[Illustration]
We commence the publication of our provings by the symptoms of the
Crotalus Cascavella, not so much on account of the importance of
the symptoms which the poison of this dangerous reptile produces on
the healthy body; but because the unfortunate experiment which was
attempted a few years ago, on a sick person, offers a fair opportunity
of contrasting the hazardous and uncertain results of a merely clinical
experimentation, with the positive advantages of Hahnemann’s method of
proving.
A popular notion,—and the therapeutics of the Old-School was gradually
built up of such notions,—attributed to the poison of the crotalus
cascavella, the power of curing the elephantiasis of the Greeks, a malady
which, in Brazil, goes by the name of _morphea_, or _Lazarus’-evil_.
A disciple of Hahnemann might have verified this belief without any
difficulty, and without endangering human life. But the Old-School who
does not acknowledge our method of proving, had to remain in doubt about
this curative virtue of the cascavella, until a patient and physician
would be found sufficiently bold and logical to apply to a frightful
disease a still more frightful remedy. Mariano José Machado, fell a
victim to his heroic attempt, and, by his death, dissipated the illusory
hopes founded on the curative virtue of the poison of the cascavella.
Now what conclusion shall we draw from this fact? That the practitioner
who advised the attempt, has been imprudent and censureable? God forbid
that we should commit such an act of injustice. A patient has succumbed
to a clinical experiment; let us honor the heroic courage with which he
braved the serpent’s bite; let us honor the zeal of the practitioner,
who persuaded him to risk a few years of a loathsome existence for the
chance, though uncertain, of a cure. The unhappy Machado has been saved a
few years of cruel suffering; but what a joy it would have afforded him
and his miserable fellow-sufferers, if the remedy for their loathsome
disease had been known! what a glory it would have been to the physician
who should have conducted them to the haven of relief![1]
However, a homicide has been committed on this occasion, and though the
perpetrators may be free from blame, yet we may justly condemn the
deceitful science that has to resort to such dangerous practices, in
order to augment its resources and enlarge its boundaries. Like unto the
vile poisoner who, when his poisons fail him, resorts to the stiletto, as
a means of gratifying his cupidity or his ambition, allopathy sacrifices
human life, and, like him, will have an ignominious end. The solemn
homicide, which was committed a few years ago in this capital in the
name of science, may be of use to the world, by hastening the glorious
recognition of the homœopathic healing art, in these distant regions.
If it was permitted as recently as four years ago, when the name of
Hahnemann was scarcely known in this country, to kill a man for the
purpose of trying a drug, we venture to say that, at this period, nobody
would either dare to propose or accept such a murderous practice.
It will be seen, in studying the symptoms which we have obtained from the
poison of the crotalus, that there are very few among them which resemble
the tuberculous lepra, and that this terrible malady will, therefore,
have to be cured by some other means. Fortunately, homœopathy teaches us
the method of discovering a suitable remedy in the place of the crotalus
poison, which we now know has to be abandoned as a remedy for lepra,
and the success which we have already obtained, enables us to indulge
the hope, that the Brazilian lepra, as well as the elephantiasis of the
Arabs, will soon disappear entirely, under the operation of the suitable
dynamised homœopathic agent.
The crotalus will become a useful adjunct to the lachesis proved by
Doctor Hering; it is my belief that it affects the organism longer and
more thoroughly than the latter, and will effect many cures which had to
remain incomplete under the use of lachesis.
The serpent from which this poison has been extracted, was caught in
the province of Ceara. In this operation I was aided by the young
practitioner who alone, four years ago, had protested against the
dangerous experiment which was made in the hospital of the leprous
patients, of which he was at that time chief physician. His noble heart
revolted against the practice of risking human life, for the sake of
a medical doctrine, and, soon after, he imitated the glorious example
which Hahnemann had set him fifty years previous, by abandoning a
lucrative practice, and the direction of two hospitals. Having first
protested against the bite which the reptile was caused to inflict upon
his patient, he now voluntarily exposed his own life for the purpose of
extracting the poison, which was to be suitably attenuated in order to
convert it into a curative agent. Several drops of the poison spirted
on his face, and might have ended his life, if the inner corner of the
eye had been touched as I first feared it was. At this day, when his
suspicions have been abundantly confirmed by the physiological provings,
Dr. J. V. Martins, is one of the firmest adherents of our rising School.
May he live to see the error which he had instinctively rejected,
completely extinguished by the brilliant light of medical truth.
This terrible serpent is found in the province of Ceara, whence it was
brought to Rio Janeiro. This species generally attains a length of from
four to five feet but the animal from which the poison was taken for
our provings, was three feet long. Its oval-triangular head one half of
which is provided with shields, shows a round depression in front of the
eyes, which are covered with a large elliptical shield, serving as a lid.
The body is big, conical, its movements are sluggish; its upper surface
is covered with scales, the dorsal scales being keeled and somewhat
lanceolate, the scales of the tail being quadrangular and smaller. The
belly is provided with one hundred and seventy large transversal plates;
there are twenty-five plates belonging to the tail, the three first of
which are divided in shields. The extremity of the tail is furnished
with seven or eight capsules of the consistence of parchment which,
when agitated, produce a shrill sound. The color of the crotalus is
a yellowish-brown, much lighter under the belly, with twenty-four or
twenty-six regular long rhomboïdal lines on each side of the back. When
irritated and during the excessive heat, the crotalus spreads a very
fetid musk-like odor. The molar teeth which are few in number, but long
and excessively poisonous, are inserted in exceedingly dilatable jaws.
Every body knows that the poison of this reptile acts with a frightful
intensity; and it was not without great danger that Doctors Mure and
Martins succeeded in obtaining a few drops of it, by compressing from the
living animal the gland which secretes it.