Serenoa serrulata. Saw Palmetto. (Sandy soils sea coast South Carolina to Florida, most luxuriant nearest the sea.) N.O.Palmaceae. (1) Tincture of fresh ripe berries and seeds, all crushed and macerated in 90 per cent. alcohol for fourteen days and decanted (Hale). (2) Fluid Extract, “probably four times stronger than the tincture” (Hale). (C.S.Estep (Am. Hom., xxvi.133) uses a dark-green Fluid Extract which is made from the fresh green berries, and is “almost as green as grass and has an oily surface.” He makes his dilutions from this. Other preparations have disappointed him.) (3) Oil (prepared from the expressed juice of the fruit by allowing it to stand a few days). (4) Saccharated oil (one part of the oil to seven parts of cane sugar). (5) Malted Sabal (one part of the Oil to seven of Maltine). (6) Aqua Olei Sabal (a preparation suggested by Hale made by triturating gtt. xvi. of the Oil with Mag-carb. 3j. gradually adding a pint of distilled water and decanting. For use as a spray).
Clinical
Appendicitis. Asthma, catarrhal. Atrophic pharyngitis. Atrophic rhinitis. Atrophy. Backache. Breasts, inflamed, painful, atrophy of. Bronchitis. Catarrh. Cystitis. Dysmenorrhoea. Dysuria. Enuresis. Glands, affections of. Gleet. Gonorrhoea. Headache. Hoarseness. Impotence. Innutrition. Iritis. Lactation, defects of. Laryngitis. catarrhal. Lumbago. Menses, delayed. Neuralgia. Neurasthenia. Obesity. Ovaries, affections of. Peritonitis. Phthisis. Proctitis. *Prostate, enlarged, affections of. Puerperal fever. School-headache. Sterility. Strangury. Testes, atrophy of. Throat, sore, catarrhal. Urine, incontinence of. Uterus, affections of, misplacements of, tumours of. Whooping- cough.
Characteristics
In his little book entitled *Saw Palmetto, Hale has put together
most of our available knowledge respecting this plant. It is a dwarf palm with creeping (or leaning), branching stem, the edges of leaf and petioles serrate, roots fibrous, large, half exposed. The fruit (so-called “berry”) is a one-seeded drupe about the size of an olive, dark purple when ripe, and ripening in October and November. The branching spadices form large pendulous panicles. When eaten the taste is at first exceedingly sweet, but in a few seconds this is followed by an acrid, pungent sensation that spreads to fauces, nasal mucous membrane, and larynx. This is in turn succeeded by a feeling of smoothness as if the parts had been coated with oil. The seeds are enveloped in a tough, fibrous membrane, are very hard, and when cut show a white, oily substance, which burns with a blue flame, giving off an odour of roasted coffee. The fruit is richer in sugar than sugar-cane, and contains two oils, one volatile and one fixed. The volatile oil is considered to possess the most characteristic properties of the medicine. Hale describes it as “yellow,” but he quotes John Uri Lloyd, of Cincinnati, as writing to him, “The principal constituent is a volatile oil. This oil possesses a *deep green colour.” And he goes on to say that the colour is not due to chlorophyll nor to the copper of the worm used in condensing it. This agrees with Estep’s contention that the preparation of *Sabal should be *dark-green or grass-green. The preparation Estep used was a Fluid Extract prepared by Burrough Brothers, of Baltimore, from the “fresh green berries.” (Hale directs that the fresh *ripe berries should be used.) The preparation used by Dr. Mullin’s prover was made by Boericke and Tafel. All are agreed that preparations of the dried fruit and of the root-bark do not possess the curative powers of the remedy. While on a hunting trip through the wilds of Florida Hale observed the great fattening properties of the berries on animals. During summer food is scanty, and the wild animals become very thin, but as soon as the Palmetto fruit ripens they improve rapidly, and in a few weeks have put on so much fat that they become an easy prey to the hunter. This fat, says Hale, “consists principally of olein, and will not make lard.” *Sabal serrulata was introduced into medicine by ***J. B. Read and ***A.A. Solomon, both of Savannah, Georgia. Read gave a “Saccharated oil,” of which he says: “By its peculiar soothing power over the mucous membranes it produces sleep and relieves the most troublesome coughs, promotes expectoration, improves digestion, and increases fat, flesh, and strength. It has been used with benefit in cardiac asthma, phthisis, especially laryngeal, chronic bronchitis, and dilatation of the bronchial tubes. Its action in catarrhal affections in rapid and permanent. A cold in the head may be checked with two or three doses (of the saccharated oil) mixed with boiling water, and used by inhalation it has been found beneficial in chronic ozaena.” Dr. Will Scott Mullins, of Louisville, Kentucky, published the first proving made from him by a former student of his, Miss Annie Roask. This prover