Lycopodium is one of the pivotal remedies of the materia medica, and an intimate acquaintance with its properties and relations is essential to a proper understanding of the materia medica as a whole. The spores from which the attenuations are made have been called "vegetable sulphur" (probably on account of their use for producing stage-lightning at theatres), and Lyc. ranks with Sulphur and Calcarea in the central trio around which all the rest of the materia medica can be grouped. The Lycopodiums stand between the mosses and the ferns, and in past eras occupied a most important place in the world's vegetation as fossils show. In the old school the function of Lyc. has dwindled into its use as an "inert" coating for pills and an "inert" powder for dusting on excoriated surfaces. Earlier practitioners did not consider it as by any means inert. Teste mentions that it is recorded of a decoction of the plant that it has caused vomiting. The use of the powder in intertrigo was not regarded as a physical one but as medicinal. It was praised by Wedel, Lantilius, Gesner, and others in (1) cardialgia and flatulent colic of children and young girls; (2) diseases of children; (3) nephritic colic and calculi—which is about as much as some homoeopathists know about it at the present day. But Mérat and de Lens speak of its internal use in: Rheumatism; retention of urine; nephritis; epilepsy; and pulmonary diseases. In Poland it is used for powdering the hair in "plica polonica," a decoction being used internally and also externally at the same time. The comparative fruitfulness of the two schools of medicine may be accurately measured in the history of this drug: in the old school it has dwindled into an "inert" powder; in homoeopathy, by means of the scientific methods of developing and investigating drug action it possesses, all the old virtues of Lyc. have been confirmed and precisionised, and a new world of medicinal action added to them. Teste puts Lyc. at the head of a group containing Nat. m., Viol. tric., and Ant. c. Among the common characters he attributed to them are: Primary action on digestive organs and adjoining glands; on liver and larger intestines rather than stomach. Aversion to bread and < from eating bread and foods made of fermented and fermentable dough. Frequent and painful eructations. Sour eructations; vomiting; distension; alternate diarrhoea and constipation. Pale, whitish, cloudy, mucous urine, often fetid. Premature and profuse menses. Peevishness. Rush of blood to head. Falling of hair; with crusty scalp eruption. Inflammation of eyes and lids. Deficiency of vital heat. Contraction of tendons, especially hamstrings. These are general features common to the group. Lyc. acts profoundly on the entire organism, on solids and fluids. It causes paralysis and paralytic weakness of limbs, of brain, suppurative conditions, even gangrene. It is particularly suited to: Persons of keen intellect, but feebler muscular development; upper part of body wasted, lower semi-dropsical; lean and predisposed to lung and hepatic conditions; herpetic and scrofulous constitutions; hypochondriacs subject to skin diseases; lithic acid diathesis, much red sediment in urine, urine itself transparent; sallow people with cold extremities, haughty disposition, when sick, mistrustful, slow of comprehension, weak memory; weak children with well-developed heads but puny, sickly bodies, irritable, nervous, and unmanageable when sick, after sleep cross, pushing every one away angrily; old women and children. In my experience it has been more indicated in persons of dry temperament and dark complexion; but this is not by any means exclusive. Undernourished states suggest it. But it is impossible to get the best therapeutic results for this great remedy without an intimate knowledge of certain leading characteristics. Lyc. will cure any case in which the totality of symptoms correspond with symptoms of the remedy; but it will be found that in a large proportion of cases in which this is the case, there will be present some symptoms which are peculiarly characteristic of the remedy, constituting what are called keynotes. Practice on keynote symptoms alone is an absurdity; but the right use of keynote symptoms is an immense saving of labour. The Lyc. keynotes are very pronounced, and though I cannot say that one is more important than another, I give them in this order. (1) < From 4 to 8 p.m. [In one case cured by Lyc. it was: "Bad from 