Spigelia Marylandica

Spigelia anthelmia is a common weed in South America.: S. Marylandica,

"Pink-root" or "Worm-grass," is a native of the Southern States of North America. Spigel. anth.

is an acro-narcotic. It was known in Europe in Hahnemann's time as an anthelmintic, this

property of the drug having been learned from the negroes of the Antilles. Hahnemann's proving

• ▸(M.
• ▸M.
• ▸P.
• ▸) revealed many other virtues.
• ▸He says of the plant that it has this peculiarity: the

primary action of a single unrepeated dose usually increases somewhat daily during the first

seven to ten days, so that pure experiments with it should be conducted with caution seeing that

60, 80, to 100 drops of the tincture produce violent effects even in robust persons. Violence is a

note of the Spigelia action. The pains are intense, and it produces pains in all parts. It is a

neuralgia remedy par excellence. I was once written to by a patient in the country, and the only

definite points that I could make out of the case were that there was neuralgia and that it affected

• ▸the left side.
• ▸I ordered Spi.
• ▸, and it speedily cured.
• ▸Spi.
• ▸is more left-sided than right, but by no

means exclusively left, sided. The pains are burning, jerking, tearing, pressing and stitching; they

radiate and extend to other parts; are < by noise, jar, movement; change of weather—especially

stormy weather. Head, eyes, face, teeth, and heart are the principal seats of Spi. action.

• ▸Hochecker (H.
• ▸R.
• ▸, x.
• ▸147) relates the case of Miss O.
• ▸, 27, blonde, tall, robust, who had neuralgia

for several weeks, without traceable cause. Pains came suddenly, twitching and tearing of left

side of face, now in ear, then in lower jaw, and were particularly < by mastication. A peculiarity

was that whenever the pains were about to commence a diarrhcea set in. A single powder of Spi.

6 cured. Hochecker also cured with Spi. 3, 6, 10, and 20 a case of tic-douloureux of right side of

fifteen months' duration. In this case each lower attenuation after first relieving caused an

• ▸aggravation.
• ▸That was why the attenuations were successively raised.
• ▸Spi.
• ▸20 completed the cure.

This patient had dark hair and dark complexion. She attributed her trouble to taking cold in a

draught when heated by dancing. Sensitiveness to cold, to wet and stormy weather, is one of the

• ▸notes of Spi.
• ▸The left-sidedness of Spi.
• ▸is shown in its affinity for the heart.
• ▸Sometimes the heart,

• ▸eyes, and head are affected together.
• ▸A case is quoted in A.
• ▸H.
• ▸(xxii.
• ▸417) in which there were

darting and aching pains in head, nose, and eyes, and similar pains about the heart with slow,

irregular action, but no murmur. Vertigo on stooping and heat of head. Sudden pains at bottom of

back. The pains were < night and morning and in damp weather. In one prover the accustomed

evening smoke caused violent toothache. I cured with Spi. a case of cardiac neuralgia caused by

tobacco. I have frequently seen cardiac murmurs appearing in acute rheumatism disappear under

Spi. In the eye, neuralgias, inflammation, amaurotic conditions, glaucoma presenting the

• ▸symptoms of Spi.
• ▸have been cured with it.
• ▸The pains of Spi.
• ▸are largely out-pressing, and proceed

from within outward and below upward. A migraine comes from occiput and settles in or over

left eye. In the eyes themselves there are intolerable pressive pains < on motion; but there are

also stabbing pains through eye backwards into brain. The combination of heart and eye

symptoms marks Spi. as the remedy in many cases of exophthalmic goitre. The anthelmintic

properties of Spi. must not be lost sight of by homeopaths. It has the cardiac symptoms of

helminthiasis: itching of anus and nose, colic, and borborygmus. Hering gives this case:

"Helminthiasis: dilated pupils; strabismus; putrid smell from mouth, itching of nose, griping pain

in belly; throat inflamed, swallows often, pale redness in throat and swelling of mucous

membrane; palpitation." Masses of lumbrici have been expelled and also threadworms. Fetid

breath and fetid flatus are marked features of Spi. There is both constipation and diarrhoea. I have

found it especially useful in heart cases where constipation has been a troublesome complication.

