Jaborandi

Jaborandi is a South American tree growing to the height of twenty feet. It is

used by South American Indians as an antidote to the bite of serpents of the Trigonocephalus

group. The drug has been extensively used in ophthalmic practice for its mydriatic properties.

Incidentally its action on the skin and salivary glands was observed and led to extensive provings

• ▸being made.
• ▸Robin (C.
• ▸D.
• ▸P.
• ▸) sums up the effects of the drug in doses of 6 grammes of the

powdered leaves in infusion: Very soon face becomes red; temporal arteries throb more strongly;

then there is a peculiar feeling of heat in the mouth and on face and the flow of saliva begins.

Soon the forehead becomes moist and the face more red; then beads of perspiration appear on

forehead, cheeks, and temples. The flow of saliva increases, all the salivary glands contributing.

The mouth is filled with immense quantities of fluid and expectoration is incessant. At same time

perspiration covers face and neck; then the whole body becomes red and moist, and a pleasant

warmth is experienced; in a few minutes perspiration breaks out over entire surface and soon

runs down on all sides. Meantime other symptoms have supervened. The eyelids first become

moist, then tears increase, collect in canthi, then roll down the cheeks; at the same time there 1s

increased secretion of Schneiderian membrane, and increased activity of mucous glands of

pharynx, trachea, and bronchi. These effects reach the maximum intensity forty-five minutes

after taking the drug and last thirty or forty minutes more. Salivary glands enlarge. Thirst is

intense. Pupils slightly contracted. When perspiration and salivation have ceased the subject is

prostrated and drowsy, and the parts which secreted excessively become abnormally dry. In

addition to these symptoms noted by Robin others have observed: vomiting; diarrhsa; pains in

abdomen, especially hypogastric region and pubes; pains in bladder and urging to urinate.

Dudgeon has recorded the following interesting case: A gentleman, 45, rose at an early hour and

went to the other side of his bedroom to get a dose of Nux 3 for some fancied derangement of his

stomach. On coming back to bed he was seized with sudden violent crimson flushing of the face

followed almost immediately by profuse perspiration, beginning in the face and head and

extending all over the body. This was followed by extreme coldness of the extremities and

sickness, terminating in the vomiting chiefly of sour mucus. The attacks recurred every quarter

of an hour throughout the day. Not only was he unable to get out of bed, he could not raise

himself up in bed, or lie otherwise than on his right side without the most distressing giddiness

and a feeling "as if he should die." Pulse 60, regular and strong; temperature below normal. Ten

drops of Jaborandi I were mixed in half a tumbler of water, and a dessertspoonful given

immediately and repeated every half-hour. After the second dose the attacks ceased and he was

able to take bread and milk without sickness. He had a good night's rest and was perfectly well

• ▸the next day (IZ.
• ▸H.
• ▸R.
• ▸, October, 1888).
• ▸Hale commends its use in women or young girls who

• ▸have always a dry skin, scanty menses, and tendency of blood to the head.
• ▸Duncan (H.
• ▸W.
• ▸, xxxii.

189) has aborted erysipelas by painting the tincture on the part four to five times daily. A sharp

smarting, is the first effect, followed by a more agreeable, soothing sensation. In burns, scalds

and some forms of eczema and psoriasis the same use has given excellent results. The action of

the drug on the eyes is very pronounced and it has been found useful in many conditions of eye

weakness, especially hypermetropia, ciliary spasm, convergent strabismus, and after operations

• ▸for strabismus.
• ▸Sandesberg (B.
• ▸J.
• ▸H.
• ▸, xl.
• ▸201) noticed that the internal use of Jaborandi and

Pilocarpin in cases of detachment of retina and choroiditis seemed to occasion opacity of the

crystalline lens. He treated a horse for irido-choroiditis and large opacities of the vitreous with

infusion of Jab. leaves and injections of Pilo. The disease was quickly arrested, the vitreous

cleared up completely, but during the first week the crystalline lens became opaque. Bell

commends it in diarrhsa with gushing, painless stools; flushed face, profuse salivation, intense

thirst; urine dark, scanty (or profuse); profuse sweat. Cooper has seen a violent leucorrhsa caused

by Jabor.; also the discharge of a quantity of threadworms. One patient, after having been

injected with Pilocarpine, complained of great sensitiveness to cold: constantly taking cold and

in dread of bronchitis; the skin too became irritable. Jabor. has a reputation in the old school as a

