*Based on a paper read in Stuttgart on February 25, 1984. Translated by A.R. Meuss FIL, MITI.

The Drug Picture
The drug picture of Lachesis produced by Constantine Hering includes a number of clearly defined symptoms. Patients in need of Lachesis feel uneasy and cannot bear tight-fitting bands such as collars, belts or brassieres. It is not uncommon for them to feel that there is excess pressure inside. Discharges which may be said to relieve that pressure will therefore ameliorate. A headache will improve with the onset of menses, for example. Another characteristic is the left-sidedness of symptoms, so that a left- sided migraine is more likely to respond to Lachesis than a right-sided one. This is also
the reason why Lachesis addresses the heart, just as more right-sided drugs tend to address the liver.

Aggravation from sleep is an important Lachesis keynote. Patients go to bed in a condition that is bearable and wake up with dreadful palpitations, headache, and paresthesia of the arms. 'Sleeps into the aggravation' is thus indicative of the drug. Concerning the psychology, 'loquacity' is a common sign. An exaggerated desire to communicate denotes a certain lack of stability. Reticence on the other hand is a virtue which physicians in particular are well-advised to cultivate. All symptoms are worse from heat; the sun, the heat of the sun, a hot room — none of these are tolerated. At the same time Lachesis is an antipyretic and has often proved life-saving in serious septic conditions (as reported in case histories from the pre-antibiotic era).

What do the following five symptoms represent? …

Among the approximately 400 species considered to be venomous, only a few have so far qualified for the inclusion in our materia medica: chiefly Lachesis muta, Crotalus horridus and Naja tripudians (Naja naja). Other species of Crotalus (the Central American Cr. durissus terrificus and the South American Cr. terrificus terrificus under the name of Cr. cascavella), Bothrops lanceolatus (B. atrox), three species of the genus Vipera W. berus, V. redii and V. Russellii), Agkistrodon mokeson under the name of Cenchris contortrix, and lastly Elaps corallinus are still of minor importance. These few represent the most poisonous families fairly well. …

From the foregoing survey it will be obvious to what different degrees the drug pictures of the snake venoms have been elaborated up to the present juncture. Any survey of this kind is bound to be pro tempore and to expose the gaps of our knowledge and experience. On the other hand, this chapter of our materia medics stands to gain in perspicuity, when seen in the broader context with the venoms of other classes of animals, such as spiders, scorpions and insects.

Reprinted with permission from The British Homeopathic Journal, 74, 153, 1958.