Abies nigra

Lecture XXX — Coniferae — Abies nigra, Sabina, Terebinthina, Pix liquida and Thuja occidentalis; Euphorbiaceae — Croton tiglium, etc.

CONIFERS AND EUPHORBIACEiSE.

CONIFERS.

Abies Nigra.—Stomach.

Sabina Juniperus.—Abortion.

Pinus Sylvestris.—Infantile atrophy.

( Kidneys, bladder, etc.

I Mucous membranes.

Terebinthina. -j Uterus.

J Typhoid states.

(^ Renal dropsy.

-Compare Arsenicum, Cantharis, Copaiva, Camphor, Phosphorus. Pix IyiQUiDA.—Lung; Eruptions.

Compare Anisum stellatum.

Nervous system.

Sycosis.

Thuja. \ Syphilis.

Variola.

Marasmus.

Compare Pulsatilla, Kali bichromicum, Spigelia, Mercurius, Nitric acid, Natrum sulph., Euphrasia, Staphisagria.

The large order of Conifers or cone-bearing plants is the subject for our study to-day. From this order we obtain the different varieties of pine, hemlock, and spruce from which the various preparations of turpentine have been obtained. The principal remedies of this group you will see in the schedule on the board. They are Abies nigra, or black spruce; Sabina juniperus, one form of the juniper, from which the oil of savin, a well-known remedy for the production of abortion, has been taken; Pinus sylvestris, a variety of the pine; Terebinthina, or turpentine, obtained from many of the pines; Pix liquida, or pitch; and Thuja occidentalis, the arbor vitae or tree of life.

Abies Nigra.

This remedy is not an important one, but I cannot forbear mentioning one of its symptoms—one, too, that has been frequently confirmed. I refer to the symptom occurring in dyspepsia, which the patient describes as a feeling as though he had swallowed some indigestible substance which had stuck at the cardiac orifice of the stomach. This is the main symptom and the keynote of the drug. There are also present the low-spiritedness, the hypochondriasis, and the constipation incident to dyspepsia.

Black Spruce A powerful and long-acting remedy, in various forms of disease, whenever the characteristic stomach symptoms are present. Most of the symptoms are associated with the gastric disturbances. In dyspeptic troubles of the aged, with functional heart symptoms; also after tea or tobacco. Constipation. Pain in external meatus.

Worse after eating.

Hot, with flushed cheeks. Low-spirited. Dull during the day, wakeful at night. Unable to think.

Pain in stomach always comes on after eating. Sensation of a lump that hurts, as if a hard-boiled egg had lodged in cardiac end of stomach; continual distressing constriction just above the pit of the stomach, as if

everything were knotted up. Total loss of appetite in morning, but great craving for food at noon and night. Offensive breath. Eructations.

Painful sensation, as if something were lodged in the chest and had to be coughed up; lungs feel compressed. Cannot be fully expanded. Worse coughing; waterbrash succeeds cough. Choking sensation in throat. Dyspnœa; worse lying down; sharp, cutting pain in heart; heart's action heavy and slow; tachycardia, bradycardia.

Pain in small of back. Rheumatic pains and aching in bones.

Wakeful and restless at night, with hunger. Bad dreams.

Alternate heat and cold; chronic intermittent fever, with pain in stomach.

Compare: (Lump in stomach––China, Bryon, Pulsat); also other Conifers––Thuja, Sabina, Cupressus (painful indigestion) also Nux vom, Kali carb.

First to thirtieth potency.