Fagopyrum Esculentum

{BurJmnhiat.)

BotahicalBbsoriptiow. — This plant belongs to the order of Polygo- nacefe.or the Buckwheat family, is a native of Asia, and introduced into this country l>om Europe. It is an annual, cultiyated, flowering from June to September.

There is also a wild variety found growing in fields and old pastures, (which i( miglit be worth while to prove,; in the form of a vine,

Emil Wolf, of Wurteraberg, gives us the following analj-sis: The straw contains 6.15 ptr cent, of ash and 160. per cent, of water. The dry grain contains 9.3 per cent, ash and 141. pei' cent, water.

Percentage of Potash, tn the straw 46.6, in the grain 23.1 ; of soda, in the straw 3,3, in the grain 6.3; of magnesia, In the straw 3,6, in the grain 13,4; of lime, in the straw 18,4, in the grain 3,8 ; of phosphoric acid, in the straw 11.9, in the grain 48.0; of sulphuric acid, in the straw 5.3, in the grain 2.01; of silicia, in the straw 5.5; in the grain .0; of chlorine, in the straw 7.7, in the grain 1.7.

The Fagopyrum contains a crjstalizable coloring principle, wliich is Idimtical with rutoine or rutic acid, discovered in the common rue.

Officinal Preparatiohs, — Tincture from the whole plant, and seed at maturity, with strong alcohol; dilutions.

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SOS FAOOFYKUM

Analooiies. — Arssnicum (?), Oalc. earh, (?), Graphitei (?), Sulphur (f),

JUilieia (?),Suinex(f), StilMagid (?), Juglans (?).

(These symptoms are seiected from the yoluminous provings presented

to the American Institute in 1873, by Dr. D. Hitchcock, of Norwalk, Conn.)

Very cross and irritable; feeling as of a weight on the mind.

Spirits exhilarated; feels happy.

Inability to study, or to remember what is heard or read, even for a few miimtea.

Great depression of spirits in evening, (Never felt before that 1 did not care to live.)

No desire to speak, or be spoken to.

Vertigo, and confused feeling in the head.

Slight vertigo, with nausea.

Vertigo and fullness of the bead when rising; better by re- maining qniet.

Dull headache in evening, pressing outward, especially in occiput, relieved by pressure, gentle motion, or cool air.

Bursting pressure in temples and forehead, with a feeling aa if eyes were pressed out.

Pulsation and pressure in bead, slightly relieved by bending head backwards.

Whole head feels composed, as if living in a dream.

Great pressure; occasional sharp, darting pains, more through right side.

A severe, continued pain in head and eyes, came on after an early walk; great heat of head, with red face; slight re- lief from a cool, wet compress ; on its removal the fore- head is covered with a measle-like rash.

Congestive headache in afternoon.

Headache and slight vertigo on waking, with tired, dull feeling.

Pressive headache, starting at times with shooting pains from back of eyes to back of neck.

Wavy feeling in head.

A sharp, cutting pain, from over left eye, backward and inward.

Dull pain in left temple, from left eye to occiput, and down loft side of neck.

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FAGOPYKUM ESCULENTTIM. 309

Heat of head and pain in forehead, changing to vei-tex, and

from thence to root of nose. Severe pressing pain from forehead to eyeballs and root of

Bruised, sore feeling of left temple. Tensive feeling in upper pai't of head, followed by a wavy

side, very marked. Itching of scalp, especially in occipnt.

Objects appear indistinct; eyes feel blurred, have a glassy

look. Things appear obscnre and wavy.

The eyes feel sensitive upon closing them tightly; a rough- ened feeling when moving the lids, especially left. External canthi sore, with constant burning irritation and

Ears itch internally and externally, and sounds seem muffled. Burning heat and itching of both auricles.

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810 FAOOl'YEUM ESCULENTUM.

Nose, Nose swollen, excoriated and sore within, itcliing and burning,

worse from contact. Soreness of nose; it fills with loose dry crusts; blood flows

slightly when they are removed, Fluent GorysUi; nose is alternately clear and stuffed up, with

with an intermittent watery flow, followed by dry crusts. Septum nasi cracked and sore, with a gnawing, stinging pain;

ulcer in right nostril.

Neuralgic pain in left side of fece; a sore, bruised feeling

when closing the teeth or moving the jaws. Face pale and then flushed, with dark circles under eyes. * A red eruption, with swollen base, with heat, itching and

burning.

Tongue very red all the time, also the mouth and fauces. Tongue flssured deeply on the edges.

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FiQOPYEUM ESCCLENTtTM. 311

Very offensive bi'eatti, with bad taste.

Swollen sensation in roof of iiioiitii.

Koiigb, sore feeling in roof of mouth and pharynx, with stick- ing pain in par tid glands.

Throat is sore; feels raw and as if bruised, worse when swal- lowing.

Aching pain in fances and pharynx, extending downwards.

Soreness about right tonsil; afterwards expelled a hard, offen- sive, cheesy mass, the size of a pea.

Dry soreness in throat and pharynx, with desire to swallow.

Smarting on under snrface of soft palate when swallowing.

frequent desire to swallow, with a painful raw sensation of palate.

Sore stiffness and swelling of fauces.

Tonsils swollen and red.

Constriction and darting pain in sofl palate.

A small swelling in the trachea, sore and hard.

