Human pathology is not the only field of the homœopathist. He should take
an interest in every species of suffering, and endeavor to restore the
harmony of the organic kingdom wherever it has been disturbed by some
accidental cause. Homœopathy is a vast, unitary science. The healing art
is one; there is no such thing as one healing art for man and another for
the animal, though it is on man that we should prove our drugs because he
is the complex of the various kingdoms of nature.
The question now occurs, how is the potato-rot to be treated? It is
evident that the great point is to _prevent_ the disease, and, for this
purpose, we must endeavor to remove the cause. _Principiis obsta_, has
ever been the fundamental rule of medical treatment.
In order to attain this end, we have deemed it necessary first to
ascertain the effects which the diseased potato would produce on a
healthy person and afterwards to find out what drugs produce similar
effects. We might have instituted our provings on the potato itself, and,
among a number of drugs, might have discovered the one that would produce
a disease similar to the rot. But this mode of investigation would have
been too long and uncertain, whereas the proving on the human body is
simple and direct, and is, we think, the true mode which Providence has
designed we should pursue even in regard to the potato-rot.
It is true, man cannot be assimilated to the myriads of organized
beings that surround us; man constitutes the highest link in the chain
of beings; he is the complex of the animal life on our globe, and the
most perfect type to which all inferior existences can be referred; he
is a microcosm containing all the wonders of the universe; he is the
responsible administrator of this earth. Man alone is able to produce a
true pathogenesis by revealing the most evanescent as well as the most
characteristic and most permanent symptoms, or lesions of sensation.
On plants and animals we can only perceive disordered functions,
disorganizations of tissues, or acute pains as manifested by gestures or
cries; but the truly dynamic action can only be properly perceived and
described by man.
The veterinary homœopathist does very well in selecting his remedy by
the human pathogenesis. Why should not the same mode be applicable to
vegetables? We have invited our fellow-beings to try it; we have not
only invited them to teach, and to cure, and to make themselves sick,
in order to discover the true means of healing; but we have encouraged
them to suffer themselves to be persecuted, and even imprisoned, as a
reward for their labors of love, we have said to them; whilst the world
is hesitating whether it should accept or reject the blessing offered by
Hahnemann, let us lose no time; there are other regions where the evil is
still triumphant, and where truth is not even known by name; let us expel
error from its last hiding-places. And we have never failed in meeting
corresponding souls that would hear us and follow us. And thus it is that
homœopathy, this physical reflex of the Christian redemption, combats
evil by itself, pursuing it from region to region until it shall have
been exterminated from the world.
Now let us describe the practical part of our proving.
From the first, frontal headaches, with pressure above the orbits, have
been observed with much regularity not only by the three provers whose
symptoms are published, but also by other provers who continued the
proving only for a few days.
Until the 20th day, these headaches were often accompanied by fever,
with chill, heat, sweat, shudderings followed by sore throat, cough and
greenish mucous expectoration.
The palpitation of the heart which occurs during the whole period of
the proving, and with particular violence at the end of the third
proving, appears to be represented in the case of the second prover by
violent muscular pulsations occurring in the same chronological order.
The hard, large-sized, fragmentary stools, and their painful expulsion
which sometimes caused a falling of the rectum; the frequent emission of
flatulence preceded or accompanied by colic, with sensitiveness of the
abdominal integuments in the case of the first prover, are very constant
symptoms of this drug; they were observed from the first and increased
until the last days of the proving.
We will likewise point to the general or partial weakness, which, in the
case of the third prover, were followed by violent pains in the loins.
The white coating of the tongue which was observed on the first day,
gradually limited itself to a yellow line along the middle. Among the
less general symptoms which were observed during the whole time of the
proving, we may note the want of appetite, the bitter taste of food,
the cutaneous eruptions, the swelling of the mucous membrane of the
palate, the thick urine, and lastly the pain in the groin or the right
ileo-femoral articulation.
In the emotive sphere the drug induced a great irritability. The dreams
about a change of form occurred very generally to the three provers. The
second prover had the same dreams on two successive nights.
