NUX MOSCHATA.
Myristica fragrans, Houttuyn (1774). M. moschata,
Thunb.; M. officinalis, Linn.; M. aromatica, Lam.
Natural order
, Myristicaceæ.
Common names
, Nutmeg; Muskate.
Preparation
, Tincture and triturations of
the seed deprived of its arillus (mace) and testa.
Authorities.
(Nos. 1 to 48,
from Helbig, Heraklides, part 1, 1833). 1,
Helbig; 2, Hencke; 3, Heyder; 4,
Al., a woman; 5, Dl.; 6, Sw.; 7,
Kd., kadr., or Kade; 8, Lk. or Lck.,
a woman; 9, Ml., a woman; 10, Ant.; 11,
Ssg. or Ssgth; 12, Or., a woman; 13, C.; 14,
Dk.; 15, Os., a man; 16, Schm.; 17,
Ld., a woman; 18, Lch., a woman; 19, Sh; 20,
Ww; 21, Ktzl.; 22, Ldin.; 23,
Koernerin; 24, Schulz; 25, Derle; 26,
Hartmann; 27, Linke; 28, Bertele, Handbuch, 1805; 29, Bontius, Hist. Nat. et Méd. Ind. Orient,
1658; 30, Crantz, Mat. Med., 1762; 31, Cullen, Treatise on the Mat. Med.; 32, Curios. Botanicus; 33, Decker in Dietz, Tract. de nuce mos.; 34, Ettmueller, Opera, 1697; 35, Frankenau, Kräuter-lex, 1766; 36, Geoffray, Abhandl. v. der Mat. Med.,
1761; 37, Grimmer; 38, Hecker; 39,
Hoffmann, Casp. de Med. Offic.; 40,
Matth. Lobel.; 41, Moebius, Inst.
Med.; 42, Paulinus, de nuce mosch.; 43, Pharm. Lex., 1800; 44, Purkinje; 45,
Riedlinus, Lin. Med., 1600; 46,
Rumph, Herb. Amboin., 1641; 47,
Spielmann, Inst. Mat. Med., 1774; 48,
Thunberg, Diss. de Myristica, 1788 (49
to 54c,
additions by Helbig, from Hering’s Monograph on Nux. Mosch.); 49, M. M.; 50,
Dt.; 51, a girl, effects of 10 drops
of tincture; 52, a woman, from 10
drops of tincture; 53, a woman,
effects of holding nut in hand; 53a, effects of 12 drops of tincture; 54a,
Helbig, additional; 54b, a delicate woman, effects of the fourth
part of a nut; 54c, a woman, effects of a drop of 6th dil.;
54, Dr. C. Hering, Hom. Vjs., 10, p.
90, effects of chewing a portion of the long variety (M. fatua, Houtt.); 55,
Dr. M. Dowler, West. Hom. Obs., 4 (1867), p. 125, a man ate two nutmegs,
at 9 P.M.; 56, Berridge, N. Am. J.
of Hom., N. S., 1873, p. 504, effects of eating mace, in a woman; 57, same, effects of a dose of “C.
M.” (Fincke); 58, same, U. S.
Med. Invest., 1875, N. S., 1, p. 101, effects of 10 drops of tincture,
repeated the second day, and subsequently; 59,
Thueman, Bert. Med. Cent. Zeit., 1837 (A. H. Z., 17, 165), a man
suffering from diarrhœa took a whole nutmeg, also a cordial containing
paregoric and rum, with elderberry tea, omitted; 60, Watson, Lond. Med. Gaz., 1848, vol. 6, p.
260, effects of “as much mace as could be lifted on a teaspoon, and
afterwards kept eating small bits for over one and a half hours;” 61, Mitscherlich, Buchner’s Rep. 1850, vol.
16, p. 104 (Pharm. Journ., 10, p. 350), part of the dorsal surface of
the hand was moistened with the volatile oil; 62,
R. Ross Roberts, Hahn. Month., 3, 531, a woman, in order to check too
profuse menstruation, grated two nutmegs into half a pint of boiling
water, of this she sipped for six or seven hours; 63, Bosch, Memorabilien, 1869 (A. H. Z., M.
