LACTUCA.
[Experiments with Lactucarium (the inspissated juice)
are here included; the French Lactucarium is chiefly prepared from L.
sativa, the German and English from L. virosa, the American from L.
elongata. Fronmüller; Die Narkot. Arzneim, 1869.]Lactuca virosa, Linn.
Natural order
, Compositæ.
Common names
, Poisonous Lettuce; (Germ.),
Gift-lattich; (Fr.), La Laitue vireuse.
Preparation
, Tincture (prepared from equal
parts of the expressed juice of the herb and 80 per cent. Alcohol).
Authorities.
(Nos. 1 to 37,
from Journ. f. Hom. Arzneim., vol. 2, collection of Dr. Ed. Seidel.) 1, “S,” provings with tinct., 10 to
30-drop doses, and with 3 to 4-grain doses of the extract; 1a, same,
effects of teaspoonful doses of the fresh juice of L. sativa; 2, Ernst, effects of 20 drops of tinct.; 3, Espe, 10 drops of tinct.; 4, Theile, 40 drops of tinct., and 2 to 4
grains of extract; 5, Piper, 16
drops to 1/2 an ounce of tinct., and 10 grains of extract; 6, Henke, 10 drops of tinct.; 7, Netolitzky, 4 to 6 grains of extract; 8, Helbig, 40 to 120 drops of tinct.; 9, Preu, 5 to 10 drops of tinct.; 10, a girl of twenty-six, 20 drops of tinct.;
11, a girl of fifteen, 20 drops of
tinct.; 12, a girl of sixteen, 1-2
grains of extract; 13, a girl of
nineteen, 2 grains of the extract; 14,
a girl of twenty-two, 2 grains of extract; 15,
a woman of thirty, 2 grains of extract, and 20 drops of tinct.; 16, Andry, Traité des Aliments de carme,
from the exhalations; 17, effects of
10-15 grains of Parisian Lactucarium, Rothamel, Heidelb. Klin. Annal.,
5, 2, 277; 18, Tott, Lactucarium
virosum, Rust’s Mag., 43, 1, 138; 19,
Halle, Gift-historie, Berlin, 1787, p. 228; 20,
Gmelin, Geschichte der Pflanzengifte, 1777, p. 486; 21, Vicat, Plant. vén. de la Suisse, p. 209;
22, Wibmer, Wirk. der Arzn., 3. 3,
p. 301; 23, omitted; 24, Dioscorides, Mat. Med., L. IV, c. 55; 25, Plinius, Hist. Nat., xix, 8 et 18; 26, Silesius, Kräuterbuch, 1577; 27, Richter, Arzneim., 2 p. 605; 28, Kolb, Bromatologie, 1829, p. 209; 29, Burdach, Arzneim., 2d ed.; 30, Sachs and Dulc, Arzneim.; 31, Candon, Contr. Med., etc.; 32, Voigt, Lehrb. d. Pharm.; 33, Schrœder, Apothekerbuch, 1686; 34, Francois, Rev. Med., 1824; 35, Dierbach, Arzneikräfte der Pflanzen,
1831; 36, Glaser, in Brandes Archiv,
18, p. 252; 37, Ganzel, Diss. de
Lactuca sativa, 1819; 38, Austrian
Soc. Allopath. physicians, Zeit. der Gesell. der Ærz. zu Wien., 1847,
provings with the extract, 1/2 to 30 grains at a dose; 39, Schroff, Lehrbuch der Pharm., experiments
with 2/10 dr. of Aust. Lactucarium; 40,
same, experiments on two persons with doses of 1 1/2 dr.; 41, Fronmüller, loc. cit., effects of doses
of 1/2 to 62 grains of Lactucarium, Syrup. Lact. and Lactucin, in
several cases; 42, A. Boe, poisoning
of a family by eating a salad of L. virosa, Bull Gén. de Thérap., from
Biblioth. Hom., Aug. 1876.
MIND.
►
Emotional. ► Lively mood
(secondary action), [39]. ► Merry delirium, which began about
midnight and increased until morning; sang, jumped about on his bed, and
played all sorts of antics (boy), [42].
