Cassada

Manihot utilissima, Pohl (Jatropha manihot, L.).f Nat. order, Euphorbiaceae. Common name, Sweet or bitter cassada or cassava.

Preparation, Tincture of the root.

Authorities. 1, 2, and 3, Reil, Journ. f. Pharm., Tox., and Therap., 1, 586; review of Michiel de Keyzer, Inaug. dis., " By d rage tot de Kennis van het Blauwzuur," 1856, poisoning of two boys and a girl, aged respectively 3, 4, and 6 years ; 4, ibid., poisoning of a negro by the juice ; 5, Dr. Barham, general statement of symptoms of poisoning, Pharm, Journ., 5, 29, 1846; 6, Mure, Pathogenesis Bresilienne, effects from an ounce dose of the expressed juice of the root, by J. V. Martins.

Mind

Emotional. At times, painful weeping, with grinding of the teeth

Sadness

Wakes in bad humor (second day)

Intellectual. She seemed to have some consciousness, as was shown by the look of her eye when her name was called aloud

Senseless and unconscious, with ice-cold hands and feet, pale, sunken face, half-closed eyes, dilated pupils, half-opened mouth, full of saliva, respiration very slow, almost imperceptible, action of the heart intermitting, scarcely perceptible, anus relaxed, wide open, limbs relaxed

He fell to the ground unconscious, with loud cries and convulsions

Head

Dizziness (second day)

Giddiness of the head

Weight in the head, especially the top of the forehead, at 4 p.m. (second day)

Pain in the forehead and nasal fossae (fourth day)

Eyes

Pain within the orbits

Dimness of sight

Optical illusions (fourth day)

Ears

Noise in the ears, extending to the occiput, like letting off steam (third day)

Mouth

Clammy mouth, with bad breath (third day)

Bitter mouth (fourth day)

Throat

Sense of swelling in the left tonsil (second day)

Pain at the velum palate

Slight feeling of dryness in the oesophagus

Stomach

Appetite when beginning breakfast, but it suddenly ceases after taking a little milk (second day),6.-

Thirst

Eructations at 6.30 a.m.,6.

Violent vomiting and purging

Heaviness in the stomach all night, relieved by applying the hands (fourth day)

Slight weight in the stomach

Pain and sickness of the stomach

Slight dull pains in stomach and bowel.-, with borborygmi (second day)

Vague and transient, but very acute, pains in the stomach (third day)

Abdomen p. 20

Swelling of the whole abdomen

Vague pains in the hypogastrium, when urinating, at 6 A.M. (second day)

Rectum and Anus p. 20

Tenesmus and pressure in the sphincter ani, with pricking, at 3 p.m. (second day)

At 8 oclock, renewed, but ineffectual urging to stool (second day)

Stool p. 20

Diarrhoea in the morning (sixth day)

Unusually easy stools

Watery, greenish, fetid stools (second day)

Copious, lightcolored, watery, fetid stools (second day)

Urinary Organs p. 20

Sudden pain, with lancination, in the urethra, above the fossa navicularis, for two minutes (second day)

Slight heat in the urethra (third day)

Respiratory Organs p. 20

Respiration intermitting, at times almost ceasing

Chest p. 20

Pain within the chest

Pain in the side of the chest and in the shoulders, aggravated by movement (second day)

Heart and Pulse p. 20

Pulse very weak

Back p. 20

Pain in the back (third day)

Pain at the loins (sixth day)

Superior Extremities p. 20

Acute pain in the left arm at night

Pain in the left elbow (third day)

Inferior Extremities p. 20

Pain at the inside of the thigh (fifth day)

Rheumatic pain in the right thigh (eighth day)

Trembling of the knees and of all the limbs with violent emotion, when hearing others talk about the disease he is afraid of having (second day)

Weakness of the knees when going upstairs

Swelling of the ankles, rather less at night (third day)

Generalities p. 20

Slight cramps, with staring look

Debility

Moral and physical prostration (third day)

Faintings

Sleep and Dreams p. 20

Sleepiness. Drowsiness (sixth day)

Drowsiness in daytime

Sleep at 4 p.m. (second day)

Falls asleep late

Distressing dreams, about wanting to save an asphyxiated child, whose parents will not let him treat it (second day)

Dreams about a conflagration, with small flames, like those presented by the 10th attenuation of Crotalus cascavella, when examined under the solar microscope, at the Homoeopathic Institute of Rio Janeiro (fifth day)

Fever p. 20

Coldness and shrinking

The whole head, especially the nape of the neck, is cold (eighth day)

Face and limbs cold

Icy coldness under the shoulder-blades, in bed, even when well covered up (seventh day)

Icy coldness of the arm, even to the marrow of the bone (eighth day)

Icy coldness of the knees (sixth day)

Cold feet and hands (seventh day)

Profuse sweat during sleep, ceasing on waking (second day)

Very fetid sweat under the axilla? and on the scrotum (third day)

Conditions p. 20

Aggravation.

(Morning), 6.30 oclock, eructations ; 6 oclock, when urinating, pain in hypogastrium ; diarrhoea.

(Afternoon), 4 oclock, weight in head ; 3 oclock, tenesmus, etc.

(Night), Pain in left arm.

(Movement), Pain in chest.

(During sleep), Sweat.

Amelioration p. 20

(Night), Swelling of the ankles.

(Applying hands to part), Heaviness in stomach.

Footnotes

† The bitter variety is poisonous, differing from the sweet, as bitter from sweet almonds (the difference probably due to the presence of hydrocyanic acid) ; botanically, the two varieties are alike.