CICUTA VIROSA:
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Cicuta
Species:C. virosa
Cicuta virosa (Cowbane or Northern Water Hemlock) is a species of Cicuta, native to northern and central Europe, northern Asia and northwestern North America. It is a perennial herbaceous plant which grows up to 1–2 m tall. The stems are smooth, branching, swollen at the base, purple-striped, and hollow except for partitions at the junction of the leaves and stem. The leaves are alternate, trip innate, only coarsely toothed, unlike the ferny, lacy leaves found in many other members of the family Apiaceae. The flowers are small, white and clustered in the umbrella shape so familiar to this family. An oily, yellow liquid oozes from cuts to the stems and roots. This liquid has a rank smell resembling that of parsnips, carrots or mice. The plant may be mistaken for parsnip due to its clusters of white tuberous roots.
It grows in wet meadows, along stream banks and other wet and marshy areas.
The yellow resin contains cicutoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system. In humans, cicutoxin rapidly produces symptoms of nausea, emesis and abdominal pain, typically within 60 minutes of ingestion. This can lead to tremors and seizures. A single bite of the root (which has the highest concentration of cicutoxin) can be sufficient to cause death. In animals the toxic dose and the lethal dose are nearly the same. One gram of water hemlock per kilogram of weight will kill a sheep and 230 grams is sufficient to kill a horse. Due to the rapid onset of symptoms, treatment is usually unsuccessful.
History
There has been some dispute whether it was a hemlock of the genus Cicuta or the genus Conium which was used in ancient Greece as state poison. This poison was administered as a method of capital punishment and certainly the Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of some kind of hemlock infusion at his execution in 399 BC. Cicuta virosa is however primarily a northern European species, rare or absent from the Mediterranean region, making its use in Greece unlikely.The typical dose, however, was not always immediately fatal.
MEDICINAL USES
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Resinous Cicutoxin, an amorp-hous substance of acid
reaction, slight odour, disaggreable taste 3-5%. Cucatine also.
APPLICATION: homoeopathy only; for epilepsy, meningitis, ailments of brain.
POISONING PRINCIPLES
SYMPTOMS: produces tetonic convulsions which kills cattle frequently. Nausea,
widely dilated pupils, vomiting, delirium, violent convulsions & death from asphyxia.
Looses properties on drying.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
The effect of cicutoxin, the poisonous principle of the genus Cicuta , on K + currents of activated T lymphocytes. cicutoxin is a potent K + current blocker which inhibits K + channel-dependent proliferation of naive and memory T lymphocytes.
The effects of virol A (VA), a toxic component of Cicuta virosa (water hemlock), on the GABA-induced Cl(-) current (I(GABA)) in acutely dissociated rat hippocampal CA1 neurons. VA inhibits I(GABA) by acting both on the GABA agonist site and on the Cl(-) channel of the GABA(A) receptor-channel complex. VA is a structurally novel type of compound that selectively inhibits the GABA(A) receptor-Cl(-) channel complexes in mammalian central nervous system neurons.
HOMOEOPATHIC INDICATIONS
Water Hemlock. Cow-bane. N. O. Umbelliferae.
Tincture of fresh root gathered at time of flowering. Historical dose: All potencies, sixth to two hundredth potency.
Cicuta virosa is one of the most active of the poisonous Umbelliferae.
Grimmer has used it for cancers of the skin, epithelioma, convulsive violence as in cerebrospinal meningitis.
Suited to old people and children.
Cicuta virosa's chief influence is on the brain, medulla oblongata, nervous system, the gastro-intestinal tract and the skin. The action producing spasmodic affections, viz., hiccough, trismus, tetanus and convulsions, jaws locked.
Cicuta virosa corresponds to falls and the effects of concussions.Convergent strabismus from fall or blow. Utter prostration follows the convulsive attacks, sudden rigidity, then jerks and violent distortions, then prostration. "Jerking of the left arm all day" is a very characteristic symptom.
Tremor when touched. Trembling palpitations. Sleeps and weeps on being aroused, distorts facial muscles and stares vacantly. Pupils dilated. Shocks from head down body. Face bluish. Froths at mouth. Bites the tongue.Hiccough. Hungry immediately after a meal.
Epilepsy. Violent spasmodic effects. Convulsions, trismus, tetanus, hiccough.Frightful contortions. Spasms move downwards with terrific violence with sudden shocks through body or head, then rigidity or shrieks, then
prolonged unconsciousness, opisthotonos and frightful facial distortions with bloody foam from the mouth, then utter prostration,spasms are renewed by touch, by noise, loud talking.
