Claviceps purpurea (Secale cornutum)

A parasitic fungus that infects rye and other cereal grains, producing dark, horn-shaped sclerotia. It contains potent alkaloids such as ergotamine and ergometrine, historically associated with toxic epidemics of gangrene and convulsions.

Proved by Stapf and Hahnemann; toxicological data from epidemics of ergotism provide extensive clinical observations.

Secale cornutum is a remedy of collapse, ischaemia, and vascular crisis. Its essence lies in the withdrawal of life force to the periphery, producing cold, shrivelling, and decay. It reflects the syphilitic miasm in its most degenerative and destructive form. It is suitable for cases where there is great inner burning with outward coldness, a sense of living death, and a craving for air or cold. It is the remedy of dry gangrene, passive haemorrhage, and hopeless exhaustion—yet always paradoxically marked by a strange inner agitation.

• Vasomotor system – extreme effects on blood vessels (constriction, ischaemia)
• Uterus – profound influence on uterine contractions and haemorrhages
• Peripheral circulation – especially fingers, toes, ears (dry gangrene)
• Nervous system – trembling, numbness, spasms, paralysis
• Skin – coldness, mottling, ulceration, gangrenous change
• Eyes and vision – disturbances from vasospasm
• Left side – predominant localisation of many symptoms

Apathetic, indifferent, or stupid mental state dominates the Secale picture. The patient may be restless yet mentally dulled, with muttering, loquacity, or fatuous laughter. [Hering] described it as a state of cerebral erethism combined with stupor. There may be delirium with hallucinations, religious ecstasy, or sensation of floating in air. Suits those who, despite serious physical symptoms, deny illness or seem unaware of their decline. Anxiety may alternate with idiotic calm. Restlessness often alternates with paralytic exhaustion. There may be suicidal impulses in terminal states, often driven by fear of suffocation or burning.

Restless with tossing and jerking. Disturbed by anxiety or heat. Sleepless after midnight. Dreams anxious or confused. Waking with sense of dread or suffocation.

Dreams of death, disaster, or being lost. Visions of black shapes, bleeding, or fire. Fear of suffocation or being trapped.

Extreme prostration, yet often with inner restlessness. Skin, limbs, and organs appear dead, dry, and cold. Heat aggravates all complaints. Pulse small or absent. Internal burning with external coldness. Best suited to cachectic, haemorrhagic, or gangrenous states. Persons are thin, scrawny, old, or prematurely aged. Collapse states define the remedy.

Coldness predominates, alternating with flushes of heat. Cold sweat, especially on face or extremities. Intermittent fever with great prostration. Febrile attacks often end in collapse.

Chilliness unrelieved by warmth. Cold skin to touch but subjective burning. Profuse cold sweat during crisis. Perspiration offensive or sour.

Intense headache as if the brain were bound or compressed. Feeling of coldness in scalp. Pulsations in temples or vertex, sometimes relieved by cold or bleeding. Vertigo, worse when sitting up or moving. Tension in scalp, with sensation as if skin shrinks or tightens. Hair falls out in patches. Head symptoms often accompany uterine or vascular crises.

Dim vision, black spots, or flickering before eyes. Pupils dilated and sluggish. Burning and dryness. Complete blindness in toxic states. Ulceration or gangrene of eyelids possible. Eyeballs sunken with dark rings. Pressure behind eyes with heat and tension. Sudden loss of sight from vascular spasm or haemorrhage.

Buzzing, roaring, or ringing noises. Hearing impaired. Sensation of cold air rushing into ears. Pain or tension as if the tympanum would burst. In ergotism, ears may become cyanotic, dry, or gangrenous.

Bleeding, often profuse and passive. Cold nose with pale or livid skin. Nasal gangrene in severe cases. Sense of smell diminished. Acrid, offensive discharge from nostrils in advanced states.

Pale, sunken, or pinched expression. Features sharp and anxious. Lips dry, shrivelled, and blackish. Facial muscles may twitch or become rigid. Cold perspiration on forehead. Twitching or trembling of cheeks and eyelids. In late stages, cyanosis and ulceration may appear.

Tongue trembles or protrudes slowly. Dryness with burning, especially on tip. Tongue black, cracked, or bleeding. Saliva scanty or frothy. Teeth loose or clenched during spasms. Taste bitter or metallic. [Clarke] noted the fetid breath and gangrenous inflammation of gums in poisoning cases.

Grinding of teeth during sleep or spasms. Sensitivity to pressure. Gums may bleed or ulcerate. Looseness of teeth without decay. Painful drawing in roots of molars.

Tightness or constriction, with difficulty swallowing. Paralysis of pharyngeal muscles may develop. Burning, rawness, and acrid sensation. Tonsils dry, dark, and possibly gangrenous. Complaints worse from warm drinks.

