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| Mandragora officinarum |
– VERMEULEN Frans
Mand.
At the foot of the gibbet the mandrake springs,
Just where the creaking carcase swings;
Shrieks and groans from the root are sent …
Who so gathered the mandrake shall surely die;
Blood for blood is his destiny.
[William Harrison Ainsworth]
Signs
Mandragora officinarum. Mandrake. Devil’s Apples. N.O. Solanaceae.
CLASSIFICATION Mandragora, as well as Stramonium, Atropa belladonna, and Hyoscyamus belong to the Solanaceae or Nightshade family, a widespread plant family comprising about 96 genera of herbs, shrubs and, occasionally, trees. Although occurring around the world [except in the arctic areas], the principle centre of the Nightshade family lies in Andean South America. The plants in this family commonly produce poisonous alkaloids. Due to high contents of tropane alkaloids, genera such as Atropa, Datura, Hyoscyamus, Duboisia, Brugmansia, and Mandragora, have narcotic and hallucinogenic properties. The family is of huge economic importance as a source of food-stuff [tomato, egg plant, green peppers, red pepper, potato, pepino, Cape gooseberry], medicines and narcotics [belladonna, mandrake, datura, etc.], a fumatory [tobacco], and poisons [belladonna, henbane, etc.].
GENUS Mandragora is a genus of 6 species of perennial herbs with stout, fleshy taproots, simple basal leaves and solitary, five-lobed, bell-shaped flowers. The genus is native from the Mediterranean region eastward to the Himalayas. Mandragora officinarum has crinkled dark-green leaves which are borne in a large rosette. The leaves are of a foetid odour. The large, brown taproot runs 3 or 4 feet deep into the ground. The whitish, bell-shaped flowers are tinged with purple. They are succeeded by a smooth, round fruit, about as large as a small apple, of a deep yellow colour when ripe, full of pulp and with a strong, apple-like scent. The plant often grows in stony places and areas of deserted cultivation. Mandragora should not be confused with the mandrake of North American forests. The latter is Podophyllum peltatum, a plant of the Berberis family and called ‘American mandrake’ or May Apple.
CONSTITUENTS The roots and fruits contain high concentrations of tropane alkaloids [atropine, hyoscyamine, mandragorine, scopolamine]. Hyoscyamine is the major component, followed by scopolamine and atropine in the ratio 18 : 2.5 : 1. Tropane alkaloids have strong psychedelic and parasympathetic depressant effects. They produce alpha brain-wave activity, similar to that found in REM sleep, or the dreaming state.
NAME Dioscorides has listed the names under which the mandrake was known in antiquity: “The Mandragora – some call it Antimelon [‘in place of the apple’], others Dirkaia, also Kirkaia [‘plant of Circe’], for the root appears to be effective as a love agent, also Antimenion [‘counter anger’], Bombochylos [‘juice that causes dull rustling’], Minos, the Egyptians Apenum, Pythagoras, Anthropomorphon [‘the human-shaped’], still others Althergis, Thridakias, Kammaros [‘subject to fate’], Zoroaster Diamonon or Archine, the prophets Hemionus, also Gonogeonas, the Romans Mala canina [‘dog apple’], also Mala terrestria [‘earth apple’].”1 The origin of the word mandrake is obscure. “Some derive it from the Sanskrit mandros [‘sleep’] and agora [‘substance’]. Other commentators prefer a Sumerian origin. In the Old Testament the mandrake appears as dudaim, meaning ‘love and fear’. The English name mandrake also appears in numerous other forms, such as mandrage, mandrag, mandragges, mondrake and mandragon [more than ten different spellings are known from Middle English alone]; all derive ultimately from the Latin mandragoras. Due to its prominent role in folklore the plant gained numerous epithets – Satan’s apple [in reference to the evil reputation of the berries]; the Copts, the early Christians in Egypt, called it Satan’s testicles [the berries being seen as similar in shape to the testicles, which of course also alludes to the aphrodisiac qualities attributed to the plant]; apples of the fool [acknowledging its intoxicating properties]; and love apple [because of its aphrodisiac qualities]. To the Germans it was ‘dragon doll’ and galgenmännlein, ‘the little man of the gallows’. Other German names include Dolkraut and Schlafbeer and it is now known in Germany as Hexenkraut. To the Sumerians the mandrake was known as nam-tar, literally ‘plague god plant’, and this is thought by some authorities to be the ultimate origin of the word mandrake. … The ancient Arabic name for it was abu’lruh, which has been translated as ‘master of the breath of life’ or ‘lord of spirit’. Apparently the Arabs also called it the ‘devil’s candle’ because it [or rather the glow worms that were attracted to its leaves] shone at night. … In Indian folk medicine the root of M. officinarum is known as Lakshmana, which means ‘possessed of lucky signs or marks’. It is used as an aphrodisiac and believed to assist conception. … In France the mandrake was known by the name main de gloire, i.e. ‘hand of glory’ or mandragloire – seemingly a conflation of mandragora and the name of a French fairy, Magloire. Magloire was seen as an elf, a familiar spirit rather like the German alruna, and also embodied in the form of a carved root of mandrake.”2