After a careful comparison of the symptoms of the Solanum tuberosum
ægrotans with those of the other known remedies of our Materia Medica, we
have found them to agree with the symptoms of the following drugs which
we enumerate in the order of their importance:
1. _Bryonia_;
2. _Arsenicum_;
3. _Plumbum_;
4. _Nux-vomica_;
5. _Sepia_;
6. _Strontiana_;
7. _Viola-tricolor_;
8. _Squilla_;
9. _Pulsatilla_;
10. _Graphites_;
11. _Alumina_;
12. _Mercurius_;
13. _Natrum-mur_;
14. _Ignatia_;
15. _Calcarea_.
We have no doubt that Bryonia and Arsenicum will prevent the rot; but, to
be frank, we believe that, in this case at least, the isopathic method
of treatment will prove more successful than the homœopathic. It is
well known that the mode of preparing our drugs for medicinal purposes,
modifies their action a good deal. This result is principally obtained by
rubbing them down with sugar of milk, which is not an inert substance as
Hahnemann believed, but is on the contrary endowed with the most useful
powers of action. The sugar of milk effects a preliminary digestion of
the drug, and, by imparting to it vital qualities, fits it for medicinal
purposes. Do we not know that certain animal products are preferable
to corresponding mineral substances? Is not the calcarea prepared from
the oyster-shell preferable to the chemically prepared carbonates and
phosphates of lime? Are not the poisons of serpents destined to occupy
the first rank among the polychrests?
To return to our subject, the medicinal preparation obtained from the
diseased potato is not the original poison as used by nature, but the
poison modified in consequence of its having been previously engrafted on
a living tubercle.
Our mode of inoculating either the isopathic or homœopathic preparation
is as follows. Before putting the potato in the ground we perforate it
with a big needle, and into this hole we insert a single globule of the
third attenuation.
This operation is simple and easy. It can be applied on a large scale and
we think that by its means the potato will be preserved for a long time
yet to the European continent.
First prover: _Van-Dyck_, 26 years old, of a sanguine nervous temperament
and a robust constitution.
_First day._—1. Painful stitch in the right side, a few moments after
taking the drug. Acidity and eructations, at 9 in the evening.
_Second day._—On waking, weight above the eyes and in the forehead, as
the morning after being intoxicated. Shuddering and sensation of cold
internally, at noon. 5. Scanty and difficult stool, in the shape of small
hard balls, in the evening.
_Third day._—He dreams that he is to dress and draw the body of a drowned
man; this body bounded up every moment and fell back either on his
clothes or on his drawing board. The mucous membrane of the palate seems
to detach itself here and there. Cross; he blames every thing, and cannot
bear that any thing near him should be disturbed.
_Fourth day._—Difficult stool in small red balls.
_Fifth day._—10. Stool as above.
_Sixth day._—Horrid colic, as if the bowels were violently twisted; 15
minutes after, hard and copious stool, followed by two almost liquid
stools (at night).
_Seventh day._—Copious and liquid diarrhœa, of a greenish yellow, in the
morning. Prickling around the eyelids; on their internal surface they are
red and congested. Tongue coated white. 15. White sordes on the teeth.
(Profuse lachrymation). Little appetite. Pulse rather agitated.
_Eighth day._—The median line of the abdomen from the sternum to the
hypogastrium is painful to the touch. 20. Thirst. Little appetite.
Sensation of warmth about the head, at 4 in the evening.
_Ninth day._—Dreams about magic, men being transformed into speaking
animals, changes at night, &c. Heat in the canal of the urethra, after
urinating. 25. The urine deposits a yellowish sediment. Small pimples on
the back, causing a violent itching. Sneezing in going up-stairs.
_Tenth day._—Heaviness on the eyes. Slight beating in the temples. 30.
Mounting of heat to the head from time to time.
_Eleventh day._—Pricking around the eyelids, on waking. Itching of the
back. Sweat on doing the least work. Heaviness of the head.
_Twelfth day._—35. Heaviness in the head which is at times very violent,
especially when raising the head again after stooping. Smarting and
prickling in the eyes. No stool for five days past.
