Allium cepa
-VERMEULEN Frans,
All-c.
An onion is a vegetable that builds you up physically
and tears you down socially.
[McKenzie]
Signs
Allium cepa. Red onion. N.O. Alliaceae [Liliaceae].
CLASSIFICATION The genus Allium is usually classified with the Liliaceae, but in accordance to the latest botanical classifications it belongs to the separate family Alliaceae, a plant family comprising 30 other genera more. Allium is the largest genus with some 800 species distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and including important economic plants such as Onion, Leek, Chives, Garlic, and Shallot. The genus also contains many fine ornamentals. Most have bulbous rootstocks, the leaves being smooth and hollow in some species, emitting a characteristic garlicky odour when bruised. They thrive best in well-drained cool soil, but dislike humus [acidic soils]. Some are shade-lovers but the majority prefers an open sunny position. Although a biennial, the onion may manage to complete his full life cycle in one season, provided there are enough long, warm days.
NAME The name Allium derives possibly from the Celtic all, meaning hot. The specific name cepa probably comes from Celtic cep, a head, in allusion to the spherical shape of the flowerheads.
CONSTITUENTS In addition to being rich in potassium, phosphorus, and iron, A. cepa contains gonadotropic phytohormones and sulphur-containing compounds. The latter are responsible for the flow of tears when peeling onions, and furnish, through fermentation, a substance with bacteriolytic and vulnerary properties. The ash contains calcium, and traces of of silicic acid, nickel, cobalt, and fluorine.
HISTORY The first record where the onion is included comes from the Assyro-Babylonians. The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, dating back to around 1550 BC also mentions the onion. It includes more than 700 prescriptions using natural products such as caraway, coriander, linseed, peppermint, anise, fennel, poppy seed, and of course garlic/onion. In ancient Egypt the pyramid-builders got paid in onions. Onions also found a widespread use in mummification and as a form of snake repellent. The Egyptians saw the onion bulb as a symbol of the universe and sacred to the mother-goddess Isis. Muslim tradition has it that garlic sprang from the Devil's left foot, and onion from his right when he was banished from Eden.
EFFECTS People susceptible to the juice of onions may suffer from local inflammatory skin reactions [contactdermatitis]. Consumption of great amounts of onions results in vomiting, diarrhoea and nephritis. Dogs whose food was mixed daily with big portions of onions, suffered from drowsiness and produced considerable amounts of coffee-coloured urine and greenish black faeces. Another frequently occurring symptom was severe anaemia.
USES For thousands of years garlic and onion have been used to treat cancers. Hippocrates wrote about steam fumigation of garlic to treat uterine cancer. The same and similar stories are also recorded from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Russia, and China. Interestingly, people in Georgia, where Vitalia onions are grown, have a far lower mortality rate of stomach cancer than in the USA in general. The rate is as low as one third of the average US level among whites. As with garlic, this effect can be due to the high concentration of selenium in onions. "Both garlic and onion oils inhibit the enzymes lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase. Each of these enzymes is known to act as one of two parallel biochemical pathways [within the arachidonic acid cascade] and only by inhibiting these enzymes can this pathway be arrested. When arrested, the production of prostaglandin is slowed. Since many cancers are prostaglandin dependent, this may explain why the allium oils have anti-tumour properties."1 Russian scientists once screened 150 plants for antibacterial properties and found onions and garlic to be the most potent. Chewing a raw onion for three to eight minutes proved to render the lining of the mouth completely sterile. "Because of their strong, pungent properties, onions induce the stomach to initiate actions that release a 'flood of tears' in the throat and lungs' airways, breaking up mucous congestion," remarked a specialist on pulmonary diseases. Eating raw onions creates a drop in blood cholesterol; the more onions the steeper the drop; hence the standard prescription of an American heart specialist for his patients: Eat Raw Onions.
