LEMNA MINOR – Pathogénésies de l’an 1900 – Robert Séror

Pathogénésies
de l’an 1900
New, Old And
Forgotten Remedies
By Edward
Pollock Anshutz
Presented
by Dr Robert Séror

Lemna Minor

Dr. Robert Cooper, of London.

Natural Order-

Lemnaceae.

Common Name-

Duckweed.

Preparation

-The
fresh plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of
alcohol.

(The following is by Dr. Robert
C. Cooper, of London,
and appeared in the Hahnemannian
Monthly, 1884)

“The lowest form of phenogamous vegetation. It consists,”
says

Lindley,
“of lenticular floating fronds, composed of stem and leaf together
and bearing the flowers in slits in the edge.”

It forms the green scum found on stagnant ponds and dikes. It is
found in two varieties, the

Lemna
minor and
the Lemna gibba.

Before going any further I may as well at once make a bald as well as
a bold statement and say that the special province of

Lemna
minor is
to pitch with vigor upon the nostrils ; from the very moment I began
prescribing it this was beyond question evident. I can think of no
possible source of error except that this beneficial action may be due
to the germs adhering to the fronds of the Lemna
rather than to
the pure plant-force.

To guard against this I have carefully filtered my tincture, but this
has not made the slightest change in its beneficial influence.

CASE I-

Woman aged seventy-four ; admission date, September 24, 1892.
Nose never clear ; breath very unpleasant ; for twelve hours nose bled
continuously last Christmas
; unable to smell properly ; hearing for the past seven or eight weeks
bad ; watch not heard on contact.

Prescribed Lemna minor
0 A.
October 1, 1892 :
Feeling of cold in nose is better ; sense of obstruction nearly gone ;
can smell better ; hears on contact on both sides.

October 22 : Decided, though slight, improvement in hearing ; nose,
throat and all parts around more comfortable. Last attendance.

In proceeding with the consideration of the action of this remedy, I
must consider myself fortunate in having the following case to bring
forward.

I. A boy of fourteen, whose nose was completely blocked up for the
last two years, and whose nostrils were full of polypi, the nose itself
being broadened, and in whom the nose had been cleared out by operation
a year ago at St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital, was sent to me by my colleague, Dr. J. H. Clarke.

The boy never remembers having smelt anything, and the polypi can
easily be seen blocking up both nostrils.

From the 26th of November, 1892,
to the 4th of March, 1893,
four doses of Lemna m. 0 A
were given at regular intervals without much change, then Calcarea
carbonica 200
was given, and two weeks after, as he had faceache, Mercurius
3d dec., and on the 8th of April following the faceache was better
but the nose in no way improved.

Then Lemna was
given again, and this time with the most pronounced relief ; the nose
became much clearer, and he went on taking it, and it alone with
scarcely an exception, in fortnightly doses, till the 14 th of March
last, when his nose was quite clear, with none but a very small polypus
visible ; he could breathe freely and his sense of smell had completely
returned.

The delay in the manifestation of remedial change from November to
March arose from complete blockage of the nose, and until the space
created by the subsidence in the size of the polypi sufficed for a
passage of air the patient had no reason to acknowledge relief.

In the treatment, both of swollen tonsils and in that of nasal polypi
the prescriber will be led away at the onset who accepts the testimony
of the patient alone ; he should make careful inspection of the parts,
and be guided by what is often but a slight local change, as well as by
concomitant, and it may be remote, symptoms.

2. The next case I have to bring forward is one of ozaena in a girl
of sixteen, who had been three years under the treatment of a colleague
who kindly sent her on to me for treatment at the

London
Homeopathic Hospital.

The girl, whose occupation was a teacher, has had oezena since three
or four years old. The odor complained of was horrid, and the discharge
excessive ; a most unpleasant smell in the nose and nasty taste in the
mouth ; she takes cold easily if out in the night air or damp, and her
nose, at times, gets stuffed up ; bowels irregular ; catamenia only
twice-once three months ago and two months before that.

On December 30,

1893,
I prescribed Lemna
minor, and
she returned to me from the country, where she was living, on the 31st
of the following March, imploring me for another powder, as she had been
almost well for two weeks after the last and then had relapsed to her
old state ; breathing is short and is low spirited.

21st of April, very much better ; odor not nearly so bad, discharge
much less ; unmedicated pilules, three times a day.

19th of May,

1894,
kept better for a month; took cold two weeks ago, and since then throat
has felt thick and nose has discharged with a horrid odor. Catamenia
regular. Breathing is better ; crusts coming from both, worse on the
left side. To have Lemna
minor.

This patient came from a distance which prevented frequent
attendance, but the above is quite sufficient evidence of the power
possessed by

Lemna
m. in
acting upon the nasal mucous membrane.

In both these cases relief was immediately after the administration
of the dose, and in neither case could any reasonable doubt exist as to
its being drug effect.

In some cases I have known a certain disturbance of the bowels to set
in after a dose of Lemna, but this effect of the remedy is not
sufficiently pronounced to be able to say much about it.