_Thirteenth day._—Heaviness of the head, worse in the morning than
evening. Ordinary stool. 40. Difficult digestion. Sneezing after going
up-stairs. Likes to loiter about.
_Fourteenth day._—Heaviness of the head. Ordinary stool. 45. He would
like to go to bed, but is too lazy, at 10 in the evening. Pains in the
thighs, above the knee-pan.
_Fifteenth day._—(Lachrymation on waking). Slight heaviness of the head.
Greenish yellow coating on the tongue, along the middle. 50. White slime
on the teeth. Headache at noon. Lancinations in the region of the heart.
Chilliness with chattering of the teeth. Smarting at the eyes, in the
evening. 55. Not much appetite. Sneezing. Lips cracked, bleeding and
almost raw.
_Sixteenth day._—Smarting at the eyelids. Tongue slightly coated white.
60. White mucus on the teeth. Dreams about his daily business. Flatulence
and eructations. Agitated pulse. Sneezing at 4 in the afternoon. 65.
Smarting and prickling at the eyes.
_Seventeenth day._—Colic followed by two stools at 4 in the morning. The
right umbilical region is painful to contact.
_Eighteenth day._—Colic. Not much appetite. 70. Sneezing at 5 in the
evening.
_Nineteenth day._—Prickling in the throat, inducing cough. Dry cough.
_Twenty-third day._—Heaviness of the head on waking.
_Twenty-fourth day._—Headache aggravated by the smell of alcohol and
disappearing at 3 in the evening.
_Twenty-fifth day._—75. Colic on waking. Frequent emission of flatulence.
Pains between the shoulders (at 10 in the evening).
_Twenty-sixth day._—He dreams that his hands are cut in pieces. Tickling
in the throat causing a cough.
Second prover: _Charles Dieudonné Jolly_, 24 years old, nervous-sanguine
temperament, robust constitution.
_First day._—80. Pressure at the root of the nose. Dreams about religious
things.
_Second day._—Heaviness of the head, in the morning. The head and
especially the forehead, feel dull as during a catarrh, all the
afternoon. Colic after eating. 85. Sexual dream, followed by a dream
about women that are changed to animals.
_Third day._—Frequent emission of flatulence, in the morning. Tongue
slightly coated white, in the morning. Colic and twisting in the stomach
after eating. Salt taste in the throat. 90. Pressure in the forehead and
above the orbits.
_Fifth day._—Slight yellowish-white coating on the tongue, in the
morning. Heat in the face, at half past 4 in the afternoon. Pain as if
sprained at the right coxo-femoral articulation, posteriorly. Flow of
ideas, at 5. 95. Beating at the middle portion of the triceps brachialis,
at 8.
_Seventh day._—Wakes very early since the third day. Itching at the ball
of the thumb, at 9 in the evening.
_Eighth day._—Wakes very early. Thin yellowish coating on the tongue, in
the morning. 100. Prickling in the lumbar muscles, at 6 in the afternoon.
_Ninth day._—Stitch in the left ring-finger, at 7 in the morning. Stitch
and sharp pinching in the right groin, near the inguinal ring; this pain
was felt shortly after an ordinary stool, while raising one leg as if one
would mount three steps at once, at 11 in the morning. Beating in the
left thigh at 4 in the afternoon, while sitting. Drowsy at half past 7,
waking very early.
_Tenth day._—105. Beating under the right shoulder, at 9 in the evening.
Drowsy at 8 o’clock in the evening.
_Eleventh day._—Weight in the left testicle, the whole day, also in the
evening while sitting.
_Twelfth day._—Violent pulsations at the lower part of the vastus
internus muscle, in a demi-circle, for an hour and a half, in the morning.
_Thirteenth day._—Beating in the lumbar muscles at 4 in the afternoon.
_Fourteenth day._—110. Headache. Repeated sneezing, at half past 8 in the
evening.
_Fifteenth day._—Sense of weariness in the muscles of the right thigh,
after walking. Involuntary crowding of heterogenous ideas on one’s mind
while listening to a discourse or attending to some work; frequently
during the proving.
