Page "Aconitum" Paragraph 12

Aconite has long been used in the traditional medicine of Asia ( India, China ).

In Ayurveda the herb is used to increase pitta ( fire, bile ) dosha and to enhance penetration in small doses.

However more frequently the herb is detoxified according to the samskaras process and studies, cited in the detoxification section below show that it no longer possesses active toxicity.

It is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for Yang deficiency, " coldness ", general debilitation.

The herb is considered hot and toxic.

It is prepared in extremely small doses.

More frequently ginger processed aconite, of lower toxicity, " fu zi " is used.

Aconite is one ingredient of Tribhuvankirti, an Ayurvedic preparation for treating a " cold in the head " and fever.

Aconite was mixed with patrinia and coix, in a famous treatment for appendicitis described in a formula from the Jingui Yaolue ( ca.

220 A. D .) Aconite was also described in Greek and Roman medicine by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder, who most likely prescribed the Alpine species Aconitum lycoctonum.

The herb was cultivated widely in Europe, probably reaching England before the tenth century, where it was farmed with some difficulty, but came to be widely valued as an anodyne, diuretic, and diaphoretic.

In the nineteenth century much aconite was imported from China, Japan, Fiji, and Tonga, with a number of species used to manufacture alkaloids of varying potency but generally similar effect, most often used externally and rarely internally.

Effects of different preparations were standardized by testing on guinea pigs.