CAMPHORA.
CONDITIONS.
► Aggravation.
► (Morning), After
rising, headache; on waking, headache in temples; on rising, discharge from nose; odor from
mouth; nausea, etc.; stitch in hepatic region; on rising and walking, pain in ankle; on
waking sensation of heart. ► (Forenoon),
Dry cough. ► (Evening),
The pains; headache over eye; when lying down, shivering, etc.; sensitiveness to cold, etc. ► (Night), All symptoms;
fearful, etc.; when alone, attacks of terror; cutting colic. ►
(Dark), All the symptoms were greatly aggravated at
night and as it began to grow dark; would often be able to comfortably work through the day,
and when night came would be almost raving, wretched, and disconsolate; also aggravation by
taking cold; even after five years this was more or less the case; never goes into the
cellar alone at night, but will go with his little daughter, a child of only eight or nine
years of age; would scarcely dare, when at the best, to stay alone in his own house over
night, [49]. ► (Open air), lachrymation. ► (Alcoholic drinks), Toothache. ►
(Coffee), Toothache; vomiting. ►
(Cold air), Toothache. ►
(Holding cold water in mouth), Toothache. ► (In the dark), Fear. ► (After acting), Throbbing
of heart. ► (Inspiration),
Pain in side of abdomen. ► (Leaning
on the part), Pressure in right elbow-joint. ► (Light), The symptoms. ► (Lying down), Pain at
base of brain. ► (After lying
down), Immediately, headache; itching. ► (When lying on left side), Trembling of left chest; stitches in
region of heart, etc. ► (Motion),
Most pains; pain in nape of neck; stitches in neck; drawing in cervical vertebræ; pain in
thumb-joint; pain on the backs of the feet. ► (Pressure), Pain at base
of brain. ► (During rest),
Pressure, etc., on side of arms; pressure, etc., in legs. ►
(When sitting), Feeling in legs; heaviness etc., in
knees; sensation in knee; pressure in knees. ► (During sleep), Perspires greatly. ►
(During morning sleep), Headache in temples. ► (When standing), Pain
below ankle-bone. ► (On stooping),
Vertigo, etc.; pain at base of brain. ► (Touch), Toothache. ► (Walking), Vertigo, etc.; heaviness, etc.; forehead; air of room
seems cooler in nose; drawing in incisors; discharge of flatulence; stitches
in left chest; drawing in muscles of upper arm; sensation in right thigh;
stitches on sides of tendon Achillis; pressure in ankles; weariness of feet; yawning;
internal coldness; coldness in loins, etc.; heat of body.
► (After walking),
Pain in thighs. ► (Writing),
Trembling in hands. ► Amelioration. ► (Afternoon), During walk
in open air, dull headache. ► (Open
air), All symptoms. ► (Beer), Toothache. ► (During coition), Toothache ceases. ►
(Drinking cold water), Toothache. ►
(Motion), Tired feeling in arm. ►
(Scratching), Itching on hands. ►
(Profuse sweat), The symptoms. ►
(Tobacco-smoking), Toothache.
SUPPLEMENT: CAMPHORA.
Authorities.
72, Wm.
Alexander, M.D., Exper. Essays, London, 1770; 73, Jas.
L. Brooks, Bost. Med. and Surg. Journ., vol. xix, 1838, p. 397, Miss B. took a
dessertspoonful of a strong solution; 74, Mr. Clark,
Lancet, 1842-3 (1), p. 300, a man, æt. thirty-nine years, ate about 35 grains of powdered
C.; 75, Dr. O. E. Brown, West. Med. and Surg. Journ.,
1847, Mr. A., ate bits of gum C. during an evening; 76,
J. H. Beech, M.D., Penn. Journ. of Med., Feb., 1855, p. 367, a man, æt. fifty years,
swallowed a quantity of nearly saturated alcoholic tinct.; 77,
T. P. M., Lancet, 1857 (1), p. 384, a young lady, æt. eighteen years, swallowed a piece of
the size of a marble; 78, A. Legat, M.D., Brit. Med.
