Practice of Homoeopathy
By P. F. Curie, M. D.
Presented byChapter 8
Sketch Of Some Of the Most Important Articles
Of The Materia Medica
Nitric Acid * Phosphoric Acid * Aconite * Crude
Antimony * Arnica * Arsenic * Assafoetida
* Gold * Baryta * Belladonna *
Bryonia * Cannabis * Vegetable
Carbon * Carbonate of Ammonia * Carbonate of
Lime * Carbonate of Potassa * Causticum * Chamomile * Kina * Coffee * Conium Maculatum * Dulcamara * Graphitis
* St Ignatiuss Bean * Ipecacuanha * Lycopodium
* Magnesia * Soluble Mercury * Muriate
of Magnesia * Muriate of Soda * Nux Vomica * Petroleum * Phosphorus * Pulsatilla
* Cinchona * Rhus * Sarsaparilla
* Sepia * Silicea * Soda * Spongia * Stannum * Staphisagria
* Stramonium * Sulphur * Thuya
* Veratrum * ZincI shall now pass in review a certain number
of medicaments, and make a few practical remarks on each; but the reader is warned, that
these brief remarks can in no way dispense with the study of the materia medica – they are
given merely to obviate some difficulties for those who begin homoeopathy- they form an
introduction to the study of the materia medica pura.
This medicine is appropriate especially for
persons of brown complexion, and those in whom the stools are habitually too soft. In can
rarely be employed in those habits where there is a tendency to constipation.Nitric acid is employed with great success
in diseases of the bones, chiefly when those diseases have been preceded by syphilis or the
abuse of mercury.The circumstances in which it most exhibits
its efficacy, are thos in which the following morbid conditions exist: – Vertigo, which
obliges to sit down, pulsating headache, paralysis of the upper-eyelid, sense of weight in
the eyes, running of pus from the eyes, button-like eruption about the face, buzzings in the
ears, beatings in the ears, obstruction in the ears, hard-hearing, dryness of the nose,
bleeding of the nose, ulceration in the red portion of the lips, swelling of the glands of
the neck, burning heat in the throat, pain as of excoriation in the throat, bitter taste in
the mouth, closure of the throat after having drank fast, distaste for animal food,
impossibility of digesting milk, thirst (in suppuration of the lungs), accumulation of air
in the abdomen, expulsion of wind night and morning, colics, shootings in the abdomen when
touched, pain similar to that of ulcer in the lower part of the abdomen, borborygmi in the
abdomen, weight in the fundament, fetidness of the urine, pain in passing water, swelling of
the glands of the groin, leucorrhoea, dry coryza, obstruction in the nostrils, asthma, pain
in the sacrum, pain in the back, stiffness in the nape of the neck, shooting pains in the
shoulders, pain in the thighs in rising from a chair, feebleness in the knees, cramps in the
calfs of the legs in walking after having sat down, shooting pains in the heel in walking,
cold legs, icy coldness, itching inflammation in the limbs in consequence of the least cold,
tearing pain in the limbs, itching of tetters, reddish brown spots on the skin, warts, great
disposition to take cold, morning lassitude, after dinner weakness, agitation in the night,
frequent dreams, afternoon fever with cold and heat, night-sweat, want of serenity of mind,
sadness, chagrined temper, excessive irritibility, uneasiness as to the termination of the
disease with fear of death, aversion for employment.It has been found highly useful in
amaurosis.
This medicine is very efficient in cases of
nervous fever with stupor, in cerebral affections, in megrim, obstinate headach, some kinds
of ophthalmia, &c.
