Paris quadrifolia
Plant · Melanthiaceae
Paris quadrifolia suits individuals with marked head and eye symptoms, particularly a sensation of expansion and great enlargement of the head. The constitutional picture includes garrulousness, imaginary foul smells, and a peculiar asymmetry with coldness on one side and heat on the other.
Key symptoms
- Head feels very large and expanded
- Sensation as if scalp contracted and bones scraped
- Aches as from a string pulled from eyes to occiput
- Eyes feel heavy and projected; sensation of a string through the eyeballs
- Garrulous, prattling, vivacious mood; imaginary foul smells
- Stuffed condition and fullness at root of nose
- Periodical, painless hoarseness
- Tongue dry on waking, coated white without thirst
- Coldness of right side of body with left side hot
One-berry
Head symptoms marked and verified. Sensation of expansion and consequent tension. Coldness of right side of body, left hot. Catarrhal complaints, stuffed feeling at root of nose. Disorder of sense of touch.
Mind
Imaginary foul smells. Feels too large. Garrulous, prattling, vivacious.
Head
Sensation as if scalp were contracted and bones scraped. Soreness of top of head; cannot brush hair. Aches, as from pulling a string from eyes to occiput. Occipital headache, with a feeling of weight. Head feels very large, expanded. Scalp sensitive. Numb feeling on left side of head.
Eyes
Affections of the eyebrows. Eyes feel heavy, as if they were projected; sensation of a string through eyeballs. Expanded, as though lids did not cover.
Face
Neuralgia; hot stitches in left malar bone, which is very sore. Has relieved in inflammation of the antrum, where eye symptoms co-existed.
Mouth
Tongue dry when awaking-Coated white, without thirst, with bitter or diminished taste.
Respiratory
Stuffed condition and fullness at root of nose. Periodical, painless hoarseness. Cough as from vapor of sulphur in trachea. Constant hawking, on account of viscid, green mucus in larynx and trachea.
Extremities
Sense of weight and weariness in nape of neck and across shoulders. Neuralgia, beginning in left intercostal region, and extending into left arm. Arm becomes stiff, fingers clenched. Neuralgia of coccyx; pulsating, sticking, when sitting. Fingers often feel numb. Numbness of upper limbs. Everything feels rough.
Relationship
Compare: Pastinaca-Parsnip--(Loquacity; delirium tremens; illusions of vision; intolerance on milk; Roots used dietetically, cooked in water or as broth or as salad for consumptives and "kidney stones"). Sil; Calc; Nux; Rhus.
Incompatible; Ferr phos.
Antidote: Coff.
Dose
Third potency.
Paris quadrifolia. One-berry. True Love. Herb Paris. (Moist, shady woods in Great Britain.) N. O. Trilliaceæ. (Sometimes considered a sub-order of Smilaceæ, or of Liliaceæ.) Tincture of whole plant when in fruit.
Clinical
Acidity. After-pains. Brachial neuralgia. Ciliary neuralgia. Ciliary paralysis. Digestion, slow; weak. Gonorrhœa. Headache. Hiccough. Hoarseness. Hysteria. Mania. Neuralgia. Panaritium. Paralysis. Saliva, sour. Spine, affection of. Touch, sense of, disordered.
Characteristics
Paris betrays its relation to the Lilies and Arums in the symptoms of irritation which it causes in mucous membranes and skin with burning sensations and cramps. The Treasury of Botany says of Paris that the leaves and stems were "formerly used in medicine, the juice of the berry, though considered poisonous, has been employed in curing inflammation of the eyes." The provings made by Hahnemann, Stapf, and others, bring out a very marked and characteristic action on the eyes, and develop some of the keynote symptoms …
Head
Sensation as if a thread were drawn tightly through the eyeballs and backward into the middle of the brain.
Sight and Eyes
Pain in the eyes as if pulled by a string back into the head.
Neck and Back
Nape of neck weary as if great weight were lying upon it.
Phatak's chapter on Paris quadrifolia is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