Journ., 1875 (1), p. 242, a young lady, æt. twenty years, took a few drops of a solution; 79, Geo. Johnson, Brit. Med. Journ., 1875 (1), p. 272, a boy,
æt. fourteen years, took about 15 drops of hom. C., for a cold; 80,
ibid., p. 171, a lady, æt. thirty-five years, took 7 drops of hom. sol. of C. on sugar; 81, ibid., a young lady took 25 drops for a cold; 82, ibid., a man took eight doses of 3 drops each, within forty
minutes; 83, W. Thursfield, M.D., Lancet, 1875 (2), p.
825, a child, just recovering from a fever, was given half an ounce of C. liniment; 84, New Remedies, 1876, p. 85, a lad, æt. thirteen years, ate
two pieces of C. (about 120 grains); 85, omitted; 86, Geo. Johnson, M.D., Brit. Med. Journ., 1877 (1), p. 607, a
man, æt. eighteen years, took within six hours seven hours seven doses of three drops each,
of hom. C. on sugar; 87, Chas. Hallet, Lancet, 1841-2
(2), p. 891, a woman, æt. thirty years, took about a scruple dissolved in rectified spirit
of wine.►
Great mental excitement, much resembling intoxication,
with occasional delirium, with external laborious breathing, performed without the
assistance of the abdominal muscles, great anxiety, languor, and giddiness, and occasional
loss of sight, but the pupil perfectly natural; also a very distressing sense of numbness
and tingling, with coldness of the extremities, so severe that she was at times quite unable
to walk, and as she expressed it, “they felt as if they did not belong to her;”
pulse 90, very feeble, [87]. ►
Immediately a very faint feeling, which compelled her to lie down flat on the hearth-rug,
and she nearly lost consciousness; this lasted about five minutes. When I arrived, her face
was very pale, and her pulse was weak. She was very drowsy after she got to bed, [80]. ► He immediately
became insensible; was soon found pulseless, with his extremities cold, and his face and
lips pallid, [79]. [920.]
► Within five minutes after the last dose, without the
slightest warning, he had a severe epileptic fit, in which his tongue was badly bitten. Ever
since he has felt “queer,” complaining of a peculiar cold sensation of the tongue,
extending for about half an inch from the tip, [86]. ► A most vacant expression of countenance, eyes wandering about
the room, speechless an powerless. Soon had a violent epileptic fit, which lasted for about
two minutes. She went into a state of stupor, and in about half an hour vomited freely, the
matter ejected smelling most strongly of Camphor. In the morning she complained of violent
pain in the head and chest, and still the taste and smell of Camphor were most disagreeable;
her mouth was slightly distorted, [77]. ► A fit of epilepsy, which lasted about ten minutes, followed
by an extraordinary state of exhaustion. The extremities were cold, the surface was covered
with clammy sweat; the pulse frequent and scarcely perceptible, and the pupil dilated. When
roused he had scarcely power to articulate. Occasional suppression of the urine for three
months afterwards, [74]. ►
Violent convulsions and nervous sequelæ, which continued for several months, [81]. ► Convulsions; speechless,
but perfectly conscious of all that was going on around him, [73].
► Breathing slow, stertorous; pulse 98 and forcible;
veins of forehead distended and tortuous; countenance livid, and covered with perspiration;
convulsions (after half an hour), violent, racking the whole frame, in which opisthotonos
was considerable; whole surface red with capillary congestion, the eyeballs injected and
prominent for an instant, and then the eyes forcibly closed, loud moaning, grinding of
teeth, and blowing of bloody saliva, through the closed teeth (after three-quarters of an
hour); this continued for about half an hour, when the opisthotonos gave place to rapid
rolling over and over, now this and sometimes that way, burying the face sometimes for a
moment in the bed, so that respiration was sometimes difficult, [76]. ► Burning of the mouth,
throat, and stomach (immediately); convulsions (in fifteen minutes); black in the face, body
arched backwards; the teeth so firmly clenched that nothing could separate them; the eyes
wide open, pupils quite insensible to strong light, but neither contracted nor dilated; the
eyeballs were rapidly rolling from side to side; the pulse was as times hardly to be felt;
at others it was full and bounding; the breathing was gasping, with long intervals between
each gasp (in three hours), [83]. ► Immediately became very giddy and unwell; threw her arms
about her sister. and was seized with strong convulsions. In about a quarter of an hour
there was free vomiting and she remained unconscious for some time longer. Some time later
she complained of headache and giddiness, and was evidently confused; pulse quick; skin
moist, [78]. ►
After four hours the child was observed to do something which elicited the remark, “Are
you dreaming?” No reply was given by the child, and it was noticed that something was
wrong with him; his eyes were fixed in a stare, and he stood motionless and unconscious. His
brother took him up to carry him to an adjoining room, when he immediately became convulsed
and perfectly, rigid, with his head and legs bent back, so that he could only be placed on
his side upon the floor. The convulsions increased until the flesh from the head to the
shoulders became purple, and the pulse decreased rapidly until it could not be felt. The
body then lost its rigidity, and was apparently lifeless; but in about ten seconds the pulse
could again be felt, the convulsions returned, and the child foamed at the mouth.