B., 19, p. 20), a soldier suffering from rheumatic pains took seven
nutmegs; 64, Fanning, Hahn. Month.,
1870, a woman, ten days after confinement, took nearly a whole nutmeg,
for some lochial discharge; 65,
Martin, Hahn. Month., 1870, p. 63, a woman, five months pregnant, took a
whole nutmeg for a leucorrhœal discharge; 66,
omitted; 67, Hahnemann, general
statement, from lesser writing by Dudgeon (from Hering); 68, Portland Advertiser, effects of eating
half a nutmeg (from Hering); 69,
Lippold, effects of large doses (Hering); 70,
Sam. Mueller, general effects (Hering); 71,
A. Lippe, effects of one-quarter or one-half of a nutmeg, in young women
during menstruation (Hering); 72, G.
E. Stahl, effects of Nux. mos., with nearly all his food and drink, as a
preventive for dysentery (Hering); 73,
C. Hering, effects of chewing a nutmeg (from Hering, l. c.); 74, A. J. Tafel, effects of a whole nutmeg,
taken in soup, to check a diarrhœa (which it did), (Hering, l. c.); 75, Fronmuller, Klinische Studien ueber der
narkot. Arzneim., Erlangen, 1869, effects of a freshly pulverized
nutmeg, taken a quarter of an hour after breakfast, in a healthy man; 76, von Tagen, N. Am. J. of Hom., N. S., 3,
p. 315, effects of using nutmegs to check menstruation, in a girl, aged
twenty-four (“she ate at least 230 grains”); 77, same, effects of three-fourths of a nut,
in a lady.
MIND.
►
Emotional. ► Insanity, [38]. ►
She fell into a delirium, that lasted several hours, [39]. ► After
a few hours, he was attacked with violent vertigo and delirium, so that
he made remarkable gestures; then he used improper language in a loud
tone, and could in no way be quieted or made to sleep until he had taken
tea and been bled, after which he fell into a profuse perspiration, with
deep sleep, from which he woke well, [46].
[From three nuts of M. tomentosa, taken for diarrhœa and tenesmus.] ► Delirium with the dysmenorrhœa, [77]. ►
*Mental derangement, [28]. ► Possesses narcotic properties, causes
reeling, delirium, and apoplexy, [47],
[48]. ►
They became foolish and delirious (in five soldiers), [46]. ► It
causes foolishness, [32]. ► Completely distracted in the head, and as
if intoxicated (in a pregnant woman, from ten pieces of the nuts), [40]. [10.]
► Causes intoxication and indolence, [32]. ►
*Unusually lively, laughing and bright, in the forenoon, [62]. ►
Felt foolishly happy, but could not talk; had no desire to talk (first
evening), [65]. ► Everything provokes laughter, quite contrary to
habit; this was especially noticeable on going into the open
air. He stood still upon the street, made foolish gestures; between the
attacks he sank into absence of mind, and on collecting himself everything about him seemed ludicrous. During
this he looked foolish and childish, like an idiot. On being brought
into the house he became somewhat better (first day), [6]. ► I took
a broken nutmeg and put it in my pocket, and in the course of six hours,
I had eaten half a one. Soon after I felt a dizziness and an
unaccountable derangement of intellect, transient loss of memory, but a perfect consciousness of all that I said or did;
I became remarkably loquacious and seemed to be neither in this world
nor the other; I felt happy and free from any pain; I was truly in an
indescribable state; I felt as I supposed one might feel that had been
magnetized; my friends were greatly alarmed, and the doctor was sent for
in great haste; bleeding was proposed, but as I thought I knew at least
as much as any one, I was not willing to be bled; after keeping them
laughing and crying till about 11 o’clock at night, I retired to bed,
without anything having been done for me; I woke in the morning, and was
well as usual, having never been sick a day in my life. Since this
occurred, several cases have come to my knowledge in which persons
having eaten nutmegs, were affected in the same way that I had been. Had
I eaten a little more, I have no doubt it would have proved fatal, as I
learn it has done in other cases, [68].
► He seemed to himself to be
remarkably lively, with constant throngs of joyous fancies, and he
managed to see something ludicrous in everything, [1]. [Effects of the inunction of the tincture to
the abdomen.] ► Great fear of death,
at 5.30 P.M., [62]. ► *Weeping mood, with burning in the eyes, and
lachrymation (first day), [5].
► Præcordial anxiety, [60]. ►
Reeling and great anxiety, [26]. [20.] ►
Violent anxiety (second day), [63].