FOLKLORE "Like the ancient Babylonians, Austrian farmers use onions to 'fix the fates' on New Year's Eve. They fill twelve onion sheaths with salt, and the ensuing months of the year will be dry or wet, according to whether the salt in the corresponding peel remains dry or forms a fluid."2 The Chinese, Egyptians, Arabs, and other cultures used onions and garlic for their "power to trap any type of evil influence which had been directed towards the home. The onion was also credited with the power of protecting the home from contagion during epidemics and plagues. As recently as the 19th century many physicians still advocated placing sliced onions in the home as a preventive measure in such cases. Children wore onions in bags around their necks to ward off colds and other winter diseases."3 A cut onion was believed to absorb germs as well as all other bad vibrations or energies in houses. It was therefore inconceivable to keep a piece of onion peeled and cut in the cupboard or likewise. In medieval Europe bunches of onions were hung on the doors to ward off the plague. An onion placed beneath the pillow is said to produce prophetic dreams. Persons finding it difficult to make a decision, may scratch their options on onions [one to each onion], and place them in the dark. The first one that sprouts provides the answer. If one throws an onion after a bride one will throw away her tears. Onions were used to forecast the weather, as an English gardener's rhyme explains: 'onion's skin very thin, mild winter coming in; onion's skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.' English schoolboys recommended that if an onion was rubbed on a hand before it was caned the pain would be alleviated. Onions were commonly used for relief of pain: the inside of an onion skin placed on cuts and scratches acted as a type of elastoplast; an onion placed or rubbed on a wasp or a bee sting will take the pain away; carrying a small onion in the pocket may ward off rheumatism. 4
SYMBOLISM The traditional symbolism of the onion is directly related to its morphology: revelation as peeling off the layers to reach the centre. In allusion to its layers as well is the idea of unity, of the many in the one. Onions were thought to turn aside evil, in particular baleful lunar powers. "Ramakrishna compares the laminated structure and lack of a central core with the structure of the ego. Spiritual experiences strip it away layer by layer until there is voidness and then there is no barrier to the Universal Spirit and union with Brahma. On a magical level, the Ancient Egyptians protected themselves against certain diseases with onion stalks, while Plutarch says that the Romans forbade the plant because it waxed while the Moon waned and its smell weakened the life force. Aphrodisiac properties have also been attributed to it, as much because of what it suggests to the imagination as because of its chemical composition."5
RADIATION Recently, a Russian electro-biologist found that garlic and onions emit a strange type of ultraviolet radiation which he called M-rays. These mysterious rays may account for the persistent legendary claims that the humble onion protects the home from contagion.
PROVINGS •• [1] Hering - self-experimentation, 1847; method: tincture.
•• [2] Alleborn - 4 [male] provers; method: 1-50 drops of tincture, several days in succession.
•• [3] Eckel - self-experimentation; method: 2-4 drops of tincture.
•• [4] Geist - self-experimentation; method: 1-3 drops of tincture.
•• [5] Neidhard - 3 female provers; method: 5-20 drops of tincture, observation period of 1 day.
•• [6] Wesselhoeft - self-experimentation; method: 2 drops of tincture, 4 or 5 days in succession.
•• [7] Dubs and Prollius - eating onions.
"Dioscorides, the Greek physician, and physicians following him, among the Arabians, had a glimpse of the truth of similia, for they used the onion to cure the symptoms they knew it was capable of producing; but with Galen all reasonable investigation ceased."6
[1] Lucas, Nature's Medicines. [2] Weiner, Weiner's Herbal. [3] Lipp, Herbalism. [4] Vickery, Dictionary of Plant-lore. [5] Chevalier and Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols. [6] Hering, Guiding Symptoms.
Affinity
MUCOUS MEMBRANES [NOSE; EYES; larynx; bowels]. Nerves. * Left side. Left to right.
Modalities
Worse: WARM ROOM. Wet feet. Singing. Dampness. N.E. winds. Spring. Evening.
Better: Cool, open air. Bathing. Motion.
