Phaseolus Nana

NAT. ORD., Leguminosae.



COMMON NAME, Dwarf Bean.



PREPARATION.--The crushed beans are macerated in five parts by weight of

alcohol.



(In 1896 and 1897 Dr. A. M. Cushing wrote several

articles on this new remedy, and among them the

following, which appeared in the Homoeopathic

Recorder, 1897.)



While making a proving of th above remedy I felt a sudden curious

sensation in the region of the heart, and immediately felt of my pulse

and found it very weak and fluttering. I have been asked what that

sensation was, but I can't describe it, for, to tell the truth, I

believe I was frightened and failed to remember it. Although it is

unpleasant to be badly frightened, the nice results I have seen from the

use of the remedy and the kind words I have received from the

profession in regard to it has more than paid for the little fright. As

so little is known of the remedy, I wish to report one case that was not

at all indicated by the proving and two cases under the care of an old

school doctor. My case was that of a lady aged about forty, who for two

years was under the care of a homoeopathic doctor for some trouble, I

don't know what; then two years under the care of another homoeopathic

doctor for a fibroid of the uterus. She had twice consulted a specialist

in Boston, who said it could not be removed. Then she came under my care

with a fibroid as large as a fetus at full term. Suffice it to say, I

gave remedies in a higher attenuation than I believed she had taken, and

in a few months the tumor had greatly diminished and gave her no

trouble. Still she was nervous and had neuralgic pains almost all over

her. As remedies did not seem to relieve her for any length of time, I

decided to give her Phaseolus 9x, as it probably would do as well as

what I had given her. The next time I called she met me with "I want a

whole bottle like what you gave me last." She does not have to take any

medicine now.



I was called in consultation with an old school doctor to a case of

confinement. Patient, 26; first child; had been in pain forty-eight

hours, but not severe till the last twelve hours. Patient, fleshy; urine

heavily loaded with albumen. I knew that trouble was ahead, as she

became blind. I found the head jacked firmly in the superior straits,

face presentation which I could not change. I decided to wait a little,

help what I could and watch the results. In a little while she went to

sleep, the first quiet sleep in forty-eight hours; but when she moved it

was in a fearful convulsion. I expected the convulsions, but felt that

if I applied the forceps, before they appeared some might say if he had

let her alone she would not have had them. I immediately turned her upon

her left side, well covered up, and adjusted my forceps and soon had the

head through the bony parts; and as it is my custom to remove the

forceps till the soft parts are dilated to prevent rupture I commenced

to do so, when a fearful expulsive convulsion threw forceps and a

thirteen-pound child into the bed with a complete rupture of the

perineum--my first such case in forty-one years. While she was

unconscious I took the necessary stitches, the doctor attending to the

medical part. One hour later, when I was in the kitchen helping the

nurse and a few damsels dress the baby, the doctor came to me and said

her heart was failing in its action fast. I gave him a vial of No. 25

globules medicated with 9x Phaseolus, and told him to give her a dose

about the size of a bean (being a bean remedy). Ten minutes later he

said: "That is wonderful, her heart is all right." Three times during

the night he had to repeat it with the same results. Afterwards she had

no trouble.



One week later the same doctor came to me saying: "I want a bottle of

that remedy." Yesterday I was called to see a lady who was unconscious,

pulseless, breathing ten times a minute, beyond hope as I supposed. I

gave her three doses of Phaseolus, and she is all right.



P. S.--If not too late, I would like to add a little to the paper I sent

you not long ago. The same old school doctor to whom I referred in that

paper tells me he has used Phaseolus in another case of heart disease

with a success similar to the others reported.



A few weeks since a lady aged 50, nurse by profession, came to me

saying, at times, she had fearful time with her heart palpitating and

feeling as if she should die. Being in great haste, I made no

examination, but gave her a vial of Phaseolus 15x to take a dose three

or four times a day, as needed. Yesterday she called, saying she was

going out of the city, but did not dare to go without some more of the

medicine, for she never took anything in her life that did so much good

as that.



(Dr. Cushing also read the following paper before the

Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, which we

take from the New England Medical Gazette. January,

1897:)



By request I appear before you to-day, and I presume you will be

disappointed if my paper is not on some new remedy; and such it is,--a

remedy, I think, worthy the careful investigation of every

homoeopathic physician,--phaseolus nana, or the common white bean. It

is unnecessary for me to say to you that Boston is called a bean-eating

city, or refer to the many sudden deaths there or in its vicinity from

brain or heart trouble, nor how in a certain way young men grow old. Can

you tell me the cause? I shall not take the time to report the proving I

made, nor why I began it, nor how I prepared it, nor its wonderful

effects upon the nervous system, the genital organs, stomach, bowels, or

kidneys, in the provings, referring only to three symptoms. A medical

student has made a short but interesting proving of the remedy,

confirming some of my symptoms. While my proving was going on nicely, I

suddenly felt a curious sensation in the region of the heart. It was so

sudden and strange I immediately felt of my pulse and found it very

irregular and feeble, so much so I think I was frightened, at least I

did not take any more of the medicine. Never before had I had any

irregular action of the heart. Soon after, I read that foreign

physicians were using a decoction of the growing bean and pod for

dropsy.



