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together in the yard, do you listen to them?” And sure
enough, I heard through the handset of the phone the sound made by two dogs playing.
The patient’s improvement is maintained to this day. Homeopathic evolution: as in the second case described in
this article, Kent’s fourth prognostic observation was fulfilled on this occasion: sustained improvement of the patient without presenting any aggravation, meaning that there was no organic disease, nor any tendency to suffer from an organic disease.
Plant description
Synonymy: aconitum caule simplex, aconitum
coeruleum dissectum, napellum coeruleum.
Common names: aconite, napelo, anapelo, matalobos, wolf venom, luparia, devil’s turnip, devil’s snuff, monk’s hood, friar’s hat, Jupiter’s helmet, Venus’ chariot.
Meaning of the name: the prefix acon means without dust, but also means stone, and refers to the fact that the plant is born on bare rocks and in arid and desert places.
History: since time immemorial the deadly effects that its intake caused were recognised. The oldest written documentation already describes its use as a poison for hunting in East Africa, India, Alaska and Japan. Hunters commonly soaked the tips of arrowheads with the juice from the plant to make them more deadly. The Saxon hunters of the eighth century used it in this way to hunt wolves (matalobos, wolf venom).
In Greek mythology it is described that the plant was born from the mouth foam of the saliva of the Cerberus dog (three-headed dog, guardian of the underworld), when it was dragged by Heracles (Hercules) out of Tartarus. His
drool spread over the green fields causing the aconitum to sprout.
The Roman poet Ovid asserted that aconitum entered into the composition of the famous drink of the sorceress Medea.
The Roman writer, scientist and naturalist Pliny commented that the name aconitum could derive from Acanis, port of the Dead Sea.
The Greek historian, biographer and essayist Plutarch, reports that while the Parthian king Hyrodes was sick with dropsy, his son Phraates administered aconitum to kill him, but, far from achieving it, curiously Hyrodes was relieved from his illness.
In ancient China, aconitum played a major role in many prescriptions.
It was one of the twelve floors of the Rosicrucians.
Paracelsus explained that tyrants had used the aconitum a lot to “dispatch as many as they pleased.” The same author refers to its use in fumigations to ward off evil spirits.
Habitat: grows on pastures and high mountain meadows, in cool, stony and shady places, such as banks of streams and springs in France and central Europe (Germany (Bohemia), Switzerland, Spain (Pyrenees, Cantabrian Mountains and Sierra Nevada)], southern Siberia and Asia (Boreal hemisphere).
Botanical characteristics: it is a perennial herb, of the Ranunculaceae family, which reaches up to 1.5 meters. of height. It dies in late autumn and is reborn in spring. It blooms in summer and early autumn. The stems are erect with alternate palmate leaves, large, with long petiole at their base. The blue flowers are hermaphroditic and arranged in axillary or terminal racemes shaped like a
helmet (monk’s hood, friar’s cap, Jupiter’s helmet). The root is shaped like a conical turnip, axonomorphic (napelo, anapelo, devil’s turnip), and is blackish in colour. The fruits are capsular, with angular seeds and folds.
Active ingredients: they are mainly found in the tuber, but also in the leaves and flowers. The two main groups are made up of:
Terpenoid alkaloids: they constitute between 0.3 to 1.2% of the plant. Aconitine: it is the most important active ingredient, representing 30% of alkaloids.
Mesaconitina Hipaconitina Aconina Benzoilaconina Napelina Napelonina Neopelina Picronitina Esparteína Ephedrine
Organic acids: Aconitic Itaconic
Citric
Tartaric
Toxic effects: The properties of aconitum vary with climate. Linnaeus described that in Lapland the tender buds of the plant are eaten, while in Chile and other temperate countries it causes terrible poisonings. In low- lying and humid regions, it loses its strength, being very dangerous in arid regions. The active ingredients are neutralised by the action of heat or by the simple desiccation of the plant.
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