The evening primrose

The evening primrose A. C. GORDON ROSS, MB, CHB, MFHOM One night lately, for one reason or another, my mind made me think about the primrose and I had the curiosity to look up Boericke, to see what he had to say about it. He mentions the primrose briefly on pages 506 and 531. When revising his excellent repertory for the official German edition with Margarethe Harms in 1972, I should have drawn attention to a little confusion in his summary of the primrose. On page 531 he has a brief entry about Primula obconica, which can be used homoeopathically in skin irritations and Dr Clarke in his Dictionary of Materia Medica confirms this, but he also notes Primula vulgaris, the common or garden primrose, and Primula veris, all skin irritants. All three are members of the Natural Order Primulaceae, a genus of about 500 known species, where, apparently, we have only proved three; but we have in the same Natural Order proved the scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis, and Cyclamen (sow bread). In potency they all act on the skin. The subject of this paper, is however, the evening primrose, quite a different thing entirely, belonging to a large Natural Order, the Onagracea, where there are 80-100 species recognized by botanists. We have only proved two, Epilobium palustre (the willow herb) and Oenothera biennis, the common evening primrose. The first does not concern us here, for we will concentrate on the evening primrose, which Clarke calls the large evening primrose, or the tree primrose of North America, where we have made a tincture from the fresh flowering plant. Observe that Dr Clarke states that our tinctures are made from the fresh flowering plant. They are annuals, biennials, herbaceous perennials, and sub-shrubs. They rarely grow to a height of three feet, and they can spread like weeds in a garden. The lanceolate leaves are mid-green, forming substantial rosettes, the erect stems carry a profusion of pale yellow flowers about two inches across, and they flourish from June to October, usually in the evening. They grow well in any country today. Boericke on page 506 discusses Phosphoric acid, and he suggests comparing it with Oenothera biennis which, in potency, can help nervous exhaustion and effortless diarrhoeas. I have never used either the garden common primrose or the evening primrose in my practice, but it occurs to me that we might do well to potentize other members of both large species, for it is obvious from the above two examples that their hom~eopathic medical potential shows wide differences and possibilities. I have however, other reasons for discussing Oenothera and that is because of

Volume69, Number3, July 1980

165

two letters in the recent numbers o f the British Medical Journal, one on 8.10.1977 entitled "Trial o f p o l y u n s a t u r a t e d fatty acids in non-relapsing multiple sclerosis", a distressing illness where we need all the help we can get. The second reason is a small note I m a d e in the margin o f m y Boericke: "Sunday Express 1 3 . 1 0 . 1 9 7 7 - It is suggested that the primrose could prevent coronaries and r h e u m a t i s m " (making marginal notes is an untidy habit not to be r e c o m m e n d e d , for when one goes to elaborate on the note one finds the p a p e r has been given, with others, to the Boys' Brigade's waste p a p e r collection !) The four doctors who wrote the British Medical Journal article o f 8.10.1977 were from the D e p a r t m e n t o f Neurology, R o y a l Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne. Their first sentence reads: The possibility of a relationship between multiple sclerosis (MS) and the consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, suggested by a number of dietary and biochemical studies, led to the setting up a controlled trial of linoeic acid in this disease. This struck me as a very t h o r o u g h trial in which 268 patients participated, but on 5.11.1977 there was a courteous letter in the British Medical Journal from Professor H u g h Sinclair, o f the International Institute o f H u m a n Nutrition, Sutton Courtenay, Oxon, pointing out an error in the original research. H e said that in the trial one group received eight capsules daily of Naudicelle Oil, and, quoting the original article, Each capsule contained 0.6 ml of oil, giving 360 mg of linolenic and 3.42 g of linoleic acid daily... linolenic a c i d . . , is the parent acid of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, doeosahexaenoic acid. The Professor goes on to say: Naudicelle capsules contain, I understand, oil extracted from the seeds of evening primrose (Oenothera biennis or lamarckiana), and this oil contains about 70% of linoleic acid and 7% ofylinolenic acid. The body cannot convert the latter into docosahexaenoic acid which it forms from ct-linolenic acid; this is the predominant fatty acid in most leaves but is not present in significant amounts in the seeds of the evening primrose. N o w I do not suppose m a n y of us Can follow this academic reasoning, but I would like to observe carefully the Professor's closing words in this passage, and to r e m e m b e r that our p r e p a r a t i o n o f Oenothera biennis is m a d e from a tincture o f the fresh plant in toto, and not from the seeds alone, as in the Naudicelle capsules. A n y o n e who has h a d the patience to read this far m a y wonder when I a m coming down to the nitty gritty in this study o f the evening primrose. To begin with, I should perhaps explain that the study o f biochemistry was in its infancy when I was a student before the war. Indeed, as far as m y recollection serves, there were no text books. N o w I understand the students have one at s No wonder the grants are high! T h a t is why, in biochemistry, I a m a minnow among the Tritons, and I rely on m y old Professor, the late John Read, whose Introduction to Organic Chemistry cost 12/6 and is one o f the m o s t intelligent text books ever written. On page 132 he states: Formic and acetic acids are the first two members of the homologous series of fatty acids (CnH2n+I.COOH), so called because some of the higher members occur as glyceryl esters in plant and animal fats and oils.