Still it is interesting to narrate one or two experiences, especially
as in the first of these, at all events, the concomitants were
interesting.

3. In a married lady, aged about twenty-six, for whom I prescribed

Lemna
m. B A
on Saturday afternoon, November 12, 1892,
and in whom, there existed a good deal of catarrhal pharyngitis, due to
high up post nasal ulceration, and who suffered from a dry feeling at
the top of the throat with flatulence, and some pain in the bowels
toward the evening, described as “twisting”
pain, and in whom the nose was blocked on the right side, but without
any visible polypus, and in whom the heart was easily disturbed, causing
dyspnea, the bowels being slightly confined.

Two weeks subsequently she stated that after the dose of

Lemna
the nose felt
less blocked, and she felt better in every respect ; but that on the
Tuesday following diarrhea set in, which began with twisting pains in
the bowels and went on to sickness ; continual watery stools.

The least chill or nervousness, I must say, upsets her in this way ;
and she was subject to the same the last two catamenial periods.

She still wakes with her throat dry and tongue coated.

Borax
2x
was then (November 25) given without any noticeable effect, and on the
9th of December Lemna
minor B A was
again prescribed for the following symptoms :

Mouth sore after talking or singing, and dry in the morning ; tongue
coated.

On the 23d of December, reported herself much better ; tongue not so
coated ; heart less disturbed ; no indigestion or diarrhea.

Nose not perfectly clear, but no unpleasant smell or taste as she
used to have, and throat no longer dry or uncomfortable. Instead of
waking up with a dirty mouth, it feels clean and her taste pure.

4. A man, aged forty-seven, who suffered from old standing vascular
deafness and who specially complained of snoring a great deal, was given
Lemna minor, and
next day a rumbling and disturbance in the bowels set in and he felt as
if he had taken medicine of a searching character.

This lasted for three days, bowels acting during this time freely
with much heat in the passage (anus) ; but was not bilious, nor were the
motions diarrheic ; the snoring went away, and he ceased to dream
unpleasantly when asleep. Hearing, too, seemed somewhat improved.

5. In another case, after a similar dose, diarrhea came on next day,
with pains across the bowels as from flatus ; worse after eating, and a
very putrid taste with an improvement at the same time in a stuffiness
of the nose from which he was suffering.

6. Crusts form in the right nostril and pain like a string extends
from the right nostril to the ear of the same side and right ear is
deaf. (In a woman, aged twenty-six, great relief.)

It is with great pleasure that I have now to bring forward, not my
own observations, but those of two valued colleagues.

Dr. J. H. Clarke sends me the following

CASE I-

A lady, aged forty-seven, two years previously met with an accident ;
a sign board fell on her head when out walking in the street.

Seven days after that was taken with sneezing attacks, suffered from
nasal catarrh with little intermission until March,

1893,
when she came under my care.

Psorinum 30

soon put a different complexion on the case, and she became so far
relieved of her trouble (which has made her life almost unbearable, as
she never dared make an appointment for fear of an attack coming on)
that she discontinued treatment.

Last Christmas a sharp attack of influenza brought back the catarrh,
and this time it proved less amenable to treatment.

Fears of polypus distressed the patient, though I could not discover
any.

However, she again made progress, but scarcely as rapid as I could
have wished, when I thought of giving her

Lemna
on indications
given by Dr. Cooper.

On February 15,

1894,
I gave it in the 3x, one tablet four times a day.

February 22, very much better; has felt freer in the head than at any
time during the last ten years ; has felt very much better generally ;
spirits braced up.

She steadily
progressed to cure, and by March 15 could endue the smell of strong
scented flowers, which before was impossible.

CASE II-

Captain B., aged forty-four, consulted me on February 29,

1894,
for violent neuralgia on the right side of the neck, the part being
exquisitely sensitive to touch.

He had cough and cold for a month. On getting up in the morning he
filled two pocket handkerchiefs with yellow deflusion before he got his
nose clear.

I gave him

Bell.
12 to take till
the neuralgia was better, and then told him to take Lemna
3x gtt. j. three
times a day.

On March 9 he reported that the

Bell.
speedily took
away the neuralgia, and that then the Lemna
cleared off the
catarrh in a most astonishing fashion.

He never had a medicine to act so magically before.

30
Clarges Street, Piccadilly, W., April 21, 1894.

The next communication that I have to bring forward is one from Dr.
J. C.

Burnett
:

Merci à Peter Morell
pour cette photo de Burnett et de sa fille.

Dr.

Cooper
told me that he had relieved a case of nasal polypus with Lemna
minor,
and having
several cases of the kind that had long been under my observation I
thought it my duty to give them the benefit of Lemna.

CASE I-

A gentleman of sixty years of age, with nasal polypus only moderately
developed, yet of many years’ duration, was much troubled by the chronic
nasal obstruction which was markedly worse in wet weather.