The bodily sensitiveness of Spi. is paralleled by the mental irritability. But the most peculiar

• ▸mental symptom is "fear of pointed things as pins, &c.
• ▸" Meninger (A.
• ▸H.
• ▸, xx.
• ▸282) had a severe

case of nausea of pregnancy which he cured with Spi. The only leading symptom in the case was

this: She was afraid of pointed things and asked her husband to take away a fork, crochet-needle,

• ▸&c.
• ▸(Sil.
• ▸has a somewhat similar symptom, but the Si/.
• ▸patient hunts for pins although afraid of

them.) Spi. corresponds to rheumatism as well as to heart affections the consequence of

rheumatism. A patient whom I successfully treated for a serious heart affection with Spi. 3 told

me that under the treatment he had lost a pain in the right knee which he had had for eighteen

months, and which he had not mentioned to me at first. The pain was as if dislocated; unable to

rise from kneeling; cannot find an easy position, often for hours at night. Peculiar Sensations of

• ▸Spi.
• ▸are: As if he would fall.
• ▸As if intoxicated.
• ▸As if head would burst.
• ▸As of a band around head.

• ▸As if head tightly bound.
• ▸As if electric sparks in temples.
• ▸Brain as if loose.
• ▸As if nerves being cut

with a fine instrument in forehead and temple. As if eye would be pushed out of head. As if hairs

• ▸or feathers on lashes.
• ▸Upper lids as if paralysed.
• ▸Eyeballs as if too large.
• ▸As if sand in eyes.
• ▸As if

needles thrust into eyeball. As if eye would be pressed out of socket. As if eye would fly into

pieces. As if eye were being pulled forward and backward. Pain in eye as if it would drive him

crazy. As if ear loosely stopped or a thick mist before it. As if back of nose were lightly touched

by hair, or as if a gentle wind were blowing across it. Face feels as if it had been scorched. As if

all muscles of left side of face from head to neck and left axilla were pierced with red-hot

• ▸needles.
• ▸Teeth as if too long.
• ▸As if left side of lower jaw would be torn out of its joint.
• ▸Sensation

resembling purring of cat. As of a worm rising in throat. As of a half fluid body ascending in

• ▸throat.
• ▸As of a hard lump in throat.
• ▸As if abdomen would burst.
• ▸As if all intestines would be

constricted. Suffocating as if from a quantity of water poured into windpipe. Pulse as if a thread

pulled through arteries. As if heart compressed or squeezed with a hand. As if heart being

crushed. As if everything in chest were too short, loose, and wabbling about. As if something

• ▸tearing in chest.
• ▸In left scapula sensation as though blood dripping through a valve.
• ▸Spi.
• ▸is Suited

to: Anzemic, debilitated subjects, of rheumatic diathesis; to scrofulous children afflicted with

ascarides and lumbrici; to persons with light hair; pale, thin, bloated, weak; with wrinkled,

yellow, earthy skin. The body is painfully sensitive to touch, the part touched feels chilly; touch

sends a shudder through the whole frame. Spi. is a sun remedy: headache beginning at sunrise, at

its height at noon, declining to sunset. In chest affections there are stitching pains synchronous

with the pulse. Stammering: repeats first syllable three or four times; with abdominal ailments;

with helminthiasis. The symptoms are < by touch. Contact and pressure of clothes is unbearable.

• ▸(Pressure > neuralgia.
• ▸) < jarring; hard step.
• ▸Rest >.
• ▸Motion <.
• ▸Moving, shaking head <.
• ▸Moving

• ▸eyes <.
• ▸Moves very carefully.
• ▸Lying with head high; or on right side >.
• ▸< Rising; stooping;

• ▸bending forward.
• ▸> Whilst eating, < immediately after.
• ▸Warmth >; (< headache).
• ▸Open air = pain

in eyes; > headache. < Slightest draught; cold, damp, rainy, stormy weather; cold air; cold

washing; (cold application > neuralgia temporarily). < Morning on waking. Pain increases and

declines with sun. < (Also sometimes >) from tobacco. Opening mouth < headache.

Suddenly affected with complete mental derangement, exactly like that of Stram.,

countenance distorted, running and skipping, fits of laughing and crying, pupils greatly dilated,

talk wild and incoherent, (lasted 24h.).