► In the evening after grief,
stupefying headache, violent contraction in the larynx, inclination to
weep caused by the grief; though Lactuca seems to cause sadness with
exalted fancies, so that the worst fears and apprehensions are aroused
by the merest trifles (after twelve hours), [9]. ►
Internal uneasiness, anxiety (after eight hours), [6]. ►
Extremely ill-humored from the slightest cause (second and third day), [1]. ►
Fretful mood, with disinclination to work (second to eighth days), [6]. ►
She is fretful, excited by trifles, and aroused to anger (first day), [14]. ►
Very fretful but depressed mood (first day), [3]. ► Peevish
mood (first day), [15]. ► Intellectual. [10.] ►
Unusual disinclination to work, ill-humor; it does not trouble him in
bed (second day), [7]. ► Diminished power of thought (after a
quarter of an hour), [22]. ► Mental labor cannot be accomplished; the
thoughts become confused; or no connected train of thought can be
carried on (first hours), [1]. ► Stupefaction, [40].
HEAD.
►
Confusion and Vertigo. ►
Confusion of the head, [38], [39], [41];
in morning (second day), [4];
(second morning), [41]. ► Confusion of the head, lasting twelve
hours, [9]. ►
Confusion of the head in the morning, as after a debauch (second to
fifth day), [1]. ► Confusion of the head, in the morning
after rising, with pressing from within outward in the forehead and
orbits (after eight hours), [1]. ► Confusion and dulness of the head (after
one hour), [15]. ► Somewhat confused in the head (after one
hour), [7]. [20.] ►
The head is confused and heavy (second morning), [3]. ►
Confusion in the forehead (after one hour), [5]. ►
Confusion and a feeling of heat in the forehead (while bruising the
fresh herb), [1]. ► Confusion in the forehead externally,
alternately more sensitive, now in the right, now in the left frontal
eminence; on stooping, there is at times short transient stitching
through the left eminence (second, third, and fourth days), [6]. ►
Confusion in the right side of the forehead, in the morning, for several
minutes, [5]. ► The head is befogged, dizzy, though
without impairment of the power of judgment, [9]. ►
Vertigo, [40], [41]; also from the exhalations, [18], [20];
(from 10 to 15 grains of Parisian Lactucarium), [17]; (from Lactucarium Genuinum), [18]. ► Even
the odor causes vertigo, [19]. ► Vertigo; it suddenly became black before
the eyes; the threads ran together while sewing; but if she looked off
of her work for some time vision became better (after half an hour, and
recurring several times during the day), [12].
[30.] ►
Vertigo in a warm room, with a feeling of too great fulness in the head
(after half an hour), [1]. ► Vertigo and heaviness, especially in the
occiput (soon after taking, and lasting a long time), [1]. ►
Vertigo, together with heaviness in the limbs, [1]. ► Slight
vertigo (immediately), [1]. ► Whirling vertigo, lasting half an hour
(after half an hour), [10]. ► Dizzy and confused in the head, as if she
would fall; as if she had not slept through the night (soon), [11]. ►
Dizzy and heavy, especially in the occiput (soon after taking, and
lasting a long time), [1]. ► Somewhat dizzy in the head, in the
morning on rising (second day), [4].
► He became dizzy on suddenly moving
the upper part of the body, in the forenoon (first day), [1]. ► Lactuca
intoxicates from eating it, or even inhaling the fumes when cooking, [21]. ►
General Head. [40.] ► Heaviness in the head, with some
transient stitches in the forehead, especially in the region of the left
frontal eminence (after one hour), [2].
► Headache, in the afternoon (first
and third days), [5]; (first night
and second morning), [41]. ► The head seems too large, distended, with
slight vertigo (after a quarter and half an hour), [1]. ► Some
headache, as if full and confused (after half an hour), [8]. ► Dull
headache (after three hours), [2].
► Dull headache lasts for a long time
(after three-quarters of an hour), [22].
► Dull headache, especially in the
forehead (after two hours), [11]. ► Dull headache, with great indolence and
physical prostration (first day), [13].
► The head is very painfully
shattered by slight cough, so that a whirring and pressing remain in it
for a long time afterward (first day), [1].
