Ailanthus

Ailanthus glandulosus, Desf.

Nat. order , Simarubeæ.

Common names , Tree of Heaven; (Germ.) Gotterbaum; (Fr.), Ailante.

Preparation , Tincture from the flowers beginning to open.

Authorities. [The following symptomatology is mainly copied from Dr. Jones's arrangement in Am. Hom. Observer, vol. 11.]

1 , Hering; 2 , Lippe; 3 , J. T. Alley; 4 , Mrs. F.; 5 , Mr. M.; 6 , H. Minton; 7 , Male prover, aged 28; 8 , Male prover, aged 21; 9 , P. P. Wells; 10 , Wells's girl, aged 15; 11 , Wells's boy (young); 12 , W. Williamson; 13 , Hale, New Remedies, 3d ed.; 14 , Poisoning from drinking water impregnated from Ailanthus roots; Meshter. (See N. Y. J. of Hom., 2, 99.)

MIND

• Low-spirited, 3.
• Continual sighing, 3.
• Depression of spirits, 9.
• Recklessness in regard to present or future events, 3.
• Stoical indifference to whatever happens, 3.
• Restlessness, 3.
• Great anxiety, 10.
• Inability to concentrate mental effort; compelled to read a subject several times to get even a misty understanding of it, 3.
• Confusion of intellect; found it almost impossible to add a column of figures correctly; had to go over it several times to get it right, 6. [10.]
• Loss of memory, 3.
• Mental alienation, 3.
• (*Stupor, delirium , and insensibility, after suppressed scarlatina eruption, [°] .)

HEAD

• Vertigo, especially when stooping, 3.
• Dizziness, 10.
• Dizziness and confusion of the head, 3.
• Staggering dizziness when rising or moving, 3.
• A sensation of giddiness with nausea and sickness at the stomach, 8.
• Tottering gait, with an inclination to stagger; requires extra effort to walk straight, 3.
• Giddiness; nausea, with retching and some vomiting, 12. [20.]
• Slight headache, accompanied with nausea and giddiness, 6.
• The figures on the ledger began to dance up and down the columns; my head grew dizzy, 8.
• Pain in the occiput, with dizziness and ringing pain in the forehead, 3.
• A fulness and somewhat of an intoxicated sensation in the brain, 7.
• A fulness and burning on the brain, 7.
• Apoplectic fulness of the head, 3.
• Thick heavy feeling in the head, figures and letters look blurred, 6.
• Electrical thrill starting from the brain and extending to the extremities, 3.
• Feeling as if an electrical current were passing through the left side of the head, 3.
• Dull headache, 3. [30.]
• Severe headache, 10.
• Headache with confusion of intellect, 6.
• Dull headache, with burning in eyes (immediately), 1.
• Dull headache, with great oppression of bronchia, 4.
• Dull heavy headache, with heavy feeling in the sternal region, 6.
• Heaviness of the head, with pain over the eyes, ameliorated by pressure, 1.
• Dull compressed feeling, with confusion and pain in the forehead, 9.
• Severe pains in the head with chills, followed by flushings of heat, 6.
• Tingling sensation of left arm and hand, with dull headache; no appetite; tongue coated; pasty taste (on waking in A.M.), 6.
• Pain in back, head, neck, and numbness extending from under the left scapula, in a band down to the left hip, 6. [40.]

EYES

• Eyes feel rough and irritated, as from wind and dust, 3. [50.]
• Smarting and aching, as from powerful astringents, 3.
• Burning in the eyes, 3.
• Sneezed, and experienced a sensation of cold about the eyes, and a gnawing in the chest, 7.
• Light affects the eyes, 3.
• Lachrymation in the open air, or by brilliant light, 3.
• Purulent discharge, with agglutinated lids in the morning, 3.
• Conjunctivitis, with redness and inflammation, extending around the external canthus, 3.
• Falling out of the eyebrows, 3.
• (Eyes suffused and congested; startled look when roused; pupils dilated and sluggish; in scarlet fever, [°]

Dr. Chalmers.)

