Symphytum Officinalis

NAT. ORD.--Borraginaceae.



COMMON NAME.--Comfrey, Healing Herb.



PREPARATION.--One part of the fresh root gathered just before blooming

is macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.



(The following concerning this remedy, which dates back

to Dioscorides, we find in American Journal of

Homoeopathy, 1846:)



The Homoeopathic Examiner for Aug st contains a paper entitled

"Connection of Homoeopathy with Surgery," by Croserio, translated

by P. P. Wells, M. D. It is there stated that "injuries of the bones are

healed most promptly by Symphytum officinale 30 internally once a day.

This remedy accelerates the consolidation of fractures surprisingly."

The translator adds a note as follows: "I have had repeated

opportunities of verifying this declaration of Croserio. A boy, fourteen

years old, broke the bones of the forearm, at the junction of the lower

and middle thirds, two years ago. He had twice repeated the fracture by

slight falls. The ends of the fragments are now slightly movable on each

other, and the arm is weak and admits of little use. Three doses of

Symphytum effected a perfect cure. The lad became more robust, and has

since had better general health than ever before."



A boy, eight years old, fractured the humerus, near the junction of the

condyles and shaft. Arnica 30 immediately arrested the spasmodic jerks

of the muscles of the injured arm. This remedy was continued the first

three days, when the traumatic fever had entirely subsided. He then had

Symphyt. [Latin: ezh], gtt. i., in half a tumbler of water, a

teaspoonful every morning and evening. The splints were removed the

ninth day, and the bone was found consolidated. The cure was entirely

without pain. How much earlier than this the fragments ceased to be

movable is not known. Well may the author say it heals broken bone

surprisingly. Let it be remembered that the discovery of this specific

is but one of the many rich fruits of Hahnemannism.



(The following appeared in the Homoeopathic World,

1890, under the signature F. H. B.:)



In none of the Homoeopathic treatises that I possess do I find any

mention of the above remedy. I am surprised at this, for I believe it to

be a very valuable one in certain cases. Its common name of knitbone

seems to point to popular experience of one of its uses; but I believe

its knitting, or uniting, power extends to muscular and other tissues of

the body, as well as to the bones. Let me give two instances of my own

personal experience. Many years ago I had an inguinal rupture on each

side, not extensive ones, but causing a protrusion about the size of

half a small walnut. After wearing a truss for some time, I bethought me

of what I had heard of the uniting power of Comfrey, and made some

tincture from the root, and rubbed it in. After doing so two or three

times, the signs of rupture quite disappeared, and the parts remained

sound for about three years; when, from some cause or other, the right

side broke out again, but as it did not give much trouble I neglected it

for some time, and then tried the Comfrey tincture again, but this time

without success. I suppose the ruptured edges had got too far asunder.

The left side, however, which originally was the worse of the two, has

kept sound ever since. I think this shows that a rupture, if not too

extensive, and if taken in time, may often be cured by this remedy. The

other case I have to relate was of a different kind. Five weeks ago I

had a fall on my back, the whole force of which was concentrated on a

small portion of the lower spine, through the intervention of the back

pad of my truss. I thought for the moment my back must have been broken,

the pain was so excessive; and not only the back, but diaphragm and all

the organs below it suffered acutely for three or four weeks after the

fall. But a fortnight after the fall I was for the first time conscious

of a pain and tenderness higher up the spine, at a point, I think, where

ribs commence, and on feeling I found a protuberance there, as if a

partial dislocation had taken place there. I again thought of Comfrey,

and had some of the tincture applied. The tenderness at the point

subsided after two or three applications, and in a few days the

protuberance disappeared. * * * On more careful examination I find that

the point of secondary disturbance was higher up than I have

described--two or three inches higher than the first insertion of the

ribs in the spinal column.



(Dr. Gottweis, in Hom. Zeitung, vol. vii., says:)



An old and very valuable remedy. This plant is found all over Europe

(and in some parts of North America), in wet fields and ditches. We make

a tincture out of it which has marvelous healing and cicatrizing

properties. Symphytum must be a very old popular remedy; its

reputation is well established, and it is mentioned in all the old

medical "tomes." The decoction acts as an effective demulcent and

pain-killer in severe bruises. It diminishes the irritation in wounds

and ulcers, ameliorates and lessens too copious suppuration and promotes

the healing processes. In homoeopathic practice the tincture diluted

with water is used with great success in fractures and bruises or other

injuries of bones. Its effect is really extraordinary in injuries to

sinews, tendons and the periosteum.



A few days ago a colleague consulted me about a horse with a stab wound

in the fetlock which would not heal, do what he would, and which

rendered locomotion impossible. (The doctor is by no means a young or

inexperienced veterinarian.) I examined the wound, and at once

recommended Symphytum [Greek: theta]. Within two weeks the animal was

cured. This remedy really cannot be overestimated.



(Dr. W. H. Thompson, President of Royal College of

Surgeons in Ireland, in an address reported in London

Lancet, 1896, reports a case of which the following is

the gist:)



Early in 1895 he saw a man who was suffering from a malignant growth in

the nose--"a malignant tumor of the antrum, which had extended to the

nose." An exploratory operation confirmed this diagnosis. "He refused

the larger operation. The exploration was made by Dr. Woods. We found

that the tumor did extend from the antrum, into which I could bore my

finger easily. Dr. O'Sullivan, Professor of Pathology in Trinity

College, declared the growth to be a round-celled sarcoma. Of that there

is no doubt. The tumor returned in a couple of months, and the patient

then saw Dr. Semon, in London, who advised immediate removal. He

returned home, and after a further delay he asked to have the operation

performed. I did this in May last by the usual method. I found the tumor

occupying the whole of the antrum. The base of the skull was everywhere

infiltrated. The tumor had passed into the right nose and perforated the

septum so as to extend into the left. It adhered to the septum around

the site of perforation. This was all removed, leaving a hole in the

septum about the size of a florin. He went home within a fortnight. In a

month the growth showed signs of return. It bulged through the incision

and protruded upon the face. Dr. Woods saw him soon afterwards, as I had

declared by letter that a further operation would be of no avail. The

tumor had now almost closed the right eye. It was blue, tense, firm, and

lobulated, but it did not break. Dr. Woods reported the result of his

visit to me, and we agreed as to the prognosis. Early in October the

patient walked into my study after a visit to Dr. Woods. He looked in

better health than I had ever seen him. The tumor had completely

disappeared from the face, and I could not identify any trace of it in

the mouth. He said he had no pain of any kind. He could speak well when

the opening remaining after the removal of the hard palate was plugged,

and he was in town to have an obturator made. He has since gone home

apparently well."



The patient told Dr. Thompson that he had applied poultices of Comfrey

(or Symphytum) and that was all.



"Now this was a case of which none of us had any doubt at all, and our

first view was confirmed by the distinguished pathologist whom I have

mentioned and by our own observation at the time of the major operation.

Here, then, was another 'surprise.' I am satisfied as I can be of

anything that the growth was malignant and of a bad type. Of course, we

know in the history of some tumors that growth is delayed and that in

the sarcomata recurrence is often late. But this is a case in which the

recurrence occurred twice--the second time to an extreme degree; and yet

this recurrent tumor has vanished. What has produced this atrophy and

disappearance? I do not know. I know nothing of the effects of comfrey

root, but I do not believe that it can remove a sarcomatous tumor. Of

course, the time that has so far elapsed is very short; but the fact

that this big recurrent growth no longer exists--that it has not

ulcerated or sloughed away, but simply, with unbroken covering,

disappeared--is to me one of the greatest 'surprises' and puzzles that I

have met with."