► Extreme ill-humor (first day), [54]. ►
Petulant and irritable, when roused, [76].
► Disposed to be petulant, [76]. ►
*Variable mood; at one time he wishes to do something, but
when he is about to accomplish it changes his mind (first day), [6]. ►
At one time mood more earnest, at another more inclined to laugh (first
day), [6]. ►
Felt perfectly careless; nothing could have offended me (first evening),
[65]. ►
As soon as she lay down felt a sinking sensation, as though she were
going to die, with no fear, however, being perfectly at ease in mind,
and free from pain or any suffering; felt happy and unconcerned;
sensation was not complete; faculties undisturbed up to this time, save
in the expression of her ideas; knew all that was transpiring about her,
but could not express herself clearly (ideas muddled, tongue thick, with
coldness commencing in lower limbs), [76].
► Indifferent mood (first day), [4]. ►
Intellectual. ► Thought
uncontrollable, at 2 P.M., [62]. [30.] ► *While
writing he omitted letters, wrote in different alphabets against his
will, and changed from one subject to another (after six
hours), [1]. [From the flowers.] ► The words he employed to express his
sensations remarkable for their merit of being the opposite to what he
should have used; on the third day his thoughts hardly submitted
themselves to his control, unless by a consciously great effort, [60]. ►
Many ridiculous or extravagant acts or expressions, like idiocy, while
she seemed perfectly conscious, and at the next moment would appear
chagrined at her conduct, and said she could not control her actions; *disposition to laugh or jest at everything; stupid look
for a moment; changeable humor; one
moment laughing, the next crying (after seven hours), [64]. ►
He cannot comprehend what he is reading, does not know what he is
reading (first day), [7]. ► *Ideas were somewhat confused, [76]. ►
*Great incoherency on attempting to express her ideas (after
seven hours), [64]. ► Great confusion of ideas, with strange
feeling over the whole system (after four hours), [64]. ►
Unfitted for any work (first day), [54].
►► *Loss of memory, at 2
P.M., [62]. ►
The preserved nuts, if eaten too frequently, destroy the memory, [43]. [40.]
► *It causes forgetfulness, [26]. ►
When writing, he had scarcely written half of the thoughts in his mind
when everything vanished; the other part could be recalled only with
difficulty, or frequently not at all; was first obliged to rest;
commenced to write anew, but could write only a single word, when he had
to stop and collect his thoughts (first day), [1]. [From the flowers.] ►
Dizziness and vanishing of thought, and on forcibly arousing himself, he
is first obliged to collect is thoughts, [6].
► *While reading he gradually sinks into
absence of mind, which passes into sleep (after three hours),
[1]. ►
*Before he could answer a question he was obliged to wait awhile and
collect his thoughts; frequently in spite of everything he was unable to
give a suitable answer immediately; a kind of slowness of ideas
(after five hours), [1]. ► *He staggered when walking, and when reflecting
his mind ran upon one idea until all at once he woke from complete
abstraction, and was obliged to collect his thoughts before he knew
where he was (after five hours), [1]. ►►
*Absence of mind, cannot think; great
indifference to everything; scalp very much stretched, he
laid down at noon to sleep for half an hour, but slept soundly for four
hours; before falling asleep, boring pains in the root of a tooth; on
falling asleep, some dull headache on the left side (after six hours), [54a]. ►
*He talks very little; confused images appear before his mind; whenever
he wishes to say anything he is first obliged to collect his thoughts
(first day), [6]. ► *He never accomplishes what he undertakes, but
remains standing in one place, absent-minded; he appears quite changed
to his companions, [1].