ALRUNA The name alruna is of Nordic origin and refers to one who knows all [‘al’] secrets [‘runa’]. According to Tacitus, the Nordic people referred to women who could see into the past and the future as alrunen or alraunen. Alternatively, it has been explained as coming from ‘alb’ [a sort of kobold] and ‘raunen’ [whispering or talking secretly]. A nightmare – a mare, an evil spirit, at night – is in German an ‘Alptraum’. Being visited by a Mare at night had originally an erotic connotation. The 19th-century engraving Belladonna, by Brukal, depicts a man, inebriated by nightshade, who receives a visit from Belladonna, the ‘beautiful woman’ and the erotic and seductive spirit of the plant. Erotic and sexual fantasies are characteristic of the inebriation produced by nightshades. The early botanical name of the mandrake, given to it by Linnaeus, was Atropa mandragora, indicating that it was seen as having comparable properties to Atropa belladonna. But the name alruna also signifies ‘one who knows the runes’. “Runes were magical symbols that Odin/Wotan, the God of Ecstasy, Knowledge, Inebriation, and Poetry, contrived while he hung for nine days from the tree of the world. Runes were thus the secrets of the hanged man. At that time, hanging was a common method of execution. Everyone knew that a hanged man experienced a ‘last discharge’, an ejaculation. This wondrous semen, not obtained through erotic activity, was attributed with magical powers. It was said that if it moistened mother Earth, it fertilized her. Then, a root with special powers would grow from her. This root was the most powerful of all aphrodisiacs and amulets. Awakening the root through a series of rituals produced the little man of the gallows. In the course of Christianization, this little man, together with the mandrake, came to be assigned to the Kingdom of Satan. From this time forth, the little man haunted souls as one of the heathen demons.”3
MEDICINE “Mandrake was much used by the Ancients, who considered it an anodyne and soporific. In large doses it is said to excite delirium and madness. They used it for procuring rest and sleep in continued pain, also in melancholy, convulsions, rheumatic pains and scrofulous tumours. They mostly employed the bark of the root, either expressing the juice or infusing it in wine or water. The root finely scraped into a pulp and mixed with brandy was said to be efficacious in chronic rheumatism. Mandrake was used in Pliny’s days as an anaesthetic for operations, a piece of the root being given to the patient to chew before undergoing the operation. In small doses it was employed by the Ancients in maniacal cases.”4 According to Thomas Cisterciensis, the mandragora is “a plant which effects such a deep sleep that one can cut a person and he feels not the pain. For the mandragora symbolizes striving in contemplation. Its reverie allows a person to fall into a sleep of such delicious sweetness that he no longer feels any of the cutting which his earthly enemies inflict upon him, and he no longer cares about any earthy thing. For his soul has now closed off its senses from all that is external – it lies in the benevolent sleep of the internal.” Another method of anaesthesia was the ‘spongia somnifera’: a sponge steeped in a mixture of the juices of the opium poppy, henbane and mandragora, and then dried. When the sponge was moistened, the vapour it produced was ready to be inhaled by the patient. [Today, the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland has mandrake roots and opium poppy heads as its symbols.] The Roman spongia somnifera is perhaps best known for its association with the punishment of crucifixion. Traditionally, these sponges contained mandrake wine, which, when used for this purpose, was known as morion, or death wine, because of its ability to make victims appear dead when actually still alive. The Arabs used all parts of the plants. Infused leaves were applied to ulcers, scars, and inflammations, and were even used as suppositories. The root bark was mixed with urine and given as an emetic, purgative, and anaesthetic. In medieval medicine mandrake was employed to treat arthritis, boils, ulcers, inflammations, to induce menstruation, easy delivery and promote conception.