Main symptoms
M Great DULNESS OF MIND, < evening; and [commencing] coryza. M Dreams. • "Constant dreams of battles, fights, precipices, storms at sea, and difficulty in reaching the coast, of deep wells, and efforts to get out of them." • "Dreams of being near water two night in succession." [Allen] G < WARM ROOM. > OPEN AIR.
• "The patient and all the phases of his 'cold', his coryza, his laryngitis, his cough, all his complaints, are aggravated by warmth, are worse in a warm room, excepting the tickling in the larynx, which is sometimes aggravated by drawing in cold air." [Kent]
G < Morning. [apathy; sleepiness; flatulence; dry throat and cough; pain in ankle] < Evening. [all catarrhal symptoms and pains; heat of face; eructations; flushes of heat; thirst] G Appetite increased, even ravenous. Thirst. G Ailments from eating cucumbers, salads [= wind colic]. G Allergic to peaches [odour, contact with skin]. G Coffee <. [fulness in head; stomach pain; heat and pain in abdomen] G Ailments after forceps delivery. G Heat and rumbling in abdomen, coryza and thirst. G MUCOUS secretions increased. P BLAND LACHRYMATION. P ACRID, biting, WATERY DISCHARGE from NOSE. Sensation of RAWNESS in nose. P Coryza and catarrhal symptoms; > OPEN AIR and < heat. And DULNESS of head. And Frontal headache extending to nose. And Swelling of lids and around eyes. And Hunger. And Copious urination. P Hay fever with acrid discharge from nose and bland lachrymation [reverse of Euphr.]. < Evening; warm room. > Open air.
P Common colds GOING DOWNWARD:
violent laryngitis; scratching/rawness in throat when coughing; grasps the throat when coughing.
Cough from tickling in larynx.
< Lying down at night in a warm room. P Pain in eyes. • "Pains in the eyes as if they would be torn out, as if the eye hung loose posteriorly, on a string, and could be bored into with the fingers and torn out." [Hering] P Yellow discolouration of teeth. • "The teeth are a smutty yellow in the morning, they remain so the whole day, in one who has very white and sound teeth; continues three to five days." [Allen] P Colic [stomach/abdomen] after getting feet wet; after eating cucumbers. < Sitting. > Motion.
And Sleepiness BETWEEN the attacks [in infantile flatulent colic].
P Injuries of HEELS [from friction of shoes]; blisters.
P Stump neuralgia [THREAD-LIKE pain].
Rubrics
Mind
Absentminded in afternoon, after coffee or wine [2/1]. Confusion after coffee [1; Arg-n.; Calc-p.; Mill.]. Dulness after wine [1].
Head
Fulness occiput on coughing [1/1]. Pain, > during menses [1; Verat.; Zinc.]; > open air. [2], on closing eyes [3]. Vertex as if swollen [1/1].
Vision
Near objects seem distant during sleepiness [1/1*]; on yawning [1/1].
Hearing
Sounds seem distant [1; Lac-c.].
Nose
Coryza, from flowers [3]; with hunger [1; Hep.; Sul-ac.]; from odour of peaches [3/1]; from odour of roses [1]. Sneezing, < rising from bed [1; Stach.]; in warm room [2; Puls.]. Teeth Back teeth as if too long, at night in bed [1/1*]. Pain > perspiration [1].
Throat
Sensation as if food lodged in oesophagus [1*].
Stomach
Appetite wanting [disappearing] as soon as he begins to eat [1*]. Long-continued eructations immediately after eating onions [1*]. Cramping pain while sitting [2], > walking [2].