Applications of cold water brought him around in about four minutes; violent vomiting the
ensued; he was hysterical for a times, but within an hour he was so far recovered that he
could be put to bed, [84].
[930.]
First Experiment. ► I took one scruple of Camphor inclosed in a little of the
pulp of tamarinds. It made no alteration on the height of the mercury in the thermometer at
my stomach. But twenty minutes after, my pulse beat only 66; whereas, before I took the
dose, it had 68; some time after this it was reduced to 65.
Second experiment.
► I took
two scruples in a little syrup of pale roses; which immediately caused a sensation in my
mouth, something like that occasioned by taking strong peppermint-water, but much more
disagreeable. On looking at the thermometer at my stomach, the mercury, ten minutes after
the dose, was fallen one degree; and my pulse, which before was 77, only beat 75.
Twenty-five minutes after the dose, the mercury was risen to the same height at which it had
been before I took it, and my pulse was again at 77.Long before this time, however, I began to feel an unusual lassitude and
depression of spirits, accompanied with frequent yawnings and stretchings, which stole upon
me by slow and almost imperceptible degrees; till, at the end of three-quarters of an hour
from their first appearance, they were grown extremely troublesome. The mercury in the
thermometer remained at the same height as it had done before the dose; but my pulse was now
fallen from 77 to 67.Soon after this, my head grew so very giddy, that it was with great
difficulty I could walk across the room; when feeling myself, as I thought, stifled, I
imagined the fresh air would remove that symptom, and therefore opened the window and looked
out; but everything in the street appeared to me in the utmost tumult and confusion; in
which, imagining that I was involved, I felt myself in danger of losing my balance, and
tumbling from my position. I therefore staggered from the window to my bed, and having a
book with me, read several pages of it; but had no distinct idea of any one sentence, but
far less could I connect two or more of them together, so as to comprehend the meaning of
the author. At last, being able to read no longer for the tumultuous motion which I
perceived among the letters of the book, and finding it had no power to divert the attention
of my mind from the uneasy sensations which disturbed me, I arose to see whether I could
walk any better; but to my great mortification, found my head more confused, and could
hardly walk any at all. I then returned to the bed, and being a little thirsty, called for
some mutton-broth to drink. It being dinner-time, the servant, instead of bringing the
broth, covered the table as usual, not knowing that I was complaining. When the victuals
were brought, I got out of bed again, and with no small reluctance swallowed a little of the
broth, but could neither taste bread nor meat, on account of a nausea, which, however, was
not accompanied with any inclination to vomit.I now staggered again to bed, and took up the book I had left there, in
order to make one more effort to divert the attention of my mind from the uneasy sensations
I felt; but could not read, as the letters on the book formed only a confused group of
unsteady images. Now the confusion of my head increased so much, attended with such a noise
in my ears, that all knowledge of what was present, as well as memory of the past, was soon
entirely lost in as state of insensibility.Fortunately, about this time, one of my young gentlemen came into the
room, who told me afterwards, that I desired him to shut the windows, and then threw myself
backward on the bed, where I lay a few minutes very quiet, then started up, sat on the side
of it, and made some efforts to vomit, but threw nothing up; that I then flung myself back
again with dreadful shrieks, fell into strong convulsions, foamed at the mouth, stared
wildly, and endeavored to lay hold of and tear everything within my reach. This outrageous
fit was succeeded by a calm, something similar to fainting, with this difference only, that
my color was very florid. The servants, concluding me to be mad, durst not come near me, and
therefore sent for my brother, who lived at a little distance. When he arrived and spoke to
me, I awaked, as I thought, from a profound sleep, and had just sensibility enough to know
