Apis Mellifica; or, The Poison of the Honey-Bee, Considered as a Therapeutic Agent. C. W. Wolf
prostration and a sense of fainting. In such cases the tumultuous action of Apis is mitigated, and the continued use of this drug, rendered possible by giving Apis in alternation with Aconite in water, every hour or two hours.
Except such cases, I have never been obliged to resort to other accessory means.
Apis is no less efficacious against the higher grades of ophthalmia.
It is particularly rheumatic, catarrhal, erysipelatous, and œdematous ophthalmia, which is most rapidly, easily, and safely cured by Apis, no matter what part of the eye may be the seat of the disease.
The symptoms 188-307 distinctly point to the curative virtues of Apis in ophthalmia: "Sensitiveness to light, with headache, redness of the eyes; he keeps his eyes closed, light is intolerable, the eyes are painful and feel sore and irritated if he uses them; weakness of sight, with feeling of fullness in the eyes; twitching of the left eyeball; feeling of heaviness in the eyelids and eyes; aching, sore-pressing, tensive, shooting, boring, stinging, burning pains in and around the eyes, and above the eyes in the forehead; redness of the eyes and lids; secretion of mucus and agglutination of the lids; the lids are swollen, dark-red, everted; the conjunctiva is reddened, full of dark blood-vessels which gradually lose themselves in the cornea; the cornea is obscured, smoky, showing a few little ulcers here and there; profuse lachrymation; stinging itching in the left eye, in the lids and around the eye; sensation of a quantity of mucus in the left eye; sensation of a foreign little body in the eye; soreness of the canthi; styes; œdema of the lids; erysipelatous inflammation of the lids."
I have found the correctness of these observations uniformly confirmed by the most satisfactory cures of such affections. I use the medicine in the same manner as for acute hydrocephalus. In some cases I found the eye so sensitive to the action of Apis, that an exceedingly violent aggravation of the inflammatory symptoms ensued, which might have proved dangerous to the preservation of such a delicate organ as the eye. Inasmuch as it is impossible to determine beforehand the degree of sensitiveness, I obviate all danger by exhibiting Apis in alternation with Aconite in the manner indicated for hydrocephalus. By means of this alternate exhibition of two drugs, we not only prevent every aggravating primary effect, but we at the same time act in accordance with the important law, that, in order to secure the effective and undisturbed repetition of a drug, we have first to interrupt its action by some appropriate intermediate remedy. All repetitions should cease as soon as a general improvement sets in; if the medicine is continued beyond the point where the organism is saturated with the drug, it acts as a hostile agent, not as a curative remedy. This important point is known by the fact, that the improvement which had already commenced, seems to remain stationary; the patient experiences a distressing urging to stool, a burning diarrhœa sets in, and a disproportionate feeling of malaise develops itself. Under these circumstances, a globule of Apis 30 will quiet the patient, and the action of the drug will achieve the cure without any further difficulty, and without much loss of time, unless psora, sycosis, syphilis, or vaccine-virus prevail in the organism, or sulphur, iodine or mercury had been previously given in large doses. In the presence of such complications Apis will prove ineffectual until they have been removed by some specific antidote. After having made a most careful diagnosis, a single dose of the highest potency of the specific remedy be given, and be allowed to act as long as a trace of improvement is still perceptible. As soon as the improvement ceases, or an aggravation of the symptoms sets in, Apis is in its place and will act most satisfactorily. We then give Apis 3 in water, as mentioned above, with the most satisfactory success.
Apis is the most appropriate remedy for inflammation of the tongue, mouth, and throat.