_Sixteenth day._—Tongue coated white, in the morning. 115. Contraction
and beating at the left superior eyelid, at 7 in the evening. Slight
colic and copious flatulence all night.
_Seventeenth day._—Restless sleep. Flatulence in the evening. Hard and
scanty stool.
_Eighteenth day._—120. He dreams that he will fall from a tower. Violent
beating of the heart in raising himself. Pricking in the right side of
the tongue, from noon until 3. Roughness in the throat, with thirst, in
the evening. Cough and yellowish mucous expectoration, at night.
_Nineteenth day._—125. He dreams that he is in danger of falling from
the roof of a house. Swelling of the mucous membrane of the internal
alveolar margin of the two incisores and the left canine tooth. Violent
frontal headache and coryza all day. Pain as if sprained at the right
scapulo-humeral articulation, after having rested on the elbow, in the
evening, in bed. Restless night.
_Twentieth day._—130. Confused dreams. Agitated pulse in the morning.
Coryza.
_Twenty-first day._—Confused dreams. Frontal headache. 135. Coryza.
Agitated pulse. Sweats all over, in the morning, in bed. Strong
pulsations at the perineum, loins and right ring-finger, at half past
4. Violent frontal headache at 5 in the afternoon, while walking. 140.
Large, hard, fragmentary stool. Urinates all the time during stool.
_Twenty-third day._—Strong pulsations in the vertebral region, in the
morning while lying. Whizzing in the left ear, at 5 in the evening.
Disposed to remember past journeys; flow of ideas about theories, &c.
_Twenty-fourth day._—145. Aching pain in the right hypogastric region,
towards the ring, after a long walk.
_Twenty-fifth day._—Reddish urine, with mucus floating in it.
Third prover: Mme _Al. J—_, 26 years old, of sanguine temperament, good
constitution.
_First day._—Tearing in the chest and throat, immediately.
_Second day._—Sexual dream. Dull colic in the hypogastric region, at
night.
_Third day._—150. Dream about witchcraft. Difficult digestion accompanied
by twisting in the stomach, after breakfast and dinner. Hard and knotty
stool; after stool, renewed urging, with smarting at the anus. Falling of
the rectum. Sense of contraction at the sphincter. 155. After stool, the
rectum alternately descends and returns again. The falling of the rectum
is accompanied by shuddering all over, for ten minutes.
_Fifth day._—Palpitation of the heart, at 11 in the evening, while lying.
_Sixth day._—Palpitation of the heart, at 7 in the morning. Colic at the
stomach, after eating, at 6 in the evening.
_Seventh day._—160. Tearing in the throat, at 8 in the morning. Tongue
coated white.
_Eighth day._—Restless sleep, she dreams that she is eating human flesh.
The least thing puts her out of humor. Palpitation of the heart, at noon.
165. Palpitation of the heart, at 11 in the evening, at three different
periods.
_Ninth day._—Thick tongue, at 2 in the morning.
_Eleventh day._—Restless sleep. Cold sweat at night, while lying.
_Twelfth day._—Sense of spraining in the ileo-femoral articulation,
causing a pain in the womb; while making a trifling exertion. 170.
Flatulence; sometimes is unable to expel them. Headache. Contraction
of the sphincter ani. Lancinating pain at the forehead, until 9 in the
evening. Twisting colic. 175. Stool always hard and difficult. Heat
at the anus, after stool. Weeping of the right eye, for some minutes.
Frequent urging to stool. Shuddering all over, every moment, at 9 in the
evening. 180. Eructations in the evening. Flatulence in the evening.
Quarrelsome mood.
_Thirteenth day._—No sleep. Heat all over, with sweat. 185. Agitated
pulse. She dreams that she is floating in a river and cannot get out.
Flushes of heat in the face, now and then, especially while eating. These
flushes are followed by chilliness. (Is unable to close her hand). 190.
Irregular pulse, at times feeble, at others strong. Frontal headache with
dulness, and disposition to incline forwards. Lazy. Weary all over, she
has to lie down, at noon. Little appetite. 195. Pressure at the chest.
