Belladonna

[ATROPA BELLADONNA, DEADLY NIGHT-SHADE. NATUEAL ORDER,

SOLANACE^E.]

A native of the south of Europe, where it grows in mountainous regions on eminences covered with forests, also in damp and shady places. The plant growing in mountain-forests is much more vigor- ous than the artificially reared, or that which grows in damp or shady places. It was probably known to the Greeks; hence the name Atropa from atropos (inexorable) ; hence it was also termed Solanum lethale. Belladonna is the Italian for "beautiful lady"; the Italian ladies use the distilled water of belladonna leaves as a means of beautifying their complexion ; hence the name solanum cosmeticum.

Belladonna seems to act primarily upon the cerebro-spinal system of nerves, and to affect the vascular system secondarily. The most characteristic symptoms of poisonous doses of belladonna are : dry- ness of the mouth and fauces, difficulty of swallowing, constrictive spasms of the fauces, inflammation of the fauces, dilatation of the pupils (mydriasis), presbyopia or long-sightedness, with obscurity of vision, or amaurosis ; optical illusions (phantasms), suffused eyes, singing in the ears, numbness of the face, giddiness, delirium and intoxication, sopor, scarlet eruption on the skin.

Dr. Pereira reports seven cases of poisoning with belladonna, two of which proved fatal ; they occurred in the London hospital. The following symptoms attracted the Doctor's special attention : 1. Dry- ness of the fauces, causing excessive difficulty of swallowing and alteration of the voice. 2. Scarlet eruption on the arms and legs.

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Mueller gives an interesting description of five persons in one family who had eaten of the berries of belladonna. Two of the children (boys) having eaten a good quantity of the berries, were attacked with the following symptoms : They attempted to get from their beds and were with difficulty restrained ; continual motion of their hands and fingers, and desire to lay hold of the coverlets or other objects within reach ; thrusting the fingers up the nostrils ; acute delirium; vision nearly gone, but both patients at the same time fancied they saw a number of objects ; great dilatation and in- sensibility of the pupils ; eyeballs alternately fixed and rolling ; spas- modic action of the muscles of the face ; grating of the teeth ; yawning, etc. ; voice hoarse and weak ; slight swelling of the left side of the throat, and burning sensation in the oesophagus ; decided aversion to all liquids ; and spasmodic attacks whenever they were forced to swallow anything.

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562 BELLADONNA.

her attendants ; the delirium was at times interrupted by loud laugh- ter and grating of the teeth; her head was hot, face red, look wild and staring, tongue dry, abdomen somewhat distended, pulse small and very frequent. Two children, one of two years and a half, and the other of six, who had eaten the largest quantity of the berries, were soporous, with violent spasms of the extremities; head hot, face red, eyes protruded, pupils very much dilated, look staring, tongue dry, abdomen distended and very hard, pulse very frequent and small, grating of the teeth and croupy cough. All were saved.

L., male, aged twenty-six years, confined at the hospital to break up a passionate habit of using spirituous liquors, and particularly of morphia eating, to which latter he became so accustomed that he had already taken sixteen grains of morphia without fatal conse- quences; sent for me one night at 11 o'clock and complained in a hardly audible voice, of a pain in his eyeballs, as if they were pressed out of their sockets, and of a tightness over the temples; after rising from the chair, he had an uncertain gait, similar to a person afflicted with general progressive paresis, besides complaining of giddiness; his voice commenced to leave him more and more, and the words seemed to choice him, while he suffered, according to his own account, of a dull pain in the throat, with a feeling as if all the muscles of that region were drawn up into a lump, with continual inclination to stoallow.

Upon my examining his fauces, I found them peculiarly shaped and somewhat congested', the uvula, as well as the half-arches were retracted; upon the posterior part of the pharynx two oblong tumors, one on each side, were visible, which performed a kind of peristaltic movement, and which were doubtless the stylo-pharyngeal muscles bulging out; the pupils were considerably dilated, and the eyes glazy, pulse slow and full. * * * (The patient confessed to having taken poison (belladonna) equal, in the estimation of Dr.

Koch, to at least forty-live or fifty grains of the powdered drag.) An hour had elapsed since he had taken it, making an emetic useless. Opium, in one dose of eight grains was given, which the patient swal- lowed with great difficulty, on account of the constriction of the pharynx and oesophagus. In the meantime his symptoms became worse every minute. He gradually lost all consciousness, became in- sensible to pain upon pinching the skin, his eyes were staring and almost motionless, while he would sometimes suddenly strike out with his hands, as if ivanting to catch imaginary objects in the air; great restlessness follotved, patient would get out of bed, picked at the bedcover, like one who looks for insects or small objects ; complete delirium now set in, and the pulse became weaker and weaker, while it ran up in fre- quency to one hundred, so that I despaired of his life.

This state continued about fifteen miuutes, when all the symptoms, except

BELLADONNA. 563

These few cases of poisoning show us the great power possessed by belladonna over the functions of the cerebro-spinal axis, and tesify to the therapeutic virtues which belladonna must evince in some of the most formidable cerebral diseases. It is not only from cases of poisoning, however, that these virtues are inferred ; they have like- wise been made apparent by systematic provings upon the healthy.

CEPHALIC GROUP.

In looking at the symptoms which Hahnemann has recorded as the result of the action of moderate doses of belladonna upon the brain, we shall find that various forms of headache are distinctly delineated by these symptoms. Some of the most characteristic are :

Pressure in the brain, with sopor and vomiting ; headache, especially in the forepart of the head, worse during motion and when stooping ; continuous and forcible dilatation of the whole brain sensation as if the sutures of the skull were pressed asunder ; fueling in the head as if a lever were applied for the purpose of break- ing it asunder; headache above the orbits as though the brain would be pressed out, obliging him to keep his eyes closed, with contraction

564 BELLADONNA.

of the pupils ; pressure In the head, extending over a large surface ; sensation in the forehead as though the brain were ascending and descending ; pain as if the head were screwed together from side to side ; violent throbbing pain in the forehead, as if the bone were raised ; throbbing from before backward, externally the throbbing terminates in stitches ; we have also painful pressure in the head, especially in the lower part of the forehead, directly above the nose, intolerable on stepping or walking ; stabbing pain, as if with a knife, from one temple to the other ; sharp, cutting pain on the right side of the head, from the frontal to the occipital region, becoming gen- eral and at last settling in the right parietal bone. The head feels heavy as from intoxication ; vertigo, when stooping or rising from a stooping posture ; vertigo, with vanishing of sight; throbbing and beating in the head and carotids.