• (Pupils widely dilated, [°] .)* [60.]
• Photophobia, 3.*
• Intolerance of light, 10.
• Figures and letters look blurred, 6.

NOSE

• Itching and uneasy feeling around the nose, 3.
• Soreness and pain on the left side of the nose, 5.
• Dryness and suppressed secretion, 3.
• Catarrhal obstruction, as from cold in the head, 3.
• Difficult breathing through the nose, 3.
• Loss smell, 3.
• Chronic catarrh, 3. [70.]
• (Copious thin ichorous discharge without fetor; discharge of blood and pus. In scarlet fever, [°] . Dr. Chalmers.)

FACE

• Face pale, 14.
• Dusky bilious complexion, 3.
• Complexion sallow and inactive, 3.
• Jaundiced, 14.
• Dark-blue circle around the eyes, 3.
• Irregular spots of capillary congestion, as in the face of a drunkard after a debauch, 3.
• Hot, red face, 10.
• Miliary rash, more profuse on the face and forehead, especially the forehead, than upon the rest of the body, 10.
• Pain in the occiput, with dizziness and ringing pain in the forehead, and swelling in the left side of the face; soreness and pain on the left side of the nose; puffed erysipelatous face; feels heavy and sleepy; nausea coming on at intervals, 5. [80.]
• On the second evening, tearing in the upper and lower teeth of the left side, also in the face and head, aggravated by lying down and forcing him to walk about; external pressure relieves. Improvement only toward morning, 2.
• (*Face and forehead dark mahogany; suppressed scarlatina, [°] .)

TONGUE

• Tongue coated, 14.
• Tongue coated; pasty taste in morning, 6.
• Tongue thickly covered with a whitish coat, brown in centre, 3.
• (Tongue dry, parched, and cracked ; moist, and covered with fur; tip and edges livid. Under the favorable action of Ailanthus, the clearing-off the coating revealed prominent papillæ, [°]*

In scarlet fever. Dr. Chalmers.)

THROAT

• Sensation as after applying an astringent to the pharynx, 3.
• Thick, œdematous, and dry choky feeling in the throat, continuing in the acute form only a short time, and then becoming chronic, 3.*
• A fulness in the throat just above the sternum, and a desire to hawk up something, 7.
• Throat dry, rough, and scrapy , more so in the morning, 4.* [90.]
• Irritability of the throat and hawking up of mucus, 6.*
• Hawking of mucus from the throat, 3.
• Constant hawking, and efforts to raise lumps of whitish matter, 3.
• Raising of mucus and yellow matter from throat, 3.
• Great accumulation of matter, part of which is easily expectorated, while a portion is with much exertion detached in small flakes, 3.
• Croupy choking, 3.
• Throat tender and sore on swallowing , or on admission of air, 4.*
• When deglutition is painful, the pain always extends to the ears, 1.
• Redness of the throat with or without pain during deglutition, 1.
• The fauces and tonsils are inflamed, with spots of incipient ulceration, 3.*
• Spreading ulcers, feeling as after the application of nitrate of silver, 3. [100.]
• Tenderness and enlargement of the parotid and thyroid glands, 3.
• Thickened and swollen feeling of the muscles of the neck, 3.
• (*The throat is livid and swollen, the tonsils studded with numerous deep, angry-looking ulcerations, from which a scanty fetid discharge exudes; the neck is very tender and swollen; the tonsils are prominent and studded with ulcerated points. In scarlet fever, [°]

Dr. Chalmers.)

APPETITE

• No feeling of hunger, but eats his usual quantity, 3.
• No appetite for breakfast; tongue coated; pasty taste, 6.
• No appetite for dinner, everything tasting flat and insipid, 6.
• She could take no food, the sight of it made her feel worse, 10.
• Appetite capricious, 3.
• Loss of appetite; slight nausea; disgust at food, 9.
• Loathing of food, 6. [110.]
• During the chill there was great hunger, with a distressing sense of general emptiness, 11.