• ▸stimulant of the mammary secretion, and a case is quoted from the Lancet in C.
• ▸D.
• ▸P.
• ▸in which a

woman whose milk had ceased for a fortnight received gtt. x. of the fluid extract every four

hours. The secretion of milk was reestablished, but the patient began to suffer from extreme

nervous excitement accompanied by a fixed idea that she should murder all her family with a

hatchet. The drug was stopped, and these symptoms disappeared and with them the activity of

the mammary glands. The Hom. News, February, 1900, quotes an incidental cure of

dysmenorrhSa in a woman, ¢t. 23, who received five-drop doses of Jabor. for increased eye-

tension, which rapidly disappeared. The patient noticed that she passed the next menstrual period

without pain though she usually had to spend two to four days in bed. The drug was continued in

smaller doses, and the improvement was maintained. "When the period begins with a feeling of

coldness and faintness, and neuralgic throbbings in head and pelvis, with backache, a drop or two

• ▸of Jabor.
• ▸in hot water will at once relieve" (Cooper).
• ▸Jabor.
• ▸has been used as a remedy for

baldness, and it forms the principal ingredient in some of the popular hair-restorers. In a number

of patients who have been taking it white hair and blonde hair have been observed to turn black.

Jabor. acts more on left side. Sometimes the left side only is affected by sweating, the right side

being quite dry. Headaches were more noticed on left side. Headache < at noon every day.

Eating > distress in stomach.

Confusion.—Disinclination to speak.—Extreme nervous excitement, has a fixed idea

that she will murder all her family with a hatchet.

Headache every day about noon.—Headache about noon, with hurried breathing,

pressure on chest, anxiety, palpitation and pain in region of heart—Headache towards dinner-

time (noon), not affecting the appetite; < 1. side, during sore throat; with suffocative

feeling.—Uneasiness; increasing in forenoon to pain in occiput, then extending to forehead, > late

• ▸in afternoon.
• ▸—Empty feeling in head.
• ▸—Vertigo.
• ▸—Throbbing pain in vertex and front of head at

• ▸7.
• ▸30 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Pain in lower part of occiput; extending over |.
• ▸side of head to forehead; heavy, <1.

• ▸side; pain in |.
• ▸side of occiput in evening.
• ▸—Baldness.
• ▸—Light hair turns black.

• ▸Eye strain from whatever cause.
• ▸Irritability of the ciliary muscle.
• ▸Eyes easily tire from slightest use.
• ▸Heat and burning in eyes on use.
• ▸Headache; smarting and pain in globe on use.
• ▸Everything at a distance appears hazy; vision becomes indistinct every few moments.
• ▸Retinal images retained long after using eyes.
• ▸Irritation from electric or other artificial light.
• ▸Pupils contracted; do not react to light.
• ▸Staring eyes.
• ▸Near-sighted.
• ▸Vertigo and nausea after using eyes.
• ▸White spots before eyes. Smarting pain in eyes.
• ▸Lids twitch.
• ▸Atrophic choroiditis.
• ▸Spasm of the accommodation while reading.

• ▸Cornea red after waking at 5.
• ▸30 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Lachrymation.
• ▸—The lachrymal secretion is

increased and there is a copious discharge from the Schneiderian membrane; also increased

secretion of mucus from the pharynx, trachea and bronchi.—Pupils contracted; and tension

(spasm) of accommodative apparatus, with approximation of nearest and farthest points of

distinct vision, amblyopic impairment of vision from diminished sensibility of retina.—Pupils

• ▸dilated; sluggish—Balls sore on rolling them at 7 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Lids stiff and heavy.
• ▸—Vision

disturbed —Spasm of accommodation, vision changing constantly, becoming more then less dim,

then dim with pricking in eyes.—Eyes tire easily; are irritable —Vision dim, restored

suddenly.—Blurred vision for distant objects—Swimming of distant objects.—Clouds before

vision.— Vision of snowflakes during the sweat and salivation.—Vision lost for distant

• ▸objects—Hypermetropia.
• ▸—Asthenopia.
• ▸—Ciliary spasm.
• ▸—Cataract.
• ▸—Convergent strabismus.

Serous exudation into the tympanitic cavities. Tinnitus (Pilocarpin 2x).

Redness of face; and of ears and neck; and of body; involving cheeks and ears, < when

the sweat was greatest, then pallor; with heat of face and throbbing of temporal arteries.—Acts

powerfully upon the salivary and perspiratory glands, producing irritation and excessive

secretion; under its influence the face soon becomes red, the saliva begins to flow, and profuse

perspiration sets in, lasting for hours, though their maximum intensity is less than an hour.