Belladonna is a prominent remedy in the treatment of vertigo. It is called for when the vertigo is attended with nausea, as is experienced when turning quickly around in a circle or when waking from a morning sleep, after spending a night in revelry ; dull- ness of mind ; luminous vibrations before the eyes, loss of conscious- ness, falling; vanishing 0f sight; tendency to fall backward or to the left side ; relieved in the open air, aggravated in the room.

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APOPLEXY. — In some cases of poisoning, belladonna has caused great slowness and fulness of the pulse, or else a contracted, hurried and intermitting pulse; some patients have lost their consciousness, with sudden falling down, and paralysis of the lower extremities. An old farmer, who had eaten a considerable quantity of the berries, was seized with profound coma and obstinate constipation. Bella- donna causes dilatation and insensibility of the pupils; bloating and glowing redness of the face, purple spots in the face, protrusion and injected condition of the eyeballs; deep, stertorous, rattling breathing, burning heat of the skin ; in short, a group of symptoms which are eminently characteristic of apoplexy.

CONGESTION OF THE BRAIN— All the prominent symptoms in a case of poisoning by belladonna show that sanguineous engorge- ment of the cerebral vessels is one of the most marked effects of this drug. The face looks bloated, red; the carotids throb violently; the jugulars are swollen; the skin is burning and dry; the patient

566 ;-ELLA DONNA.

lies in a state of sopor, from which he wakes every now and then with a start; the eyes look blood-shot and seem to protrude from their sockets; the pupils are excessively contracted, or this excessive contraction may alternate with extreme dilatation. No agent cor- responds with such a group of symptoms more accurately than belladonna.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN.— In this disease bella- donna is one of the main supports of the homoeopathic physician. It is indicated by the pains, tearing, lancinating, throbbing and deep- seated aching pains; by the signs of vascular engorgement, swelling of the head and face, burning recto ess of the face, protrusion and con- gested appearance of the eyes, purple spots in the face, heat of the head, throbbing of the carotids and temporal arteries ; by the fever, pulse full, hard and tense, skin burning and dry, excessive thirst during the moments of consciousness ; by the delirium, which is generally of the violent kind, the patients howl, kick, tear and strike about with an extraordinary power of resistance ; by the condition of pupils, they are contracted and exceedingly sensitive to the light ; by the consensual phenomena and phenomena of the ganglionic system, such as deafness and blindness, or excessive sensitiveness to noise, sudden changes of color in the face from red to pale, starting of the extremities and subsultus tendinum, sopor, and lastly by the charac- ter of the secretions ; the urine looks red and the bowels are constipated.

Belladonna affects the brain and nervous system generally in a pre- cisely similar manner, hence the remarkable control which belladonna has over inflammation of the brain in all curable cases where these phenomena constitute characteristic indications.

HYDROCEPHALUS. — Belladonna is even homoeopathic to hydrocephalus or dropsy of the brain, when resulting from previous inflammation. Belladonna has all the symptoms which generally mark the setting in of effusion into the ventricles, gritting of the teeth, frequent changes of color, sudden and extraordinary dilatation of the pupils, tetanic convulsions, coldness of the skin, slowness and sinking of the pulse, which, gradually changes to a quick, small and compressible pulse, and at times even involuntary discharge of stool and urine.

ENOEPHALOMAOIA, or softening of the brain, belladonna is, so far as we know, an agent that may prove of importance. The symptoms which characterize this disease point to a condition of the

BELLADONNA. 567

Nevertheless, a post-mortem examination in the earlier period of the disease, shows the brain dotted with a numberless multitude of bloody points, probably effusions from the mouths of the capillary vessels. At a later stage, the brain is found reduced to a soft pulp, which is sometimes so little coherent that under the least pressure it will diffuse itself like a liquid mass. Wibmer mentions the case of a man of sixty-two years who was poisoned by the berries of belladonna, and whose brain seems to have undergone a similar change of putrid softening.

The principal indications for belladonna in this disease are the character of the delirium, and the signs of cerebral congestion which are undoubtedly present in mania-a-potu.

568 BELLADONNA.

Pains in the head, such as may be occasioned by belladonna, par- ticularly a violent beating in the head ; distress as if the skull-cap would fly off ; feeling of heat in the head. Expression of distress and suffering in the countenance. Glistening and staring, also blood-shot eyes, also with spasmodic rolling of the eyeballs upward or laterally, and alternate contraction and dilatation of the pupils. Thickness and heaviness of the tongue, almost amounting to paralysis, so that the patient is only able to utter inarticulate sounds ; the tongue looks and feels like scorched leather, is covered with a thick, glazed, brown or blackish looking coating.

Unquenchable thirst, sometimes attended with spasmodic constriction of the throat and intense burning in the fauces, so that the least attempt to swallow a drop of liquid causes suffocating spasms of the throat and general tetanic convulsions. Typhomania, alternate coma and delirium which is at times bland, at others furious ; the patient can hardly be held on his bed, he wants to get away, strikes about, uses profane language, etc. Optical phantasms and hallucinations, which will be described in the optical group.

Picking at the bed-clothes and catching at flocks.