The following symptoms may be looked upon as striking curative indications: 378-380, 383, 384, 399, 400, 405, 406, 409, 410, 413, 419, 436, 437, 439, 443, 444, 449, 455, 458, 459, 463, 470, 471: "Burning of the lips; the upper lip is swollen to such a degree that the inside seems turned outside; swelling of the lips and tongue; swelling of the upper lip, it becomes hot and red, almost brown; dark streaks along the vermilion border, particularly on the upper lip, rough, cracked, peeling off; violent pains spreading through the gums, the gums bleed readily; the tongue feels as if burnt; tongue and palate are sore; raw feeling, burning, blisters along the margin of the tongue, very painful, stinging; at the tip of the tongue a row of small vesicles which cause a pain as if sore and raw; dry tongue; the inner cheeks look red and fiery, with painful sensitiveness; inflammation of the tongue; inflammation and swelling of the palate; burning, stinging sensation in the mouth and throat; pressure in the fauces as of a foreign body; ptyalism; copious accumulation of a soapy mucus in the mouth and throat; dryness and heat in the throat; inability to swallow a drop, with swelling of the tongue; sensation of gnawing and contraction in the throat, increasing after four hours so as to render deglutition difficult; sensation of fulness, constriction and suffocation in the throat; deglutition painful and impeded, stinging pains during deglutition; swelling and redness of the tonsils, impeding deglutition; angina faucium; chilliness followed by heat; violent pain in the temples; redness and swelling of the tonsils; uvula and fauces, painful and impeded deglutition, and stinging pains when attempting to swallow."
The more frequently we make use of Apis in the treatment of these very common forms of angina, and of the inflammation of the salivary glands, which are so closely connected with the other parts of the throat, the more we become convinced by the most striking success, that this drug is by far the speediest, safest and easiest remedy which we possess for the treatment of these exceedingly common and yet so very distressing affections. Not only in common affections of this sort, but also in the most acute and dangerous forms of angina faucium, will Apis be found efficient; even where these affections are hereditary, or have become habitual, and generally terminate in suppuration, Apis will still afford help. In these affections likewise Apis acts most promptly and efficiently, if given in alternation with Aconite, both remedies in the third dilution, a few drops dissolved in twelve tablespoonfuls of water, in alternate hourly doses. After taking a few doses, the patient begins to feel relieved, enjoys a quiet sleep, and the resolution of the inflammation takes place, accompanied by the breaking out of a general perspiration. If there should be a natural tendency to suppuration, this treatment will hasten it from hour to hour, and after the pus is discharged, a cure will soon be accomplished. In the most inveterate cases, which had been previously treated in a different manner, the same curative process takes place gradually; first one outbreak of the disease is hushed; next, if another portion of the throat becomes inflamed, this inflammation is controlled, and this proceeding is continued with an increasingly rapid success and a continued abatement of all sufferings, until, finally, a perfect recovery is obtained, even under these disadvantageous circumstances.
Apis is not sufficient to prevent the recurrence of such inflammatory attacks; this object has to be accomplished by means of the appropriate antidotal specific.
Apis becomes an exceedingly useful remedy in consequence of the specific power which it possesses over the whole internal mucous membrane and its appendages.
It is particularly the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal upon which Apis has a striking influence. It excites an inflammatory irritation, which not only disturbs the secretion of mucus, but also disintegrates the intestinal juices so essential to the process of sanguification, thus disqualifying the blood from properly contributing to the reproduction of the nervous tissue. By thus altering the blood and nerves, these two principal vehicles of vitality, it develops a group of symptoms which is exceedingly similar to our abdominal typhus that seems to have become stationary among us for the last twenty years. This similarity, in its totality, results from the following symptoms contained in the "American Provings."
"398: troublesome pains in the gums. 400: the gums bleed readily. 402: bitterish taste in the back part of the tongue and in the throat. 405: tongue as if burnt. 406: tongue and palate feel sore. 411: a number of vesicles and small, sore, somewhat red spots at the tip of the tongue and along the left margin of the tongue. 413: dry tongue, the inner cheeks look red, fiery, are painfully sensitive. 416: burning from the tongue down the œsophagus, as far as the stomach, eructations every four or five minutes, with flow of tasteless water in the mouth; eructations became worse after drinking water, she almost felt as if choked. 420: swelling of the tongue, the tongue is dry, shining, yellowish. 421: tenacious saliva adhering to the tongue. 424: tongue dry and white. 427: feeling of dryness in the mouth and throat. 441: fetid