FRAGRANCE Culpeper refers to the practice of smelling the mandrake fruits, or apples, to induce sleep. This makes sense for the aroma is heavily narcotic. The fragrance of mandrake is so unique that two researchers devoted an entire article to it, describing it thus: “It is not perceived as a smell of classic fragrant flowers like rose, lily or jasmine. There is a hint of subtle danger in it. Intoxicating and addictive, it makes a powerful impression on one’s memory and evokes images of unspoiled wilderness, desert wind, excitement of danger and romantic exaltation.”5 Plants of the Nightshade family are known for their powerful fragrance, which is either narcotic or ‘evil-smelling’. The musk-scented flowers of Datura arborea [D. suaveolens], another member of this plant family, have a clearly hallucinogenic effect. “Sensation as if forehead were expanded and as if his ideas were floating outside his brain. Strange feeling of pleasant and easy comfort, and as if he scarcely touched earth with his feet, and had to gather ideas from afar, as if they were floating in the clouds. Involved in a most beautiful atmosphere, bright calm as the sunlight at noon.”6
FOLKLORE Being one of the plants most fertile in superstitious and magical practices, mandrake in folklore and legend is associated with the symbolism of fertility and wealth, provided that it is treated with care and reverence. The root was thought to secure a favourable judicial decision. A doll cut out of root had the power to make its owner invisible. The doll also was said to reveal hidden treasures, most likely to imposters selling fake-mandrakes [made from Bryonia roots implanted with millet sprouts to give them ‘hair’] for prices equal to the average annual salary [in the 1700s]. This might have been the reason for the belief that the hidden treasures would only cause misfortune and eventually bring the doll’s owner to an end on the gallows [where the plant was first discovered]. The difficulties in finding and digging up the root were well worth the trouble [and the price of a dog], for the plant had the ability to drive away demons. These would flee in terror as soon as the plant was brought even remotely near them. To guard against the dangers of digging out the roots, one could follow, for example, the advice of the Jewish general, diplomat and historian Josephus Flavius [The Jewish War] by digging all round the root, fastening a dog to it by a string and then calling away the dog. Eager to follow its master, the dog will tear up the plant but die on the spot. His master, however, now can take the root in his hand without danger. The carcass of the dog had to be buried on the spot where the plant had grown and a funeral ceremony should be held in honour of the dog for sacrificing its life for its master. In later periods only black dogs were used because they already had a bad omen; the Creator would hardly have given them such an unfortunate colour unless they were evil animals deserving to die. In flower language the mandrake stands for horror.
