Saururus Cernuus

NAT. ORD., Piperaceae.



COMMON NAME, Lizard's Tail.



PREPARATION.--The entire plant including the root is macerated in twice

its weight of alcohol.



(The following short notice of this almost unknown remedy

appeared in the Homoeopathic Recorder, 1895:)



Readers who are interested in the remedies of nature rather than those

produced in the labora ory and sold under trademarks will remember that

it was Dr. D. L. Phares, of Mississippi, who, over half a century ago,

pointed out the wonderful virtues of Passiflora incarnata, so much

used to-day. What Dr. Phares said of the remedy laid dormant until Hale,

in his ever perennial New Remedies, rescued it from the dusty pages of

old medical journals, in which so much of value is buried awaiting

resurrection. Among such buried remedies is Saururus cernuus or, as it

is more commonly known, "lizard's tail." Dr. Phares, who seems to have

been an unusually keen observer, used Saururus cer. in his practice,

as he did Passiflora, for many years before he communicated his

observations to the medical journals, and the Saururus seems to be

quite as important and useful a remedy in its sphere as is Passiflora,

and one quite as worthy of a thorough proving. In absence of proving it

may be said that Dr. Phares used it for years with marked success in all

irritation and inflammation of the kidneys, bladder, prostate and

urinary passages. He considered it peculiarly adapted to all such cases

if they were attended by strangury, or painful and difficult urination.

Dr. Phares used the remedy both externally and internally and he found

that the stomach was very tolerant of the rather heroic doses he

prescribed.



The plant is an indigenous perennial found in swampy localities, in some

parts of the United States, and has been, and is still, used in domestic

practice for those conditions for which Dr. Phares commends it.