Submaxillary and parotid glands swollen and painful.

Faint nausea and loss of appetite, with heat in stomach and throat.

Excessive thirst every evening.

Constant nausea, almost to vomiting, and a sore feeling in stomach, relieved by eructations.

Eructations of scalding, acid, watery substance come up so hot as to nearly strangle one.

Eructations witli offensive odor and taste.

Constant acidity of stomach and heartburn.

Belching of wind, with griping.

Heat and a heavy uneasiness in stomach.

Stomach feels as if bruised and hurt, with depression and a gnawing sensation.

Sensation as of something moving in stomach, with a sore, distressed feeling.

Aching pains in abdomen, with distension coming on after stooL

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312 FAGOPVEUM ESCOLENTUM.

Abdomen tympanitic and tender to touch, witli suffocative

sensation about heart. Severe aching pain in abdomen early in morning, driving him

to stool. Severe paroxysms of pain, with tenesmns, nausea, and hot

flashes and perspiration. Pain and great soreness in region of liver, with pains around

Sharp sticking pains through liver. Dull throbbing pain in ascending colon, extending through to

small of back. Sharp pain through hypogastrium, extending into left inguinal

region. Severe griping, cutting pains in hypogastric region, awaking

tenesmus. Stool with severe pain in rectum, extending down into the

in back. Frequent desire for stool, which was of oily consistence, and

* Profuse sweating of genitals, of an offensive odor.

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FAGOPYKUM ESCULENTDM. 813

Pain like a bruise from left t^ticle upwards.

Menses two days earlier than usual, and not so profuse, but

much intensiHed; nnable to keep quiet while pain lasted. Flow lasts usual time, bat not so profuse, less pruritus than

symptoms were ameliorated.)

aggravated by bending over or walking. Sharp stitches, like the prick of a knife, in right breast when

unalfected by respiration. Soreness in left cliest.

Sharp stitches shooting in cardiac region, with a sense of heat

over body; worse when bending forward. Sharp pam near heart, extending down from shoulder and

down arm. Dull pain around heart and through chest during colic, with

relieved upon belching wind." (??) Severe frequent pains seem to pass through heart, and pnlso

became irregular, on arising in the morning. Awoke from sleep with a stinging pain through the heart.

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314 FAQOFYEUM ESCCLENTCM.

Sharp pains around heart daring an attack of uterine colic Slight constrictive feeling around heart.

[Nearly all tlio aboi-e symptoms seem to be largely due to colic and indigestioD, as they were generally relieved by eructations of wind. The erratic pulae of one prover is also mainly due to the same cause, assbted by a lively imagination.] The pulse seemed to vary greatl/; sometimes accelerating

rapidly until it would lose a heat; again it begins stronger

and soon becomes weaker. Weak, irregular pulse; constantly changing in quality; each

beat seeins to be drawn out, holding almost to the next

beat. Pulse ran very fast for ten or twenty beats, and then suddenly

changed and gave two or three full, long beats. False very irregular; not at all alike during the first and last

the shoulders. Chills along the back.

Upper Extremities, Tearing pains in lefl axilla, extending into muscles of chest and

arm. Severe pains in left elbow and shoulder, and sharp stitches iu

in bed.

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FAaOPYEtXM ESCULENTGM. 315

Disagreeable odor m axillse.

Wlien writing, tlie cold table causes severe pains in hands

aliy, following coarse of arteries. (The prover believes it

is in the coats of the arteries.) The slight pressure from taking the pulse causes pain up the

Iiower Extremities. Pain extending from hips up to small of back and down to

the feet. Feeling in the right thigh as if the limb would drop off, tired

on walking. In little toe, a feeling as if a fine cord was cutting it through

"When sitting still, numbness and stinging pains occur along

the course of such arteries as seem to be conipj

worse when cold.

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816 FAGOPYRUM ESCULENTDM.

Great languor and weariness.

A sore, bruised feeling in whole body.

Lassitude, yawning and stretching.

Sensation as if rubbed all over with rough flannel.

Persistent itching of various parts of the body, especially of

burn, but do not suppurate. Itching of knees and elbows, also upon the scalp and face at

tlie roots of whiskers. Ked, itching eruption on back, limbs and body generally;

another on the left shoulder; they resemble blind boils,

and disappear without suppuration. " Before taking it, he had an itcliing after retiring, which haa

Coldness all over, especially hands and feet.

Chills along the back.

Feels hot and then cold alternately.

Feverish heat of head, with cold hands and feet; after rising.

Intense heat through the body; especially the head, neck and

moisture over body, Aggravation of fever at 4 p. m. ; heat with moist hands; back

of neck and face bum; pressing out in head; carotids

throb, pulse 93; no sense of chill; tongue and faaeea

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GALIUM APARINE. 317

scarlet; itching all over; hands burn, although they fed

moist and eool to another.

Sleep and Dreams. Drops to sleep while sitting np; a headache comes on w^en

hard. Extreme lassitude, sleepiness and yawning; could hardly keep

All symptoms ameliorated by motion in open air, by eating,

and by coffee. Aggravation in the afternoon and evening; from 3 to 5 p. m.,

by mental labor; by going up stairs; and the heart symp- toms by riding in the ears.

Buckwheat bran, when fed to horses will relieve them of worms. When fed to cows, they become poor, and give an inferior quality of milk.