Rumex.
The root of Rumex crispus, Linné (Nat. Ord. Polygonaceae). A common weed introduced from Europe, and found abundantly in this country in waste places, among rubbish, and in cultivated grounds. Dose, 5 to 60 grains.
Common Name: Yellow Dock.
Principal Constituents.—Yellow Dock has not been satisfactorily analyzed.
Preparation.—Specific Medicine Rumex. Dose, 1 to 60 drops.
Specific Indications.—Vitiated blood with chronic skin disorders; low glandular and cellular deposits with tendency to indolent ulcers; feeble recuperative power; chronic sore throat, with glandular engorgement and hypersecretion; cough, with shortness of breath and praecordial fullness; dry, irritative laryngo-tracheal cough; stubborn, dry summer cough; nervous dyspepsia, with epigastric fullness and pain extending into the chest.
Action and Therapy.—Rumex is decidedly alterative and might be used more extensively for that purpose. It should especially be brought into requisition in depraved states of the body fluids with tendency to chronic skin disorders, with glandular engorgement, tendency to ulceration, and slow recuperative powers. It is especially valuable in strumous patients with low deposits in the cellular and glandular tissues which break down easily but are very slow to repair. In small doses the specific medicine is also useful in nervous dyspepsia with epigastric fullness, and pectoral pain from gaseous distention of the stomach. It is also serviceable in laryngeal irritation, with cough of the types alluded to under Specific Indications.