In the first stage of typhus the pulse may be undulating and soft, but somewhat accelerated. As the disease progresses, the pulse in- creases in frequency, becomes smaller and more compressible. When the paralytic stage is approaching, the contents of the bowels and bladder pass off involuntarily, and the skin becomes covered with a clammy sweat. Belladonna may be indicated even in this stage for our provings and the effects of poisonous doses show, that this agent causes a paralytic relaxation of the sphincters, dryness, brittleness and increased warmth of the skin, with partial clammy sweats, and a hurried, feeble, vibratory pulse.

NERVOUS GROUP.

The action of belladonna upon the ganglionic system is marked by the most extraordinary phenomena. We may consider it under the different heads of neuralgia, rheumatism, spasms and convul- sions, and paralysis.

BELLADONNA. 509

pains in the face ; these pains may be accompanied by irritation and inflammation of the eyeballs, headache, etc.

In Baldinger9 s Magazine the following beautiful cure of rheumatic prosopalgia is reported :

In a case of poisoning, related in Frank's Magazine, the patient complained of pain in all his joints, and of a painful sensation of chilliness in the parts down to the ends of the toes and fingers.

This last-mentioned symptom shows that belladonna may be a specific remedy in certain forms of articular rheumatism, especially when accompanied with chilly oreepings in the limbs and symptoms of incipient paralysis.

570 BELLADONNA.

Belladonna being in marked and specific rapport with the brain, it may be specifically indicated in articular rheumatism with super- vention of typhoid symptoms. In these forms of rheumatic inflam- mation, we must never expect to find the pulse full, hard and bounding, as it is in cases where aconite is indicated. The pulse is accelerated and somewhat fuller and larger than in the normal con- dition, but not hard or resisting.

In a case of neuralgic rheumatism of the right upper extremity, with lancinating pain from the top of the shoulder to the wrist when attempting to make the least motion, intensely distressing, crawling sensation in the humerus, and sensation as if the bone would crumble to atoms, a drop of the tincture of belladonna in a tumbler- ful of water effected a prompt and radical cure.

In chorea where belladonna is indicated, we may find symptoms of cerebral congestion or of cerebral disease, impaired mental power, even amounting to imbecility. An excessive uneasiness in the ex- tremities may likewise induce chorea-like movements of the parts. In one case, this uneasiness in the arms and legs, especially in the hands and feet, and also in the head, obliged the patient to move these parts continually, and even to shake the head convulsively to and fro.

A girl of nineteen years had been laboring for some time under severe mental affi.ction in consequence of which she was attacked with spasmodic twitchings of a

15ELLAD0NNA. 571

The convulsions of belladonna are generally accompanied by pecu- liar distinguishing phenomena, as may be seen from the following series :

PUERPERAL CONVULSIONS, belladonna may prove eminently useful if the existence of cerebral congestions, bloating and redness of the face, protrusion and suffusion of the eyeballs, dilatation and insensibility of the pupils, sometimes alternating with extreme con- traction, coldness of the hands and feet, and a small, jerking, hurried and perhaps intermitting pulse, justify the use of the drug.

HYDROPHOBIA. — Belladonna has always been considered a sort of specific for hydrophobia. We know that no known drug has the power of simulating hydrophobia to the same extent as belladonna. In a case reported in the " Oestreichische Jahrbucher " (Austrian Annals of Medicine), two little boys who had been poisoned with the berries of belladonna, exhibited, among other symptoms, a remark- able aversion to liquids; as soon as a spoon or a glass containing a liquid was put to their lips, the boys cried out vehemently, clenched their teeth spasmodically, and the liquid had to be forced down their throats, after which they were seized with spasms.

The following case is reported in Rust's Magazine: Four weeks ago, a woman had been bitten by a mad dog. The wound not bleeding, and the epidermis being

572 BELLADONNA.

EPILEPSY In epileptic convulsions, belladonna has proved use- ful, especially in those forms of epilepsy which Schoenlein designates as peripheral, testicular and hysteric epilepsy ; also in the so-called idiopathic or cerebral, where the preliminary and the convulsive stages coincide, and where the aura, the globus or spark remains un- perceived. by the patient. In the peripheral form, the attack is apt to commence with a crawling sensation under the skin. In epilepsia testiculars, where the preliminary irritation is first perceived in the testicles, with violent sexual excitement, involuntary emission of semen, and in epilepsia hysterica, where the irritation seems to pro- ceed from the womb, and is perceived like a ball ascending toward the brain, more particularly in the case of plethoric women, bella- donna may prove one of the useful remedies to be employed.

It has afforded relief in various cases of idiopathic epilepsy, complicated with symptoms of mental derangement, imbecility or idiocy.

We may therefore find belladonna indicated in paralysis after

BELLADONNA. 573

apoplexy, either of one side or both sides of the body, ox partial par- alysis of one extremity or of one side of the face, or of the organs of speech. The pulse which indicates belladonna in this disease may be slow and full, but not hard or bounding; generally it will be found small, hurried, weak or perhaps somewhat jerking and inclining to intermit. The paralysis may be complicated with symptoms of cere- bral derangement, vertigo as if the patient were turning in a circle, appearance of fright and imbecility, paralysis or paralytic weakness of the sphincters, with involuntary discharge of urine and feces, dila- tation or alternate dilatation and contraction of the pupils.

We have adverted to the power possessed by belladonna of curing paralysis of the sphincters of the bladder and anus, with involuntary and unperceived discharge of urine and feces. These paralytic con- ditions may be caused by rheumatic exposure, and may also be entailed upon a patient as the consequence of some mismanaged acute disease, such as typhus. Paralysis of the optic and auditory nerves from similar causes may likewise yield to belladonna, provided the affection is curable.

INFLAMMATORY GHOUF.

Belladonna causes inflammation by first depressing the brain, after which the functional power of the ganglionic system becomes simi- larly but secondarily affected. It affects the brain primarily and the ganglionic system incidoitally, whereas aconite affects primarily the ganglionic system and incidentally the brain. The first effect of belladonna upon the brain is to depress or unhinge its functional power and incidentally the functional power of the ganglionic sys- tem ; the stage of organic reaction is characterized, as in the case of aconite, by capillary engorgements, a full, rapid and bounding pulse, glowing redness of the face, protrusion and suffusion of the eyes, heat of the skin, etc.