About that time I was called to see a hopeless case of uterine cancer

with severe general dropsy. I prescribed the best I knew and decided to

try the bean remedy. Several days elapsed before I could get any, and

then only the dry pods, as it was in December. I steeped them and gave

it with apparent relief. I report this case more especially to speak of

the final result. I called one day expecting to find her quite

comfortable, but found her dead. She suddenly screamed, "Oh, my head!"

grasped it with both hands and was dead.



Months later, after an experience with another patient which I will

report later, it suddenly dawned upon me that possibly the bean

decoction might have hastened her death.



I was called to see a man about forty-five, suffering from general

dropsy with heart and other complications, who had been under the care

of a homoeopathic physician some time. Although he had taken

Digitalis, Strophanthus, Strychnia, Nitroglycerine, salts, etc.,

he had been unable to lie down for two weeks. I prescribed for him, but

as soon as I could I prepared and gave him the bean-pod decoction. In

about one week he was able to lie down in bed, and his legs, which at my

first visit measured over twenty-one inches in circumference, measured

fifteen inches. Then hay fever appeared, and by the advice of nineteen

or twenty-five women an old-school expert from New York was called and I

was left out.



The following cases, having symptoms similar to those developed in the

proving, were given the same preparations as those used in the proving.



A man aged sixty-nine, a retired clergyman on account of a heart disease

that had troubled him many years, yet no physician had been able to

satisfactorily diagnose, came home from a trip where he had unwisely

preached twice, greatly exhausted. The heart's action was weak and

irregular, growing weaker each day for a few days, when he was entirely

pulseless at both wrists, which continued four days in spite of my best

efforts. I then gave him Phaseolus 9x, and in a few hours there was an

improvement, and in thirty-six hours his pulse was regular and strong,

about seventy per minute; and it remained so till my last visit,

one-half hour before his death, two weeks after beginning the medicine.

I was called to New York and returned too late to make a post-mortem

examination. Among his children were a public school teacher and a

college professor. I told them what I was giving, and they watched the

case very closely and were surprised at its effects. Later they asked me

if I would send some of the same medicine to a friend in Connecticut

who had no money but a bad heart, said by the doctor there and an

expert in Boston to be a weak heart. I sent the medicine and two weeks

later they wrote: "His breath is not as short, his limbs were not as

badly swollen, could walk and sleep better, but they did not know as he

was any better." I sent more medicine and have not heard from that.



A lady living in the West, aged about fifty, had been ailing several

years. Her greatest complaint was a weak, bad-aching heart. I treated

her a few months with general improvement, but she complained of a weak,

tired, bad-acting and bad-feeling heart. I sent her Phaseolus 9x, and

later she wrote me that forty-eight hours after commencing the last

medicine sent her heart wheeled into line all right and remains so.



A lady, aged eighty-seven, had diarrhoea, which was soon relieved;

then I found her heart acted badly, about every third beat omitted, and

she said it had been so for a year or more. I gave her Phaseolus, and

two days later her pulse was all right.



Dr. Brown, of Springfield, reported a case of a young man that only once

in two weeks did he get his pulse up to sixty, ranging from fifty to

fifty-five the two weeks. He gave Phaseolus 6, which I furnished him,

and the next forenoon his pulse was seventy-two and remained so.



I will report only one more case, treated with this remedy, one which I

think very interesting.



A lady physician, aged thirty, married, no children, never has been sick

except with childhood diseases. Two years ago had considerable mental

trouble and rode a bicycle a good deal. Since that time, two years ago,

five times each minute, or about that, her heart would give one hard

unpleasant throb, then omit one beat, this in the day time, but much

worse at night, preventing sleep. Being in somewhat of a hurry, I did

not examine the heart, thinking there would be a plenty of time later,

but gave her Phaseolus, the 10th I think. Thirty-six hours later the

heart would beat one hundred consecutive times without the slightest

variation, and it continued to improve, although after taking the

medicine thirty-six hours she was obliged to desist on account of a

severe headache. She is never subject to headaches, but it was so bad

she dared not take any more of the medicine. It was as if something was

pressing hard against each temple, much worse soon after taking each

dose of the medicine. This headache led me to fear that the death I

mentioned might have been hastened by the medicine.



A medical conundrum. A lady, aged about thirty, decided she would

investigate the next world to see if she could enjoy it better than

this, and called in the aid of morphine to help her along. Not being in

the habit of taking morphine, to disguise the bitter of it, placed a

tablet of morphine in the middle of a baked bean and swallowed it whole.

She took her little dose in the evening, having eaten nothing since

noon, and went to sleep. At seven in the morning she awoke and was

surprised to find herself in this world. When asked if she would get up,

replied, no, she would sleep a little longer. At eleven A.M. she awoke

and tried to get up, but could not walk, so crawled to the door and

opened it to let in fresh air. A servant found her there, and at her

request handed her the camphor bottle, and she took a little. Dr. Rowe

was called and said she vomited a little mucus, some dark specks that

looked like blood, and a small piece of lettuce she ate the noon before.

She had taken twelve and one-half grains of morphine. Did the lettuce

antidote it? Did the bean destroy its power? Why did it not kill her?