STOMACH

• Every morning nausea, and during the day a febrile heat with this nausea (but frequently without it); a diarrhœa set in; four or five stools daily, with pains in the abdomen; sometimes vomiting with the diarrhœa, 1.
• With the nausea are oppression and pain below the hypochondria, in some like a stricture below the short ribs. Some find this symptom very debilitating, 1.
• Excessive nausea, but no vomiting, during the headache, 1.
• In women, nausea similar to that of pregnancy, 1.
• Nausea and sickness at the stomach, with sour eructations, 6.
• Nausea and vomiting, 12.
• Any food taken was speedily vomited, 11.
• Vomited repeatedly, 14.
• Peculiar feeling of emptiness in the stomach, 3.
• Inactive condition of the stomach, as though its contractive power was impaired, 3. [120.]
• Constant, violent increasing pain in the stomach, 14.
• Water tastes brackish and flat; no desire for drinks except when eating, 3.
• Took a teaspoonful of the tincture. In half an hour began to feel queer and somewhat frightened; a sensation of giddiness with nausea and sickness at the stomach came over me; cold perspiration stood out upon the skin; my fingers, in fact my whole body, began to tingle and prick; my limbs felt as if they were asleep; the figures on the ledger began to dance up and down; my head grew dizzy; I staggered back and fell into my chair almost unconscious. Drank half a tumbler of Bourbon; soon began to vomit and purge, and was very ill for two hours.
• Two days after was as well as common, excepting some headache, and a sort of numbness of the left arm, 8.

ABDOMEN AND STOOL

• Tenderness over the hepatic region, 14.
• Tympanitis, 3.
• Burning in the stomach and bowels, 12.
• Weak, burning, uneasy feeling in the bowels, as of approaching diarrhœa, 3.
• Slight rumbling in the bowels, 3.
• A feeling of "insecurity," as if he would be attacked with diarrhœa any minute, 9.
• Bowels moved easier than natural, two or three times a day, 3. [130.]
• Looseness of the bowels, appearing more in the large intestines, 3.
• Colicky and griping pains in the bowels, 12.
• Frequent watery dejections, which are expelled with great force, 4.
• Pains in hypogastrium and hips, 14.
• Morning, nausea with diarrhœa, which is sometimes attended with vomiting, 1.
• Dysentery; frequent painful stool, little fecal matter, much bloody mucus, with very little fever, 1.
• Constipation, 14.

URINARY ORGANS

• Urine suppressed, 14.

GENITALS

• A sore appeared on the prepuce of the prover, which had the exact appearance of an incipient chancre; it dried up and disappeared in a few days after ceasing Ailanthus. (This sore and the rash are similar to those which characterize primary syphilis, 9.

COUGH

• Cough somewhat oppressed; expectoration muco-purulent, free in the morning, sticky and scanty during the day, 3. [140.]
• Deep exhausting cough, with asthmatic expansion of the lungs, 3.
• *Cough deep and painful. 3.
• *Violent fits of coughing before retiring, and on rising; she coughs continually, until expectoration becomes free; afterwards is comfortable during the day, 4.

CHEST

• Oppression of breathing, 6.
• Equable oppression, as though chest was strapped, 3.
• Asthmatic oppression in the larger bronchi, 3.
• On the second day after suspending the drug, wheezing asthmatic respiration, 3.
• Feeling as though the air-cells were stuck together; inability to completely expand the lungs; can hear the air-cells open (?) as the lungs expand, 3.
• Tired feeling in the lungs, rendering it almost an exertion to breathe, 3.
• Pain with constriction or tightness of the chest, 6. [150.]
• Excessive tenderness all over the lungs, 3.
• Excessive soreness and tenderness of the lungs, compelling a suspension of the drug, 3.
• Soreness of the internal chest with pain and aching of the lungs, 6.
• Soreness and pain of the lungs increased; severe pains in the head, with chills, followed by flushes of heat, 6.
• Pain and contracted feeling, especially through the centre of the left lung, sternal edge, 3.
• Aching in the anterior portion of the left lung, extending to the posterior, 3.
• Pain as from a small blade tow inches at the left of the lower portion of the sternum, 3.
• Heated, burning feeling, as from breathing hot steam or air, 3.
• Burning in the right lung, 3.
• Burning pain under the left shoulder, 3. [160.]
• Stitching and aching in the chest, 3.
• Aching pain directly under the clavicle, sometimes extending to the sternum, 3.
• Respiration quickened, 3.
• Crepitant ronchus, 3.