Thirst. Shivering while drinking cold water, or washing her face with it.
Headache ceasing for a while and then recommencing again. Lancinations
with sensation as if the brain would fly to pieces, in going up-stairs.
200. Vivid redness on the right malar eminence. Small red pimples on
the cheeks. Shuddering now and then. Congestion of the sclerotica. Red
face at three in the evening. 205. Flush of heat all over, at half past
3. Sensation, while stooping as if the brain would bound in the skull.
Heat at the vertex, which spreads all over, at 4. Sensation in the left
hypochondrium as if a spring were rolled out. Sense of fainting, she
has to stand still. 210. Acute pain in the right pectoralis major when
drawing breath. Borborygmi. Twisting of the bowels, at half past 10.
Colic and shuddering. Dry cough in the evening. 215. Headache decreases
in the evening. Flatulence. Red and hot face. The skin of the face peels
slightly.
_Fourteenth day._—Heat at night, disturbing the sleep. 220. Sense of
weariness in the limbs, on waking. Dulness of the forehead. Tongue
coated white. In the morning, taste of raw potatoes. Menstrual blood
rose-colored, at 9 in the morning. 225. Borborygmi, in the morning. At
the least movement she feels as if a hollow body were turning rapidly
round in the chest, with a rattling noise; she then fancies she will
faint, at 8 in the morning. Frontal headache all day. Smarting and
painful sensation at the fifth dorsal vertebra, when the clothes rub
against the part. Little appetite. 230. Stiffness of the posterior
cervical muscles. Dark redness and warmth of the cheeks. Heat all over
in cold and damp weather. The menstrual flow is interrupted. Repeated
sneezing, followed by a slight cough, every evening at 5, from the tenth
day. 235. Smell of blood, as if nosebleed would take place, at 7 in the
morning.
_Fifteenth day._—Restless sleep. Last evening’s dinner does not sit well
on her stomach, with acidity at night. Doughy mouth, in the morning.
Weariness all over, when rising. 240. Drawing pain in the right lower
limb, posteriorly, from the gluteus maximus to the heel. The menstrual
flow is interrupted. When bending the knee, pulling pain in the posterior
and internal muscles of the thigh. Hypochondria. Sadness. 245. Every
thing is disagreeable to her, she would like to go far away. Small
pimples on the lower part of the neck and on the right knee, they are
very red at the base, with a white point in the centre; they disappear in
an hour. Sense of weight in the nape of the neck, at half past 11. The
head feels heavy, she can scarcely keep it erect. Pain as from weariness
in the back and the posterior muscles of the thighs and arms. 250.
Dulness of the head. Pain as if bruised, hindering her movements in bed.
Very hot hands. Slight nosebleed, at 11 in the morning. She walks with
difficulty, she fears, she will lose her muscular powers. 255. The pain
is worse in the day-time and less in the evening. The menstrual flow is
interrupted. The epidermis of the face peels off. Numerous small pimples
on the face. Desire to stretch.
_Sixteenth day._—260. No sleep; disturbed sleep. Oppression, owing to the
dinner of last evening not sitting well on her stomach, she has to rise
at 3 in the morning. Eructations followed by rumbling in the stomach,
ceasing after drinking a glass of water with sugar. Tongue coated white,
with a yellow line along the middle. (She would like to break every
thing, on account of not being able to understand a certain phrase). 265.
Doughy mouth, in the night. Alternate heat and shuddering, in the night.
(Has the taste of potatoes in the mouth, all night, from last evening’s
dinner). Beating in the left temple. Stiffness in the posterior cervical
muscles. 270. The sacrum is painful when touched or during a walk. After
eating, choking and difficulty of breathing, caused by dryness of the
mouth. Very fine pimples and intolerable itching at the labia majora.
_Seventeenth day._—Restless sleep. Is roused at 4 in the morning by
a stomach-ache with eructations, for an hour. 275. Headache during a
half-slumber. Heaviness at the vertex in the evening. Shuddering and
burning, in the evening, in bed. Palpitation of the heart, while lying
down. Ringing in the ears as if she would faint. 280. Acute stitch-like
pain in the left side, preventing her from turning about in bed. The hair
in the axilla sticks together.