LOVE CHARM Although its properties are more sedative than aphrodisiac, the mandrake is mainly associated with the symbolism of fertility. According to Pliny the roots sometimes conformed like a man and at others like a woman. The male root was white, the female black but gathering the roots was a hazardous enterprise for the plant would resist being pulled from the ground by uttering shrieks which no person might hear and survive [or run mad]. Genesis 30: 14-15 mentions ‘mandrakes in the field’ rather as an aphrodisiac than as a cure for sterility, for it is Leah who benefits by hiring Rachel’s husband Joseph with her son’s mandrakes. [“Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son’s mandrakes.”] Leah conceives and bears yet another son, whereas Rachel, barren for many years, has to wait still longer for the birth of her son. Perhaps the intention of the passage in Genesis was to point out that superstitious behaviour necessarily has to go unrewarded in the exclusively divine field of children being ‘an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward’. 7 It has been suggested that the aphrodisiac qualities of the mandrake are based on the erotically charged smell of the plant, but laboratory research has to date failed to isolate any principles from the plant having significant aphrodisiac effects. This doesn’t matter much to common belief in such effects, for these still survive today in the Mediterranean and Near East.
RESPECT The mandrake is a plant that has grown from a relatively insignificant medicinal plant, through time and the web of mysticism, into a plant that was considered to be the strongest and the most powerful of the magical herbs. The Alruna developed from a human-like plant into a respectable living being. The different stages of this development are not known in detail but the most important sources are presumably pre-Christian. One myth has it that Alruna originally was the pre-study [first model] of a human being created by God and rejected by the same as soon as he had made Adam out of the red clay of Paradise. Still preferring to grow in the vicinity of the Garden of Eden, on a remote mountain top, somewhere in a foreign, unknown eastern country, the plant was difficult to find. Nonetheless, this did not keep anyone from growing the mandrake in gardens even north of the Alps. There, especially on German/Nordic soil, new features were added to its traditions. Rather than having to sneak over at night to the ‘hill of the hanged’ in order to dig up a mandrake, those who wanted to own one would try to buy it instead. Freshly unearthed mandrake was expensive, not surprisingly considering its origin and properties. It made its owner invulnerable in battle and gave him ‘free shots’ so that he could hit anyone he aimed at. The root cured him from all diseases and was particularly effective against those acquired on the ‘battlefield of love’. Also, it helped him find hidden treasures, making him a wealthy man, and it gave him a good reputation and luck in love matters, for no woman could resist the powers of the plant. A powerful talisman like this needed to be treated with respect; otherwise it could be dangerous since the plant still held a grudge against humans for depriving him of God’s love. The newly bought mandrake had to be bathed in wine, wrapped in red and white silk and covered with a hood. Every weekday it needed a bath and after that a meal, consisting of either some bread from the sacrament or some of one’s own saliva collected before breakfast. Others claimed that alruna first and foremost had to be fed with the red sand of Paradise, out of which it, like the entire creation, had come forth. This seems to explain why medieval alchemists wanted the mandrake; it supposedly still contained some of the original soil of Paradise and this soil was essential for the alchemists as a catalyst in their pursuit of the philosopher’s stone. Unfortunately it happened from time to time that the mandrake got tired of its master and stopped working. Then it had to be sold immediately or it would turn evil and start to attract accidents. In fact, anyone owning a mandrake had to consider one day whether to keep it or not, for it was unwise to attempt obtaining more than one’s rightful portion of happiness. This would affect others, since there was a constant amount of happiness on earth and taking too much of it would mean that someone else would get too little. Getting rid of the mandrake was a tricky business, in particular when it was old and had served many masters. It could not be given away, but only sold for less money than it was bought for. If the price had dropped below the lowest rate, one was stuck with it so that the alruna, if its owner died, had to go with him into the coffin. At the end of time it then would stand before the Creator and claim its share of its owner’s eternal life. When the belief in mandrake had reached its peak in the 1600s, some critical voices started to be heard. Amongst them were the herbalists William Turner and John Gerard who gave a negative view on the superstitions surrounding the mandrake. The belief in mandrake nonetheless persisted well into 1700 and its power only started to decline with the introduction of compulsory education.
PROVINGS •• [1] Dufresne – 2 provers, 1834; method: ‘smelling repeatedly at short intervals of the expressed juice of the plant [which has a nauseating odour like reptiles’ flesh].’
•• [2] Richardson – self-experimentation, 1874; method: tincture to 20 minims.