HEART AND PULSE

• Pulse accelerated, 14.

BACK

• Soreness in the glands of the neck with pain under the left shoulder-blade, 6.
• Intolerable pain in the back of the neck, upper part of the back, and in the right hip-joint, 11.
• Pain in the head, neck, back, and numbness under left scapula, extending as a band down to left hip, 6.
• Constant aching between the shoulders, 3.
• Aching, pressed feeling of the dorsal vertebra, 3. [170.]
• Shooting, aching pains in the shoulders and hips, 3.
• Constant sharp pain through the small of the back and hips, 6.

SUPERIOR EXTREMITIES

• Pain in the right scapula, deep inside (in six minutes), 1.
• The pain in right scapula prevents motion of the arm; a similar pain in the right foot prevents walking (in one hour), 1.
• Numbness of the left arm, and a sensation as though the fingers were asleep, 6.
• Tingling sensation of left arm and hand on waking, in A.M., 6.
• The numbness of left arm and hand, with pain in the shoulder, back, and hips, lasting four or five days after ceasing to take the drug, 6.
• A sort of numbness of the left arm, 8.
• Fingers tingle and prick, 8.
• Electrical thrill, extending to the ends of the fingers, 3.

INFERIOR EXTREMITIES. [180.]

• Limbs felt as though they were asleep, 8.
• Numbness of the left leg, with tingling, prickling pain in the foot and toes, 6.
• Feeling of uneasiness and aching restlessness in the limbs, 3.
• Heaviness of the extremities, 3.
• Pain in the right foot prevents walking, 1.
• Severe pain in left foot, a kind of tension in walking, 1.
• Sleep disturbed and unrefreshing, 6.
• Heavy sleep during the night, 7.
• Great sleepiness in the morning or forenoon; sleepiness the whole day, but this is not refreshing, 1.
• After drinking a glass of wine great sleepiness, with fulness of the head, 1.

FEVER. [190.]

• Dry, hot skin, especially in the morning, lasting until the middle of the day.
• Skin dry, 14.
• Cold perspiration stood out upon the skin, 8.
• Felt slightly ill on rising in the A.M.; could take no food; sight of it made her fell worse; was suddenly seized with vomiting; severe headache, dizziness; hot, red face; inability to sit up; rapid small pulse; drowsy, at the same time very restless; great anxiety. In two hours drowsiness had become insensibility, with constant muttering delirium; did not recognize the members of the family. She was now covered in patches with an eruption of miliary rash, all of a dark, almost of a livid color. The patches between the points of the eruption were of a dingy, dull opaque appearance. The eruption was more profuse on the forehead and face than elsewhere, and especially on the forehead. The pulse was now small, and so rapid as hardly to be counted; the surface had become cold and dry; the livid color of the skin when pressed out returned very slowly; the whole was a most complete picture of torpor, 10.
• The chill was always preceded by a miliary eruption, most copiously developed on the forehead and face. During the chill there was great hunger, with a distressing sense of general emptiness. Any food taken was speedily vomited. Intolerable pain was felt in the back of the neck, the upper part of the back, and the right hip-joint. During the hot stage there was urgent thirst, with delirium, and a strong desire for brandy, 10.
• (This group represents the quasi "secondary action." It supervened upon the poisoning depicted in S. 193, and the girl was subject to this rôle for a fortnight.)
• The eruption is slow to make its appearance, and never takes on the genuine scarlet color; it remains livid, 13.
• Ailanthus produces an eruption which has an exact resemblance to ordinary measles, but it attended by no catarrhal symptoms, or other concomitants of that exanthem, 9.