Aconite is, in the highest degree,
antiphlogistic; and it acts especially on the sanguiferous system. It is useful, therefore,
at the commencement of all inflammatory diseases, and all viscereal congestions of blood. It
has all the advantages of bloodletting, without its disadvantages. It is employed with the
greatest success in croup, pleurisies, acute hepatitis, inflammatory fevers, catarrhs,
inflammations of the brain and membranes, measles, small-pox, and beatings and palpitations
of the heart.Alternated with pulsatilla, it is a
preservative against measles; one globule being ordered, and, twenty-four hours afterwards,
one of pulsatilla, and both repeated several times. Even when the disease is not prevented,
it is thus rendered much less formidable.Aconite ought to be administered during the
hot stage of fever; but should be avoided during the cold stage.Above all other remedies, it is useful in
diseases caused by fear or anger. It is indispensable with women who have suffered fear or
disagreements during their periodical discharges; when one globule will be enough to
reestablish tranquility, whether the medicine be laid on the tongue or simply smelled by the
patient.Vegetable acids and wine destroy the
effects of aconite: they ought to be excluded from the regimen during the use of the
medicine. Indeed, all medicines which have great analogy in action with aconite, act so that
wine and acids serve as antidotes when it is wished to destroy their effects.
This medicine is very important in the
treatment of diarrhoea in lying-in women, colds in the head, fulness in the stomach,
fistulous suppurations, inflammatory rheumatisms, and some intermittent fevers.
Arnica soon subdues those accidents which
either accompany or follow a fall, a blow, or a bruise from a resisting body. It ensures the
success of the most dangerous operations by preventing any serious nervous accident, any too
violent febrile re-action, or any inflammation of too strong a nature. After the use of
arnica, the bruised parts exhibit only very slight ecchymoses, and often none at all, and
the pain quickly disappears.Angina in the chest, apoplexy, arthiritis,
bronchitis, cephalagia caused by a blow, cerebral disturbances, hooping cough, corns,
strains and sprains, epistaxis proceeding from a traumatic cause, eruptions of pimples,
excoriations in the sacrum in bad cases of fever among women after delivery, clefts in the
breasts, intermittent fevers, swelled cheeks, furoncles, gastroenteritis, heamatemesis,
hoemoptysis, bad lips, bites, facial neuralgia, odontalgia, traumatic ophthalmia, orchitis,
sore ears, paralysis caused by contusion, puerperal peritonitis, stings of bees, gnats,
etc., chronic rheumatisms, typhus, expansion of the veins, – these disorders are to be
overcome by arnica, especially when they are occasioned by external injury, or when the
patient experiences tearing pains, etc.
Arsenic, homoeopathically administered in
minute doses, displays itself favorably on a great many morbid states: for example, in many
quotidian fevers and intermittent fevers of a particular kind, in varices, shootings in the
sternum, vomitings after having eaten any food whatever, too great loss of blood during the
periodical discharges in women and other mishaps to the menstrual flow, constipation,
leucorrhoeal flow, and the excoriation which succeeds it, hardness of the liver, oppression
on the chest in mounting a height, bad smell of the breath, bleeding of the gums, bleeding
from the lungs, weight on the sternum, sense of weight in the stomach, pulling shootings in
the face, sleepiness in the evening, shiverings in the evening with pandiculation and
anxious agitation, difficulty in going to sleep again after having been awakened in the
night, lassitude in the legs, contusive pains in the knees, swellings with pain as if of
scorching in the great toes, old ulcers in the legs which give burning and lancinating pain,
plucking pains in the hips, groin and thighs, plucking and drawing pains at night from the
elbow to the axilla, painful swellings of the inguinal glands, obstructions in the glandular
system, chiefly in the mesentery, amongst infants of a very tender age, great emaciation and
a feeble constitution, amongst persons of a dry and irritable habit, in couperose, cancerous
ulcers, chronic cutaneous, eruptions, dropsies, some complaints of the abdomen, &c. – In
all these, arsenic produces the most salutary effects.
Assafoetida is one of the most powerful
remedies against diseases of the bones, – necrosis, caries, exostosis, and chiefly when
these diseases are of a scrofulous or rachitic nature.
This substance is productive of the best
effects in ophthalmias and other scrofulous affections, spots on the cornea, indurations of
the glands, some mental diseases, hysteria, hypochondriasis, the desire of destroying ones
self, chronic coryza.
