Aethusa – Fool’s Parsley

The mother tincture is prepared from the whole fresh flowering plant including the unripe fruits, Aethusa cynapium L., found in Europe and Siberia. N.O. Umbelliferae.

The tincture of Fool’s Parsley produces considerable toxic effects, which are no- ticeable particularly in disturbances of the nervous system, with various kinds of spasms, dulling of faculties, or loss of consciousness; also in reflex vomiting and in gastro-intestinal symptoms without the presence of any noteworthy inflammatory symptoms; however great exhaustion ensues with a sensation of coldness and a ten- dency to develop vertigo and loss of consciousness.

Complaints are ameliorated in the open air and aggravated in an enclosed space. Oppressed mood with anxiety, restlessness and irritability, possibly also hallucina- tions, delirium and sleepiness, maybe to the point of unconsciousness. Epileptiform

spasms may also occur, dilated pupils and particularly great weakness of the lower limbs. There is also a typical feeling of coldness in skin and limbs, linked with hot flushes and thirstlessness. There may also be catarrhal symptoms, irritations with tickling in the larynx, and a feeling of heaviness with sighing and yawning.

Particularly typical of Aethusa is the vomiting, obviously originating in the nervous system. In serious cases it is combined with capillary paralysis, haematemesis, stom- ach cramps, tympanitic distension and sensitivity to being touched. Irresistible urge to pass stool, when a thin pale yellow and greenish fluid, mixed with much bile, is passed, and bruises may form on the skin of the abdomen. The nervous vomiting is characterised by spasmodic contractions of the oesophageal muscles and violent pains which shoot upwards from the cardiac sphincter.

Nash considers Aethusa to be one of the best remedies for vomiting in children, “of very sour curds, so large that it would seem almost impossible that the child could have ejected them”. Nash further mentions the Hippocratic face, which is typ- ically assumed in progressive illness, with its sharply defined linea nasialis (trans- parently pale upper lip bounded by the naso-labial folds), and with rapidly increas- ing exhaustion and anxiety. Patients often imagine that they see rats or mice running across the room. Nash considers this symptom a typical indication for Aethusa in worn-down, nervous women.

Summing up the symptoms, we have the following remedy-picture:

1. Acute gastric catarrh (of infants) with retching, vomiting and oesophageal spasms, possibly cholera infantum with consequent prostration.
   1. Gastroenteritis with feeling of coldness and weakness.
   1. Spasms with dulling of consciousness. Weakness of the lower extremities, vertigo and unconsciousness.
   1. Bruises on the abdominal skin. Hippocratic facial expression (nasolabial crease sharply defined).

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Aethusa cynapium, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for aethusa: acute diarrhoea with vomiting; intolerance of milk; con- centration weakness, especially among children.