But in the case of belladonna, the antagonism seems to be between the capillaries and the central point of the ner- vous system, the brain ; whereas, in the case of aconite, the antago- nism is between the capillaries and the terminal ramifications of the ganglionic system. Hence, in the case of belladonna, the antagonism is marked by more obstinate, more deep-seated and more dangerous symptoms than in the case of aconite. If, in a case of inflammation, the capillaries, under the stimulating effects of aconite, persist in remaining engorged ; if the redness, swelling and heat continue ; if the cutaneous exhalations show no signs of return ; if the brain con- tinues to feel dull, weary, torpid, we may rest assured that the

574 BELLADOHNA.

primary seat of the inflammatory process is not in the ganglionic system, but in the brain itself and that belladonna is required.

MYELITIS of the chronic form, especially if caused by the retro- cession of an eruption, symptoms of marasmus and of exhaustion of the brain, accompanied by characteristic symptoms of belladonna.

BELLADONNA. 575

In inflammation of the abdominal viscera, of the pancreas, omen- tum, colon and in enteritis proper, belladonna may be highly service- able. The local symptoms are marked by keen, sharp, pinching pains, with tenderness of the parts to pressure, meteorism, constipa- tion or diarrhoea and, most important of all, primary cerebral engorgement, with full, bounding pulse, flushed face, etc., followed by profound cerebral depression, as shown by stupor, hippocratic countenance, stertorous breathing and threadlike pulse. In

OESOPHAGITIS of an intense and malignant character, with great pain in the oesophagus, and agonizing distress when the least attempt at swallowing is made, belladonna is a prominent remedy.

ANGINA FAUOIUM. — The following pathogenetic symptoms define its use in angina faucium: Intense redness of the throat; excessive dryness and heat ; stinging, lancinating pains when swallow- ing; swelling of the internal parts, uvula, tonsils, back part of the tongue ; sensation as if the fauces were constricted, and as if the passage of even a drop of liquid would be impossible ; feelings of excoriation in the throat ; the tongue looks inflamed, and is lined with a thick, yellowish, brown coating, feels dry; discharge of a thick, viscid, ropy phlegm from the mouth; haemorrhage from the throat; foul taste in the mouth; swelling of the neck, with throb- bing of the carotids; these symptoms are accompanied by creeping chills followed by heat and dryness of the skin, irritated, hard, hurried pulse, dizziness and violent pain in the frontal region or temples, red urine, constipation. In

PUTRID SORE THROAT or diphtheritic inflammation of the pharynx and even in certain stages of true diphtheria, belladonna may be called for by the symptoms of the case. The following symptoms were recorded by pro vers and serve as indications:

576 BELLADONNA.

SCROFULOUS INFLAMMATION. — We refer the reader to adenitis, to scrofulous ophthalmia, etc.

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CANCERS — We may take this opportunity of indicating the use of belladonna in cancerous disorganizations.

In scirrhus in the neck of the womb, belladonna has been of great use, used both externally and internally.

FACIAL GROUP.

The action of belladonna upon the face is in many respects svmp- tomatic of other more deep-seated derangements, particularly of

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578 BELLADONNA.

cerebral congestion. But the face may also be affected specially, or idiopathically, as it were, although a close examination of these affections will invariable show that the brain is affected more or less, were it ever so slightly.

INFLAMMATION AND SWELLING OF THE FACE, of a catarrhal, erysipelatous, and more or less malignant nature. Even if caused by exposure to intense cold or keen cutting winds, bella- donna may prove of benefit.

NASITIS. — Belladonna likewise causes a burning redness of the tip of the nose ; hence in nasitis, or inflammation of the nose, this great agent may be of use, especially in the case of drunkards, scrof- ulous individuals, and persons having a delicate, sensitive and irritable skin. If the inflammation is attended with extreme sensi- tiveness of the smell and tingling in the tip of the nose (effects of belladonna) belladonna is the more specifically indicated.

ORBITAL GROUP.

INFLAMMATION Belladonna is homoeopathic to very many forms of ophthalmia, involving nearly every part of the eye. We may mention sclerotitis, keratitis, iritis, retinitis, conjunctivitis, choroiditis, chemosis, pannus, staphyloma, etc. It is a valuable rem- edy in catarrhal, rheumatic, arthritic, scrofulous and purulent ophthalmia.

The following symptoms will indicate the sphere of the curative action of belladonna in these diseases : Bright redness of the globe of the eye ; vascularity of the parts ; feeling of heat in the eyes; sensation as if the eyeball were enveloped in hot vapor ; severe pain, especially at night ; stinging, darting, tearing pain ; pulsating pain ; intense, maddening pains in the eye ; beating, throbbing headache with characteristic symptoms ; optical phantasms ; intense sensitive- ness of the eyeball to motion or contact ; lachrymation ; photo- phobia ; contraction (dilatation) of the pupils.

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AMBLYOPIA, or amaurotic dimness of vision, may require bella- donna. Our provings show that dimness of vision is one of the most characteristic effects of belladonna.

BLEPHAROPHTHALMIA, inflammation of the lids, may find its remedy in belladonna. Our provings show, that inflammatory redness and swelling, wTith suppuration, are effects peculiar to belladonna.

BLEPHAROSPASMS will vield to belladonna, for this substance causes constant and painful twitching of the lids, a sort of spasm.

DIPLOPIA. — This last symptom shows that belladonna produces and therefore cures diplopia, a symptom which sometimes occurs in amaurotic conditions of the eyes, or is preliminary thereto.

580 BELLADONNA.

Some of the symptoms enumerated are only valuable as elements of a higher group. For instance, the staring and sparkling of the eyes; the spasmodic rolling and squinting of the eyeballs ; their pro- trusion and redness, may characterize typhus, meningitis, mania, etc.