166

The British HomceopathicJournal

A n ester is a c o m p o u n d formed by the condensation o f an alcohol and an acid with elimination of water. Leopold Gmelin invented this word in 1750. Again to quote from Professor R e a d : When two or three acids function in building up the glyceride molecule, the ester is known as a mixed glyceride. A g a i n to quote: Theoretically, by losing three molecules of CO 2 the tristearin molecule would pass into that of a paraffin, C54 H.0. Fats and oils, like paraffins, thus represent a great accumulation of energy. Paraffins are non-assimilable, but the energy of fats and oils is rendered available for the vital processes of the plant or animal by slow oxidation in the organism. By the way, this reminds me I once wrote a sonnet to a young lady when I was a student. I called her " M y Ain Paraffin" (paraffin means little affinity), but because she had no knowledge o f Latin, m y effort fell on stony ground. Finally from Professor R e a d : Volatile, or essential, or ethereal oils, occur mainly in the flowers, fruits, stems and leaves and occasionally in the timber, roots and seeds. Unlike the fixed fatty oils, which are usually found in the seeds, they are volatile in steam. But it is growing late, and I am too prolix. W h a t I am trying to do in this paper is what I have tried to do in m y third hom0eopathic paper-back, Green Homoeopathic Medicine. I am trying to demonstrate to the clever biochemists that their approach, and that o f their masters, the great pharmaceutical manufacturers is fundamentally unsound. They take the guts, the glycerides, out o f a plant and m a k e their medicines from them, and in so doing, they often throw out the b a b y with the bath. Plants are like humans, they live and breathe and have their being. They react to kindness. I know o f an old lady who talks to her plants when they are sick and she says it makes them well again. A n y practitioner knows that when a young w o m a n has her uterus removed her floodings stop, but certain unlucky types become neurotic and difficult in their middle years. The homoeopathic idea of thinking o f a person as a trilogy of body, mind and spirit, is not one which has yet gained acceptance by the medical profession, hence the proliferation of specialities, where the young consultants get into the habit o f thinking the part is greater than the whole. Reading over this paper over I am reminded of the well-known lines of Wordsworth: A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him And it was nothing more H e was perhaps lucky to view the flower with the eye o f a poet, and to have no knowledge o f the infinite uses to which the word primrose can be put, but this p a p e r will not have been written in vain if we homaeopaths realize that the c o m m o n or garden yellow primrose should be thought of by us as a skin irritant like the geranium, while the evening primrose is quite a different plant with great potential if used in the right way. H o w I would like our biochemists to take Oenothera biennis, the fresh flowering plant in its entirety, potentize it according

Volume 69, Number 3, July 1980

167

to our methods, and give it a trial with patients suffering from non-recurring multiple sclerosis. It has been my experience that patients suffering from multiple sclerosis o f t e n have a history of tuberculosis in the family----either in the parents or grandparents. Consequently they are of the psoric type and as well as prescribing for the presenting symptoms it is as well to think of a nosode such as Tuberculinum or Bacillinum for them.

Cure of cancer in experimental mice with certain biochemic salts HIMADRI CHOUDHURY Department of Tumour Biology,Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Centre, Calcutta In the maintenance of the hom~eostatic balance of cell metabolism, inorganic cell salts are known to play an important role. The molecular action of such salts in the tissue, maintaining their proportional relationships within the cells and in the surrounding fluid, is of importance for the integrity of structure and functional activity of the cells. Any disturbance in the concentrations of one or more of these inorganic constituents, will result in disease. Restoration of the equilibrium of the salts in the affected cells by therapy with inorganic salts given in minimal doses cures the morbidity. Cancer is characterized by loss of control over proliferation. Proliferation is governed by the factors controlling cell division and cell function. In cancer the ionic balance regulating cell function or cell differentiation appears to be disturbed, and concomitantly the cells are triggered for division. In the investigation of normal and cancer cells, extensive studies have shown their marked metabolic differences. Recent evidence seems to point to the immense significance of ionic concentrations. If equilibrium could be re-established by administration of the requisite salts in small quantities, on biochemic principles, the malignant process could be checked and the disease cured. If salt supplementation could be used to normalize the system, cancer cells, being adapted to grow in a different salt environment, could be expected to be necrosed out. With this idea, specific combinations of certain biochemic salts have been developed and their effect studied in tumour-bearing mice. This report furnishes information on the regression of transplanted tumours after the administration of such salts. 168

The British Homaeopathic Journal