4 to 6; better at 8; gone at 9."] In any case, when the symptoms are < from 4 to 8 p.m., the chances are very great that the rest of the case will correspond to Lyc., no matter what the disease may be. The times may not be accurately at these hours, and still Lyc. may be the remedy. < At 4 p.m. or from 4 to 6; and the condition may continue into the night without the 8 p.m. alleviation. But the grand characteristic is 4 to 8. (2) The second keynote is in direction, right to left. Any affection commencing on the right side and spreading to the left is likely to require Lyc., whether it be headache, sore throat, chest affection, abdominal affection, pains in ovaries—if the affection begins on the right side and spreads to the left Lyc. must be studied. Cutting pains shooting from right to left in any part indicate Lyc. In this it is complementary to Lach., which has just as characteristically the opposite direction. Lyc. is a right-side medicine; but right-sidedness is not so characteristic as the direction right to left. These two features are perhaps the most valuable keynotes, in the materia medica. After them in importance, and scarcely less important, come others. (3) > From uncovering. This is general, but it applies to Sufferings in the head more particularly. If a patient complains of headache, no matter of what kind, and if the headache is distinctly > by taking off the hat or other covering, Lyc. will probably be the remedy. This is the great dividing line between this remedy and Sil., another great headache medicine: in Sil. cases the patient must wrap up the head. > From loosening the garments is in the same category. (4) The next characteristic is somewhat of an opposite kind: > From warm drinks; < from cold food and drink. This does not refer to gastric complaints alone, but to headache, sore throat, and any other condition. (5) Fan-like movement of alae nasi occurring in cerebral, pulmonary, and abdominal complaints. The movements are usually rapid, never slow, and are not synchronous with the breathing. In the same order with this are spasmodic movements of facial muscles: angles of mouth alternately drawn up and relaxed; and spasmodic movements of tongue, it cannot be protruded; rolls from side to side like a pendulum. One prover had a kind of cramp in the tongue when speaking, cutting off the end of every sentence. Nodding and side to side movement of the head. Loosvelt (H. W., xiv. 396) has found that "half-open condition of the eyes during sleep" is a strong indication for Lyc., and has led him to make cures in cases of bronchitis, pneumonia, and typhoid when other remedies have failed. The "fan-like movement" of the alae nasi led Halbert to the cure of a case of nervous asthma (H. W., xxxiii. 545): Mrs. S., 28, had periodic attacks of spasmodic asthma, always ushered in by unusual excitement and attended by peculiar mental depression. The attack for which Halbert saw her was induced by a violent fit of anger, and persisted longer than usual. Extreme despondency and melancholy, would have nothing to do with her friends. Fan-like motion of alae nasi. Constriction of throat, like globus, but always induced by regurgitation of food. Excessive appetite easily satisfied. Fulness of abdomen with flatulence. Constipation, dry, hard stools. Dyspnoea. Slight cough with chest constriction; > in open air. All symptoms < 4 to 8 p.m. Lyc. 6x trit. cured. (6) Suddenness; sudden flashes of heat, lightning-like pains; sudden satiety. Pains and symptoms come and go suddenly, as with Bell. (7) Sensation as if a hand were in the body clutching the entrails (also as with Bell.). (8) Restlessness > by motion. (9) Right foot hot, left foot cold. (10) Burning pains > by heat; burning like hot coals between scapulae. Burning stinging in breasts. (11) Dryness of parts: of mucous membranes; of vagina; of skin, especially palms. Prominent among mental symptoms is Fear: of being alone; of men; of his Own shadow. Apprehensiveness: susceptible to natural causes of fear which make a profound impression on bodily organs, as the liver; mental states resulting from fear. Profound sadness and inclination to weep. Peevish. Forgetful. Avaricious. Imperiousness. Lyc. is a remedy for misers. The headaches are in great variety, but the modalities will generally decide: < 4 to 8 p.m.; from eating; from warmth of bed; from becoming heated during a walk; from heat in general; from mental exertion; > in open air; in cool place; by uncovering. Hair