•• [3] Mezger – 30 provers [22 males, 8 females], 1951; method: for 14 days, three times daily five drops of either 4x or 6x, followed by a placebo for 14 days, and after that three times daily five drops of 2x for 2 weeks; one prover took also 1x and 12x.
•• [4] Raeside – 3 trials. First trial: 15 provers, 1963; method: 3x dil., 20 drops twice daily for 2 weeks. Second trial: 16 provers, 1964; method: 6x dil., 20 drops twice daily for 2 weeks. Third trial: 11 provers, 1964; method: 12x. dil., 20 drops twice daily for 2 weeks.
•• [5] Schmalbach – 4 trials, 1995. First trial: 8 female provers; method: 30c, manner not stated. Second trial: 6 female provers; method: 30c, manner not stated. Third trial: 5 female provers; method: 200c, manner not stated. Fourth trial: 4 female provers; method: 1M, manner not stated. 8
Raeside’s provers were warned to stop immediately if the symptoms interfered with their work or studies. “Their symptoms began to appear between the first and fourth day and some reached such a degree in a week that they had to stop the experiment. This happened to five students in the first term [proving] and their pains continued for 6-14 days after the last dose of the drug. Contrary to our usual findings, namely that the last term produces most symptoms, it was the first term with Mandragora 3x which resulted in the most abundant symptoms, both mental and physical. Nine of eleven provers who worked with us for three terms, had most of their symptoms in the first term. But although the most marked symptoms came in the first term it was in the last term that we received our greatest shock. One of the provers – a married lady of 33 years – reported that she became pregnant while taking Mandragora 12x!! She had taken part in two sessions of the work, and during the last term in May 1964 she felt extremely well apart from some disturbing dreams. Having been infertile for eleven years she was delighted when she realized that she had conceived during the fortnight on Mandragora.”9
[1] cited in Rätsch, Plants of Love. [2] Rudgley, The Encyclopaedia of Psychoactive Substances. [3] Rätsch, Plants of Love. [4] Grieve, A Modern Herbal. [5] Fleisher and Fleisher, The Fragrance of Biblical Mandrake; cited in Rudgley’s Encyclopaedia. [6] Clarke, Dictionary, Vol. 1. [7] Paterson, A Fountain of Gardens: Plants and Herbs of the Bible. [8] Anne Schmalbach, Angela Cordel and Heike von Broock, Mandragora: Die Geheimnisvolle; private publication, 1998. [9] Raeside, A proving of Mandragora officinarum; BHJ, April 1966.
Affinity
Stomach, duodenum and liver-gallbladder area. Circulatory system. Locomotor system. * Right side.
Modalities
Worse: Dampness. Cold. Heat [< head]. Light touch. Beginning to move. Stormy weather; before storm [cardiac pains]. After midnight; 3-5 a.m. Better: Micturition. Lying. Rest. Warm applications. Bending backwards [> abdominal colic, sciatica]. Continued motion [> rheumatic pains]. Strong pressure. Eating [> stomach symptoms].
Comparisons
c AFFINITIES
Whitmont considers Mandragora to belong to the ‘dizziest remedies of our Materia Medica’. Based on his drug proving of Mandragora, Mezger concludes that the digestive system forms the centre of the action of the drug. In 1964 he published a series of cases where Mandragora was succesfully prescribed for such conditions as peptic ulcer, liver and gall-bladder disease and arthritis [Allg. Hom. Zeitung 209: 107]. For Raeside the main points are ‘the sensorium with changes of mood and of sensitivity, with disturbed sleep and powerful dreams’, ‘then the main action on the limbs producing rheumatic and arthritic pains’ and ‘also the action on the eyes and on the gastrointestinal system’. Schmalbach et al. suggests that the cause of Mandragora’s physical complains – most notably stiffness and and joint pains, sinusitis maxillaris, and ‘aggressive’ cough – lies in the suppression of anger about the feeling of being rejected or abandoned by the mother or family. Based on clinical experience, Karl-Josef Müller comes to similar conclusions regarding anger as a central issue of Mandragora.
