Eryngium.

The root of Eryngium aquaticum.

Preparation.—Tinct. Eryngium.

Dose.—From the fraction of a drop to ʒss.

Therapeutic Action.—Eryngium is considered diuretic, diaphoretic, expectorant, stimulant, sialagogue, and in large doses emetic. This agent is said by some to be a powerful diuretic, useful in atonic dropsies, and also in gravel, chronic nephritis and other urinary disorders. Its efficacy as a diuretic may have been overrated by the class of writers referred to, but still there is sufficient respectable testimony in favor of its utility in this respect to entitle it to further notice. It acts as a general excitant, promotes expectoration and diaphoresis, and when masticated provokes a free flow of saliva. As an expectorant, it has been used with advantage in chronic bronchial affections, attended with free or profuse expectoration. It has also been employed in languid states of the stomach to promote the appetite and digestive powers in cases of general debility, and in the convalescence of many diseases.

Specific Indications.—Burning with itching in the bladder, and upper part of the urethra. Burning sensations in the region of the kidneys, and down the ureters.

Specific Uses.—The Eryngium is a prominent remedy in chronic diseases of the bladder, either inflammatory or irritative. Associated with a sedative it meets the indications in acute cystitis. Alone it relieves unpleasant irritation which might result in inflammation. It is also a valuable remedy in chronic cystitis, when there is but little secretion, and sometimes when there is a free deposit of the triple phosphates.

Occasionally it exerts an admirable influence in relieving uterine irritation, the bladder being also involved.

It is a remedy to be thought of in chronic nephritis, or indeed in any case in which the deep seated burning is a marked symptom.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.