Natural Order. Caryophyllaceae. Common names. Chick-weed. Stichwort. Habitat. Most parts of Europe, Asia and America. Preparation. Tincture from the fresh plant.
GENERAL ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTICS.
Recent provings conducted by the University of Michigan Society of Drug Provers seem to corroborate the little that was already known as to the action of this drug, and somewhat enlarges its sphere, which at best is limited though well defined. Dr. Ibershoff in his report says; “It conduces a condition of stasis and congestion and the accompanying sluggishness of all functions characteristic of the constipation diathesis, coupled with shifting, intermittent, rheumatoid pains. Its head, stomach, liver and bowel symptoms all point to congestion, the morning aggravation and conditions of amelioration and increase being most identical with those of Nux vomica, while the rheumatoid manifestations, their relief from motion and aggravation from warmth, resemble most closely those of Pulsatilla.
“The results of its experimental employment in cases of rheumatism and gout both internally and as a local application to the affected parts leaves no room for doubt as to its efficacy in these obstinate conditions. The indications for its usage are so sharply defined that empiricism finds no justification in the prescribing of the drug.”
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Head. Dull frontal headache, worse on left side, in the morning, by motion, by warmth, passing off toward evening. Violent headache all over cranium. Dull pulling pain as if caused by a tight rubber cap. Dull headache as if extending upward from the eyes to the temples and to the back of the head. Cutting pains from temples through the frontal eminences. Throbbing pain in temples and in back of head, with nausea. Vertigo. Dull supraorbital headache, worse over right eye, with faintness.
Eyes. Pain in the eyes, with nausea. Smarting and burning in the eyes.
Stomach. Nausea almost constant, worse in the morning, with drowsiness and general lassitude. Loss of appetite, the smell of food nauseates. Flatulence and belching of gas.
Back. Sharp pains in small of back over kidneys, coming on suddenly, reach maximum slowly and stop suddenly.
Abdomen. Flatulent distention with griping pains in transverse colon. Liver engorged, swollen, with stitching pains, soreness and sensitiveness to pressure. Griping pains in small intestines.
Generalities. Lassitude, indisposition to work. Constant sleepiness, awakes feeling tied and dizzy. Chilliness. General feeling of malaise. Tired, sore, stained feeling as from over-exertion. General irritability.
Stool. Constipation or alternating constipation and diarrhoea. Violent pains in rectum following stool. Clay-colored stool.
Limbs. Rheumatoid pains in different parts of the body. Darting pains in almost every part; stiffness of joints; parts sore to touch; worse on motion; sharp, shifting, rheumatic pains. (Pulsatilla).
Aggravation. Mornings; from warmth; tobacco; at rest.
Amelioration. Evenings; from fresh, cold air.
Compare. Nux vomica, Pulsatilla
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).