HAEMORRHAGE from the eyes, a sort of oozing of blood, is cured by belladonna.

AUDITORY GROUP.

OTITIS, inflammation of the ear, especially if the brain is in- volved, as seen by distress in the head, dizziness, signs of cerebral congestion, flushed face, noises in the head ; the ears look dark-red, swollen, discharge pus and blood.

OTALGIA, earache, if the symptoms correspond with those ob- tained by the proving of this drug, such as, sensation as if the ear would be pulled out ; paroxysms of sharp, crampy pain in the inner ear ; boring pressure in the meatus, as if by a ringer. In a case of otalgia, where the inner and outer ear looked dark-red, swollen, with discharge of blood and pus from the ear, pain as if the ear would be torn out of the head, intense aching pain in the ear, belladonna effected a perfect cure over night. The patient had not had a wink of sleep for three nights on account of the pain. If an affection of this kind should remain after scarlatina or measles, belladonna is is undoubtedly indicated.

OTORRHCEA we may find belladonna indicated, for this drug has caused " discharge of a puriform liquid for twenty days." The dis- charge may likewise consist of fetid mucus and blood.

DENTAL GROUP.

RHEUMATIC LOCKJAW.— Among the symptoms of this group

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Belladonna causes various kinds of rheumatic pains in the teeth and gums, such as: tearing, drawing and digging pains in the teeth ; ulcerative pains in the gums and roots of the teeth, as if they would break oft' ; itching and throbbing in the gums. We therefore pre- scribe belladonna with success in

TOOTHACHE characterized by similar symptoms, particularly if the pain is attended with symptoms of cerebral congestion, redness and heat of the face, heat, redness and swelling of the gums, which, moreover, incline to bleed, beating in the head.

BUCCAL GROUP.

Many of the symptoms which distinguish the action of belladonna upon the tongue, lining membrane and secretions of the mouth occur in the course of functional disturbances of a high order. Belladonna causes a sensation on the surface of the tongue as if it had gone to sleep, as if it were dead, like fur or cotton ; the tongue has a white coating upon it, or it is covered with a quantity of yellowish- white, tenacious mucus ; the papillae are bright-red, inflamed and swollen ; the tongue is sore and painful to the touch ; bad smell from the mouth, early in the morning on waking ; the mouth feels parched, .as if the skin had been destroyed by something acrid or corrosive ; he is almost unable to swallow on account of the dryness of the mouth, nose and fauces. These symptoms may occur in fever, more particularly in typhoid and mucous fevers.

Belladonna causes the secretion of a quantity of tenacious mucus in the mouth. It also causes profuse pytalism, soreness of the inner side of the cheek, especially in the region of the orifice of the sali- vary duct, which feels as if corroded. Under the action of bella- donna the mouth becomes filled in the morning with a quantity of putrid saliva ; the saliva which is secreted by belladonna is thick, tenacious, white and sticking to the tongue like glue ; it may some- times be seen hanging out at the mouth in long strings. These various symptoms may likewise occur in fever, more particularly in typhoid fever, with predominance of gastric, mucous and bilious symptoms; as well as in common agina faucium, and in angina diphtheritica or in putrid sore throat.

582 BELLADONNA.

MERCURIAL PYTALISM.— The pytalism and soreness of the mouth justify the antidotal use of belladonna in mercurial pytalism and in rheumatic as well as scrofulous stomatitis, even in that form of the disease which is generally described under the name of can- crum oris, gangrenous inflammation of the mouth.

Belladonna exercises a remarkable influence over the powers of speech. It has the following symptoms in this direction : Stammer- ing weakness of the organs of speech, with unimpaired consciousness and dilatation of the pupils ; paralytic weakness of the organs of speech ; speechlessness, he does not utter a sound ; he has great difficulty in talking ; his voice is a whistling and nasal voice.

GLOSSITIS, or rather glossoncus, belladonna may be of use, if the affection is of a chronic nature. Belladonna causes swelling, redness and soreness of the tongue, such as may occur after mercu- rial poisoning, or as a consequence of acute inflammation.

PHARYNGEAL GROUP.

CHRONIC SORE THROAT— We have already alluded to the curative relation of belladonna to acute inflammation of the throat and to its power of exciting hydrophobic spasms. It remains for us to state that this agent is likewise eminently useful in chronic sore throat, when the throat feels as if excoriated ; it is dry, and the patient may even complain of a burning sensation in the throat ; the throat feels as if contracted, the tonsils seem enlarged. This kind of sore throat may remain after measles, scarlatina, or it may occur in consequence of a mismanaged angina, or as a symptom of con- stitutional scrofula.

CHYLO-POIETIC GROUP.

TASTE, APPETITE, THIRST.— Belladonna causes loss of taste ; insipid and also foul taste in the mouth ; slimy taste in the mouth ;

BELLADONNA. 5S3

Belladonna causes dryness of the mouth, violent, burning, suffo- cative, unquenchable thirst, with inability to swallow the least drop, or with great aversion to drink. This aversion seems to arise in some measure from the sense of suffocation which the patient expe- riences when swallowing liquids.

Belladonna likewise causes spasmodic hiccough, or spasmodic eructations resembling hiccough, or hiccough succeeded by violent thirst, redness and heat of the head. Hence we recommend this agent for spasmodic singultus, whether symptomatic of nervous irrita- tion of the oesophagus or stomach, or if occurring from some other cause, as a symptom of organic or functional disease of the stomach.

584 BELLADONNA.

ing itself in consequence of some primary lesion of a central vital organ, such as the brain or womb.

Among the gastric symptoms of belladonna, the following is deserving of particular mention : Nausea and inclination to vomit as if proceeding from the throat, with occasional bitter eructations, in the evening. This peculiar form of nausea may occur as a symptom of hysteria, or in the course of pregnancy, in consequence of some incipient degeneration of the pharyngeal mucous membrane.