Saliva viscid, like white of egg. Dryness. Free salivation, with profuse sweating.

• ▸Tongue furred.
• ▸—Articulation difficult and indistinct.
• ▸—Heat, < dryness.
• ▸—Salivation;

with profuse sweat; with dry skin; stringy, but not viscid.—Constant spitting of alkaline

saliva.—Alkaline saliva flows upon pillow during sleep, causing collapsed feeling in glands in

cheeks.—Saliva contained a notable quantity of urea—After the perspiration and salivation have

ceased the parts become very dry, esp. the mouth and pharynx, and there is great thirst.

• ▸Swelling of submaxillary glands (Merc.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸).
• ▸—Pain in submaxillary

glands.—Dryness at back of throat—Dry and inflamed feeling in forenoon, with scraping on

swallowing anything, the inflammation < afternoon, with swelling of tonsils and stiffness of

jaws.—Soreness and smarting of throat, with headache, <1. side, and hurried breathing.

Nausea on looking at objects moving; vomiting; pressure and pain in stomach.

Good appetite —Hunger disappeared and he could not eat.—Urgent

• ▸thirst.
• ▸—Eructations and vomitings.
• ▸—Hiccough.
• ▸—Nausea; sudden, and retching, often with

hiccough.—Vomiting: after supper; sudden, in the lad who failed to perspire; of the saliva that he

had swallowed; severe, of the contents of the stomach, then of bile, then continued

retching.—Distress in stomach, and in lower half of Ssophagus, esp. the latter feels

constricted.—Heavy distress at pyloric part at dinner-time, from an indigestible substance, > a

full meal.—Constrictive feeling as if rugé were puckered (probably owing to alcohol in tincture).

Diarrhoea, painless; during day with flushed face and profuse sweat.

Empty, gone feeling in abdomen.—Cutting in lower abdomen; without tendency

to diarrhsa.—Pain over the pubes.—Severe pains over pubes with strong desire to pass water,

which gave >.

Stools: watery, yellow, frequent and painless; undigested, gushing, weakening;

papescent and large; painless.—Stool, first part five-eighths of an inch in diameter and about five

inches long, the last part papescent and dark brown.—Hard stool.—Constipation, two stools a day

• ▸instead of three.
• ▸—Stool at 7 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸and again at 7 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸difficult, of long, large, dark féces.
• ▸—Passage

of threadworms.

Sudden severe pain in bladder, shooting down to urethra and causing

exclamations.—Burning in urethra, with urging to urinate-—Urine dark.—Urine increased; during

• ▸the sweat; and sp.
• ▸gr.
• ▸diminished, urea increased.
• ▸—Urine decreased; and sp.
• ▸gr.
• ▸and urea

increased.—Urea diminished, next day increased.—Chlorine, chlorides, and uric acid diminished,

next day increased.

Scanty; pain over pubes with much urging.

Menses scanty, congested head, dry skin —Flushing at

climacteric.—Cured dysmenorrhsa in a young woman to whom it was given for increased eye

• ▸tension, which it rapidly cured.
• ▸—Leucorrhsa.
• ▸—Pregnancy: Sdema of.
• ▸—Puerperal convulsions, in

stupor threatened suffocation from inability to swallow excessive quantity of saliva—Milk:

deficient; excessive.

• ▸Bronchial mucous membrane inflamed.
• ▸Much inclination to cough and difficult breathing.
• ▸OEdema of lungs.
• ▸Foamy sputa.
• ▸Profuse, thin, serous expectoration.
• ▸Slow, sighing respiration.

Bronchial secretions increased.—Loose cough.—Breathing

difficult—Breathings hurried.

• ▸Pulse irregular, dicrotic.
• ▸Oppression of chest.
• ▸Cyanosis; collapse.
• ▸Nervous cardiac affections.

Sticking in chest.—Pain in chest and around heart.—Pressure on chest, with anxiety,

palpitation and pain in region of heart.—Anxiety in chest, with oppression, preventing sleep.