GENERALITIES

• Immediately after taking one drop, a dulness over the whole body.
• Languor and lassitude on making exertions, 3.
• Incapability of standing long a time, 3. [200.]
• Tottering gait, with an inclination to stagger; requires extra effort to walk straight, 3.
• All asthmatics who are exposed to the odor feel worse during the blossoming period, 1.
• The odor affects women and children more than men, and old people least of all, 1.
• If odor gives any indication, Ailanthus should prove a good remedy in malignant puerperal fever, 1.
• Affects the organism in the following order: throat, lungs, eyes, head, 3.
• (In prover M., this order of evolution is exactly reversed. J.)
• After discontinuing the drug the head, throat, and chest symptoms lasted for about twenty-four hours, and gradually died away, 6.
• The numbness of (left) arm and leg, with pain in shoulder, back, and hips, continued four or five days, 6.
• Two days after taking a teaspoonful of the mother tincture, as well as ever, with the exception of some headache, and a sort of numbness of the left arm, 8.
• The neuralgic pains (facial) force him to walk about, 2.

CONDITIONS

• Aggravation.
• ( Morning ), Purulent discharge from eyes, etc.; coated tongue, etc.; throat dry, etc nausea; nausea with diarrhœa; dry, hot skin.
• ( Morning, on waking ), Tingling in arm, etc.
• ( Morning or forenoon ), Great sleepiness.
• ( On admission of air ), Throat tender.
• ( In open air ), Lachrymation.
• ( During chill ), Great hunger.
• ( On exerting body ), Languor and lassitude.
• ( During heat ), Urgent thirst, etc.
• ( Lying down ), Tearing in teeth, etc.
• ( Brilliant light ), Lachrymation.
• ( Rising or moving ), Staggering dizziness.
• ( Stooping ), Vertigo.
• ( Swallowing ). Throat tender.
• ( After taking wine ), Great sleepiness, etc.
• Amelioration.
• ( Toward morning ), Improvement.
• ( Pressure ), Heaviness of head, etc.
• ( External pressure ), Tearing in teeth.

SUPPLEMENT: AILANTHUS. Authority.

15 , C. A. L., Pub. of Mass. Hom. Med. Soc., vol. iv, p. 119, a proving. [210.]

• P., a student of medicine, aged nineteen, in good health. Took 1 drop of 1st cent. dilution every hour from 8 A.M., March 4th.

At 10 A.M. Lancinating pain through both temples, and fine prickling pain in left temple. Burning in, and darting pains through the stomach.

12m. Tired sensation of lower limbs, chills over the whole body as from water, and sharp pains through both lungs.

1 P.M. After dinner, sinking feeling in stomach.

3 P.M. Severe constriction of the throat.

8 P.M. Sharp prickling pain in the stomach and temples.

March 5th, 10 A.M. Aching in left lung. Discharge of bright-red blood from the nose, which was swollen.

11 A.M. Severe nausea as from fat meat.

1 P.M. Sharp pain through both temples.

3 P.M. Lancinating pain through the whole lower limbs.

6 P.M. Throat feels very full.

March 6th, 7th, and 8th. No new symptoms.

March 9th, 9 A.M. Bleeding from the nose and sharp pains through both lungs; worse when taking a long breath.

12 M. Mouth very sore, and feels raw and burning, as if from the presence of acid.

1.30 P.M. Lancinating pains in both temples, and deathly faintness of the stomach after dinner, lasting an hour and a half.

4 P.M. Sensation as from a blow in right ear.

6.30 P.M. Trembling of the legs.

March 10th, 8 A.M. Mouth sore and raw, and oozing of blood from the denuded surface. Faint feeling, with nausea. Sharp pains in both lungs, and in the stomach, as from pins.

12 P.M. Ringing in right ear.

2 P.M. Bruised sensation on the right forearm.

5 P.M. Mouth very sore and painful, discharge of blood from the swollen gums.

March 12th, 8 A.M. Dryness of the mouth, and bleeding from the roof and sides. Nausea in the abdomen.