Abdomen
Flatulence and weak sensation in limbs [1/1*]. Pain < coffee [1*]; cramping pain from getting feet wet [2/1]. Rectum Diarrhoea after onions [1*]. Stitching pain extending down lower part of rectum [1*]. Bladder Pain after coition [2/1]. Retention of urine after getting feet wet [2]. Prostate Pain after coition [2]. Male Can't finish coition on account of weakness in hips [1/1*]. Urine Copious during coryza [2]. Limbs Excessive tired feeling in region of hips, on rising from sitting, on walking, esp. on ascending stairs [1/1*]. Weakness in hips at night [1/1*]. Sleep Yawning before headache [2]. Generals Deathly faintness after profuse urination [1]. * Repertory additions [Hughes]. Food Desire: [2]: Raw onions. [1]: Garlic; raw food; vegetables. Worse: [2]: farinaceous. [1]: Beer [headache]; coffee; cucumbers [nausea]; onions [toothache; eructations; diarrhoea]; salads; warm food; wine. Better: [1]: Cold drinks [while in warm room]; onions.
All-c.
 |
| Allium cepa |
and tears you down socially.
[McKenzie]
Signs
Allium cepa. Red onion. N.O. Alliaceae [Liliaceae].
CLASSIFICATION The genus Allium is usually classified with the Liliaceae, but in accordance to the latest botanical classifications it belongs to the separate family Alliaceae, a plant family comprising 30 other genera more. Allium is the largest genus with some 800 species distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and including important economic plants such as Onion, Leek, Chives, Garlic, and Shallot. The genus also contains many fine ornamentals. Most have bulbous rootstocks, the leaves being smooth and hollow in some species, emitting a characteristic garlicky odour when bruised. They thrive best in well-drained cool soil, but dislike humus [acidic soils]. Some are shade-lovers but the majority prefers an open sunny position. Although a biennial, the onion may manage to complete his full life cycle in one season, provided there are enough long, warm days.
NAME The name Allium derives possibly from the Celtic all, meaning hot. The specific name cepa probably comes from Celtic cep, a head, in allusion to the spherical shape of the flowerheads.
CONSTITUENTS In addition to being rich in potassium, phosphorus, and iron, A. cepa contains gonadotropic phytohormones and sulphur-containing compounds. The latter are responsible for the flow of tears when peeling onions, and furnish, through fermentation, a substance with bacteriolytic and vulnerary properties. The ash contains calcium, and traces of of silicic acid, nickel, cobalt, and fluorine.
HISTORY The first record where the onion is included comes from the Assyro-Babylonians. The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, dating back to around 1550 BC also mentions the onion. It includes more than 700 prescriptions using natural products such as caraway, coriander, linseed, peppermint, anise, fennel, poppy seed, and of course garlic/onion. In ancient Egypt the pyramid-builders got paid in onions. Onions also found a widespread use in mummification and as a form of snake repellent. The Egyptians saw the onion bulb as a symbol of the universe and sacred to the mother-goddess Isis. Muslim tradition has it that garlic sprang from the Devil's left foot, and onion from his right when he was banished from Eden.
EFFECTS People susceptible to the juice of onions may suffer from local inflammatory skin reactions [contactdermatitis]. Consumption of great amounts of onions results in vomiting, diarrhoea and nephritis. Dogs whose food was mixed daily with big portions of onions, suffered from drowsiness and produced considerable amounts of coffee-coloured urine and greenish black faeces. Another frequently occurring symptom was severe anaemia.