falls out. Ophthalmia: conjunctiva looks like red flesh. Lyc. has cured desperate cases of facial neuralgia with the general characteristics of the drug. The facial appearance is pale and yellow; deeply furrowed; looks elongated. Sordes in teeth. Lyc. is in the front rank among flatulent remedies. Incarcerated flatulence; more in intestines than stomach; painful with > by eructations. There is the sinking sensation at epigastrium; and it is < in the night, waking up the patient; or < in afternoon. This sensation becomes translated into canine hunger, but as soon as a morsel of food is swallowed there is distension and fulness to the throat, preventing him eating any more. Sour stomach, sour taste, sour vomiting. Thirst for little and often, but drinking cold water = nausea. Great weakness with the vomiting. Cord-like tension across hypochondria. Flatulence incarcerated, pressing outward, sensation as if something moving up and down in bowels. Great sensitiveness in liver region. [This sensitiveness is a characteristic of Lyc., as it is of its complementary remedies, Lach., Kali iod., and Iod. It has led me to cure many cases of sciatica having this characteristic: cannot bear to lie on painful side it is so sensitive. Especially in case of right-side sciatica of this description. Gums, epigastrium, abdomen, right side of chest, eruption round anus, all soft parts are sensitive. Touch and pressure < all these; only > tearing in head.] The flatulence presses on rectum and bladder. There is out-pushing also in right inguinal ring; and Lyc. has cured many cases of right inguinal hernia, especially in children. Lyc. is one of the great remedies for constipation where purgatives have been abused. Spasmodic constriction of rectum. Constipation of infants. The urinary symptoms present no less important characteristics than the gastric. Renal colic, with stinging, tearing, digging pain in right ureter to bladder, as if some small calculus was tearing its way to bladder. Aching in back before micturition. Child cries before micturating; red sand is found on diaper. Aching in kidneys < before > after urinating. The catamenia are too early and too profuse. Extreme sadness and irritability before, ceasing with the flow. Cutting pain right to left. Left leg colder than right. Borborygmi under left ribs in front. Ill-humour. Bearing-down pains and headache. Intolerance of tight clothing. Sensation as if a hand were in body clutching the entrails. Though a right-side remedy, it must not be supposed that Lyc. is exclusively so. It has cured left ovarian pain, dull aching, < on raising the limb or turning in bed. It is of great service in pregnancy (nausea; varices; excessive foetal movements); and in labour (unsatisfactory pains). The "burning" of Lyc. is exemplified in the cure of a case of puerperal fever having these symptoms: Feels as though hot balls dropped from each breast through to back, rolling down back, along each leg, and dropping off heels; this alternated with sensation as if balls of ice followed same course. Phlegmasia dolens. Lyc. has a very large range in respiratory affections. Salt sputa; milky; greenish yellow; thick yellow muco-pus. Dry burning catarrh of nose, larynx, throat, chest. A very characteristic cough of Lyc., which I have verified, is this: "Dry teasing cough in emaciated boys". The cough of Lyc. is provoked by: Irritation from deep breathing; stretching out throat; and by empty swallowing. A patient of mine to whom I gave Lyc. 30 developed this symptom: "Pain under sternum as if food lodged there and she could not breathe through it." Cough,< on waking. All the blood-vessels from the heart to the capillaries are affected by Lyc. It has cured both naevus and aneurism, and relieved many conditions of disordered heart. It is also one of the most important remedies in varicosis. Excessive sensitiveness is a note of Lyc.: Cannot bear any strong smells. Cannot endure noise. Sensitiveness to sound has a curious development in this symptom: In the evening she continues to hear the music she has heard during the day. "Heaviness of the arm" is a special feature among the general paralysing effects of Lyc. Skinner cured with Lyc. c.m. this case: A lady had burning in right arm with paralysis, preventing her grasping anything with the right hand. Had had much worry. Irritability before menstrual period, > by the flow. < From 6 to 7 p.m. With the burning was a sharp pain shooting up the arm; but it was