_Eighteenth day._—Heaviness at the vertex. Disturbed sleep. Pain at the
stomach and redness of the face after breakfast.
_Nineteenth day._—285. Feels well all over. Prickings at the right
internal surface of the sternum.
_Twentieth day._—Sore throat; she is unable to swallow her saliva, in the
evening. Distressing pain in the lumbar region, she cannot keep herself
erect.
_Twenty-first day._—She feels as if a piece of flesh had grown out in
her throat. 290. Lancinating pain in the left iliac region, less in the
right. Good appetite. Is unable to walk erect. Complains a good deal
about her pain in the loins.
_Twenty-second day._—She is waked by a violent shrill cough which last
five hours. 295. The pains in the loins are worse when stooping. Acute
pain as if the sacrum were out of place. The pain in the loins causes
her to cry out; she walks bent forward, at 11. The least movement
causes her an acute pain in the sacro-lumbar articulation. Pain in the
posterior part of the right thigh as if a penknife were thrust in. 300.
Pain in the left gluteus muscle, accompanied by nausea. Sensation as if
something would become detached from the sacrum. She can neither remain
standing nor sitting. Pressure as from an iron bar at the sacro-lumbar
articulation, obliging her to lie down when she feels better. Formication
at the sacrum. 305. Cough as from obstruction of the pharynx.
_Twenty-third day._—Restless sleep. Acute lancinating pain above the
right breast, for two hours, in the morning. Pain as if sprained all
along the vertebral column, and extending down the posterior muscles
of the lower limbs to the heels. The face is dark red. 310. She walks
inclined forwards. Heaviness in the stomach, her dinner does not sit well
on her stomach, at 9 in the evening. Walking is hindered by the pain in
the lumbar vertebræ. Desire for coffee.
_Twenty-fourth day._—Her dinner hurts her all night. 315. Palpitation of
the heart, in the night, three different times. Colic with loud emission
of flatulence. Incoherent dreams. The pain in the loins is less. Twisting
pain through the uterus, at nine in the evening.
_Twenty-fifth day._—320. Itching wakes her at four in the morning. Dreams
about a witch, actors changing to yellow and black. Sense of spraining in
the right groin. Slight nosebleed, at six in the evening. Thick urine,
with appearance of white mucus some time after standing.
_Twenty-sixth day._—325. Dreams about fire, then a comedy. The urine
continues to show white flocks after standing.
_Twenty-seventh-day._—Slight nosebleed after supper. Violent itching at
the labia majora, at two.
_Twenty-ninth day._—Hard, difficult and large stool.
_Thirtieth day._—330. Dreams about a revolution, about a city being
destroyed by fire and the sword. Sour eructations exciting her cough.
Smarting and itching at the vulva, at two in the afternoon.
_Thirty-second day._—Canine hunger at dinner. Acidity, bitterness and
regurgitations after dinner, 335. Hard and large stool. Difficult,
fragmentary stool. Painful stool, making the tears rush to her eyes; the
sclerotica becomes red in consequence of the efforts she is obliged to
make. Soapy pale-yellow urine. Colic along the large gut, at nine in the
evening.
_Thirty-third day._—340. Pulling at the stomach, at two in the morning.
Mouth dry. Large, dry, hard, difficult stool. Stool breaking off after
one half is expelled. Pain and smarting at the rectum, caused by the
violent efforts required to expel the stool. 345. Not disposed to
work, at eight in the evening. Irresistible drowsiness. Turbid urine,
of a dingy-yellow, and covered with an oily pellicle. Dreams about
persecutions. Stitches during sleep as though needles were stuck in the
spinal marrow; this wakes her. 350. Starting during sleep. Dry mouth with
tearing sensation in the chest, at two in the morning. She rises in the
night, imagining that thieves are hidden behind the curtains, but she
dares not look behind and begs somebody else to do it.