10 A.M. Sharp pain through the right temple, with nausea.

3 P.M. Prickling pain through left lung. Trembling of the legs. Ringing in the ears, like music.

March 15th, 8 A.M. Mouth continues very sore, with discharge of blood and stringy mucus. Teeth feel as if he had taken acid in the mouth.

10 A.M. Pains in lugs return, and trembling of the legs and bruised sensation of right forearm. Constriction of the throat, with sensation of a foreign body there for about ten minutes after every dose of the medicine. Took same doses up to the 25th, with no new symptoms, 15.

SUPPLEMENT: AILANTHUS.

The following revision of "Authorities" 3 to 13 , is intended to be explanatory, Nos.

15 to 17 , are new.

Authorities.

3 , J. T. Alley, M.D., North Amer. Journ. of Hom., vol. vii, p. 385, made tincture from flowers just before maturing, of about 1 ounce to a pint; I took it in drop doses tour times a day, for three weeks, and gave it to two young men, who took it each about two weeks; I took it three different times, continuing each time about three weeks; my last proving was with the 1st dil.; only symptoms common to all provers are given; 4 , same, U. S. Journ. of Hom., vol. i, p. 285, Mrs. F.'s symptoms during flowering season; 5 , same, ibid., Mr. M.'s symptoms during flowering; 6 , H. Minton, M.D., ibid., vol. ii, p. 668, made tincture from leaves, bark, and woody Ailanthus, and gave a young man 2 drops at 8.15 and 10.15 A.M. (first day), 2 drops (second day, and from the fifth to the fifteenth days inclusive); 7 , same, a man, aged twenty-eight years, took 3 drops tincture at 5 P.M., and 5 drops tincture in solution at 8.15 P.M., seven days later took 3 drops tincture at 8.30 and 9.15 A.M.; 8 , same, J. C. L., aged twenty-one years, took 1 drop every hour till he had taken eight doses, and then he took a teaspoonful; 9 , P. P. Wells, M.D., Amer. Hom. Rev., vol., vi, p. 268, effects of aroma, and U. S. Med. and Surg. Journ., vol. iv, p. 330, a proving, dose not mentioned (symptom 138); 10 , same, Amer. Hom. Rev., vol. iv, p. 385, a girl, aged fifteen years, stripped outside bark from the young and tender shoots, and then after writing letters on stalks with a pin, moistened these with saliva, which was rubbed on them with the finger, this was repeated many times, and the juice was thus conveyed to the mouth; 11 , same, effects on a boy, of eating the seeds; 12 , W. Williamson, M.D., U. S. Journ. of Hom., vol. ii p. 668, some little boys smoked the stems like segars; 13 , Hale's New Remedies, third edition, a résumé; ( 15 to 17 , from Dr. Giraud, Thesis, Paris, 1875); 15 , effects of the bark on Dr. Hettet; 16 , Dr. Robert, who published the first work on Ailanthus in dysentery, experimented on himself with the infusion, see Archives de Navale, 1874; 17 , Dr. Geraud, took two spoonfuls of an infusion.

• General malaise, sensation of feebleness, and dimness of vision and nausea, 15.
• He found it extremely bitter, causing nausea, sometimes vomiting. After an hour there was very notable diminution of the pulse, of about 10 beats, which persisted for half an hour, after which it rose and became more frequent than normal, 16.
• After a quarter of an hour there was nausea, accompanied by anguish, similar to that caused by Ipecac. Sensation of tightness in the temples. All these symptoms increased after half an hour to vomiting; the pulse had increased from 68 to 76, temperature from 37.2° to 37.3°. After this he experienced a peculiar sensation of emptiness in the stomach. Pulse 80. Temperature 37.7°. This was followed by a fall of the pulse to 64, and a sensation of coldness over the whole body. After a few hours there was colic, followed by a soft stool. In another experiment, he took an infusion, pulse 78. There was no nausea; after three-quarters of an hour, pulse 70, and a sensation of coldness; the pulse rose to 76. After four hours some colic and soft stool, 17.