Fucus Vesiculosus

Fucus vesiculosus, Linn, (includes various forms of different tidal levels, called Divaricatus, Inflatus, Spiralis, Solubilis, Serai, Bicornis, Microphyllus, etc.).

Natural order. Algae. Common names, Sea Kelp; (Fr.), La Varech.

Preparation, Tincture and triturations of the dried plant.

Aidhorities. 1, Duchesne Duparc, general effects when taken for obesity, Monthly Horn. Review, 1863, p. 12, from Revue de Therap. Med.-Chirurg.; 2, Godefroy, effects on self (aged 57 years, weight about twelve stone) of the alcoholic extract, taken for obesity; 5 grains, three times daily, for thirty days; twice daily for ten days; three times daily for twenty-eight days; Brit. Journ. of Horn., 21,171, from Revue de Th4rap. Med.-Chirurg.; 3, Bonnet, effects of the extract—400 pills, taken at the rate of twenty per day—on a very fat lady, aged 32 years; Gaz. des Hop., Feb. 3d, 1863; 4, Duparc, effects of 400 pills of the extract on a baker so fat that he could not go outdoors, Gaz. des Hop., Jan. 3d, 1863.

Head

Intolerable headache; forehead felt as if compressed by an iron ring

Stomach

The stomach acts with more rapidity, and the hour of repast is more impatiently looked for,h

The act of digestion is no longer accompanied by flushings of the face, fulness, weight in the epigastric region, and fits of heat towards the head,h

Qualmishness

Weight in the stomach

Abdomen

Flatulency diminishes and then disappears in those who have been habitually accustomed to it,h

Stool

Obstinate constipation (the first day)

Urinary Organs

Urine became more abundant, more colored, and more odorous than usual

It is only after two or three septenaries that the urine becomes more abundant, and begins to present upon its surface a coating or black film,h

Respiratory Organs

Sense of suffocation, especially during menses

Lower Extremities

Skin of thighs and legs soft and flabby

Generalities

Lost upwards of five pounds weight, without any change in habits or diet, or experiencing any inconvenience from the use of the remedy

Diminution of six pounds in weight (but on continuing the medicine her embonpoint returned)

Diminution of thirty pounds in weight

The resolvent properties are manifested, and the first intimations of becoming thinner are displayed, from the period (after two or three septenaries) when the urine becomes affected. They are every day more decided, and though various in degree, have never yet failed. The thinness is not always produced in a uniform manner; I have seen it limited to isolated parts, which are, then, almost always those where the fatty tissue accumulates in the greatest abundance; thus, with one it is in the chest, with another in the abdomen, and with a third in the nape of the neck and upper part of the shoulders

He feels lighter, more active