Baryta is of great service in multitude of
cases, and chiefly when chronic diseases which it tends to cure put on the following as
their predominant symptoms:- Headach immediately over the eyes, calvitia, eruption over and
behind the ears, eruption on the lobe of the ear, disagreeable dryness in the nose, crusts
below the nose, stiffness in the nape of the neck, prickings in the nape of the neck,
shakings here and there of the teeth, burning shootings in a hollow tooth when a hot body is
bit, dryness of the mouth, weight in the stomach after a meal, stomach-ache, fasting and
after having eaten, feebleness of the genital functions, coryza, mucous choking in the
chest, tongue clogged with cough in the night, cough throughout the night, pain at the
sacrum, pain in the deltoid muscle on raising the arms, numbness in the arm when lain on,
numbness of the fingers, fetid perspiration of the feet, great tendency to become cool, want
of strength, sleep interrupted by dreams, night convulsions in the muscles of the whole
body, night sweats.
Belladonna is one of the most precious
homoeopathic medicines. It is applicable to a very great number of diseases affecting
childhood-particularly when occurring in sanguine and lymphatic temperaments and scrofulous
constitution.This medicine is the preservative and
specific against scarlatina, such as is described by Sydenham. It is useful to combat
another form of disease, miliary purpura, which is often confounded with scarlatina; but it
is not the preventive against that disease.Angina with swelling of the exterior of the
neck yields, with wonderful ease, to this medicine. Many headache, ophthalmias, erysipelas,
fevers-gastric, bilious, puerperal and eruptive, glandular engorgements, above all of the
abdomen, rheumatisms, inflammations, bronchitis, hooping-cough, cerebral inflammations,
convulsions, miscarriages, mental alienation, rage, facial neuralgia, otitis, peritonitis,
all find their remedy in the use of this powerful medicine.
The resemblance between its effects and
those of rhus are remarkable. Bryonia totally changes the moral state. Its fever consists
chiefly of the cold stage, and its symptoms are made evident or are increased in a
particular manner during the motion of the body.This substance is applicable chiefly when
the diseases are accompanied by rending and tearing pains in the chest and limbs, which are
increased by moving; when there is constipation; and it is the chief remedy in inflammatory
affections of the chest, pleurisy, pneumonia, acute hepatitis, in rheumatic fevers,
erysipelas in the breasts in pregnant women, in asthma threatening suffocation, and
inflammatory fever. It is useful in ascites, nervous fevers, eruptions on the face, pains of
the head and lower belly.
Cannabis is used with great success in
gonorrhoea, paraphymosis, certain ophthalmias of difficult cure, leucorrhoea, bronchitic
catarrhs, certain diseases of the organs of sense, cataract. Fatigues caused by walking are
cured by the Persians by means of this substance; and it is quite a homoeopathic remedy.This medicine is especially recommended for
the treatment of amaurosis.
Carbon displays its utility in cases in
which the following morbid states occur:- headach by being heated, disease of the eyes
following work which has fatigued those organs, bleeding from the gums, fetidness in the
mouth, the teeth loose for a long time past, bitter taste in the mouth, bitter risings,
empty risings, continual nausea, long standing dislike for meat, fulness and pressure on the
stomach after having eaten, shootings in the sides under the ribs, prolonged hoarseness,
catarrh, and complaint of the throat in measles, dropsy of the chest, plucking pain in the
back, liability to take cold, pain as of dislocation in the limbs, contusive pain in the
limbs on awaking in the morning, tendency to tremble, convulsions in some of the limbs
during the day, uneasiness after excess of wine in the evening, involuntary flow of urine
during sleep, fetid ulcers on the legs which bleed readily and cause sharp pain,
sleeplessness caused by agitation in the body.