not the pain which caused the paresis. Nash mentions that the sphere of Lyc. in impotence is considerable. It covers the case of old men who marry again and find themselves impotent; and the case of young men who have become impotent from masturbation or sexual excess. The desire is strong but the power is absent; penis small, cold, relaxed. P. C. Majumdar records (Ind. Hom. Rev., x. 1) the case of a boy, 14, who had general dropsy and anasarca consequent on the subsidence of an enlarged spleen under allopathic medication. There was afternoon fever (< 4 to 8 p.m.), slight chilliness, but no thirst; difficult breathing on lying down, urine scanty and high coloured, bowels constipated, heart's action weak but regular. Apis caused the urine to be more free, but a troublesome diarrhoea set in. Apocy. 6x removed the diarrhoea, but had no effect on the dropsy. Lyc. 30 was now given purely on the symptoms, and quickly cleared up the case. S. A. Jones (Amer. Hom., xx. 283) calls attention to the irritability of Lyc., and instances the cure of a boy of typhoid with excessive tympanites when the case seemed almost hopeless, the guiding symptoms being: "When awake exceedingly cross, irritable, scolding, screaming, behaving disagreeably," which was quite different from his usual nature. Lyc. 30 was given. The same writer (H. R., xi. 351) relates an involuntary proving of Lyc. from inhalation of the fumes in the course of chemical experiment, Lyc. powder being added to a boiling mass. The writer (apparently a medical man) had at times whilst engaged in the experiments: Frightful headaches (occiput, vertex, and through right eye), always > by Mag. phos. In addition he discovered 12.5 per cent. of albumen in his urine, which had been tested a short time previously and found normal. Other characteristic symptoms of Lyc. were present, and all disappeared, including albuminuria, when the experiments were abandoned. H. Goullon (H. R., vi. 155) cured this case of cystitis: A man, 55, subject to attacks of enteralgia, was seized two days after such an attack with a severe cystitis, with fever and palpitation of the heart. The calls to micturate were increased, and he could hardly reach the vessel quick enough to prevent premature escape of the urine, so severe and sudden was the urging. During and sometimes after the passage there was intense burning pain, "as if molten lead were flowing through the urethra." During the height of the pain he grasped the penis to obtain relief. The urine, which was discharged in very scanty quantities, looked turbid, almost loamy, had a dirty brownish-red colour, and a peculiar odour of malt. Lyc. 12 was given, six drops in half a wineglassful of water: a teaspoonful every three hours. Cured in twenty-four hours. J. E. Winans (Med. Adv., xix. 499) points out the appropriateness of Lyc. to the effects of chewing tobacco. Allen records under Tabac. this symptom: Convulsions, head firmly drawn back, with rigidity of muscles of back of neck; constantly recurring rigid tetanic spasms, muscles of back being principally affected, till death a week after he chewed the tobacco." Winans had a very similar case from the same cause-clonic, opisthotonic spasms as of cerebro-spinal meningitis—which he cured with Lyc. c.m. and m.m. given after each tetanic seizure. Other Lyc. symptoms verified by him are: "Forehead cold, but becomes warm if lightly covered" (Sil.); and, in pernicious intermittents "a long-lasting chill coming on 9 a.m., and generally passing off without subsequent heat or sweat." Drysdale has recorded (B. J. H., xlii. 203) the cure of a young woman whose hands were covered with warts. One 2 gr. tablet of Lyc. 6 trituration was given at bedtime. The warts soon began to shrivel, and in less than six weeks were all gone. The sphere of Lyc. in metrorrhagia is illustrated by a case of Waszily's (quoted H. W., xxviii. 