PAINS. — Belladonna causes a certain order of pains in the stomach, which may render it useful in certain forms of cardialgia ; it causes, for instance, a hard and painful pressure in the region of the stomach, or a spasm of the stomach which always occurs during a meal ; it also causes burning and lancinating pains in the region of the stomach. The burning which belladonna causes, may amount to actual gastritis, which is accompanied by nervous symptoms, red- ness and bloating of the face, gradually changing to the opposite condition, pale and hippocratic countenance, vomiting and horrid retching, thirst, foul taste, inflamed and thickly-coated tongue, small and quick pulse, cold extremities, and most frequently muttering delirium.

These pains may occur more or less paroxysmally, at intervals, characterizing a nervous affection of the bowels which might be designated as colicodynia, to which the following symptoms may like- wise refer : Violent lancinations between the right hip and the umbilicus, as if a dull knife were thrust in. Heat, with anxietj in

BELLADONNA. 585

These few symptoms point to belladonna as a remedy for certain forms of diarrhwa, dysenteric diarrhoea, where this agent may be required botli when the disorder occurs as an idiopathic affection or as .a symptom of some more deep-seated derangement, enteritis, periton- itis, typhus.

PROCTALGIA. — We may not overlook the fact that belladonna is useful in proctalgia, where it is indicated by the following svmp- toms : Pressure in the rectum, toward the orifice, and likewise, .sudden lancinations in the rectum, during motion.

586 BELLADONNA.

STRICTURE OF THE ANUS— The provings likewise show that belladonna causes and may therefore cure this affection, the rec- ord being, "violent itching and constrictive sensation at the anus."

PARALYSIS OF THE SPHINCTERS of the rectum and anus, which is indicated in the following record, " Involuntary discharge of feces from paralysis of the sphincter ani," may likewise yield to belladonna.

The curative results of belladonna in this affection are not due to its narcotic properties, but to its purely dynamic action upon the nervous derangement.

A girl, about thirty years old, hysterical and suffering from a pelvic tumor, which could easily be felt by an examination per anum, ceased to have natural stools and was obliged to evacuate the rectum with the fingers. Injections increased the trouble and she was glad when the stools were hard. If she went without an evacu- ation for several days, she hiccoughed enormously and vomited finally thin, brown fluid of fecal odor, and vomiting of exclusively fecal matter seemed imminent.

Upon examination I found the rectum in a normal condition, but there was a protrusion of a pear-like sac into it, with an opening at the smaller extremity, large enough to admit the index-finger, much like the os uteri. It could not be denied that 1 had to deal with an intussusception, probably caused by a stricture of the rectum higher up and through the pressure of the stool downward, by peristaltic force. What could I do? Internal medication could do nothing, for the stricture was not a spasmodic, transient condition, but probably an organic trouble, a sequence of chronic inflammation, co- existing with the tumor.

Introduced suppositories containing from one-third of a grain to one grain each of the extract of belladonna. Nausea and retching dis- appeared soon. The symptoms of belladonna were at first very weak; sleep at night somewhat heavy, considerable excitement during the day, the eyes looked often wild, she seemed constantly hurried, and, during the last few days, there were visions of frightful spectres. Dilatation of the pupils did not show itself until after she had used one-half grain suppositories. [Dr.

Ruckert gave, during the first four days, one sup- pository each day, containing one grain of extr. belladonnas ; for next seven days, one each day containing extr. belladonnas one-half gr.; for next three days, one each day containing extr. belladonnas one-third gr.; on the next day one containing extr. bella- donnas one-half grain Ed.] On the fifteenth day I gave her nux vom.30, which relieved the appearance of spectres. The patient was kept on a scanty diet, such as weak broths, etc.

She had but one stool, being obliged to relieve herself in the usual manner. On the nineteenth day she had a copious and natural stool, preceded by a terrible tenesmus. Seemingly, belladonna had now commenced to act upon the muscular fibre of the rectum, as it produced also the relaxation of the muscles' of the iris, Two years have gone, the pelvic tumor has continued to grow, but the stools have been perfectly natural. (Ruckert.)

Belladonna should not be lost sight of in scrofulous affections of the glandular system generally, and of the mesenteric ganglia in particular.

BELLADONNA. 587

URINARY GROUP.

Belladonna, if administered in large doses, increases the urinary secretion. Small doses of belladonna retard the secretion of this fluid ; the provers of belladonna report : suppression of stool and urine, accompanied by profuse sweat.

HYSTERIA. — Belladonna alters the color of the urine; it may be a gold-yellow or red color; it may likewise be pale and watery, a con- dition which recommends belladonna to our attention in spasmodic disease, more especially when of the character of hysteria, hysteric spasms or convulsions, for which belladonna has been recommended in a previous paragraph.

The reddish color of the urine may occur in such inflammatory diseases as may require belladonna ; A reddish sediment is sometimes thrown down by it.

RETENTION OF URINE, to which belladonna is homeopathic, does not often occur as an idiopathic affection ; it may be sympto- matic of some cerebral disease, of inflammatory fevers, more particu- larly of typhoid and mucus fevers.

NEPHRITIC COLIC— We cannot close this chapter without alluding to the benefit which we may derive from belladonna in the treatment of nephritic colic when caused by the passage of a calculus through the ureters. Belladonna may relieve the spasmodic irrita- tion of the walls of the ureters, particularly if the presence of violent cerebral congestions, flushed and jaundiced face, nausea and vomit-

ing, indicate its use.

SEXUAL GROUP.

The action of moderate doses of belladonna upon the sexual organs seems to be characterized by spasm and congestion. It causes: Repeated paroxysms of a tearing pain in the left spermatic cord, in the evening while in bed, previous to falling asleep; retrac- tion of the prepuce behind the glans, causing a disagreeable sensation in the denuded glans ; lancination along the urethra, from the bul- bus to the orifice, when walking; drawing in the spermatic cord when urinating ; lancination in the testicle, it is drawn up ; violent pressing toward the sexual organs, worse when sitting bent forward, relieved by straightening himself.