_Thirty-fourth day._—Restless sleep. Anxiety on waking. 355. Cracked
tongue, in the morning. Violent palpitations and pulsations with
sensation as though the heart were turning about very briskly. The
flatulence presses on the uterus. Hard, dry, large stool, expelled with
difficulty, and causing the tears to rush to her eyes. Regurgitations and
eructations at three. 360. Noisy flatulence, at nine in the evening.
_Thirty-fifth day._—Light sleep. Hoarseness on waking. White-coated
tongue. Desire for liquor and oranges.
_Thirty-sixth day._—365. Dry cough day and night.
_Thirty-seventh day._—Dry cough on waking. Burning in the hand and all
over. Hard and tense pulse. Tongue white in the middle and red at the
tip. 370. Pain at the vertex. Sensation as of water splashing in the
head. The posterior cervical muscles are stiff. Scarlet-redness of the
cheeks. Headache aggravated by work. 375. In bed the sweat smells like
potatoes. Tongue very red. Burning hands, with somewhat uneasy pulse.
_Thirty-eighth day._—The breasts have been painful during the whole time
of the proving, the pain is worse when moving the arms, it then seems
to become seated at the external border of the pectoralis major. Feels
chilly all over, cannot get warm, at half past five in the evening. 380.
Scarlet-redness of the cheeks. After dinner, her clothes feel too tight.
Dry cough for six minutes, at half past ten in the evening. Her thoughts
dwell upon her future, which she imagines will be wretched.
_Fortieth day._—Dry cough, in the evening. 385. Dull colic in the lower
abdomen.
_Forty-first day._—Premature menses. Discharge of black coagulated blood.
For five days the menstrual blood has a very fetid smell, similar to
the smell of spoiled fish. Turbid urine of a dingy yellow, depositing a
copious whitish sediment.
_Forty-second day._—390. Burning thirst, as though her mouth were salt.
Twitching of the right lower limb. Sensitiveness of the hairy scalp and
of the roots of the hairs. Tearing at the vertex; she cannot bear the
least covering on her head.
_Forty-third day._—Hoarseness on rising which disappears immediately. The
same hoarseness in the evening, not long.
_Forty-fourth day._—395. Tearing sensation in the throat, with
accumulation of phlegm which it is difficult to get loose. Expectoration
consisting of yellowish lumps. The phlegm seems to cover the whole
anterior portion of the throat. The pain in the throat disappears after
talking and stirring about. Sensitiveness of the hairy scalp, every day;
she feels a pulling in it which does not allow her to bear the comb.
400. In the morning, raising of black coagulated blood. In the morning
she blows bloody mucus from the nose. Nosebleed every morning, from
forty-second to forty-fourth day. She dreams of battles, dead bodies and
an immense pool of blood.
_Forty-fifth day._—She dreams about green men, covered with moss and
living in the water; these men were changed to dogs.
_Forty-sixth day._—405. At dinner, the dishes taste to her bitter as gall.
_Forty-seventh day._—Sensation as of some obstacle in her throat which
she is unable to expel, followed by the expectoration of a small, hard,
yellowish-gray lump. The urine deposits less, though still turbid. When
attempting to sing, violent palpitations of the heart prevent her from
articulating the sound; her breathing is stopped, she feels as though she
would faint. (Her face is scarlet-red.)
_Fiftieth day._—410. Strong palpitations of the heart, with oppression,
and disposition to faint. She is on the point of fainting, a glass of
water brings her to.
_Fifty-first day._—Palpitation of the heart.
_Fifty-second day._—Heat on the malar eminences and forehead, when going
out to the open air. Palpitations of the heart, after supper. 415. The
palpitation was irregular, stopped for a moment, and then reappeared with
redoubled vigor. These palpitations are accompanied by oppressions, less
when lying down. Alternate subcutaneous pulsations or beatings above
the knee-pan, in the two legs. She does not wish to hear anything in
explanation and is out of humor. Red face, and congestion of blood to the
sclerotica.
_Fifty-third day._—420. Palpitation of the heart the whole day. It is
caused by the act of swallowing. The palpitation is instantaneous and
corresponds to the superior portions of the thorax. (Her lower limbs
tremble on account of the hunger.)