What Is the Origin of Strychnos Nux Vomica?

The Strychnos Nux-Vomica tree has flowers and fruit that can either kill you or heal you. It simply depends on how you ingest them. Its main component is deadly strychnine. The tree, was first used in medicine by the Arabians, who described it in about 1540. In the 16th-century in Germany, it was used as a rat poison. In the 18th century, it was used in Europe, as a tonic, with poor results. Strychnine's use was extended considerably in the 19th century, following the introduction of the homeopathic remedy, nux vomica.

Historic Use of Strychnine

• Strychnine was first isolated from the beans of Strychnos ignatii by Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou in 1818. Scientists, who had been working with quinine, thought they would try to use it as another weapon against disease. Doctors experimented with it for years, trying it on everything from paralysis to constipation. No success over the next century proved that it was not helpful, but was instead extremely deadly for patients. The use of strychnine in the century following its discovery was relegated almost entirely to animal control and criminal behavior.

Homeopathy and Strychnine

• Samuel Hahnemann, a doctor of conventional medicine, working in Germany in the early 18th century was disgusted with the way his colleagues were dispensing medicine, in a system he charged was without proof. He gave up his practice in 1790 to translate scientific studies. What he discovered was that it was best to treat the individual, not the disease. The patient must be given a remedy suitable to him or her, and no one else. For example, if two people have the same illness, and one of them calls out for more blankets, while the other throws them off, their remedies will be targeted to their differences. Hahnemann came up with the dosage by shaking a liquid, or grinding tree parts, which he felt increased its medicinal powers, He called his new system of medicine, homeopathy.

Strychnine Made Palatable

• Hanehmann's discoveries made the strychnos nux vomica tree useful for healing humans. Many of the herbs and barks he used for his experiments were poisonous if taken in any other form but homeopathic. That's because homeopathy, which is delivered through small white sugar pills doesn't even have a drop of the original herb in it. It is just that it has been spun around or titurated so many times, that it has just enough of a hint or an impression of the herb to be curative.

Curative Powers of Nux Vomica

• The modern homeopathic remedy known as nux vomica was used widely around the world. Homeopathic doctors said nux did best with thin, irritable, careful, zealous people, usually with dark hair. These folks are said to be quarrelsome, spiteful, malicious, nervous and melancholy.

When to Use Nux Vomica

• Today, homeopathic nux vomica is targeted at certain symptoms. The French manufacturer of homeopathic remedies, Boiron, says nux should be used for patients who have heartburn or drowsiness due to excessive eating or drinking.