This medicine is especially useful in
weakness following great fatigue. It is productive of the greatest service in asthma and in
dropsies of the chest.It is appropriate chiefly in cases
exhibiting the following symptoms:-vacillating disturbance of the sight, hardness of
hearing, with suppurations and itchings in the ear, swelling of the glands of the neck, with
itching eruption on the the face and body, pain in the nape of the neck, chronic
unsteadiness of the teeth, swelling of the interior of the mouth, bitter taste in the mouth,
especially after having eaten, loss of appetite in the morning, stomach-ache, constipation,
discharge of blood by the anus (running piles), menstrual flow in too small quantity,
leucorrhoea, dry coryza, short breathing, asthma, cough with shooting pains in the sacrum,
pain in a wrist which had been injured a long time previous, cramps in the soles of the
feet, great weakness in the limbs, sleeping during the day, agitation at night, nightmare in
sleep, shivering at night, sweatings, anxiety.
This medicine is one of the most powerful
anti-psoric remedies, and, as Hahnemann has observed, especially when the following states
are predominant:- vertigo on ascending stairs, vertigo on going up to any height, as the
roof of a house, habitual state in the head as if it were pressed in front by a board,
trembling before breakfast, headach as if from repeated strokes of the hammer within the
head, after having walked in the open air so quick as to be obliged to lie down, piercing
pain in the forehead as if the head were splitting, headach, beating in the middle of the
brain, headach and buzzing in the head with heat in the jaws, headach caused by reading and
writing, headach in lifting up in a wrong manner a heavy body, icy-cold in the right side of
the head, evening sweats in the head, falling off of the hair, flying of feathers apparently
before the eyes and embarrassment of the sight, presbytia, impossibility of reading without
spectacles having convex glasses, obscurity of the sight in reading, obscurity of the sight
after having eaten, pressure in the eyes, flow of pus from the eyes, heat and tearing pains
in the eyelids, shootings in the eyes, weeping of the eyes in the open air, itching and
eruption of the face, beatings in the ears, buzzings in the ears, cracking in the ear in
swallowing, hardness of hearing, obstruction in the nose by yellow and fetid pus,
distressing dryness of the nose, pain in the submaxilliary glands, voluminous goitre,
difficult dentition, swelling of the gums, toothach after the use of any cold drink,
shootings in the teeth, day and night, renewed by cold and heat, dryness of the tongue on
awaking in the morning, accumulation of mucusin the throat, risings after having eaten,
bitter risings, bitter taste in the mouth in the morning, repugnance to smoking when one has
acquired a habit for it, loss of appetite, continual thirst with want of appetite, hunger on
leaving the table, or a little time afterwards, devouring appetite in the morning when the
patient cannot become satisfied, stomach feeble, languishing digestion, pressure on the
stomach, pressure with shooting pains in the stomach after having eaten, pressure on the
stomach in coughing, spasms of the stomach, pressure at night in the praecordial region,
heat after having eaten, hardness of the abdomen, swelling in the praecordial region with
painful pressure, borborygmi, colics in the superior portion of the abdomen, aching of the
belly as if proceeding from pressure there, pinchings without diarrhoea, bowels often or
always relaxed, producing two stools a day, constipation, ascarides in the rectum,
projection of button-like haemorrhoids on going to stool, with burning pain; after the
stool, sensation of slackening and of bruising; heat in the ureter, too frequent discharge
of urine, bleeding from the ureter, passage of blood for urine, hemorrhage from the uterus
during menses, tearing pains in the abdomen and painful feeling at the sacrum, whites
previous to the periodical discharge, leucorrhoea like milk, leucorrhoea accompanied by
itching and heat, itching in the pudendum during the running of whites, frequent sneezing,
dry coryza, catarrhal discharge, long in establishing itself in the nose, frequent coryza,
roughness of the voice, dry cough all the night while in bed, the same while sleeping,
yellow and fetid expectoration, disorder of respiration in bending the body, heat in the
chest, shootings in the side of the chest during motion, shootings in the left side on