him. My pulse beat 100 in a minute. Though I was recovered so much from the fit I have just
now described as to know every one about me, what is strange is, I was entirely ignorant of
my own actions, as well as of the place where I was.At this time, feeling myself very warm, I got out of bed, threw myself
down on the floor, and thinking myself refreshed by the cold of it, called for some cold
water, and bathed my hands and face in it. This refreshed me a little, and in some degree
quieted a tremor which had seized on every part of my body. I drank plentifully of warm
water, and soon vomited; and though more than three hours had passed since I had taken the
Camphor, the greatest part of it was evacuated, undissolved, along with the water.In mentioned before that I had not only lost all remembrance of my past
actions, but also the knowledge of every present object; but I now began slowly to recover
both, though in a manner so amazing, that my business, connections, and everything of the
same nature, which I had entirely for gotten, at their first occurrence startled my mind, as
if they were things I had never before been acquainted with; and what is still more
extraordinary, after I knew every one of my family, I did not recollect the use of any part
of the furniture of my own room; and every object on which I cast my eyes appeared as
strange and new to me as if I had only that moment begun my existence.Whether it was owing to the vomiting or to the Camphor I know not, but I
was now affected with a pretty severe headache, which disturbed me a good deal all the
evening. Between 5 and 6 o’clock the giddiness of my head, singing in my ears, excessive
heat and tremor, which had been so severe on me before, were now considerably abated, but
far from being entirely gone. About 7 o’clock Dr. Monro returned to visit me, and found my
pulse reduced from 100 strokes in a minute to 80. We now applied a thermometer to my
stomach, and in half an hour the mercury arose two degrees above blood-warm; it was then
changed from my stomach to the doctor’s, and in half an hour the mercury fell more than one
degree.Between 8 and 9 o’clock, feeling myself still very much confused, I went
to bed, and soon after fell into a very calm and easy sleep, which continued till next
morning, with much less interruption than usual. When I awaked, I found my headache quite
gone, though a little of the confusion in it still remained. Some time after this, upon
going to stool, I was extremely costive, though I had not been so before; nor did I feel
anything of it afterwards. All that day I had a very great soreness and rigidity over my
whole body, as if I had been exposed to cold, or undergone some severe exercise; but this,
with all the other symptoms, went off entirely in a few days. Hoffman mentioned a case where
half a drachm given to a healthy man, neither augmented his natural heat, quickened his
pulse, brought on thirst, or occasioned any uneasy sensation whatever; and another, where
two scruples, almost as soon as swallowed, gave a remarkably severe headache, an extreme
coldness, pale countenance, languid pulse, a cold sweat over the head, loss of memory, etc.
Monsieur Duteau relates that one drachm was given to a girl in a very severe colic. After
taking it, the pain soon became easier, but it brought on such an extreme cold over all her
body, as resembled death, which could hardly be removed by the assistance of warm cloths
wrapt round her, and the internal use of wine, [72]. ► Violent headache, sickness, and inability to work for two
months, [82]. ►
Violent pain in the head and through the temples, accompanied with an indescribable
sensation of sinking and exhaustion, as though her breath were leaving her (immediately);
flushed face, eye suffused with blood, pupils dilated, extremities cold, pulse full, soft,
and about 40, breathing laborious, and a constant putting of the hand to the top of the
head, and again to the stomach, as though suffering great pain in both of those organs, the
brain and the stomach. In addition to these symptoms there was a total loss of speech for
the time being; but notwithstanding the power of speech was lost, her hearing remained
unimpaired, so that she understood every inquiry that was made, and nodded her head in
confirmation or denial of all questions asked her (after four hours), [73].® 2000
Article