Bellis Perennis

NAT. ORD., Compositae.



COMMON NAMES, English Daisy. Garden Daisy. Hens and Chickens.



PREPARATION.--The fresh plant, in flower, is pounded to a pulp and

submitted to pressure. The expressed juice is then mixed with an equal

part by weight of alcohol.



(The following is from Thomas' Additions to the

Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 1858. To it we may add

Dr J. C. Burnett's statement that Bellis is a remedy

for all ills that may be traced to a sudden wetting when

overheated.)



Bellis perennis or daisy, formerly called consolida, on account of

its vulnerary properties; the roots and leaves were used in wound

drinks, and were considered efficacious in removing extravasated blood

from bruises, etc. It is said to be refused by cattle on account of its

peculiar taste. Lightfoot, in his Flora Scotica, says: "In a scarcity

of garden-stuff, they (daisies) have, in some countries, been

substituted as pot herbs." My first trial with this plant as a curative

agent was in the autumn of 1856. While on a visit in the neighborhood of

Bangor, a countryman, understanding that I was a "doctor," wished me to

prescribe for his foot, which he had sprained very badly. Not having

either Arnica or Rhus with me, I determined to try the effects of

the daisy; so directed him to procure a handful of the leaves and

flowers of the plant, chop them up small, boil them for a quarter of an

hour in half a pint of water, and apply them in linen as a poultice

round the ankle at night. The application was not made until the next

morning, but in half an hour's time the ankle admitted of very fair

motion. A piece of calico wetted and wrung out of the daisy water was

then wrapped round the ankle, and the man put his shoe on and limped

about all day, walking not less than five miles. He repeated the

poultice at night, and found his ankle so much restored in the morning

that he was able to walk four miles to his work without experiencing any

difficulty. The success, in this instance, so far exceeded the previous

use of Arnica and Rhus, especially in the time gained, that I had a

tincture from the whole plant made for such uses, and have used it in

sprained ankle from a fall--the ankle was well the second day. A sprain

of the wrist, which had been a week ailing, yielded to the daisy in

three days. I have also successfully used it in several severe whitlows;

in every case the pure tincture was used externally. The only provings I

have made with this remedy have been with the pure tincture in ten or

twenty drop doses at a time. After taking the medicine for fourteen days

without any symptoms, I suspended the use of it--in two weeks after

leaving it off, for the first time in my life I had a large boil on the

back of my neck (right side), commencing with a dull aching pain; some

difficulty and a bruised pain in keeping the head erect; slight nausea,

want of appetite, and a little giddiness in the head at times. Pain in

middle finger of the left hand, as of a gathering, for a short time

only; and at the same time pain in inner side of left forearm, as of a

boil developing; two nights before similar pains in corresponding parts

of the right arm--query, are these effects of Bellis (this was written

December 11, 1856). The boil on the neck came December 7, 1856; began as

a slight pimple with burning pain in the skin, increasing until in six

days' time it was very large, of a dark fiery purple color, and very

sore burning and aching pain in it, accompanied with headache, extending

from occiput to sinciput, of a cold aching character; brain as though

contracted in frontal region, dizziness, etc. (as before stated). I now

set to work to cure myself, which by use of hot fomentations and lint

dipped in [Greek: theta] tincture of Belladonna externally, taking at

the same time 3d dil. Belladonna internally, was soon accomplished.

Three days after this was cured, another made its appearance, which

speedily succumbed to the same remedies. As I had never previously had a

boil, and had not made any change in my diet, I suspected Bellis

tincture to be the cause of the trouble. On the 12th of January, 1857,

feeling my left foot somewhat strained after running, I applied Bellis

[Greek: theta] to the strain, which for several days aggravated the

feeling; and in five hours after the application I had another small

boil (three weeks after disappearance of the last), which yielded to

same treatment as the others, by January 19, 1857. On March 7, 1857, I

chewed some daisy flowers. On the 11th, a small boil appeared at the

angle of the inferior maxilla, right side; Belladonna [Greek: theta],

externally, cured it. The last trial I made with the third centesimal

dilution of Bellis, taking three drops on Tuesday, 2d March, 1858, on

the following Friday a small pimple appeared a little behind the angle

of left inferior maxilla; it increased very much in size and pain by

Saturday, when I treated it with Belladonna [Greek: theta] externally,

to which it soon yielded. As at no other time in my life have I suffered

from boils, I am inclined to think these are due to the use of the

daisy.