► *It became difficult to recall to mind
things learned shortly before; for many such things the mind seemed
paralyzed for many days together, [1]. [50.] ► In a state of apparent unconsciousness, [76]. ►
Dulness of sense and loss of control; she could have been led anywhere
without resistance; loss of power (first evening), [65]. ► *Total
loss of consciousness, seemingly to her of a half hour’s duration, but
really only momentary, at 2 P.M., [62]. ►
Senselessness, [67]. ► *Senselessness, intoxication condition, and
absence of mind (first day), [6]. ► After about an hour he was seized with
drowsiness, that gradually increased to complete stupor and
insensibility, and not long afterwards he was found fallen from his
chair, lying on the floor of his chamber in the state mentioned; being
laid in bed he fell asleep, woke a little from time to time, when he was
quite delirious; he thus continued alternately delirious and sleeping
for several hours; by degrees these symptoms diminished, so that in
about six hours from the time of taking the nutmeg he had pretty well
recovered. Although he still complained of headache and was somewhat
delirious, he slept naturally, and the next day was quite well, [31]. [From about 2 drachms of the
powdered nutmeg.] ► From eating three
nutmegs, after a moderate dinner, he is taken with unconquerable desire
to sleep; he passes the afternoon in delirious slumber, with pleasant,
peaceful dreams; at half past 5 o’clock he went to the theatre, which
was at some distance; the way seemed to have no end; he has perfect
control over his limbs, but is lost each moment in fanciful images, from
which he has to tear himself away, with great energy, in order to
continue on his way. Although he was, at times, quite unconscious, his
limbs did not fail to do their service; he went straight on, without
recognizing the streets that crossed his way; he was most concerned
about the time; he feared to come too late, but came to the theatre much
earlier than he thought; during the entire play, fancy and reality
battled with each other, [44]. ► It surely possesses narcotic and
stupefying properties, [30]. ► *She fell into the deepest stupor, was deprived
of all motion and sensation, [41].
► She lay immovable and stupid the
whole of the first day, as in coma, [29].
[60.] ►
State of mind similar to that of the opium-eater, entertaining no
apprehension of the result, although aware of the presence of some
danger, [60].
HEAD.
►
Confusion and Vertigo. ►
Causes great confusion of the head, [46].
► *Vertigo, [38]. ► [They
experienced such violent vertigo and heaviness of head that they seemed
deprived of memory], [46].
[Several persons, after taking cold wine punch containing eight
nutmegs.] ► *Vertigo, and
fatal apoplexy, [48]. ► Pain and vertigo in the frontal region,
with the strange feeling over the whole system (after four hours), [64]. ►
He seemed like one intoxicated and reeling (first day), [27]. ► She is
dizzy, [8]. ►
So dizzy that they seemed intoxicated and half crazy, [46]. [Two soldiers, the day after sleeping under
a nutmeg tree.] ► Dizzy, as if
intoxicated and sleepy, [12]. [70.] ► He
reels far to the left instead of walking upright (in the evening, while
walking in the open air), (first day), [1].
► She made an attempt to walk to an
adjoining room, and upon standing erect became very dizzy, immediately
followed by swimming in the head, [76].
► She began to feel giddy and light
in her head, about 1 o’clock; gradually increased in severity, [62]. ►
Feeling faint, with lightness, giddiness, and emptiness of head, at 5.30
P.M., [62]. ►
Lightness, giddiness, and emptiness, with a faint feeling, at 5.30 P.M.,
[62]. ►
Injurious to the head; makes dizzy, sluggish, foolish, and causes other
complaints, [70]. ► She seemed intoxicated the whole day;
the head was heavy; at first it was painful on the left side, between
the forehead and temple, which sensation afterwards extended towards the
occiput (first day), [4]. ► In General. ►
*The head inclined to drop forward, the chin resting on the breast, and
it could only be raised with much effort, which, when done, again would
drop forward, [76]. ► *Could not bear to have her head raised from the
pillow, on account of the deathly sickness produced thereby, [76]. ►
Rush of blood to the head, obscuring the sight, [55]. [80.] ► On rising from dinner (after four hours),
felt the blood rush to my head, but the feeling was as if an electric
current had passed from the crown of the head downwards; I made an
effort and got mechanically downstairs; I then felt the same sensation
which I suppose a person would experience who had become nearly
insensible from extreme cold, and that, if I yielded myself to its
influence, I could have slept away out of existence without pain; I felt
this sensation twice; in a few minutes a cold shiver came upon me; from
that time I felt every variety of heat and cold from their respective
extremes; at every time the blood went from and returned to my head the
current changed the sensation, sometimes feeling myself very hot, and
the next very cold, but never the same sensation; I felt at one time
such a pressure in the head that it appeared as if all the blood in the
body had rushed to obtain possession of that region, and I though I
could hear it gushing in my ears; these symptoms became gradually
weaker, [60]. ► *Head throbbed, [60]. ► Head
ached severely, [76]. ► Headache (after a few hours), [63]. ►
Headache the whole afternoon and evening (first day), [54]. ► The head
became dull, [2], [35]. ►
Dulness of the head, [43]. [From
the preserved nutmegs.] ► Heavy and
pressive dulness of the head, with a sensation as if the left half of
the head and face were somewhat swollen, and a prickling sensation as
from an electric current, soon, [2].