► A waving pulsating sensation in the
head, while at rest in the forenoon (first day), [1]. [50.] ► Shaking and swaying in the brain on every
motion of the head, so that it threatened to make her dizzy, and she was
obliged to close her eyes in order to relieve it; for a short time
(after one hour), [14]. ► Forehead. ►
The forehead is hot, with burning pressive pain in it, in the evening
(first day), [3]. ► Transient frontal headache, in the
morning on waking (second day), [1].
► Drawing pain in the forehead, [38]. ►
Indefinite, transient, drawing headache, extending from the temples
toward the forehead (after a quarter of an hour), [4]. ► Slight
pressure in the frontal region gradually increases, and becomes at last
decidedly painful (after ten minutes), (from 2 grains of the extract), [22]. ►
Pressive pain in the forehead, aggravated by the warmth of the room
(after four hours), [3]. ► Sticking pressive pain in the forehead,
as from a dull knife (after twelve hours), [3]. ► Some
dull jerks in the frontal region, the first hour, [1]. ►
Pressive frontal headache after slight mental exertion, involving the
eyes (after twelve hours), [1]. [60.] ►
Pressive frontal headache constantly becomes prominent, accompanied by a
feeling as if the whole brain were loose (after two hours), [9]. ►
Temples. ► Dull pain
within the head, in the fore and upper part of the left temple, on
violently moving the head sideways while washing the face, aggravated on
each renewed shaking of the head; lasting in a slight degree, aside from
this motion, for two hours (after a quarter of an hour), [7]. ►
Pressive pain from within outward in both temples, [1]. ►
Constant pressing-outward pain in the left temporal region, sometimes
shooting through the whole head (after ten hours), [1]. ► Tearing
pain in the right temporal region (after three hours), [1]. ► Vertex.
► Pain in the region of the vertex
(after half an hour), [5]. ► A small spot on the vertex is painful
more externally (clavus hystericus), in a woman of 25 (after two hours),
[9]. ►
Parietals. ► A seated dull
pain in a small spot on the left parietal bone, in the afternoon (first
day), [15]. ►
Extremely painful drawing in a small spot on the right parietal bone,
which is also painful to touch, in the afternoon (first day), [1]. ►
Sharp pressive pain in one side of the head, as if on the bone (after
three hours), [6]. ► Occiput. [70.]
► Heaviness and pressure in the
occiput, [1]. ► Indefinite painful sensation in the
occiput, and here and there in the head, the whole forenoon, [5]. ►
Dull pain and heaviness in the occiput (after one hour), [1]. ►
Pressive tense feeling in the occiput, with heat in the forehead and
cold hands (first hours), [1]. ► Compressive pain the occiput, [1]. ►
A pressive heavy feeling in the occiput, the whole afternoon (first
day), [1]. ► External Head. ►
A small painful spot suddenly appears near the crown externally, which
is still more painful when touched (after five hours), [1].
EYE.
►
Weakness of the eyes (soon), [1]. ► Weakness of the eyes for a few minutes,
during the first hours, [15]. ► Slight transient burning in the eyes, [1]. [80.]
► Biting in the eyes, especially in
the external canthi, so that she is obliged to rub them much, which,
however, makes them worse, [8]. ► Biting pain in the left inner canthus
(after one hour), [1]. ► Brow. ►
Transient griping above the eyebrows (after a quarter of an hour), [1]. ►
Extremely acute pressive pain in the glabella, lasting ten minutes
(after ten and fourteen hours), [6].
► Lids. ►
Margins of the lids covered with mucus (first and second days), [6]. ►
Slight burning in the lids during the day, while writing (first day), [1]. ►
Burning pain in the lids, especially of the right eye, with dimness of
vision and dilated pupils (first and second days), [1]. ► Ball.
► Pressive pain, with a feeling of
tension in the right eyeball (soon), [1].
► Pupil. ►
Dilatation of the pupils, [40], [41]; (6 to 8 grains of Paris
Lactucarium), [17]. ► Pupils very much dilated; in the boy
especially the iris was almost invisible (second day), [42]. ► Vision.
