(When the mortar is kept in very hot water, and by this means re- mains moderately warm, this drug (as well as Nux Vomica) may be easily reduced to a fine powder, without its medicinal virtues being in the least injured.) The characteristic properties of this drug will be found in- dicated in my remarks thereon. Owing to the power it possesses of producing alternate ef- fects in quick succession, Ignatia is especially adapted to the IGNATIA AMARA. 163 treatment of several acute diseases, as may be seen from the symptoms it produces. It may be considered a polychrest. Generally its action lasts only a few days ; however, in certain constitutions and conditions it is incapable of bringing on evacuatory processes ; in such cases I have seen it act nine days. It is very seldom useful in the treatment of chronic af- fections, and can only be used in such cases as an intermediate remedy. One of the characteristics of Ignatia, which very few other re- medies possess, is this, that it produces a double order of symp- toms antipathic one to the other. In giving Ignatia, that series of symptoms which is antipathic to the disease itself, may, from a cause unknown, be brought into action, and, although palliating the disease at first, may aggravate it afterwards ; in this case a second dose will effect the cure. The necessity of administering a second dose occurs very rarely ; the first dose generally does all the good required, provided the remedy was exactly homoeopathic to the symptoms. In case it should have been administered in too large a dose and should have produced an excess of sensibility, susceptibility or hurriedness, etc., coffee is the antidote ; but in cases where it had been exhibited without being homoeopathic to the dis- ease, its effects may be antidoted by Pulsatilla, Chamomilla, and sometimes by Cocculus, Arnica, Camphora, or vinegar. Although the effects of Ignatia are very similar to those of Nux V. (which similarity does indeed point to a botanic affinity of both plants), nevertheless those two drugs correspond to very different conditions, were it only for this reason, that the temperament of those patients for whom Ignatia is indicated, is very different from that of those who are more favorably acted upon by Nux v, Ignatia is not suitable for persons or diseases characterized by anger, vehemence, etc., but by sud- den alternations of cheerfulness and disposition to weep or by those other moral conditions which Ignatia realizes in the healthy body,.provided, of course, that the physical symptoms likewise correspond. Ignatia, even a high potency thereof, is a chief remedy against the evil effects of chagrin in persons who are not in the habit of breaking out into vehemence or of seeking revenge, but who keep their chagrin concealed and dwell upon it in their recollections. Epileptic fits which only break out after chagrin or grief about a moral wrong (and never appear from any other cause), may be prevented by Ignatia, but it is very improbable whether epileptic fits of a different kind may be, or ever have been cured by that drug ; in those cases at least, 164 IGNATIA AMARA. which are said to have been cured by Ignatia, it has always been given in combination with other drugs, or the cure had not been completed. A first attack of epilepsy, brought on by some contrary event, and assuming a threatening aspect either on account of its duration or instantaneous return, may be, in most cases, permanently cured by one small dose of the tincture of Igna- tia (I know this from experience) ; but it is different as regards chronic epileptic fits; these can no more than other chronic diseases be permanently- relieved by Ignatia. The reason is, that the primary symptoms of Ignatia constitute a double series antipathic the one to the other, and being reproduced in the treatment of disease. If the first dose act by its series corresponding to the disease, a second dose cannot be adminis- tered without aggravating the disease, realizing in this manner all the injurious secondary effects of a palliative. Hence it is that Ignatia can only be used in sudden attacks and acute diseases. Ignatia should be administered in the morning, except in cases of necessity ; if taken just before bed-time, it disturbed the night's rest. It is seldom necessary to give more than a drop of the ninth or twelfth potency at a dose. FROM NOACK AND TRINKS ; Ignatia may be given for excessive mobility of children ; spasms of children ; eclampsia of children from abuse of chamomile ; spasms of children in the period of dentition ; twitching of the corners of the mouth, spasmodic sudden movement of the muscles of the cheeks, forehead, eyelids and eyeballs (except when these are immovable and wide open), foam at the mouth, injuring the tongue by bithig it, trismus, jerking of the arms, less frequently of the feet, the attack (which comes on frequently) being followed by sweat and so- por, and sometimes delirium and involuntary emission of urine ; epileptic convulsions of children ; convulsions of chil- dren with foam at the mouth, in consequence of influenza. Hysterical spasms : contraction of the oesophagus, difficult deglutition with eructation like hiccough, constriction of the chest, spasms of the upper and lower limbs with but half con- sciousness and trembling of the head, aching, drawing pain in the forehead and occiput, with red countenance, lachrymation and diminished vision, deep sighing and sopor ; hysteric fits after previous anxiety and shrieking for help owing to suffoca- tive oppression of the chest, involuntary raising one's self into n ir IGNATIA AMARA. 