Anhalonium. Lophophora williamsii.

Synonyms—Anhalonium lewini, Peyote

This agent, one of the small cacti of Mexico, has been recommended for certain special conditions as an important heart remedy. It seems to act directly upon the nerve centers in a manner much like aconite, reducing the force and frequency of the pulse. If continued too far, its influence is that of a general depressant.

One writer claims that anhalonium resembles aconite in its action first, but immediately the symptoms are similar to the influence of belladonna. There then follows a general soothing influence with an inclination to sleep. It is advised as especially valuable where there is a tendency to nervous debility, or where failure for those who labor under great stress of pain, or those who from extensive stress of business or extravagant use of tobacco are troubled with sleeplessness, or those who are reduced in their mental power, or suffer from loss of memory. No careful, general or exhaustive observation has been made concerning its action. It has been used in angina pectoris, asthma or acute asthmatic dyspnea or dyspnea from cardiac feebleness, and in pneumothorax, it has produced good results. Cactus is a special sedative under certain circumstances, and this agent promises to be as good. It has a direct action on the feeble, irregular and intermittent heart. It deserves careful investigation in those lines in which cactus exercises its therapeutic influence.

A writer in the Medical World suggests five drops of anhalonium three times a day in the treatment of diabetes. It produces free, regular, and deep breathing, assisting the respiration. It improves the functional activity of the heart by improving its tonicity. It thus acts similar to cactus.

The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1919, was written by Finley Ellingwood, M.D.
It was scanned by Michael Moore for the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.