Synonym. Sapium Sylvaticum. Natural order. Euphorbiaceae. Common names. Queen’s Root. Yard Root. Habitat. An indigenous perennial plant found growing in pine barens and sandy soils from Virginia to Florida and Louisiana. Preparation. Tincture from the fresh root.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Acts prominently upon the periosteum and fibrous tissues, causing painful nodes, bone pains, and rheumatic symptoms, resembling those associated with secondary syphilis and chronic rheumatism, in both of which affections it has been successfully used. It also acts upon the cartilages of the larynx, and upon the mucous lining of the respiratory tract, giving symptoms of laryngeal and bronchial irritation and inflammation. The lymphatic glands are enlarged, and their secretions increased in quantity and perverted in character. The skin becomes eczematous, and the seat of ulcerations characterized by excessive discharges.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind. Depression of spirits, and gloomy forebodings.
Head. Throbbing and giddiness of the head. Bony swellings on head and forehead. Mercurial periostitis of the skull. Moist, brown, excoriating eruption on the scalp.
Eyes. Inflamed and watery, with severe headache and general muscular soreness, as though he had taken cold.
Nose. Catarrhal discharge from the nose, at first watery, then muco- purulent; nostrils sore on inner surface. Inflammation and necrosis of bones of nose (Aurum).
Throat. Dryness, rawness, stinging and smarting of fauces.
Stomach. Pyrosis every afternoon, lasting until bed-time. Burning in stomach and bowels (Arsenicum, Iris., Cantharis). Distress and griping pains in epigastrium, with rumbling in bowels, followed by diarrhoeic stool (Aloe.).
Stool. Diarrhoea, stools irregular, frothy, acrid, bilious; white, resembling curds. Constipation.
Urinary Organs. Severe dull pain in region of kidneys. Urine high-colored, frothy, thick and milky (Phosphorus ac.); abundant white sediment, soon deposited; white, flocculent, or brick dust sediment, soon deposited; white, flocculent, or brick dust sediment (Lycopodium); brownish-red sediment, like sausage meat. Violent, sharp, smarting, burning pains throughout entire course of urethra; aggravated by micturition, with difficulty in pressing urine, and dull pain in region of kidneys; pains in urethra so severe as to cause perspiration start.
Female Organs. Copious, muco-purulent leucorrhoea, with rheumatic pains.
Respiratory Organs. Excessively dry cough toward evening, caused by tickling in trachea. Sensation of lameness, seemingly in cartilages to trachea. Constriction in region of larynx, with stinging and burning in fauces. Cough short, hacking, deep, loose, spasmodic.
Heart and Pulsatilla Boring pains in region of heart (Senega). Pulse very irregular.
Limbs. In the evening, pains in right elbow and right leg of an aching and pulsating character, with soreness. Sharp, shooting pains in arms extending to fingers. Shooting in upper side and inner third of forearm. Aching pains in hips, legs and feet; more on right side. Burning and itching of legs elbow knees. Eruptions, ulcers and periosteal enlargements on limbs.
Generalities. Malaise; drowsiness; general feeling of distress. Tubercular eruptions, which tend to ulcerate. Enlarged cervical glands.
Fever. Feverish heat, especially in face, as from catarrh.
Aggravation. Afternoons; from damp air; motion.
Compare. Argentum, Aurum, Hepar s., Kali iod., Mercurius, Mez., Phytolacca Rhus tox., sulph.
THERAPEUTICS.
Stillingia sylvat. has been successfully used in the following conditions, the symptoms agreeing; Secondary syphilis; syphilitic periosteal rheumatism; nodes; chronic rheumatism; sciatica in syphilitic patients; laryngitis, especially if of a syphilitic character; mercurial periostitis; urethritis; gonorrhoea; gleet; leucorrhoea; venereal or scrofulous ulcers and eruptions.
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).