NAT. ORD., Compositae.
COMMON NAMES, Dense Button-Snake-root. Gay Feather. Devil's Bit.
PREPARATION.--The root is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts
by weight of alcohol.
(The following, by Dr. T. C. Duncan, was called forth by
the publication of an item in _Eclectic Medical Journal_,
stating that twice during the past year _Liatris_ had
given good results in dropsy; in one case, on the second
day, the patient had passed a gallon and a half of urine.
Dr. Duncan's paper was published in the _Homoeopathic
Recorder_ for 1898):
Any new remedy that promises relief in dropsy will be hailed with
pleasure by the profession. Happening into a pharmacy soon after
receiving the January _Recorder_, a physician rushed in and inquired for
"that new remedy for dropsy--that got rid of 'a gallon and a half of
urine in one day.' Have a bad case cardiac dropsy. Want to try it. How
do you give it?" He could not get it. "Get me some," was his order.
"There is the article, be sure to get the right thing, _Liatris_!"
_Liatris spicata_ is the familiar "button-snake-root" that I used to dig
every fall for our old family physician (who called himself a "botanic
physician") and who gave it for indigestion. It is also called "colic
root" and "devil's bit," because a piece is missing from each tuber as a
rule, just as if bitten out. _Kost's Medicine_ (my first medical work)
describes it as follows: "Root perennial, tuberous, ovate, abrupt, beset
around the base with many fine fibers; it is aromatic. Stem round, about
three feet high, bearing a spike of scaly purple-colored blossoms,
bearing in the aggregate a resemblance to an acorn. The leaves are
linear or sword-shaped, somewhat resembling the leaves of young corn.
It is found in prairies and open woods in the western States."
"The _Liatris_ is an aromatic stimulant, diaphoretic, diuretic, anodyne
and carminitive. It is particularly useful in colic, backache and
flatulency."
It is interesting to know that it has had clinically a good effect in
dropsy, (1) due to liver and splenic enlargement, also (2) where the
kidneys were involved. In the second case referred to, "_Apocynum can._,
_Aralia_, _Digitalis_, _et al._" had been given, but the kidneys failed
to respond until the _Liatris_ "was given in infusion," then "on the
_second_ day the patient passed _a gallon and a half of urine_"--equal
to 192 ounces of urine! In the first case the _Liatris_ was followed by
_Ferrum carb_.
Whether it will prove equally efficient in cardiac dropsy only time will
tell. I hope that the readers of the _Recorder_ will report results,
whether favorable or otherwise. The dose that Dr. Bradley gave was about
a pint, drank during the course of the day, containing about half an
ounce of the root. The tincture will be more convenient, and it is a
question if the dilutions will not be equally efficient. Try the third,
and then go up or down the scale as the case seems to demand. This drug
should be proved. It is harmless. If any young physician will volunteer
I will gladly direct him.
Infusion of _Digitalis_ (English leaves) is a favorite prescription with
some physicians in cases of cardiac dropsy, but I have not found that
form any more efficient than the dilution, except in cases where alcohol
had been a cause, then _Strophanthus_ or _Arsenicum_ had a better
effect.