is described as a very intelligent lady of twenty-three, mediumly developed, small breasts, red hair, blue eyes, 5 feet 7 inches in height, weight, 109 pounds, bust measure 32 inches. These details are important, as this prover developed some of the most characteristic effects of the drug, especially those of the mammary glands, and at the end of the proving (from December 8th to March 1st) her breasts had increased fully one-third in size, and her bust measure was 33 1/2 inches, and her weight 119 1/2 pounds. This prover had also many symptoms in the head and ovaries. Her symptoms are for the most part not distinguished from the others in the Schema, but when I have wished to distinguish them I have appended the letter (R). Another remarkable proving by a woman is that of Dr. Freda M. Langton, of Omaha, Nebraska. Her symptoms, when distinguished, have the
letter (L) appended. Mind, bladder, ovaries, and uterus were all strongly affected in her case. One symptom she developed was an irritability and depression, and sympathy did not merely worse as with *Natrum mur., it made her angry. (This condition of mind was present in one of the prostatic cases cured by Sbl.) Dr. Langton relates that she was unable to find an antidote, and suffered for three months after the proving before she found one. In searching for a remedy for a case of dysmenorrhoea she found the leading symptoms under *Silicea, and it struck her that the symptoms of *Silicea Corresponded to her own symptoms. She took it twice daily, and was better in two hours. In three days all the bladder and ovarian trouble was gone. *Silicea Was also given to the dysmenorrhoea patient, but only partially relieved. *Sbl. Was then given, and quickly and permanently cured. *Sbl. Was proved by two men, Dr. R. Boocock, and an unmarried prover whose symptoms are given by Hale (*H. R. xiii. 103). Both experienced well-marked symptoms in the genito-urinary sphere, including increased sexual power. I have marked some of Boocock’s symptoms (B). Hale’s prover had this urinary symptom, which he justly says may prove a valuable indication: “Fears to fall asleep lest something should happen, starts up with this fear as he is dozing.” In all the provings the O tincture, or Fluid Extract, were used in from 5 to 10 drop doses, repeated two or three times a day, and in the clinical use of the remedy a similar dosage has been adopted. *Sbl. Is an organ remedy of great power, selecting the uterus and prostatic gland (which is the male analogue of the uterus), ovaries and testes and bladder. But the provings are sufficiently detailed to warrant closer homoeopathising, and Dr. Langton says that though she gives 5-drop doses four times daily in cases of over-worked brain and school-headache for the “tonic, nutritive, and stimulating” effect of the remedy she gives the 1 x as soon as relief has been obtained, and she finds that the dilution often gives greater relief in the headaches than the larger doses. Mullins also says (*H. R., xii. 68): “I now found the use of the drug in the 3rd and 6th attenuation curative in nearly all of the diseases of the uterus and appendages. Also in headache from reflexed uterine troubles, in mammary abscess, mental irritations, and nervous debility. It is indeed an anti- lean, and well deserves the name of “The homoeopathic Catheter.” But, he adds, it must be given on its individual indications. ***W. E. Reily published (*Hahn. *Adv., December, 1898) these cases illustrating the prostatic action of *Sbl.: (1) Mr. J., 56, very despondent, irritable. Sympathy seemed to anger him. Great tenesmus in neck of bladder, with heavy, aching pains, with *sense of *coldness extending into external genitals. Occasional sharp pains extending up into abdomen and down into thighs. Appetite capricious. Constipation chronic. Urination too frequent, disturbing sleep. *Sbl. O was given, five drops night and morning. Steady improvement followed, and in eight weeks all the symptoms had gone, and with them an annoying eczema of the hands. (2) Mr. M., 45, for a year had gradually increasing frequency of micturition. Despondent, distressed. Appetite capricious. Vertex headache and gastric catarrh. Little sexual desire, coitus followed by digging pain in back and tenesmus of bladder with difficulty in commencing to urinate. Genitals cold, dull aching in region of prostate, extending to abdomen and thighs. *Sbl. O gradually relieved and cured in three weeks. (3) Mr. E., 35. Frequent urination for 1 1/2 years. Heavy, dragging pains, extending into back and thighs, *back pains much worse *after coitus. Considerable loss of prostatic fluid at times. Sexual desire much impeded. Severe headache on vertex and gastric catarrh. All symptoms removed by *Sbl. O. Hale says E.S. Evans, of Columbus, Ohio, considers *Sbl. “almost specific in iritis when the prostate gland is involved. I have cured cases with the
