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.