Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Undoubtedly horse-chestnut acts upon the human system very much after the manner of buckeye (Æsculus glabra). By some, however, its power over the circulation is thought to be more pronounced, particularly its control over the portal vessels. The virtues formerly ascribed to the bark and nut are as follows: Horse-chestnut bark is tonic, astringent, febrifuge, narcotic, and antiseptic. In intermittent fever the bark has effected cures when given in doses of a teaspoonful 4 or 6 times a day. Ten grains of the powder of the rinds of the nuts have been asserted to be equivalent in narcotic power to three grains of opium. This claim, however, requires substantiation. Gangrenous and ill-conditioned ulcers have been benefited by a strong infusion of the bark. The whitish, central part of the nuts, when in powder, has been recommended as a sternutatory in some cases of ophthalmia and headache. The oil of horse-chestnuts is considered in Europe a valuable local application in neuralgic and rheumatic affections; it is made by exhausting the powdered horse-chestnut in ether, filtering and evaporating. Æsculin, in doses of from 5 to 30 grains, repeated 2 or 3 times a day, has proved beneficial in periodical febrile affections, and in neuralgia of the internal viscera. Of all the uses formerly made of hippocastanum, only the latter is recognized to-day, its power of controlling neuralgia of the viscera, and then only in cases of abdominal plethora. Specific medication has taught us that it is a remedy, not for active conditions, but for congestion and engorgement. It is indicated in general by capillary engorgement—a condition of stasis—with vascular fullness and sense of soreness, throbbing, and malaise all over the body. An uneasy, full, aching pain in the hepatic region is also an indication. Rectal disorders, such as rectal irritation and hemorrhoids, with marked congestion and a sense of constriction, as if closing spasmodically upon some foreign body, with itching, heat, pain, aching, or simple uneasiness, are fields in which hippocastanum exerts a specific influence. The pile-tumors are purple, large, do not bleed as a rule, but there is a sense of fullness, or spasm of the parts, and a free diarrhœa may be present. Not only does it relieve such rectal complaints, but cures disorders hinging upon them, such as rectal neuralgia, proctitis, etc., and the reflexes induced by them, proceeding from the rectal involvement. Among these reflex manifestations may be mentioned dyspnœa, asthmatic seizures, dizziness, headache, backache, and disturbed gastric functions amounting to veritable forms of dyspepsia. These conditions pass away when hippocastanum overcomes the rectal difficulties. Dose of specific horse-chestnut (prepared from the nut only), from ¼ to 5 minims in water every 1 to 3 hours.
Specific Indications and Uses.—Visceral neuralgia, due to congestion; soreness of the whole body, with vascular fullness, throbbing, and general malaise; throbbing, fullness, and aching in the hepatic region; rectal uneasiness with burning or aching pain; sense of constriction, with itching; large, purple pile-tumors; uneasy sensations and reflex disturbances depending upon hemorrhoids or rectal vascular engorgement.