320): Mrs. O., 44, menses after being absent eight months had come on and lasted fourteen days. She felt particularly well, and had walked out, when a violent flooding came on, and she had to be taken home in a carriage and put to bed. Dark blood with large clots flowed from her, < every movement; no pain. Previous day had much flatulent distress. Lyc. 30, two globules on the tongue. After that one large clot passed and nothing more. Rapid recovery followed. Among the peculiar sensations of Lyc. are: As if everything was turning round. As if temples being screwed together. As if brain vacillating to and fro. As if head would burst. As if head opened. Pain in head as if caused by wrong position. As if eyes too large. As if hot blood rushed into ears. As if sulphur vapour in throat. Front teeth as if too long. Vesicles on tip of tongue as if scalded and raw. As if a ball rose up in throat. As if hard body lodged in back of throat. As if everything eaten was rising up. As if oesophagus was being clutched and twisted. As if steam rising from stomach to head. As if something were moving up and down in stomach. As if suspensor ligament of liver would tear. As if stomach would fall down. As if drops of water were falling down. As if heart hung by a thread. As if gimlets were running into spine. As if dogs with sharp teeth were gnawing her. Tension as from a cord in diaphragm. As if chest constricted with tight waistcoat. (Cramps in chest accompanying stomach affections is a strong indication for Lyc.) Burning as of hot coals between scapulae. As if hot balls dropped from each breast through to back, rolling down back, along each leg and dropping off heels; alternating with balls of ice. As if water spurted on back. As if lying on ice. The symptoms are < by touch, pressure, weight of clothing. Riding in carriage = nausea. < Morning on waking; < afternoon, 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 4 to 6 p.m., 4 to 8 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m.; < evening before midnight. < After eating, even if ever so little. < Wrapping up head, even wearing hat or bonnet. < In warm room. < Getting warm by exercise. Warmth of bed < headache and irritation of skin, but > toothache, rheumatism, and other symptoms. Great desire for open air. > In open air; by uncovering. Must be fanned, especially wants to be fanned on the back (burning between shoulders). > By warm, < by cold food and drink. < By wet weather; by stormy weather; especially by wind. < From moistening diseased parts. Rest <; motion >. Lying down > headache; pain in epigastrium. Lying on back > cough. < Lying on right side in liver affection. < Lying on painful side (sciatica). < Lying on left side. < By rising from a seat; > after. < From lamplight; from looking fixedly at any point. < From eating cabbage; vegetables, beans and peas, with husks; bread, especially rye bread and pastry. < From wine. < From milk. < Before menstruation. < From suppressed menstruation. [Lyc. is very prone to cause aggravations, especially when highly attenuated, and hence it is necessary to give it with caution. Unless the indications are quite clear it is better to start a case on an allied remedy. I gave Miss E. Lyc. 30 for constipation. Soon after taking it she had pains in upper abdomen in all directions; urging to stool without ability to pass it; much flatus which could neither be got up nor down. Lyc. 1m. was now given, a few globules dissolved in water, a teaspoonful at bedtime. All symptoms vanished. On rising a second teaspoonful was taken, and after this the bowels were well relieved. On another occasion she took Lyc. 1m. in the evening, and immediately felt her throat tight and uncomfortable; but this passed off and she went to bed. At 5 a.m. she woke with choking; had the greatest difficulty in getting her breath. She managed to reach a bottle of Bell. 3, and a dose of this relieved her at once.—A patient for whom Lyc. 5 had, to her great delight reduced the gouty swellings about her finger-joints, till she could get rings on she had not been able to wear for years, was obliged to discontinue it on account of the distressing headaches it caused.—Mr. W. had every Sunday afternoon attacks of pain like biliary colic. They came on at 5 p.m. and lasted till 1 a.m. The pain started from right of gall bladder, travelled to middle line, and then passed downwards. In the attack he was cold and yet sweated. Bowels constipated. Lyc. 1m., one dose every alternate day. A powder of the same was, given to be dissolved in water, of which a teaspoonful was to be taken every twenty minutes in the event of an attack. During the week he felt better, but on the next Sunday he had the worst attack he had ever had, and the Lyc. given to be taken frequently did not relieve at all. Nux 30 was next given night and morning. The next Sunday was passed without any pain, and he felt much better generally. Cases of this kind could be multiplied indefinitely, and I have known some very good prescribers almost abandon this remedy on account of unexpected aggravations.]