These symptoms indicate the use of belladonna in congestive and spasmodic affections of the male organs, among which we may single out: phimosis, where it may be necessary to use belladonna both

588 BELLADONNA.

externally and internally; urethritis, more particularly if the bulbil s •of the urethra is inflamed ; spasmodic irritation of the spermatic cord, -with tearing and drawing pains ; orchitis, with lancing pain in the ^testicle, it is hard and drawn up. Belladonna is more particularly indicated in the congestive or subacute form, with tendency to per- manent enlargement and induration ; the cord may be involved.

NOCTURNAL EMISSION Belladonna weakens the sexual

powers and depresses the desire for sexual intercourse. It causes : Nocturnal emissions, while the penis remains relaxed ; discharge of the prostatic fluid, without erection ; the sexual appetite seems to be completely extinguished.

In accordance with these symptoms we may recommend belladonna for nocturnal emission, discharge of the prostatic fluid and

SPERMATORRHEA when arising from weakness of the seminal vesicles, with sweating of the parts, pressing and lancing pains in the parts.

One of the woman pro vers of belladonna reports the following symptom.: "Distention of the abdomen, with pressing toward the pudendum, followed by discharge of white mucus from the vagina." This symptom, in connection with the fact that belladonna retards the appearance of the menstrual secretion, may render this agent useful in

AMENORRHCEA or dysmenorrhoea, where the catamenia are either preceded or superceded by a leucorrhoeal discharge, bearing- down pains, flushed countenance, symptoms of cerebral irritation, phantasms, scintillations, etc. In

DYSMENORRHCEA to which belladonna is homoeopathic, rheu- matic symptoms may develop themselves. Greding reports among his cases : nightly yawning and creeping chills over the back during the catamenia, and Hahnemann's provers report: crampy tearing, at one time in the back and at other times in the arms.

Evers, in his Berlin Collections, reports "fetid metrorrhagia" as one of the effects of belladonna. This symptom may suggest the use of belladonna in affe tions where the sanguineous secretions of the

BELLADONNA. 5801

The power which belladonna possesses of disorganizing the uterine secretions, arresting the flow of milk and disturbing the functional powers of the brain, renders it valuable in diseases arising from, or, at any rate, co-existing with suppression of milk after parturition. "We may mention

PUERPERAL FEVER during the congestive stage, with determi- nation of blood to the brain, throbbing headache, stitches through the brain, flushed and bloated countenance, glistening and staring eyes, dizziness, occasional delirium, nausea and vomiting, furred tongue, dry and sticky mouth, foul taste, soft, quick pulse, diarrhoea or constipation, red urine.

PUERPERAL MANL1 may likewise occcur, and require the use of belladonna if the mania is of the furious, ludicrous or muttering order.

NYMPHOMANIA — Whether this agent is required in nympho- mania depends upon the accompanying cerebral symptoms, the char- acter of the delirium, and general condition of the uterine functions.

GALACTIRRHCEA.— On the other hand, small doses of bella- donna may cause an increased flow of milk, a species of galactirrhcea, for which small doses of belladonna may be given with good effect, even when occurring in women who are not pregnant.

A partial or total suppression of the milky secretion may lead to the formation of nodosities in the breast, for which belladonna is sometimes given with good effect. It may often be advisable to give the drug both internally and externally.

PROLAPSUS. — The tendency to sanguineous engorgement which characterizes the action of belladonna upon the womb, may be accom- panied by prolapsus or falling of the womb, or with a sensation as if

590 ^ BELLADONNA.

the womb had descended, although there may not be any actual descension. The patient experiences a dragging, heavy pain in the uterine region, which generally disappears when lying down.

Another result of these uterine engorgements may be

ULCERATION OF THE NECK OF THE AVOMB, with con- sequent discharges from the vagina. The neck of the womb is swollen, sensitive, with an increased temperature of the part.

SWELLING AND INDURATION OF THE NECK OF THE WOMB may require the internal and external use of belladonna. The induration may even be of a scirrhous nature, with lancinations in the indurated portion of the uterus.

STRICTURE OF THE OS UTERI.— Belladonna seems to have a marked effect upon constriction of orifices, and has been used with success in stricture of the os uteri, more particularly when occurring during labor.

HOUR-GLASS CONRACTIONS OF THE UTERUS, where secale may likewise be very efficient.

C ATA UREAL GROUP.

Belladonna affects the lining membrane of the nose and of the bronchial passages in a more or less marked manner. Among the recorded symptoms we distinguish the following :

BELLADONNA. 591

HYSTERIA, this alteration of the nasal secretions may likewise occur.

APHONIA will yield to belladonna, if it is symptomatic of a chronic irritation of the lining membrane of the larynx, or

CHRONIC LARYNGITIS, with sensitiveness of the larynx to pressure, paroxysms of dry cough, determination of blood to the head. In

PHTHISICKY COUGH, with wheezing, weakness of voice, expec- toration of bloody mucus, particularly early in the morning, bella- donna may afford much relief, more especially if the cough comes in paroxysms and is of a spasmodic character. In

WHOOPING COUGH, this agent has been used with considerable success during the spasmodic stage. A few doses are sufficient in many cases to check the violence of the paroxysms or even to arrest them altogether.

592 BELLADONNA.

THORACIC GROUP.

These symptoms may occur in hysteria, during a paroxysm of hys- teric spasms affecting particularly the heart and lungs.

In congestion of the lungs and heart they may likewise be present more or less.

FEVER GROUP.

Belladonna may be adapted to fevers of an intermittent as well as of a remittent type. General indications for belladonna in fever are : cerebral congestions, flushed and puffed face, sparkling or staring eyes, headache, restlessness, drowsiness, starting of the limbs, nausea, dry and sticky mouth, sensitiveness to light and noise, etc.