Main symptoms
M VIOLENCE.
• “A person needing Mandragora has usually experienced something extraordinarily violent, either physically or mentally. The physical injury, for example an accident, was so severe that his/her life has been hanging by a thread and only could be saved by such medical emergency measures as blood transfusion or organ transplantation. Mandragora is a remedy for the ailments arising from such traumas. In children which have barely survived premature birth or massive complications, one should think of this remedy, provided that the symptoms agree. Mandragora patients with mainly mental symptoms will have had a childhood characterized by an extremely ambivalent upbringing, which created feelings of being torn between love and hate, between affection for and fear of one or both parents, who themselves were obviously mentally ill as well. To survive, Mandragora patients develop strongly neurotic compensation mechanisms; they fear to end up in a psychiatric hospital and have actually the potential to become psychotic or schizophrenic. The anger of the Mandragora child, as a way of ‘conflict-assimilation’, normally expresses itself uncompensated: the child tends towards violent outbursts of anger with biting and striking. Here, Mandragora can hardly be distinguished from other Nightshades, such as the well known Belladonna, Hyoscyamus or Stramonium. Head-banging and an urge for injuring oneself [Lyssinum] indicate the tendency towards self-aggression which can culminate in suicidal attempts. Internally the adult Mandragora patient harbours an aggression that is deeply suppressed and very seldom comes to the surface. This aggression may project itself in the form of an unproportionate fear of supposedly aggressive dogs [likewise as in the other Nightshades]. Mandragora has opposing emotional attitudes towards dogs, being afraid of them as well as feeling connected to them. Any variety of the image of a dog digging up a bone may occur in the patient’s history; it may represent the search for suppressed aspects of the personality and is specific for the remedy Mandragora. Negative experiences and rebellious aggression have been suppressed so totally that they cannot any longer be observed on the conscious level. Insensibility to pain and sleeping ‘as if dead’ are manifestations of this mechanism and necessitate a differential diagnosis with Opium. Mandragora patients who still have some awareness of the suppressed aspects will feel detached and estranged, with the idea that mind and body are separated or with the delusion of being threatened or even possessed by strange beings.” [Karl-Josef Müller]
M CHANGING moods.
Depression, crying spells alternating with euphoria and increased vital and mental activity or driving restlessness.
• “Peculiar paradox of sleepiness and drowsiness with simultaneous intense excitement or excitability. We may call it apathetic irritability. The patients cannot sleep at night and are sleepy, yet overtense in the daytime. This is often typical for states of emotional frustration or instinct repression.” [Whitmont]
M Mental symptoms and nausea and numbness.
M Mental symptoms > micturition.
• “This relief by profuse urination is often the expression of a profound spastic repression in the emotional and sexual sphere.” [Whitmont]
M Hypersensitive to NOISE and to smells.
Irritability from noise. [6 provers Raeside]
G CHILLY.
• “Coldness of body and lack of muscle tone.” [Raeside]
G Increased appetite; has to eat every few hours to be able to work.
Must eat, even when having [summer] diarrhoea.
> EATING [stomach cramps, eructations, and headaches]. [Mezger]
Nausea with hunger < on waking. [3 provers Raeside] G Desire for tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco. [Müller] [All three are nightshades!] G < 3-5 A.M. G < Approach of a thunderstorm. [headache; dyspnoea; cardiac oppression] [Mezger] G RIGHT side. [Given as a general indication by Mezger, Raeside’s provings show the more specific affinities to be the upper and lower limbs of the right side – 14 occurrences on right side, 8 on left side – and, to a lesser extent, the eyes and throat. The right-sidedness of Mandragora is confirmed by Schmalbach’s provings; affected were the right nostril [epistaxis], teeth on right side, right ovary, right shoulder, right hand [itching spots with sensation of splinters], and right knee-joint. In the latter provings also a shift or extension from the right side to the left occurred.] Right then left. [conjunctivitis; sinusitis maxillaris; pain in hips] [proving Schmalbach] G Spasticity, numbness and nausea. G Burning pains. • “The feeling of burning is typical of Mandragora and is similar to that of Capsicum.”1 P VERTIGO. • “Mandragora belongs to the dizziest drugs of our Materia Medica [alongside Phos., Con., Magnesium]. It has faintness and fainting spells; the vertigo is often typical of Ménière’s syndrome and comes in sudden attacks which force the patient to lie down; frequently, however, the dizziness is worse lying down, worse turning over, worse from motion and walking downstairs and worse upon awakening. Better from open air. Most frequently the vertigo is of emotional origin with an expressed feeling of insecurity, supposedly because of the dizziness; ill effects of anxiety and tension, dizziness with depression, or crying spells, ringing in the ears, or diarrhoea.” [Whitmont] P Congestive headaches [and vertigo]. > Open air and cold applications.