Bad effects from falls, blows and concussions. Tetanus. Splinters in flesh.
CLINICAL
Bladder, paralysis. Cancer. Catalepsy. Cerebrospinal meningitis.Coccyx, pain. Concussions. Convulsions. Eczema. Epilepsy.Epithelioma. Esophagus, stricture. Eyes inflammation. Face, eruptions.Hiccough. Hysteria. Impetigo. Meningitis. Myelitis. Numbness.Paralysis. Psoriasis. Puerperal convulsions. Screaming. Snow-blindness.Strabismus. Stuttering. Tetanus. Trismus. Worms.
FOOD HABITS
Craves coal, chalk and many other strange articles. Inability to distinguish between edible and things unfit to be eaten, etc. Thirst. Immediately after eating: stomach ache and sleepiness. Immediately after commencing to eat:
feels satisfied. Soon after a meal: great hunger.
MIND
Does not remember what has happened, does not recognize anybody but answers well. Epilepsy, moaning and whining. Delirium with gestures. Childish behavior. Sings, dances, shouts. Moaning, howling and weeping. Excessively
affected by sad stories. Sad when seeing others happy. Mistrust and shunning of man. Despises others.
Mania with dancing, laughing and ridiculous gestures. Feels as if he was in a strange place. Everything appears strange and terrible. Violent. Rash. Confounds present with the past, feels like a child. Memory blank, for hours or days. Does not remember what has happened, does not recognize anybody but answers well. Falls to ground and rolls about with or without convulsions.Vivid dreams.
COMPARE
(1) Cicuta maculata.
(2) Con., Enanth., Stry., Bell.
(3) Con., Aeth., Oena. Croc., Hyper. - spinal concussion, Hyos. - twitchings, Hell, Hydr-ac. - body thrown back, cramps in neck.
(4) Nux-v. and Stry. - tetanus, but with Nux-v. there is not the utter prostration and great oppression of breathing of Cic., Nux-v. is less epileptiform and has more excitability.
RELATIONSHIP
Antidoted by: Arn., Op., for massive doses tobacco.
Antidote to: Opium.
Compatible after: Lach after Ars. and Con. (cancer
Of lip), Cupr.aphasia in chorea).
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Cicuta
Species:C. virosa
Cicuta virosa (Cowbane or Northern Water Hemlock) is a species of Cicuta, native to northern and central Europe, northern Asia and northwestern North America. It is a perennial herbaceous plant which grows up to 1–2 m tall. The stems are smooth, branching, swollen at the base, purple-striped, and hollow except for partitions at the junction of the leaves and stem. The leaves are alternate, trip innate, only coarsely toothed, unlike the ferny, lacy leaves found in many other members of the family Apiaceae. The flowers are small, white and clustered in the umbrella shape so familiar to this family. An oily, yellow liquid oozes from cuts to the stems and roots. This liquid has a rank smell resembling that of parsnips, carrots or mice. The plant may be mistaken for parsnip due to its clusters of white tuberous roots.
It grows in wet meadows, along stream banks and other wet and marshy areas.
The yellow resin contains cicutoxin, which disrupts the workings of the central nervous system. In humans, cicutoxin rapidly produces symptoms of nausea, emesis and abdominal pain, typically within 60 minutes of ingestion. This can lead to tremors and seizures. A single bite of the root (which has the highest concentration of cicutoxin) can be sufficient to cause death. In animals the toxic dose and the lethal dose are nearly the same. One gram of water hemlock per kilogram of weight will kill a sheep and 230 grams is sufficient to kill a horse. Due to the rapid onset of symptoms, treatment is usually unsuccessful.
History
There has been some dispute whether it was a hemlock of the genus Cicuta or the genus Conium which was used in ancient Greece as state poison. This poison was administered as a method of capital punishment and certainly the Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of some kind of hemlock infusion at his execution in 399 BC. Cicuta virosa is however primarily a northern European species, rare or absent from the Mediterranean region, making its use in Greece unlikely.The typical dose, however, was not always immediately fatal.
MEDICINAL USES
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Resinous Cicutoxin, an amorp-hous substance of acid
reaction, slight odour, disaggreable taste 3-5%. Cucatine also.
APPLICATION: homoeopathy only; for epilepsy, meningitis, ailments of brain.
POISONING PRINCIPLES
SYMPTOMS: produces tetonic convulsions which kills cattle frequently. Nausea,
widely dilated pupils, vomiting, delirium, violent convulsions & death from asphyxia.