[ Very violent neuralgia, followed by an extreme soreness; boring pains; pains

as if parts were pushed or pressed asunder, or as if they would burst; sensation of extension in

size; feeling as of a lump in the inner parts; darting pains in inner and outer parts; darting pain

from within outward; in the joints; pains of a dragging or rooting character.—Affections in

general of r. side of face and nose; stool with maw-worms (oxyuris vermicularis), discharge of

urine too copious, sensitiveness of outer parts; aversion to washing; trembling pulse that can

scarcely be counted.—< On stooping; when blowing nose; during expiration; after rising from a

seat; from touching the parts affected; when walking in open air; from having worms.—> While

• ▸taking an inspiration.
• ▸—H.
• ▸N.
• ▸G.
• ▸].
• ▸—Arthritic, shooting, or tearing pains in the limbs.
• ▸—Stinging

pain in the limbs and principally in the joints.—Tearing in the vicinity of the joints, as if the bone

were scraped.—Heaviness and soreness in the body when rising from a seat.—Sensitiveness of

body to touch, with chilliness of the parts touched; or it sends a shudder through whole

• ▸body.
• ▸—Great weakness, esp.
• ▸mornings.
• ▸—Heaviness and sensation in limbs as if

• ▸fractured.
• ▸—Convulsions.
• ▸—Lassitude, esp.
• ▸after slight exercise, and in open air.
• ▸—Syncope, esp.

when making an effort to evacuate, or in a warm room.—Great sensitiveness to cold air, with

sufferings from walking in open air.—Great liability to suffer from a chill.

Wild, staring, ludicrous expression.—Irregular movement of adductors and abductors of

• ▸eyes.
• ▸—Strabismus of r.
• ▸eye.
• ▸—Pain in and about the eyes.
• ▸—Sensation of stiffness of

eyelids.—Pupils dilated.

Earache with an ichorous, scalding discharge; hearing very sensitive; noise in the ear

• ▸as of something fluttering.
• ▸—Pain in margin of 1.
• ▸concha.
• ▸—Drawing in |.
• ▸antitragus.
• ▸—Itching in r.

• ▸concha.
• ▸—Pressive pains in r.
• ▸ear.
• ▸—Otalgia, with pressive, troublesome pain, as if there were a

plug in ear.—Jerking tearing in ears.—Squeezing, itching, and burning sensation in external

• ▸ear.
• ▸—Itching in r.
• ▸vesicle-—Stoppage of ears, with or without dysecoia.
• ▸—Periodical

deafness.—Sensation of distant ringing in ears, with sensation as if the ear were loosely stopped

or a thick mist were in front of it—Roaring, buzzing, and pulsation in ears.—Noise of hammering

before ears.

Itching in nose, with tickling —Tickling on back of nose, as if lightly touched by hairs,

or as if a gentle wind were blowing across it.—Tingling, shooting, boring, smarting and itching in

nose.—Herpetic eruption on nose with pain, as from excoriation.—Stoppage and dryness of

anterior nose, with copious discharge of whitish and yellowish mucus from posterior

nares.—Frequent sneezing; discharge of bloody mucus.—Mucus at one time white, at another

time yellow, is discharged from nose; at same time much mucus is discharged from

mouth.—Fluent coryza, which recurs frequently, esp. after slightest chill.

Toothache (in evening) after customary smoke in evening.—Toothache > by tobacco

smoke.—Pain, like pressing asunder, in the teeth, immediately after a meal, or at night, which

does not permit continued lying down.—Toothache so that he was unable to sleep at night; it

drove him out of bed; not during day, except just after eating, not while eating.—Toothache > by

• ▸warmth of bed.
• ▸—Toothache like a pressure outward; < lying on r.
• ▸side.
• ▸—Jerking toothache, or

with pulsative tearings, esp. in carious teeth, < by cold water after eating or by contact with the

open air; > whilst eating and when lying down.—Toothache with prosopalgia, paleness and

bloatedness of face, yellowish circles round eyes, palpitation of heart, shivering and agitation.

Sore throat, with lancinations and swelling in palate—Discharge of mucus from

fauces all day, most from posterior nares.—Cervical glands swollen.

Putrid, fetid taste——Anorexia, with violent thirst.—Repugnance to tobacco-smoke

and snuff.—Dislike to coffee.—Bulimy, sometimes with nausea and thirst.

Risings after every meal.—Sour risings.—Nausea (in the morning) when fasting,

with a sensation as if something were ascending from stomach into throat.—Accumulation of

mucus in the stomach.—Pressure in stomach and scrobiculus as from a heavy body (as from a

hard lump).—Lancinations in pit of stomach and diaphragm, sometimes with obstructed

respiration.—Dull stitches, in pit of stomach, < from inspiration, with oppression of the

chest.—Inability to bear tight clothing round scrobiculus; the least contact causes anguish, with

redness and heat of face, and sensation as if something were torn away in chest.