< Exposure to the sun. From alcohol, tobacco. Headache and diarrhoea. Headache when stomach is empty; > eating.
• “Associated with the headache were cold hands and feet, even in a warm room, the hands being so cold that they became white and contracted, the blanching extending up the arms to the axilla.”2
P Abdominal pains, worse on right side.
Extending to right shoulder.
> Bending backwards.
• “The intestinal symptoms are characterized by spasticity, meteorism, and fatty-food dyscrasia. Seventeen of the 29 provers noticed increased gas with pressure and fulness of the stomach, > eating; and also eructations, even on an empty stomach. Distension was noticed particularly in the right lower quadrant. Some had little or no relief from eructations or flatus, and some were markedly relieved. The stomach discomfort came immediately after eating, reaching a peak one or two hours later. In spite of a ravenous appetite, because of the stomach distension, they were full after two or three bites and actually had a dislike for solid food. One prover noticed more gas dispelled after liquids than after solids. Two provers had pains from an empty stomach, associated with great emptiness and nausea, all relieved after eating. The same provers were ameliorated by stretching and bending backwards.”3
P Diarrhoea after fat food.
P Heart symptoms.
Chest as if constricted by an iron band.
Extending to left shoulder, at night.
• “At least 9 out of 29 provers noted heart trouble with palpitation. The heart pains increased in intensity, becoming pinching pains in the chest during the day, extending to the left shoulder at night, causing wakefulness. Anxiety was associated with the anginal pains in the chest, as well as a sensation in the heart as though an iron ring were contracting around it. Movement and stress aggravated the complaints but rest, warmth and lying down ameliorated them.”4
And Intestinal symptoms, meteorism, distension.
Heart symptoms > diarrhoea. [In one prover.]
P Lumbago, sciatica; burning pains; worse on right side.
< Sitting; beginning motion. > Pressure; continued motion.
Cannot stay in bed, must get up and walk around at night.
> Warmth; bending backwards.
< Upright position; dangling legs. • “In the limbs we confirmed the right-sided pains, esp. in the legs, but ours were < movement and Mezger’s subjects were > movement.” [Raeside]
P Limbs feel heavy, bruised, sore, as after muscular exertion.
Bruised and exhausted feeling as after influenza.
> Motion.
1-4 Mezger, Mandragora officinalis e radice [translation Trautman]; Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, January-February 1958.
Rubrics
Mind
Anger, easily [1], with himself [1K], sudden [1K], violent [1K]. Love for animals, dogs [1K]. Anxiety, in dark [1K], > profuse urination [1M]. Biting [1K]. Buries or digs up things [1K]. Delusions, sees devils [1K], sees dogs [1K], head is separated from body [1K], another person is in the room [1K], being possessed [1], sees spectres [1K]. Destructiveness [1K]. Euphoria alternating with sadness [1]. Fear, of dark [1K], of dogs [1K], insanity [1K], of walking in the dark [1K], of witches [1K]. Forsaken feeling [1K]. Irritability, > profuse urination [1M]. Rage, with spitting [1K]. Restlessness during weakness [1]. Striking [1K]. Suicidal disposition, throwing himself from a height [1K]. Tearing things [1K].