► *Head seemed bulky, and rolled around
almost uncontrollably, being obliged to bring to its support one or both
hands, while sitting at a table, [55]. ► *Head felt
full and expanded, but without pain (first evening), [65]. [90.]
► A violent pressing forward in the
head towards the sinciput; it seems as though it would be pressed out,
and twice as thick as natural; at the same time he is dizzy, as after
intoxication, and as if he would stagger (first day), [6]. ► The
head seems compressed from the forehead and occiput, on waking from the
midday nap (thirteenth day), [1].
[From the flowers.] ► Slight tingling
in the head (after fifteen minutes), [75].
► Felt especially bad about the head;
while upright and walking could hold the head erect, but when sitting it would drop forward, [76]. ►
With the confusion of mind he had a somewhat painful sensation in the
upper half of the skull and brain, as though the parts were pressed
together from above and the side, and spasmodically seized or
constricted; together with inclination to sleep (first day), [1]. ►
Affects the head very much, [39].
[Effects of the flowers.] ► Forehead.
► Forehead confused and dull,
immediately, [1]. ► Muddled and fatigued in the forehead and
temples (after half an hour), [49].
► She is immediately seized with
aching in the forehead, [9]. ► A kind of pressure in a small spot in the
upper part of the right side of the forehead (second morning), [54]. [100.] ►
Pain in the upper part of the left side of the forehead, in the organ of
wit (after three minutes); this extended after two minutes over the left
eye, where it became very severe; a gnawing pressing in the organ of
locality and smell, [54]. ► (Pressive pain in the forehead, with
stupefaction; at times it made the lids close, and he was obliged to
yawn), [11]. ►
Pain in a small spot in the forehead, above the left eye, pressing
forward, in the morning (after two days), [1].
[From the flowers.] ► Headache in the
forehead in the morning (second day), [1].
► Intense frontal headache, with
tense and painful sensation in scalp, [55].
►► *Pressive headache in a small
spot above the left frontal eminence
(after nine hours), [2]. ► Pressive-throbbing headache above the
left eye, in the morning, [13]. ► Temples. ►
*Pain, especially in the temples; on shaking the head there is a feeling
of looseness, as if the brain beat against the skull; the
temples would not tolerate touch, and there was a feeling of heat in the
head (after six hours), [25]. ► Pressive and sticking pain in the left
temple, of short duration, soon, [6].
► A pain, rather sticking, in the
right temple, frequently returns, and lasts for several days, [1]. [110.]
► Paroxysmal and transient stitches
from within outward in the temples, immediately, [6]. ► A kind
of hot pressure on the sides of the head, especially on the temples,
like a pressure from within outward, [1].
► Vertex. ► Headache on stooping; it presses from the
vertex towards the forehead (after one hour), [9]. ► Warmth
mounts towards the crown, with a sensation of constriction and pressing
inward on the top of the head, immediately, [12]. ► Pain
on the crown of the head, extending over a space about the size of a
penny (after one hour and a half), [60].
► From the vertex a drawing pain into
the eyes (second morning), [50]. ► Single hard pressive pain on the top of
the head, in the forenoon (tenth day), [1].
► Pains in the left side of the
sinciput and in the left upper arm, lasting several hours, [54]. ►
Pain in the sinciput, extending towards the left eye, a kind of
pressure, with a stupefying sensation, lasting two hours (first day), [1]. ►
Parietals and Occiput. ►
Pains in various parts of the left side of the upper part of the head,
in the forepart, above the forehead, lasting an hour, [54]. [120.] ► Headache on the right side, in the
afternoon (first day), [54]. ► Pressure in the right side of the head,
in part above the ear, in part at the right angle of the occiput, as
from a pressure inward upon the bone; very transient (first day), [10]. ►
Pain in the left side of the occiput, towards the nape of the neck, [50]. ►
Pressure in the head, between the vertex and occiput (after a quarter of
an hour), [9].® 2000
Article