[90.] ►
Vision became dim, with burning in the eyes, [1]. ► Weak
dim vision (from frequent eating of lettuce), [24]. ► Vision
impaired; the eyes seem clouted, but the film disappears on looking
intently at anything (after half an hour), [9]. ► Vision
is periodically and momentarily obscured by a slight film, in the
forenoon (first day), [1]. ► He seeks here and there before he can
find anything (after a quarter of an hour), [7]. ► After
closely examining the capital letters in a newspaper he mistook M for P,
and O for V, and the effort to read caused strong congestion of the eyes
(boy; second day), [42]. ► Unable to distinguish anything. ► On trying to read could not make out a
single letter, large or small (man and woman; second day), [42]. ►
On stooping, muscæ volitantes, after dinner (after five hours), [6]. ►
Visual hallucinations (in delirium); fancied he saw an inkstand, a
soldier, etc., on his bed (boy; second day), [42].
EAR.
►
Alternating drawings in the ears, [1].
[100.] ►
Some dull stitches, followed by tension in the left ear (after ten
hours), [1]. ► Hearing. ►
Slight humming and feeling of fulness in the head and before the ears
(after half an hour), [15]. ► Roaring in the ears, [9]; (first night), [41]. ►
Violent whirring before the ears, in the evening in bed (first day), [1].
NOSE.
►
Frequent sneezing, which aggravates the chest-troubles (fifth day), [3]. ►
Catarrh, leaving soreness in the nose, with dryness, [1]. ► A
peculiar pressing-asunder pain in the tip of the nose, in the afternoon
(third day), [5]. ► A peculiar indescribable odor before the
nose, with a similar taste in the mouth (first day), [4].
FACE.
►
Sickly expression (after several repetitions of 6 to 8 grains of
Parisian Lactucarium), [17]. ► Face pale, distorted, [18]. [110.] ► Tense crawling sensation in the face
(after a quarter of an hour), [1].
► Swelling of the lymphatic glands in
the lips (second day), [9]. ► Fine twitching in the lips (after eight
hours), [1]. ►
Stitches extending sideways in the chin (at the exit of the submaxillary
nerve), (after half an hour), [9].
MOUTH.
►
Teeth and Gums. ► Pains
suddenly appearing in the left lower back teeth, a though a diseased
tooth were twisted about, [8]. ► Aching of the gum in a cavity while
chewing (third to eighth days), [6].
► Tongue. ► Tongue coated white, [18]; (first and second days), [6]. ► Tongue
thickly coated with mucus (from 10 to 15 grains of Parisian
Lactucarium), [17]. ► Constriction beneath the tongue (as after
ink), (soon), [5]. ► The tip of the tongue pains as if burnt
(soon after, and second day), [4].
► General Mouth. [120.] ►
Dryness of the mouth, [39];
without thirst (after four hours), [3].
► Tension in the posterior portion of
the mouth and especially of the palate, which constantly obliges
spitting of saliva, [6]. ► Saliva. ►
Accumulation of saliva (after a quarter of an hour), [9]. ► Greater
secretion, of saliva than usual in the mouth, [1]. ► Saliva,
increased, acid (after one hour), [1].
► Taste. ►
Flat taste (from 10 to 15 grains of Parisian Lactucarium), [17]. ►
Bitter taste (after a quarter of an hour), [5]. ► Bread
and butter leave a bitter taste in the mouth (after three-quarters of an
hour), [1].
THROAT.
►
Tenacious mucus accumulates in the throat, in the morning (first days), [1]. ►
Slight burning in the throat (soon after taking), [15]; towards evening (first day), [4]. [130.] ► An unpleasant feeling in the throat, as
if the part had been exposed to too great heat of the stove (after six
days), [3]. ►
Rawness in the throat, after lecturing (after twelve hours), [9]. ►
Some rawness and scraping in the throat (after one hour), [15]; and in the afternoon (first day), [1]. ►
Mucus accumulates in the fauces (after one hour), [9]. ►
Swallowing is difficult, with a feeling of burning and rawness on the
uvula, [4]. ►
Swallowing is difficult, not as from an obstruction in the pharynx, or
from a constriction, but because the pharyngeal muscles refuse to act
(after a quarter of an hour), [9].
► Sticking-drawing pain, extending
from the right submaxillary gland to the tongue and ear (after three
hours), [8].® 2000
Article