Synonym. Lichen Pulmonarius. Natural order. Lichenes. Common names. Lungwort. Lung Moss. Habitat. Found growing on the trunks of large trees in the mountainous counties of England; also in New England and as far south as Carolina. Preparation. Tincture from the fresh lichen, grown on the sugar maple.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Acts upon the mucous lining of the respiratory tract, producing symptoms of a catarrhal character.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind. General confusion of idea;s inability to concentrate them.
Head. Dull sensation in the head, with sharp, darting pains through the vertex, side of face and lower jaw. Dull, heavy pressure in forehead and root of nose (Aconite, Kali bichromicum, Phytolacca); increasing during the day. Catarrhal headache before the discharge sets in.
Eyes. Burning in eyelids, with soreness of the ball in closing the lids or turning the eyes, increasing in intensity all day. Catarrhal conjunctivitis, with profuse, mild discharge.
Nose. Feeling of fullness and heavy pressure at root of nose (Aconite, Kali bichromicum). tingling in right side of nose; loss of smell; dry coryza. Acute catarrh of nasal passages; influenza (Aconite). Constant need to blow nose, but no discharge results. Excessive and painful dryness of mucous membrane; secretions dry rapidly, forming scabs, difficult to dislodge.
Stool. Diarrhoea, with much associated with cough.
Respiratory Organs. Dry cough; worse evening and night; can neither sleep not lie down. Severe, dry, racking cough, caused by tickling in larynx and bronchia. Incessant, wearing, racking cough in consumptives. Spasmodic stage of whooping cough. Oppression of the lungs.
Limbs. Darting pains in arms, fingers, joints, thighs and toes.
Generalities. General feeling of dullness and malaise, as when a catarrh is coming on (Gelsemium, Hydras.). Legs feel as if floating in the air; she feels light and airy, without any sensation of resting on the bed (Asarum europaeum); hysterical chorea.
Compare. Aconite, Dulcamara, Hydras., Kali bichromicum, Mercurius, Rumex., Sanguinaria
THERAPEUTICS.
Sticta pulmon. is especially useful in catarrhal affections as indicated in the prove symptoms. Influenza. Conjunctivitis. Nasal catarrh. Hay fever. Bronchitis. Whooping cough. Phthisis. Cough during measles. Occasionally useful in hysteria. Inflammatory rheumatism of the small joints. Rheumatism of the wrists; of the knee. Housemaid’s knee.
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).