Griping in abdomen, as if intestines constricted, with anxiety and difficult

breathing —Abdomen hard, and painfully tight—Stitches in region of diaphragm, 1. side,

arresting breathing.—Pressure in umbilical region, as by a hard body.—Colic, with pinching

pains, cuttings (from worms) in the umbilical region, with shivering, diarrhoea, and copious

secretion of urine.—Lancinations (stitches) in the abdomen.—Tensive pain in the groins when

touched.—Grumbling and borborygmi in the abdomen.—Painful pressure in lower abdomen, as if

it would burst, esp. in evening before a soft stool; sometimes > after —Expulsion of fetid flatus.

Frequent, urgent, and ineffectual want to evacuate.—Soft, liquid

• ▸feeces.
• ▸—White stools daily —Nodular stool with violent pressure.
• ▸—Faints during stool.
• ▸—Hard,

difficult evacuations, with much mucus.—Discharge (of large lumps) of mucus from anus,

without evacuation.—Liquid diarrhoea of feecal matter and of mucus.—Diarrheea, with pinchings

in abdomen and coldness in body.—Discharge of feeces with worms.—Ejection of lumbrici and

ascarides from rectum.—Itching and sensation as if something were creeping in rectum and

anus.—Boring stitches in perineeum.—(Scirrhus of sigmoid or rectum, atrocious, unbearable

• ▸pains.
• ▸—H.
• ▸C.
• ▸Allen).

Urine, with whitish sediment.—Frequent want to urinate, with profuse

emission, even at night.—Sudden and involuntary dribbling of urine, with burning sensation in

anterior part of urethra.—Discharge of prostatic fluid from the urethra.

Tingling round glans penis.—Semilateral swelling of

glans.—Erections, with lascivious ideas, without voluptuous excitement.—(Discharge of prostatic

• ▸fluid.
• ▸).
• ▸—Itching stitch in r.
• ▸testicle and penis, from behind forward.

Catarrh, with hoarseness, continual discharge of mucus from nose,

dry heat without thirst, prominent eyes, distressing headache, and disposition to

weep.—Nocturnal catarrh, with cough.—Cough in open air, with pain in chest as from

excoriation.—Dry cough, violent and hollow, caused by irritation low down in trachea, with

respiration obstructed, even to suffocation.—Short, dry cough causing soreness of

chest.—Shortness of breath, esp. when talking, with anxiety and redness of cheeks and

lips.—Dyspnoea when moving in bed; can only lie on r. side; or with the head very high Danger

of suffocation on least movement, and esp. on raising arms.

Aching at the chest, with painful oppression.—Contraction of chest, with anguish and

obstructed respiration.—Stitches in diaphragm with dyspnoea.—Noise in the chest like that made

by a spinning-wheel, esp. in region of heart—Pressure, burning or incisive sensation, pain, as

• ▸from ulceration and tearing in chest, esp.
• ▸on lifting arms.
• ▸—Cutting tearing beneath 1.
• ▸nipple,

extending to region of scapulze and upper arm, < during inspiration and deep

breathing.—Sensation of trembling in thorax, < by moving arms.—Spasmodic sensation in chest,

proceeding from pit of stomach and causing choking.—Tensive lancinations in chest, esp. when

drawing breath.

Pulse: accelerated; irregular.

24. Generalities—On attempting to assume erect position, seized with general tremor lasting a

few seconds and leaving her exhausted.

Needle-like stitches in upper dorsal vertebra; in r. scapula.—Sensation in 1.

scapula as though blood were dripping through a valve, a kind of bubbling.—Red pimples on

neck, with pain as from excoriation when touched.—Hard and painful swelling of glands of the

neck.—Pains in nape, < when still, > by motion.—Intermittent drawing in posterior cervical

muscles and up to occiput.—Sticking pain in r. side of neck; on swallowing, pain in parotid

gland.—Itching of anus and coccyx.—Pain in back as from a fracture, also during

movement.—Bruised feeling in spine, even during rest.—Lancinations (stitches) in back,

sometimes on drawing breath.

Heaviness and trembling of arms.—Easy numbing of arms and

hands.—Jerking of muscles of arms and forearms.—Violent lancinations and shocks in bend of

elbow and joints of hands and fingers.—Spasmodic drawings and tearings in bones of hands.

