American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

A patient suffering from a headache which began in the occiput before
rising in the morning; poor appetite; cold hands and feet; tongue large,
thick, pasty, with a grayish white coat; skin of a dusky hue, was
materially benefited by chelidonium, five drops of the fluid extract every
two hours.
Some of the old writers believe that this agent is superior to arnica or
hamamelis, as an external application to bruises and sprains. It prevents
the development of local inflammation from traumatic causes.
The specific use externally, is in the application of the juice to warts,
corns and epitheliomata, for which it has been widely used, and much
evidence accumulated in its favor. In these conditions and in the
treatment also of urticaria, eczema and itching eruptions, its careful
application, persisted in, cures within a short time.
In the treatment of cancer, Denissenko directs that from twenty-two to
seventy-five grains of the extract shall be taken internally, dissolved in
distilled water or peppermint water, every day throughout the treatment.
Into the substance of the tumor, as close as possible to the boundary
between it and the healthy tissue, he throws a number of injections of
from two to four drops of a mixture of equal weights of the extract,
glycerine and distilled water, not exceeding a syringeful in all. If the
tumor is ulcerated, he paints its surface twice a day with a mixture of one
or two parts of the extract and one part of glycerine. The painting of the
ulcerated surfaces gives rise to a light and transitory burning. In all
instances, after the injections, especially after the first one., there was a
burning pain at the site of the operation: the patient felt weak, there was a
more or less severe chill, and then the temperature rose to between 100
and 102 degrees. These symptoms disappeared on the following day.
As a result of the treatment the sallow hue of the skin disappeared and
softening of the tumor set in. After from three to five days there formed at
the points of injection, fistulous tracts about which the softening process
went on with special rapidity. Other investigators have not been as
satisfied with its influence in cancers, but it is doubtless of value and
deserves further observation. Iron, quinine and other supporting
remedies are employed according to the indications.
CHENOPODIUM. Chenopodium ambrosioides.
Synonym—American Wormseed.
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 115