Looses properties on drying.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
The effect of cicutoxin, the poisonous principle of the genus Cicuta , on K + currents of activated T lymphocytes. cicutoxin is a potent K + current blocker which inhibits K + channel-dependent proliferation of naive and memory T lymphocytes.
The effects of virol A (VA), a toxic component of Cicuta virosa (water hemlock), on the GABA-induced Cl(-) current (I(GABA)) in acutely dissociated rat hippocampal CA1 neurons. VA inhibits I(GABA) by acting both on the GABA agonist site and on the Cl(-) channel of the GABA(A) receptor-channel complex. VA is a structurally novel type of compound that selectively inhibits the GABA(A) receptor-Cl(-) channel complexes in mammalian central nervous system neurons.
HOMOEOPATHIC INDICATIONS
Water Hemlock. Cow-bane. N. O. Umbelliferae.
Tincture of fresh root gathered at time of flowering. Historical dose: All potencies, sixth to two hundredth potency.
Cicuta virosa is one of the most active of the poisonous Umbelliferae.
Grimmer has used it for cancers of the skin, epithelioma, convulsive violence as in cerebrospinal meningitis.
Suited to old people and children.
Cicuta virosa's chief influence is on the brain, medulla oblongata, nervous system, the gastro-intestinal tract and the skin. The action producing spasmodic affections, viz., hiccough, trismus, tetanus and convulsions, jaws locked.
Cicuta virosa corresponds to falls and the effects of concussions.Convergent strabismus from fall or blow. Utter prostration follows the convulsive attacks, sudden rigidity, then jerks and violent distortions, then prostration. "Jerking of the left arm all day" is a very characteristic symptom.
Tremor when touched. Trembling palpitations. Sleeps and weeps on being aroused, distorts facial muscles and stares vacantly. Pupils dilated. Shocks from head down body. Face bluish. Froths at mouth. Bites the tongue.Hiccough. Hungry immediately after a meal.
Epilepsy. Violent spasmodic effects. Convulsions, trismus, tetanus, hiccough.Frightful contortions. Spasms move downwards with terrific violence with sudden shocks through body or head, then rigidity or shrieks, then
prolonged unconsciousness, opisthotonos and frightful facial distortions with bloody foam from the mouth, then utter prostration,spasms are renewed by touch, by noise, loud talking.
Bad effects from falls, blows and concussions. Tetanus. Splinters in flesh.
CLINICAL
Bladder, paralysis. Cancer. Catalepsy. Cerebrospinal meningitis.Coccyx, pain. Concussions. Convulsions. Eczema. Epilepsy.Epithelioma. Esophagus, stricture. Eyes inflammation. Face, eruptions.Hiccough. Hysteria. Impetigo. Meningitis. Myelitis. Numbness.Paralysis. Psoriasis. Puerperal convulsions. Screaming. Snow-blindness.Strabismus. Stuttering. Tetanus. Trismus. Worms.
FOOD HABITS
Craves coal, chalk and many other strange articles. Inability to distinguish between edible and things unfit to be eaten, etc. Thirst. Immediately after eating: stomach ache and sleepiness. Immediately after commencing to eat:
feels satisfied. Soon after a meal: great hunger.
MIND
Does not remember what has happened, does not recognize anybody but answers well. Epilepsy, moaning and whining. Delirium with gestures. Childish behavior. Sings, dances, shouts. Moaning, howling and weeping. Excessively
affected by sad stories. Sad when seeing others happy. Mistrust and shunning of man. Despises others.
Mania with dancing, laughing and ridiculous gestures. Feels as if he was in a strange place. Everything appears strange and terrible. Violent. Rash. Confounds present with the past, feels like a child. Memory blank, for hours or days. Does not remember what has happened, does not recognize anybody but answers well. Falls to ground and rolls about with or without convulsions.Vivid dreams.
COMPARE
(1) Cicuta maculata.
(2) Con., Enanth., Stry., Bell.
(3) Con., Aeth., Oena. Croc., Hyper. - spinal concussion, Hyos. - twitchings, Hell, Hydr-ac. - body thrown back, cramps in neck.
(4) Nux-v. and Stry. - tetanus, but with Nux-v. there is not the utter prostration and great oppression of breathing of Cic., Nux-v. is less epileptiform and has more excitability.
RELATIONSHIP
Antidoted by: Arn., Op., for massive doses tobacco.
Antidote to: Opium.
Compatible after: Lach after Ars. and Con. (cancer
Of lip), Cupr.aphasia in chorea).
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