Vertigo
Accompanied by headache [1R].
Head
Enlarged sensation [1M]. Pain, > open air [1M], > cold applications [1], > eating [1M], < exertion of body [1M], < fasting [1M], > hard pressure [1], < stooping [1M], < exposure to sun [1], > as soon as thunderstorm breaks [1M]. Perspiration, forehead, cold [1], during cardiac oppression [1M].
Eye
Lachrymation when laughing [[1S]. Photophobia during headache [1M].
Vision
Dim, during headache [1R]. Sparks, during headache [1R].
Ear
Noises, during headache [1M].
Nose
Coryza, > lying [1M], extending to antrum [1S]. Obstruction > dancing [motion] [1S].
Face
Greasy [1M].
Throat
Numbness, as from local anaesthesia [1M]. Pain, in morning on waking [1R].
External throat
Greasy [1M].
Stomach
Appetite, increased, in forenoon, 11 a.m. [1R], with diarrhoea [1M]. Pain, > bending backward [1], > drinking [1M], > eating [1M], > stretching [1]; sore, < motion [1M], < pressure [1M]. Abdomen Pain, hypogastrium, > bending backwards [1M].
Rectum
Constipation, soft stool difficult [1M]. Diarrhoea, after fat food [1M].
Chest
Constriction, as from an iron band [1M], > lying [1M], > warmth [1M]; heart, on waking at night [1M], before thunderstorm [1M]. Pain, heart, at night [1], > diarrhoea [1/1]. Palpitation, < at night [1S], lying down [1R], > motion [1M].
Back
Pain, lumbar region, > urination [1M]; cramping, lumbar region, extending to nates [1M].
Limbs
Cramps, upper arm, on stretching arm [1R]; thigh, on stretching leg [1R]. Heaviness, upper limbs, left arm [1R]. Pain, lower limbs, hips, right then left [1S]; hips, < at night [1S], > motion [1S]; lower limbs, sciatica, right [1], > motion [1], < sitting [1M], < standing [1M], > warmth [1].
Sleep
Disturbed by frightful dreams [1R], by aching muscles [1R]. Waking, from cardiac symptoms [1M].
Dreams
Accidents, crashing with airplane [1/1]. Bones [1K]. Coffins [1K]. Dead bodies [1K]. Dogs [1K]. Fire [1K]. Murder [1]. Being pursued [1K].
Generals
During menses > [1]. Motion, beginning of < [1], continued > [1]. Weather, approach of a thunderstorm [1], during thunderstorm > [1M].
* Repertory additions:
[K] = K-J. Müller, Mandragora officinarum: Neue Aspekte und deren klinische Bestätigungen.
[M] = Mezger, Gesichtete Homöopathische Arzneimittellehre.
[R] = Raeside, A proving of Mandragora officinarum; BHJ, April 1966.
[S] = Schmalbach, Cordel and von Broock, Mandragora: Die Geheimnisvolle; 1998.
* The repertory includes Mandragora in the rubric ‘Embraces everyone’ with a reference to Julian. This is a mistake. Mezger’s text says ‘Wohlbefinden und beste Laune; möchte die ganze Welt umarmen’, meaning ‘Sense of well-being and in a very good mood; could embrace the whole world.’ The latter is an expression of euphoria and should not be taken literally as ’embracing everyone’.
Food
Aversion: [2]: Alcohol; fat. [1]: Coffee; smell of roasts; solid food [M].
Desire: [2]: Spicy; meat [“even in a vegetarian”]; sweets. [1]: Butter [M]; cheese; cold drinks [R]; fish; potatoes [K]; rice dishes [M]; sour milk [M]; tobacco [K]; tomatoes [K].
Worse: [1]: Coffee; fats; radish [M]; sweets; tobacco [M].
Better: [1]: Coffee [S; > dulness].
* Repertory additions: [K] = Müller; [M] = Mezger; [R] = Raeside; [S] = Schmalbach.