Pain in heart region.—Palpitation.—Irregularity, weakness and rapidity of

action, with nervous, restless condition and constant yawning.—Pulse rapid; then slow; at

beginning of sweat, the tracing becomes a little crooked, the rising line larger and more upright,

the descending line more oblique, more dicrotic, at the height of the sweat the general outline

very irregular, some beats shorter than others.—Pulse and temperature increased during sweat,

then lowered.—The rapidity of the circulation is increased, but the arterial tension and

temperature are lowered.—Tracings showed almost complete asystolia, with diminished vascular

tension during sweat.

24. Generalities—Redness of face, throbbing of temporal arteries, then heat in mouth and on

face, salivation, then sweat on forehead, cheeks and temples; incessant expectoration, sweat

covering face and neck, then whole body red and moist, pleasant warmth, then general sweat,

which soon runs down on all sides; then lachrymation and copious discharge from nose,

increased activity of mucous glands of back of throat, trachea, and bronchi; salivation so great

that he can scarcely speak, salivary glands enlarged; sometimes accumulation in bronchi cleared

away by cough, thirst, contracted pupils, after the sweat and salivation have ceased, prostration,

drowsiness and dryness of the parts that have secreted so copiously; < mouth and throat with

much thirst—Restlessness; in evening, with anxiety—Much trembling, esp. of upper

extremities.—Weariness: in morning, with dryness of mouth and thirst; on rising; from a short

walk, with hurried breathing and palpitation; so that the legs gave way when

walking.—Faintness.—Collapse.

• ▸Excessive perspiration from all parts of the body.
• ▸Persistent dryness of skin.
• ▸Dry eczema.
• ▸Semi-lateral sweats.
• ▸Chilliness with sweat.

• ▸Sleepiness.
• ▸—Fell asleep while sitting reading.
• ▸—Profound sleep; in daytime.
• ▸—Most

wretched night that he ever remembers, fever, headache, malaise, no thirst, restlessness, moving

and delirtum.—Did not sleep well on account of restlessness, with pressure on chest and hurried

breathing.—Distressing dreams towards morning.—Dreams of accidents and fights, waking him

twice at night.

• ▸Temperature sank.
• ▸—Chilly up and down back at 7 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Shivering.
• ▸—Temperature

98.5°, in taking which he uncovered himself; this caused coldness, with horripilation and griping,

but as soon as he covered himself again profuse sweat.—Heat temperature rose then fell; glow in

face and over body.—Profuse sweat finger ends shrivelled like a washer-woman's; in drops on

forehead.—Sweat on forehead, then over whole body, then chiefly on face, legs, and feet—Sweat

on forehead and over whole body, < trunk, simultaneously with the salivation; on face; on face

and upper part of chest; on face, then on whole body; on chest, then on other parts, < upper

extremities.—Sweat of neutral reaction running down all over body.—Sweat contains easily

before taking, but did not sweat during the proving. —Semilateral (1.) sweat.

• ▸Alopecia.
• ▸Asthenopia.
• ▸Bronchitis.
• ▸Burns.
• ▸Cataract.
• ▸Ciliary spasm.
• ▸Consumption.

• ▸Diarrhsa.
• ▸DysmenorrhSa.
• ▸Erysipelas.
• ▸Eyes: tension in; hyperopia: affections of; operations on.

• ▸Flushings, climacteric.
• ▸Hair, affections of.
• ▸Heart, affections of.
• ▸Hypermetropia.
• ▸LeucorrhSa.

• ▸Miliaria.
• ▸Mumps.
• ▸Perspiration, excessive.
• ▸Pregnancy, salivation of.
• ▸Salivation.
• ▸Scalds.

Strabismus. Worms.

• ▸Compare: Amy.
• ▸nit.
• ▸(flushings); Atrop.
• ▸, Physost.
• ▸, Sep.
• ▸, and Lil.
• ▸t.
• ▸(eyes); Hep.

(increased bronchial secretion). Compare also Pilocarpinum and the Rutaceé.

Compare: Amyl nit; Atrop; Physos; Lycop; Ruta. Pilocarpin mur, (Meniere's disease, rapidly progressive phthisis, with free haemorrhages, profuse sweating, 2x trit). Atropine is the antagonist to Pilocarpin, in dose of one one-hundredth grain for one-sixth of Pilocarpin.

Third potency.

One-eighth to one-fourth grain hypodermically.

• ▸Chiefly as a powerful and rapid diaphoretic.
• ▸It is of most service in renal disease, especially with uraemia, eliminating both water, and urea.
• ▸Scarlatinal dropsy.
• ▸Contra-indicated in heart failure, and in post-puerperal uraemia, and in senile cases.