American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

In acute coryza, in bronchial and nasal catarrh, in lung congestion and
bronchial cough, with pain in the chest, all from cold, in bronchial
asthma, and in acute bronchitis it is an excellent auxiliary remedy.
In eruptive fevers it assists in determining the eruption to the surface,
especially if there is retrocession. It has a direct action upon the skin
also, being given in pustular eczemas and vesicular disorders quite
freely. It has produced good results in psoriasis, pityriasis, lepra, and
other scaly skin disorders. It acts as an alterative in such cases, and will
influence the skin derangements of scrofula and syphilis to a certain
extent. It is available in the various skin disorders of childhood from
disordered blood and deranged stomach.
It is an excellent alterative, if administered with care, and is therefore
valuable in syphilis, scrofula, and other blood disorders. In acute and
chronic rheumatism from exposure to dampness and cold, and in gout, it
has been advantageously used.
Nervous irritation with depression, with hyperesthesia of the organs, and
pruritus pudendi are relieved by it. It may be used in spermatorrhea with
undue excitement, priapism, nymphomania, and satyriasis. It should be
given first in small doses, increased to full amount if necessary. In
suppression of the menses with headache and nausea and acute ovarian
congestion, it will work well.
It is advised in the treatment of catarrh of the bladder, and as a stimulant
to the urinary secretion.
SOLANUM. “JATROPHA.”
For several years the physicians of the south, stimulated by the writings
of the late Dr. Burgess of Chattanooga, have used Jatropha, commonly
called in that locality, “Bull Nettle,” in the treatment of syphilis, with
rather remarkable results. The identity of the plant is not thoroughly
established, but recent investigators claim that it is the Solanum
Carolinense, or Horse Nettle of the north. Investigations made by the state
of Tennessee identify it as Solanum Rostratum.
Prof. Lloyd (writing the author) says, “under the common names 'Horse
Nettle' and 'Bull Nettle,' both Solanum Rostratum and Solanum
Carolinense, are gathered. They are botanically so nearly related as to
make it difficult for a collector to distinguish between them. Probably
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 409