NAT. ORD., Gramineae.
COMMON NAMES, Darnel. (G.) Taumellolch.
PREPARATION.--Trituration of the dried seeds.
(The following concerning this little used drug was
reported by Dr. Bonino, an Italian physician, translated
by Dr. Mossa and published in the _Allgemeine Hom.
Zeitung_, July, 1898. The use of the drug by Dr. Bonino
was truly homoeopathic for the short proving of it.
Allen's _Encyclopaedia_ reports trembling of the limbs and
hand so great that "he could not hold a glass of water.")
A carpenter, aged twenty-nine years, had been suffering ever since his
eighteenth year of trembling in both hands, especially in the morning;
of late also his legs began to tremble. It is remarkable that both his
father and his brother were subject to the same ailment, while no
definite cause could be indicated. He was first given _Mercurius vivus_,
then _Agaricus_, which brought a partial but only transitory
improvement. Finally I prescribed _Lolium tem._, which in a short time
effected a cure.
(On this Dr. Mossa comments as follows):
The pathogenetic effects of this remedy which has not yet been proved at
all are only known to some degree from its effects when it has been
mixed with grain and baked into bread. It has caused chest troubles,
_vertigo_ (thence the name darnel-grass, in German _Taumellolch_),
_trembling_, paralysis with anguish and distress, vomiting, failing of
the memory, blindness, headache, epileptic attacks, deep sleep and
insanity. The good success obtained by its use in the case given above
shows what curative effects may be expected from it in severe affections
of the brain or spinal marrow. An Italian physician, Fantoni, has tried
it in cephalalgia, meningitis rheumatica and in ischias.