165 the air ; drawing the head backward between the shoulders, loss of consciousness, clenching of the right hand and striking the chest with great force ; afterwards stretching, and termina- tion of the fit in a deep sigh. Chronic spasms commencing and ending with yawning and stretching. Convulsions with vomiting, lasting from two to eight days. Consequences of fright and chagrin : trismus, convulsions, opisthotonus, epilep- sy. Acute rheumatism, with vertigo and vibrations before the eyes, a sort of violent pressure in the forehead, with boring lancinations deep in the brain, eyes somewhat red and aching, agglutination of the lids, dryness of the nose, vio- lent pain as if sprained from the axilla to the fingers, complete paralysis of the arms, some thirst, want of appetite, quick, weak pulse, great heat especially of the head, heat and dry- ness of the body with some sweat on the forehead, rare, hard stool with tenesmus, nausea with restlessness and great an- guish and nightly sleeplessness owing to the pains ; chronic rheumatism, with violent bruised pain in the joint of the uppei arm when bending it backwards, violent stitching in that joint when turning the arm inwards and indescribable pain in the bones of the arm as if broken, relieved by resting upon the af- fected part. Soreness of children from abuse of chamomile. Remittent fevers approximating to the intermittent type. In- termittent fevers : chills with thirst ; heat without thirst ; chilliness with or without external coldness (see BoBuninghau- sen's Essay on intermittent fevers by Dr. Hempel). Intermit- tent fevers, first tertian then quartan. Relapse into a tertian fever from eating salad. Intermittent fevers, recurring every seven days. Consequences of deep rooted emotions, especially grief : Melancholy and fixed mania occasioned by fright, an- guish, grief, despairs of her salvation, imagines she has been faithless to her husband, weeping, amenorrhoea, tenseness of the abdomen, cold hands and feet, constipation, the paroxysms being preceded by spasms, and accompanied by redness of face, uneasiness, running with the head against the wall, etc. (in conjunction with Sulphur, Rhus, Veratrum). — Headache, as if a nail were pressed into the head ; hemicrania, clavus hystericus. Violent neuralgia of the head (next to Bell, and Hyosc). Painful pressure in the left side of the forehead, every morning until ten o'clock. Simple but violent ophthalmia, being, according to some, scrofula mucosa, according to others a mere irritation. Photophobia, no inflammation being perceptible on the surface of the eye, but there being pressure in the eyeball and increased secretion of tears. Violent lancinating pains in the temples and eyes after operations on the eyes. Congestive 166 IGNATIA AMARA. .^^ toothache from grief or suppressed chagrin ; violent toothache of hysteric females, the tooth not being always hollow ; throb- bing toothache in persons who drink much coffee (also Nux, Aeon., Cham., Puis. ; coffee relieves throbbing toothache in those who are not used to coffee) ; toothache in persons who wake up with a headache as if the brain were crushed or dashed to pieces, and in whom this ache moves into a tooth after rising from bed, the teeth becoming painful as if loose and numb and not even bearing the contact of the tongue ; the pain begins towards the end of a meal, increases afterwards, and is especially characterized by a sudden pulling and digging-up in the cuspidati. — Globus hystericus. — Sore throat ; malignant sore throat being a vicarious affection for scarlatina, the chil- dren complaining of a plug in the throat and bleeding at the nose : tonsillitis, little ulcers on the tonsils, red and inflamed cavity of the cheeks, stinging pain in the throat especially Avhen swallowing, the stitches extending into the ear, scurf and eruption on the lips, parotitis, the gland being affected with a stinging pain but painless when pressed upon, hard stool, urine like loam water, etc. Nervous dyspepsia. Gastric symptoms, from chagrin. Chronic gastritis. Cardialgia with nervous headache. Burning pain in the stomach, with a fine pain in the pit of the stomach, which is sensitive to pressure, with an empty and weak feeling in that part, etc. Painless diarrhoea, especially at night, accompanied with noisy flatulence, in children who incline to start. Prolapsus recti ; ulcerated hge- morrhoidal tumors. Periodical hajmaturia. Uterine spasms, with cramp-pain in the groin, at times pressing from without inwards, at times from within outwards, arresting the breath- ing, with qualmishness in the pit of the stomach, the pain being relieved by pressure and the recumbent posture. Spasms during parturition (also Hyosc, Cham., Cic, Bell.). Prema- ture and profuse menstruation in a sensitive nursing female, preceded and accompanied by heaviriess and heat in the head^ violent aching pain in the forehead, sensitiveness of the eyes to the light, tingling in the ears, want of appetite, emptiness of the stomach, contractive pain in the abdomen, palpitation of the heart, faintness of the extremities ; metrorrhagia after the abuse of chamomile. Coryza in nervous persons, with general hysteric irritability and dull pain in the forehead. Permanent boring pain in the loAver part of the sternum and sensation in that part as if a hard body had been swallowed, it is felt also at night and increased by eructation and sitting up. Nightly fits of anguish. Periodical spasmodic asthma. IGNATIA AMARA. ^57