 |
| Head inflowerascence |
FOLKLORE "Like the ancient Babylonians, Austrian farmers use onions to 'fix the fates' on New Year's Eve. They fill twelve onion sheaths with salt, and the ensuing months of the year will be dry or wet, according to whether the salt in the corresponding peel remains dry or forms a fluid."2 The Chinese, Egyptians, Arabs, and other cultures used onions and garlic for their "power to trap any type of evil influence which had been directed towards the home. The onion was also credited with the power of protecting the home from contagion during epidemics and plagues. As recently as the 19th century many physicians still advocated placing sliced onions in the home as a preventive measure in such cases. Children wore onions in bags around their necks to ward off colds and other winter diseases."3 A cut onion was believed to absorb germs as well as all other bad vibrations or energies in houses. It was therefore inconceivable to keep a piece of onion peeled and cut in the cupboard or likewise. In medieval Europe bunches of onions were hung on the doors to ward off the plague. An onion placed beneath the pillow is said to produce prophetic dreams. Persons finding it difficult to make a decision, may scratch their options on onions [one to each onion], and place them in the dark. The first one that sprouts provides the answer. If one throws an onion after a bride one will throw away her tears. Onions were used to forecast the weather, as an English gardener's rhyme explains: 'onion's skin very thin, mild winter coming in; onion's skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.' English schoolboys recommended that if an onion was rubbed on a hand before it was caned the pain would be alleviated. Onions were commonly used for relief of pain: the inside of an onion skin placed on cuts and scratches acted as a type of elastoplast; an onion placed or rubbed on a wasp or a bee sting will take the pain away; carrying a small onion in the pocket may ward off rheumatism. 4
SYMBOLISM The traditional symbolism of the onion is directly related to its morphology: revelation as peeling off the layers to reach the centre. In allusion to its layers as well is the idea of unity, of the many in the one. Onions were thought to turn aside evil, in particular baleful lunar powers. "Ramakrishna compares the laminated structure and lack of a central core with the structure of the ego. Spiritual experiences strip it away layer by layer until there is voidness and then there is no barrier to the Universal Spirit and union with Brahma. On a magical level, the Ancient Egyptians protected themselves against certain diseases with onion stalks, while Plutarch says that the Romans forbade the plant because it waxed while the Moon waned and its smell weakened the life force. Aphrodisiac properties have also been attributed to it, as much because of what it suggests to the imagination as because of its chemical composition."5
RADIATION Recently, a Russian electro-biologist found that garlic and onions emit a strange type of ultraviolet radiation which he called M-rays. These mysterious rays may account for the persistent legendary claims that the humble onion protects the home from contagion.
PROVINGS •• [1] Hering - self-experimentation, 1847; method: tincture.
•• [2] Alleborn - 4 [male] provers; method: 1-50 drops of tincture, several days in succession.
•• [3] Eckel - self-experimentation; method: 2-4 drops of tincture.
•• [4] Geist - self-experimentation; method: 1-3 drops of tincture.
•• [5] Neidhard - 3 female provers; method: 5-20 drops of tincture, observation period of 1 day.
•• [6] Wesselhoeft - self-experimentation; method: 2 drops of tincture, 4 or 5 days in succession.
•• [7] Dubs and Prollius - eating onions.
"Dioscorides, the Greek physician, and physicians following him, among the Arabians, had a glimpse of the truth of similia, for they used the onion to cure the symptoms they knew it was capable of producing; but with Galen all reasonable investigation ceased."6
[1] Lucas, Nature's Medicines. [2] Weiner, Weiner's Herbal. [3] Lipp, Herbalism. [4] Vickery, Dictionary of Plant-lore. [5] Chevalier and Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols. [6] Hering, Guiding Symptoms.
Affinity
MUCOUS MEMBRANES [NOSE; EYES; larynx; bowels]. Nerves. * Left side. Left to right.
Modalities
Worse: WARM ROOM. Wet feet. Singing. Dampness. N.E. winds. Spring. Evening.
Better: Cool, open air. Bathing. Motion.
Main symptoms
M Great DULNESS OF MIND, < evening; and [commencing] coryza. M Dreams. • "Constant dreams of battles, fights, precipices, storms at sea, and difficulty in reaching the coast, of deep wells, and efforts to get out of them." • "Dreams of being near water two night in succession." [Allen] G < WARM ROOM. > OPEN AIR.
