One of the great teachers in medicine (Hoffman) of Germany taught his students to “prove all things, to hold fast that which is good.”.
In my judgment the sweetest little flower that grows in New England is the Epigea Repens, the May flower or Trailing Arbutus.
“Oer the hills where the pine trees grow silent and dark, And the cool winds of April sweep over the earth, Under dead leaves and branches so lovely I found it,
The first flower of springtime, the lovely May flower”.
The above remedy has long been a domestic remedy for gravel, especially when the sand is of a brown color. It is also the remedy in chronic cystitis where there is blood and pus in the urine.
Give Tr. Epigea, 10 drops every three hours.
It is also indicated when ladies complain of a loud rumbling or croaking noise in the bowels; they imagine that everyone in the room can hear the noise. Give Tr. Epigea, 5 drops every 2 hours.
“Of simple medicines, and their power to cure,
A wise physician makes his knowledge sure;
Else for the household in his healing art,
He stands illfitted to take useful part”.
It is well to remember that Tr. Belladonna 6th is the remedy for retention of urine, 5 drops every hour until relieved. For suppression of urine (bladder empty). give Tr. Stramonium 30th x, 10 drops every 15 minutes until urine is voided. In a case of involuntary micturition, the remedy is Tr. Hyoscyamus 6th x, 5 drops every 2 hours. In impending cardiac paralysis or in an old and enfeebled patient where the pulse was too rapid to be counted and scarcely perceptible, the patient seemed near death, the remedy is Lachesis 6th x, 10 drops every 2 hours.
A lady may tell you that the first three days of her menstruation the odor is so very offensive that she has to stay in her room. She is apt to have some pain and clots at the beginning, then the blood becomes bright red. The remedy for the above conditions is Tr. Belladonna 30th x, 5 drops night and morning.
It is well to remember the indications for Graphites in skin diseases. First, when a woman comes to you with a skin disease, and she has irregularity of the monthly periods, Graphites is the remedy indicated. Second, when there is an unnatural dryness of the skin outside the field of eruption, Graphites will be the remedy needed. Third, eruptions oozing out a thick, honey like fluid, I usually give it in 6th x, three times a day.
You may have old, chronic cases of salt rheum come to you. They have been “the rounds of the doctors,” but have received no benefit from their treatment. These cases are worse in winter; there is more or less induration of the skin, with scabs and crusts; there will be deep cracks that bleed, and the itching is something fierce. Give them sulphur 30th x in the morning and apply.
Rx Salicylic acid grms XX.
Vaseline 3z |.
Mix.
Sig.
Apply to the part three times a day. You can depend upon the above treatment.
The above salve is the best local applications that we have for fissure of the arms.
There is a kind of headache that follows and depends upon auto-intoxication. It is persistent day and night. There is dullness, drowsiness, and dizziness. a dull headache, with a torpid liver and spleen; patient tires easily.
The remedy for above condition is Tr. Grindelia Squarrosa, 15 drops every three hours.
In atonic dyspepsia with bad breath, bad taste in the mouth, furred tongue, loss of appetite, with constipation, a sense of weight in the stomach, and now and then colicky pains in the bowels calls for Euphorbia Corollata, ten drops in two ounces of water, teaspoonful every two hours.
Do not forget Tr. Asclepias Tuberosa for pleuritic pains, 15 drops every two hours; if effusion be present, its rapid removal is facilitated. The pain and distress abate, the cough disappears, the respiration becomes free and natural. it is the remedy for “stitch in the side,” which may be present for several months after an attack of pleurisy. It is the remedy above all others for intercostal neuralgia-Tr. Asclepias, 20 drops every two hours.
When children have had measles or scarlet fever, it leaves the skin very sensitive to cold air, and they are liable to catch cold easily. The remedy indicated is Hepar Sulph. 6th x, three tablets three times a day.
I have known of some desperate cases of pneumonia that did not yield to ordinary treatment to recover under Tr. Iodine 3d x given in 10-drop doses every hour. The dyspnoea, the oppression and pain diminish, the cough becomes easier and fever abates. In ulceration of the stomach, the pain is dull at first, and then we have a lancinating pain, which continues during the process of digestion. After a time there develops a pain in the dorsal region and is located in the eighth or ninth dorsal vertebra. This pain is peculiar to advanced ulceration of the stomach.
When you have a patient longing for sour, acid things, or highly seasoned food, a disgust for fat foods, Hepar, Sulph. 6th x is the remedy that they need, three tablets three times a day.
In the last two months of pregnancy, if any albumen is found in the urine, give F.E. Eupatorium Purpureum, 15 drops three times a day. It will clear the urine of the albumen.
When a person has contracted a cold and it has seemed to settle in kidneys, with pain in the back, more or less suppression of urine, with smarting and burning when urinating, the above remedy may be used, 15 drops of the Tr. Eupatorium Purp. every 2 hours.
The common name of it is “Queen of the Meadow.” The purple flower is familiar to the residents of New England.
To learn the medical properties of the trees, plants and flowers of our country has always had a peculiar fascination for me. I have in my time studied all the books I could find on medical botany, and it has been to me a very interesting and profitable study.
It is a very interesting fact to remember that in certain parts of our country there are diseases peculiar to that climate. In that part of the country you will find vegetable remedies provided by an All-Wise Creator for the cure of those diseases.
Thus we can see that God in His wisdom has provided the remedies for the diseases that afflict us poor mortals. A knowledge of the medical properties of those vegetable remedies would be a great blessing to mankind. Some of the best cures I ever made were accomplished with simple vegetable remedies.