Belladonna may be indicated in simple catarrhal, congestive, typhoid and rheumatic fevers. The homoeopathicity of belladonna depends: (a.) Upon the condition of their aim pain, dizziness, sopor, delirium, (b.) Upon the appearance of the face: bloated, flushed face, glistening or staring eyes, expression of distress and agony in the fea- tures, (c.) Upon the condition of the tongue and mouth: thickly- furred tongue, grayish, brown, blackish coating upon the tongue ; soreness of the edges and tip of the tongue ; profuse secretion of tenacious, stringy saliva in the mouth ; foul taste, absence of taste ; thirst on account of dryness of the mouth and tongue, (d.) Urinary and divine secretions : yellow-colored or red urine, retention of urine or inability to retain it ; diarrhoea or constipation, the bowels being soft, with pinching, spasmodic pains in the bowels, ulcerative pain in the ileo-coecal region at a later stage of the fever ; the discharges have a foul smell, (e.) Upon the pulse: soft, rather full and hur- ried, (f.) Upon the temperature of the shin: dry and warm, or irregular temperature, cold feet and knees while the rest of the body is warm ; chilly creepings or internal chilliness with warmth of the skin, or paroxysms of profuse sweat preceded by excessive rest- lessness and anxiety, (g.) Upon the general condition of the nervous system : startings, spasmodic twitchings, sopor or stupor, wakefulness,. horrid dreams, rapid loss of strength, emaciation. In

BELLADONNA. 593

ERUPTIVE FEVEKS, belladonna occupies a prominent rank as a remedial agent. It causes measle-shaped eruptions, and may there- fore be useful in

MEASLES, if the brain has to be assisted in bringing the erup- tion out. We may infer the existence of this necessity from various symptoms : sopor or even stupor, convulsive startings, flushes in the face or changes of color in the face, hurried and irregular pulse.

Belladonna likewise causes scarlet-spots or a scarlet-redness in the face, on the ncek, chest, abdomen, hands, sometimes accompanied with hot swelling of the parts, small and quick pulse, asthmatic dyspnoea, violent cough, delirium, rubbing of the nose, dilatation of the pupils. This effect of belladonna upon the skin has led to its use in

SCARLTINA LAEVIGATA, or the smooth Sydenhamian scarlet fever, as a sort of specific for this very formidable malady. Even alloeopathic practitioners recommend its curative virtues in this disease.

Hahnemann recommends the prophylactic virtues of belladonna in scarlet fever. Evidence on this point is exceedingly contradictory.

EXANTHEMATOUS GKOUP.

We have mentioned the use of belladonna in inflammations, acute and chronic, of the glands of the body, and have stated that it may even be of use in scirrhous indurations of the mammae and of other glandular bodies. It is also recommended in ulcers of a scrofulous or mercurial nature, readily bleeding and covered with a blackish crust.

Belladonna causes drowsiness and even stupor. Persons poisoned with belladonna lie in a state of stupor ; their breathing is stertorous, they lie motionless ; at times they raise their eyes, stare, look around wildly ; while in this state of stupor, the tendons twitch, the face looks pale ; the face and hands are cold, the pulse is hard, quick and small ; on waking, the mouth is dry, the tongue cleaves to the palate, the breath has a foul odor.

Instead of stupor the opposite condition may set in, excessive wakefulness, utter inability to sleep in consequence of excitement of the fancy, all sorts of visions and hallucinations crowding upon the mind. The sleep is interrupted by frequent startings, screams, moans as if the person were in great distress, frightful dreams about robbers, ghosts, fire. The sleep is not refreshing; on waking one feels exhausted, weary, sick all over.

These various characteristics may occnr in fevers and mental dis-

VOL. I. — 37.

eases to which belladonna is specifically adapted, and constitute so many confirmatory evidences of the homoeopathicity of belladonna to the case before us.

MENTAL GROUP.

TYPHOID FEVERS.— These effects of belladonna upon the mind and sensorium may occur as abnormal states in typhoid fevers, and in

MANIA, craziness, no matter from what cause the mental disorder may emanate. In certain specific cases, specific remedies may be applicable ; for instance if the disorder arises from the violent sup- pression of an eruption to which some peculiar medicine was adapted; in cases of syphilitic metastasis ; nevertheless, even in such cases it may be wise to use belladonna.

A strong, healthy primipara, of twenty years, was taken with violent mania on the fifth day after confinement and was treated antiphlogistically for nine days. Symp-

BELLADONNA. 595

ANTIDOTAL TREATMENT.— In a case of poisoning we first withdraw the poison by means of an emetic, for which purpose from twenty to thirty grains of the sulphate of zinc may be administered; after which we resort to such antidotes as strong lemonade, strong black coffee, cold affusions, mustard -draughts to the feet and stomach, etc.

The sulphate of atropia resembles atropine in its physiological action, but it is more frequently used on account of its greater solu- bility in water. Authorities of the physiological schools teach that atropine is the sole active principle of belladonna or, in other words, that atropine represents all the medicinal properties of bella- donna and may be used in place of belladonna, whenever the latter is indicated. The greater energy of action and the greater cleanli- ness of atropine (a point of some importance in the topical use of the drug) are considerations of no small importance.

This plausible statement has been accepted in good faith by many physicians of our school, who have advised the use of atropine whenever belladonna, though well indicated, fails to relieve. Viewing the subject in the light of the physiologico-chemical school, this proposition can be sus- tained ; the homoeopath, however, should never forget that the individuality of a drug depends upon something more than can be

596 BELLADONNA.

expressed by a chemical formula, and that no one part of a drug, no one constituent, can truly represent the entirety of the action of the whole.

Atropine in the hands of the homoeopathic practitioner, has been found of particular benefit in diseases which involve the nervous sys- tem and are characterized by convulsive action.

BERBERIS VULGARIS. 597

The long-continued application of atropine to the eye is harmful . It is stated, upon the authority of von Grasfe and others, that its use has produced acute glaucoma ; hence it is contra indicated in eyes predisposed to glaucomatous conditions.