• "The patient and all the phases of his 'cold', his coryza, his laryngitis, his cough, all his complaints, are aggravated by warmth, are worse in a warm room, excepting the tickling in the larynx, which is sometimes aggravated by drawing in cold air." [Kent]
G < Morning. [apathy; sleepiness; flatulence; dry throat and cough; pain in ankle] < Evening. [all catarrhal symptoms and pains; heat of face; eructations; flushes of heat; thirst] G Appetite increased, even ravenous. Thirst. G Ailments from eating cucumbers, salads [= wind colic]. G Allergic to peaches [odour, contact with skin]. G Coffee <. [fulness in head; stomach pain; heat and pain in abdomen] G Ailments after forceps delivery. G Heat and rumbling in abdomen, coryza and thirst. G MUCOUS secretions increased. P BLAND LACHRYMATION. P ACRID, biting, WATERY DISCHARGE from NOSE. Sensation of RAWNESS in nose. P Coryza and catarrhal symptoms; > OPEN AIR and < heat. And DULNESS of head. And Frontal headache extending to nose. And Swelling of lids and around eyes. And Hunger. And Copious urination. P Hay fever with acrid discharge from nose and bland lachrymation [reverse of Euphr.]. < Evening; warm room. > Open air.
P Common colds GOING DOWNWARD:
violent laryngitis; scratching/rawness in throat when coughing; grasps the throat when coughing.
Cough from tickling in larynx.
< Lying down at night in a warm room. P Pain in eyes. • "Pains in the eyes as if they would be torn out, as if the eye hung loose posteriorly, on a string, and could be bored into with the fingers and torn out." [Hering] P Yellow discolouration of teeth. • "The teeth are a smutty yellow in the morning, they remain so the whole day, in one who has very white and sound teeth; continues three to five days." [Allen] P Colic [stomach/abdomen] after getting feet wet; after eating cucumbers. < Sitting. > Motion.
And Sleepiness BETWEEN the attacks [in infantile flatulent colic].
P Injuries of HEELS [from friction of shoes]; blisters.
P Stump neuralgia [THREAD-LIKE pain].
Rubrics
Mind
Absentminded in afternoon, after coffee or wine [2/1]. Confusion after coffee [1; Arg-n.; Calc-p.; Mill.]. Dulness after wine [1].
Head
Fulness occiput on coughing [1/1]. Pain, > during menses [1; Verat.; Zinc.]; > open air. [2], on closing eyes [3]. Vertex as if swollen [1/1].
Vision
Near objects seem distant during sleepiness [1/1*]; on yawning [1/1].
Hearing
Sounds seem distant [1; Lac-c.].
Nose
Coryza, from flowers [3]; with hunger [1; Hep.; Sul-ac.]; from odour of peaches [3/1]; from odour of roses [1]. Sneezing, < rising from bed [1; Stach.]; in warm room [2; Puls.]. Teeth Back teeth as if too long, at night in bed [1/1*]. Pain > perspiration [1].
Throat
Sensation as if food lodged in oesophagus [1*].
Stomach
Appetite wanting [disappearing] as soon as he begins to eat [1*]. Long-continued eructations immediately after eating onions [1*]. Cramping pain while sitting [2], > walking [2].
Abdomen
Flatulence and weak sensation in limbs [1/1*]. Pain < coffee [1*]; cramping pain from getting feet wet [2/1]. Rectum Diarrhoea after onions [1*]. Stitching pain extending down lower part of rectum [1*]. Bladder Pain after coition [2/1]. Retention of urine after getting feet wet [2]. Prostate Pain after coition [2]. Male Can't finish coition on account of weakness in hips [1/1*]. Urine Copious during coryza [2]. Limbs Excessive tired feeling in region of hips, on rising from sitting, on walking, esp. on ascending stairs [1/1*]. Weakness in hips at night [1/1*]. Sleep Yawning before headache [2]. Generals Deathly faintness after profuse urination [1]. * Repertory additions [Hughes]. Food Desire: [2]: Raw onions. [1]: Garlic; raw food; vegetables. Worse: [2]: farinaceous. [1]: Beer [headache]; coffee; cucumbers [nausea]; onions [toothache; eructations; diarrhoea]; salads; warm food; wine. Better: [1]: Cold drinks [while in warm room]; onions.
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