Sambucus Nigra samb.

Adapted to diseases of scrofulous children: of the air passages especially.

Persons formerly robust and fleshy suddenly become emaciated (Iod., Tub.).

Bad effects of violent mental emotions; anxiety, grief, or excessive sexual indulgence (Phos. ac., Kali p.).

Œdematous swellings in various parts of the body, especially in legs, instep, and feet.

Dry coryza of infants; nose dry and completely obstructed, preventing breathing and nursing; snuffles (Am. c., Nux).

Dyspnœa; child awakens suddenly, nearly suffocated, face livid, blue, sits up in bed; turns blue, gasps for breath, which it finally gets; attack passes off, but is again repeated; child inspires, but cannot expire (Chlor., Meph.); sleeps into the attack (Lach.—compare, Arum drac.).

Attacks of suffocation as in last stage of croup.

Cough: suffocative, with crying children; worse about midnight; hollow, deep, whooping, with spasm of chest; with regular inhalations, but sighing exhalations.

During rest; midnight; after eating fruit.

Sitting up in bed. Motion: most of the pains occur during rest and disappear during motion (Rhus).

Follows well: after Opium in fright. Antidotes abuse of Arsenic.

Irregular.

3, 4, 5 and 6 P. M. Afternoon and evening.

Cough, deep and dry, for half an hour, with nausea and thirst (dry, teasing, fatiguing cough, Rhus). Sweat (Carbo v., Nux).

Without thirst. Coldness creeps over the whole body, especially hands and feet, which are cold to touch. Shaking chill creeping over whole body, though face was warm. Hands and feet icy cold; the rest of body warm as usual. Chill lasts half an hour. Spasmodic, deep, dry cough from lower part of chest, without expectoration; may occur during chill if absent in prodrome. Rarely occurs both before and during chill (see Rhus).

Without thirst; dread of uncovering. Sensation of burning heat in the face, with warmth of body and icy coldness of the feet, without thirst. Dry heat on falling asleep. Intolerable dry heat all over the body, with dread of uncovering; thinks he would take cold or have an attack of colic if uncovered (Hep.). Dry heat while he sleeps.

Profuse sweat breaks out on the face, without thirst, while awake, from 7 P. M. to 1 A. M.; stood in drops upon the face, and extends over the entire body during waking hours; on going to sleep again the dry heat returns (sweat when he sleeps, stops when he wakes, Thuja). Profuse non-debilitating sweat, day and night, with relief of all symptoms (Nat.).

Profuse sweat continues during this stage; may become weakening from its profuseness alone, which is out of all proportion to the chill and heat.

Cough deep, dry, precedes the fever paroxysm.

Fever: dry heat while he sleeps; on falling asleep; after lying down; without thirst; dreads uncovering (must be covered in every stage, Nux).

Profuse sweat over entire body during waking hours; on going to sleep, dry heat returns (sweats as soon as he closes his eyes to sleep, Cinch., Con.).

Sambucus is almost the only remedy which has dry heat while asleep, profuse sweat while awake, then dry heat again when he sleeps. (Sweat on waking from a sound sleep, Rum.) The profuse sweat is rarely debilitating, and never in proportion to its profuseness; always without thhirst. Cinch. has profuse debilitating sweat with great thirst; the reverse of Sambucus. Deep, dry, racking cough before the chill, for half an hour, with nausea and thirst, is characteristic (Rhus has dry, teasing cough, like Rumex crispus, before and during chill).

CASE I.—Irregular paroxysm occurring every other day. Quinine had no effect. Cough deep and dry for half an hour, with nausea and thirst.

Chill for half an hour, without cough, nausea or thirst; slight fever with moist skin; profuse sweat at night not debilitating. Apyrexia complete.

Prescribed for the profuse sweat at night, not debilitating, Sambucus, a drop dose of the tincture, which resulted in a perfect cure, no other attack occurring.—DUNHAM.

CASE II.—Mrs. H——. Chills and fever; type quotidian. Paroxysm commenced at 3 P. M., with hard dry cough, from lower part of the chest, racking and shaking the whole body, and producing a pain over the whole head, which is relieved by pressure or having the head tightly bound up.

No expectoration with the cough. Great thirst for large quantities of water very often. Longing for acids.

Chill—Severe and shaking, continuing for half an hour. Lips and nails blue. Nausea and vomiting, aggravated by drinking, the substance vomited having a bitter, sour taste. Bitter, sour taste in the mouth during the par- oxysm. Tongue coated white, chills running down the back. Back and limbs ache, particularly during the chill, and worse when they come in con- tact with the bed. Cough, headache and thirst continued.

Heat.—Great, with stupor and prostration. Thirst and cough continue, but no headache. Pains in the back and limbs. Great difficulty in speak- ing. With the heat a profuse perspiration.

Delirium.—Is distressed because she imagines some one in bed with her.

This oppresses her respiration, as she has to breathe for two. Continual talking. Sense of suffocation, with a fluttering at the heart. Great distress in the region of the heart, whence the cough seems to proceed. Moaning and weeping during sleep.

Sweat.—At night a drenching sweat, smelling sour-fetid, staining yellow, not debilitating. Ineffectual desire to urinate, passing water once in twenty- four hours, a small quantity of turbid, loam-colored urine.

Attempts to cover the totality of the symptoms with any one remedy, re- sulted in the conviction that it was impossible. Eup., Bry., Ipec., Ars.,

Cal., and Sabad., were successively given without benefit. Dr. Dunham now suggests that the "hard, dry cough before the chill," "the half-hour chill," and the "profuse, non-debilitating sweat at night," reminded him of a case he had cured with Sambucus. The cough and sweat, however, seemed the characteristics in this case, and Sambucus 1000 was given. To my surprise and gratification I found the entire train of symptoms removed, till the seventh day, the cough returning, was removed by a repetition of the remedy.—SWAN.