madness, nausea, vomiting, unconscious, risus sardonicus, eyeballs turned up, pupils dilated (Absinth., Belladonna, Cicuta). Sudden convulsions, trismus, biting of tongue; followed by total unconsciousness. Convulsions, with swollen, livid face; bloody froth from mouth and nostrils; convulsive respirations; insensibility; feeble pulse; prostration.
Fever. Extreme coldness; loss of animal heat. Profuse sweat; offensive.
Aggravation All symptoms worse from water.
Compare Agaricus, Cicuta, Stramonium, Hydroc. ac.
THERAPEUTICS.
Has cured epileptiform convulsions. One case in a woman at seven months’ pregnancy; another in a child apparently preceding an outbreak of exanthema; another case of epilepsy, worse during menstruation. Also reported to have cured a tickling cough, with rattling in lower part of chest, and thick, frothy expectoration – Allen.
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).