Oppression, tightness, or constriction of chest. Difficulty breathing, worse from warmth. Palpitations from slightest motion or emotion. Pains shooting to left arm. Cyanosis in lips and nails. Burning sensation internally, with desire for cold air.

Weak, irregular pulse. Palpitations during haemorrhage or exertion. Trembling or fluttering in precordial region. Pulse small, thready, or intermittent. Prone to collapse states from circulatory failure.

Shortness of breath, sighing or gasping. Suffocative attacks worse in warm room. Rattling in chest without expectoration. Breathing laboured, especially during haemorrhagic crises. Air hunger with cold sweat.

Violent, unrelenting thirst with aversion to warm drinks. Burning in stomach, better from cold drinks. Nausea with faintness. Vomiting of dark, bilious or bloody matter. Empty, sinking feeling in epigastrium. Cramping pains better from pressure. Secale is suitable in cholera-like conditions with profound gastric collapse.

Distension with icy cold skin. Gurgling, rumbling, and borborygmi. Cutting or cramping pains better from hard pressure or lying on abdomen. Pain radiating from uterus or pelvis. Dark, offensive discharges from rectum or vagina may occur.

Watery, offensive, or dark diarrhoea. Stool involuntary, sometimes with tenesmus. Painless evacuation in debilitated patients. Cold sweat on face during stool. Hemorrhoidal bleeding passive and dark. Suppression of diarrhoea may provoke neurological symptoms.

Frequent, involuntary urination. Urine scanty, dark, and offensive. Paralysis of bladder in late stages. Strangury or total suppression possible. Dribbling of urine in old, exhausted, or paralytic cases.

Violent thirst for cold drinks. Aversion to warmth or warm food. Craving for sour things. Appetite variable—usually lost in acute phases.

Coldness and retraction of genitals. Impotence with emissions. Burning and tingling in glans penis. Ulcers or gangrene in venereal infections. Seminal emissions without desire or pleasure.

One of the most important uterine remedies. Profuse, passive haemorrhages with dark, watery, oozing blood, especially after miscarriage, labour, or menses. Uterus relaxed, atonic. Pains bear down but are not expulsive. Leucorrhoea thin, offensive, and dark. Menses irregular, either too profuse or too delayed, with sense of cold and exhaustion. [Boericke] highlights its affinity for “thin, scrawny women with feeble circulation and a tendency to haemorrhage.”

Tingling and crawling along spine. Burning between shoulders. Coldness in lumbar region. Spinal weakness after haemorrhage. Pain in sacrum and coccyx with numbness in legs.

A keynote: limbs icy cold, bluish or black, dry gangrene of fingers or toes. Tingling, numbness, or crawling sensations. Trembling, spasms, and convulsions. Fingers shrivelled, nails dark. Painless ulcers on lower limbs. [Hering] details symptoms progressing from paraesthesia to necrosis.

Dry, shrivelled, and cold. Mottled, cyanotic, or gangrenous. Ulcers with black edges and no sensation. Burning or formication (creeping). Skin may be wrinkled, thin, and bloodless. Suppression of sweat or eruptions can provoke internal pathology.

• Carbo vegetabilis – Similar collapse and coldness, but more gas and fainting
• Arsenicum album – Burning and restlessness, but more anxiety and fear of death
• Camphora – Sudden coldness and collapse, more acute and violent
• China – Haemorrhagic weakness, but with more bloating and periodicity
• Lachesis – Dark haemorrhages, but loquacity and left-sided congestion dominate

• Complementary: China, Arsenicum
• Antidotes: Camphora, Opium
• Follows well: Belladonna in congestive states
• Precedes well: Silicea in gangrenous ulcers
• Inimical: None noted

• Useful in uterine haemorrhage with atony and dark, oozing blood
• Indicated in dry gangrene of fingers, toes, or old wounds
• Helpful for collapse following diarrhoea, cholera, or postpartum bleeding
• Valuable in thin, exhausted elderly women with chronic vascular disease
• Consider in restlessness during extreme prostration—when patient wants to move despite weakness

Female

• Haemorrhage, passive, dark, continuous
• Uterus, atony of
• Menses, too long, too dark
• Leucorrhoea, dark, offensive

Extremities

• Gangrene, dry
• Numbness of limbs
• Tingling in fingers and toes
• Ulcers painless

Skin

• Shrivelled, dry, cold
• Burning internally
• Cyanosis
• Formication

Generalities

• Worse warmth
• Better uncovering
• Collapse, post-haemorrhagic
• Burning with coldness

• Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving observations, especially on mental and vascular themes
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Provided rich toxicological symptoms from ergotism epidemics
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Described applications in obstetrics and gangrene
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Contributed keynotes for vascular collapse and gangrene
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Materia Medica: Summarised clinical indications, especially haemorrhage and uterine weakness