I gave him

Lemna
3x, five drops in
water, night and morning. Returning in a month, he exclaimed :

“That is the best tonic I have ever taken ; I have never taken
any medicine in my life that has done me so much good. I feel quite
comfortable in my nose and can breathe through it quite well.”

CASE II-

A lady, about forty-five years of age, mother of a large family and
whom I had formerly cured of an uterine tumor, was so troubled with
nasal polypi that her life was very distressful ; moreover, the polypi
had swelled so much that they hung out of the nostrils and compelled the
patient to remain within doors.

This was notably the case in wet weather. Why not have them removed
chirurgically ?

“Oh, I have had them operated on over and over again, but it’s
no good ; they only come again worse than ever.”

I have tried many things to cure these polypi, but in vain ; they
would get temporarily better, but the first rainy weather brought them
back worse than ever ; hence Dr.

Cooper’s
recommendation of Lemna
is very welcome
to me.

I ordered, as in the last case, with the result that the polypi very
greatly diminished in size, and the patient could again take her place
in society.

I have used

Lemna
in many other
similar cases, and with the like result. In no case is the polypus
really cured, but greatly diminished in size, and the patient rendered
relatively comfortable.

Clearly the

Lemna
does not either
kill, cure, or otherwise get rid of the polypi, but it rids them of much
of their succulence and thus reduces their volume, and also diminishes
the influence of wet weather to which such patients are so prone.

And this is no small boon ; is itself in every way superior to any
operative interference.

The tincture I made use of was made by Dr.

Alfred
Heath. The first
prescription only being of Dr. Cooper’s
own make. Both acted alike well.

86 Wimpole Street, June 4, 1894.

From
these remarks of Dr. J. H. Clarke
and Dr. J. Compton
Burnett, as well as
from my own, I think there can be no doubt, whatever, that the Lemna
exercises a
powerful influence upon the Schneiderian
mucous membrane.

How far it is capable by its specific action of removing large groups
of polypi remains, as yet, an open question.

My own experience of the treatment of nasal polypi is that we have
very few remedies that can at all be depended upon for giving even’
temporary relief.

Even from

Calcarea
carbonica and
Teucrium marum
verum I
have not had the effects that some practitioners testify to their
possessing.

Lemna

has
so far given relief in my hands to cases of nasal polypi and to cases
where the nostrils were plugged by swollen turbinates and other causes
in a manner far surpassing the effect I have obtained from any other
remedy.

In saying this I do not at all wish it to be understood that we have
in it a specific for all such cases.

We must remember that the symptoms in all such obscure diseases must
be our guide for the selection of our remedy, and that, therefore, the
important point is to work out the specific indications for the drug as
we learn them from clinical observation, in the hope that on some future
occasion pathogenesis may render these still more certain.

The indications that I myself have noticed as belonging to

Lemna
are either a
putrid smell in the nose or a loss of all sense of smell and a putrid
taste in the mouth, especially on rising in the morning, with a general
foulness of mouth, due apparently to the dropping down of impure
material from the post-nasal region.

Along with this there sometimes seems to prevail a disposition to
“

noisy diarrhea.”

Dr.

Burnett
has noticed that Lemna
patients have
their nasal symptoms aggravated in damp and rainy weather, and I have to
some extent confirmed this observation.

I hope on some future occasion to return to the subject of

Lemna
; it is in every
way well worthy of being prosecuted further.

Thus, for example, a lady patient, aet. fifty-eight, suffering from
pains flitting about her head and legs, with pains in her eyes during
heavy rain, and in whom drowsiness by day and restless sleep at night
existed, had all these symptoms removed by a single dose of

Lemna,
and the pallid,
dullish, sickly look in her face changed to a complexion that was
natural and healthy.

The truth would seem to be that

Lemna’s
symptoms are
specially aggravated in heavy rains ; Calendula’s,
when heavy clouds
are about ; Rhododendron’s,
in thunder storms
; and Dulcamara’s,
in damp
surrroundings and in foggy weather.

(In 1895 Dr.
Thomas L. Shearer
contributed the following concerning the remedy to the Homeopathic
Eye, Ear, and Throat Journal 🙂

Lemna minor

where
the crusts and the muco-purulent discharge are very abundant with fetor
(in rhinitis atrophics).

Its action is wonderful, but it must not be administered in too low a
dilution, as it then produces a sensation of intense dryness in the
pharynx and the larynx.

Possibly if it were exhibited in a much higher dilution it would be
applicable to cases which have only a slight amount of discharge.

It seems best to stop the remedy as soon as its action upon the
secretions is marked, and then to wait a while before returning to its
further employment. Dr.

Cooper,
of London,
was, I believe, the first to investigate the action of Lemna
minor upon
the upper air passages, but I do not think that he had tried it in cases
of atrophic rhinitis.

There is a great future for this new addition to our therapeutic
resources, and it certainly deserves further investigation.

It modifies the secretions to such an extent that we can more readily
improve the condition of the nasal chambers with the aid of local
measures.

Whether it has the power to prevent or even retard the actual process
of atrophy remains to be seen.