Hard nodosities in the palms, with burning itching. —Hands of a pale yellow colour.—Contraction

of fingers.—Purulent pimples on fingers.

Pain, as of a fracture, tension and shootings in thighs, almost exclusively,

when walking, or during rapid movements.—Stitches in the joints of the legs and feet and in the

thigh —Violent lancinations in knee on bending it.—Painful stiffness in knee-joint.—Lancinating

shocks in joints of feet—Excrescences, like warts, on toes.

Pale, wrinkled skin of body.—Painful sensibility of entire skin when touched.—Painful

glandular swellings.—Red pimples, with pain, as from excoriation, when touched.

Mania. Strabismus (r.).

• ▸Characteristics—The symptoms of Spi.
• ▸m.
• ▸are mainly from overdosing.
• ▸A state of mania was

induced in a boy from large and frequent doses of a decoction of the root. Strabismus of right eye

was noted in one case.

• ▸Antidoted by: Camph.
• ▸, Aur.
• ▸(restlessness in limbs); Cocul.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸Antidote to: Merc.
• ▸,

• ▸Colch.
• ▸(heart).
• ▸Compatible: Aco.
• ▸(endocarditis); Ars.
• ▸, Dig.
• ▸, K.
• ▸ca.
• ▸, Zn.
• ▸(heart); Iris (prosopalgia);

• ▸Arn.
• ▸(carbuncle).
• ▸Compare: Botan.
• ▸Nux, Ign.
• ▸, Curar.
• ▸Pains; left eye, Aco.
• ▸Neuralgia in left eye,

• ▸Ther.
• ▸Headaches, coming and going with sun, Na.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Sang.
• ▸, Tab.
• ▸Neuralgia, Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸(Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸<

• ▸right).
• ▸Catarrhs, Puls.
• ▸Eye pains, Bell.
• ▸(Bell.
• ▸more right-sided; more congestion).
• ▸Heart pains;

• ▸white stools, Dig.
• ▸Ciliary neuralgia, Ced.
• ▸, Mez.
• ▸(mercurial), Thuj.
• ▸(pains go up and backwards).

• ▸Stitches in heart, Hep.
• ▸, Na.
• ▸m.
• ▸, K.
• ▸ca.
• ▸, Ars.
• ▸, Caust.
• ▸Headache begins occiput and goes to left eye

• ▸(Sang.
• ▸to right; Sil.
• ▸to both).
• ▸Tic-douloureux, Thu.
• ▸, Coccin.
• ▸Aversion to be washed, Ant.
• ▸c.
• ▸,

• ▸Clem.
• ▸, Hep.
• ▸, Rhus, Sep.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸Faintness connected with stool, Ap.
• ▸, Nux m.
• ▸, Pul.
• ▸, Ver.
• ▸(with

• ▸scanty stool, Crot.
• ▸t.
• ▸, Dulc.
• ▸, Ox.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Pet.
• ▸, Sars.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸).
• ▸Neuralgia with pallor (with redness, Bell.
• ▸).

• ▸Nausea at sight of food, Colch.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸, Mosch.
• ▸, Ph.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Saba.
• ▸Worms, Saba.
• ▸, Cin.
• ▸, Teuc.
• ▸, Scirrh.
• ▸,

• ▸Stn.
• ▸< Moving head, Sol.
• ▸n.
• ▸Coughing, loud speech = head pains, Bry.
• ▸, Caps.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Sul.

• ▸Illusions of vision, Cycl.
• ▸(Cycl.
• ▸when with any trouble, headache, sick stomach, &c.
• ▸, one always

• ▸sees countless stars), < Tight clothing, Lach.
• ▸Contraction of fingers, Gels.
• ▸, Guaiac.
• ▸Sensitiveness

• ▸to touch, K.
• ▸ca.
• ▸As if eyes too large, Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸, Comoc.
• ▸Sensation of band round heart, Cact.
• ▸, Carbl.

• ▸ac.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸Post-nasal catarrh, offensive, causing choking at night, Hdrast.
• ▸Scirrhus of sigmoid

flexure or rectum, atrocious, unbearable pain, Alumen. Dyspncea, must lie on right side with

• ▸head high, Cact.
• ▸, Spo.
• ▸Toothache from tobacco, Plant.
• ▸Teste puts Spi.
• ▸in his Arn.
• ▸group; he

considered it a "chronic" of Arn.

Fatigue.—Drawing, tearing, twitching pains in limbs and joints.—The limbs are

affected mostly when walking.