inclining the body to that side; pain at night in the back and arms, pain in the back as if
there were dislocation there, stiffness in the nape of the neck, pluckings and tearings at
night in the arms, sudden lassitude in the arms which are paralysed, the hands as if dead
when grasping any object, swelling of the hands, numbness and deadness in the fingers, also
when in a warm place; gouty knots in the articulations of the hand and fingers; formication
similar to that of “pins and needles” in the fingers, frequent paralysis of the
fingers, shootings in the thigh on ascending, heaviness in the legs, stiffness in thelegs,
cramps in thelegs, swelling of the knee, red spots on the legs, ulcerations on the inferior
extremities, swelling of the soles of the feet, sweating of the feet, heat in the soles of
the feet, painful sensibility in the great toes, pains in corns, the feet as if dead at
night, a visible shivering in the skin from head to foot, state after which the patient is
as if shaken, numbness of the limbs, the skin of the body rough as if covered with a miliary
eruption, great tendency to twist and strain the loins, which makes the neck stiff, with
headach, great sensibility to cold, great tendency to become cold, abundant perspiration
although only moderate movements are made, great lassitude following a moderate walk in the
open air, tearings in the limbs, the arms and legs, warts, extreme fatness in young persons,
failure of strength, lassitudes, great lassitude after the least walking, extreme fatigue
caused by the action of talking, sleeping in the day, wish for sleep early in the evening,
frequent dreams at night, dreams distressing to the mind, disordered imagination during the
night, inquietude in the evening at twilight, heat and anxiety in the night, asthma during
the night, nothing but turning about in bed throughout the night, pressure during the night
in the praecordial region which ascends to the larynx and thence to the head, thirst through
the night, night sweats, tertian fever appearing in the evening, at first heat in the face,
followed by cold, perspiration with anxiety, extreme nervous susceptibility, great
disposition to frighten onles self, disposition to weep, uneasiness of the mind with
heaviness in the legs, fits of despondency caused by loss of health.Lime cures often, without the help of other
medicines, a disease of the most formidable kind, and one till the present time regarded as
incurable, – I allude to epilepsy.This medicine is appropriate, chiefly in
childhood, for athletic temperaments and scrofulous constitutions, in chorea, diseases of
the heart, eruptions on the face, suppurations of a bad character, glandular disease in the
chest and abdomen, dry chronic cough, amaurosis, amenorrhoea.
The efficacy of this medicine is
principally shewn in cases in which the following morbid conditions prevail:- vertigo
appearing to come from the stomach, swimming in the head, the head shaken, want of memory,
afflux of blood toward the head, confused noise in the head, headach in a coach, painful
pressure at the occiput, dryness of the hair, falling off of the hair, great tendency in the
outer part of the head to get cool, flying heats in the face, yellow complexion, puffiness
of the face, blindness in light, spots flying before the eyes, running from the eyes,
closure of the eyelids in the morning from suppuration, feebleness of hearing, hard hearing,
shootings in the ears, shooting pains from the inner to the outer part of the ears, dulness
of smell, toothach only while eating, lancinating toothach, accumulation of mucus in the
throat, acid taste in the mouth, perversion of taste, bitter taste in the mouth, frequent
risings, sour risings, nausea, desire to vomit accompanied by anxiety, bulimia, great taste
for sugar; nausea after having eaten, fulness of the stomach after eating, tension over the
stomach, pressure upon the liver; pain in bending, as if the liver had changed from its
place; inertness and cold in the abdomen, colics similar to the pains of labour, abundant
production of wind, displacement of wind, not discharge of wind, continual discharge of
wind, itching at the anus, piles in the anus, inertness of the rectum, difficult passage of
the stools which are moulded and which are too voluminous, painful pressure in the rectum
before the escape of wind, constipation and difficult passage of the excrements,
constipation, the same for two days, mucus which accompanies the alvine evacuations, anxiety
previous to going to stool, frequent desires to pass urine day and night, dullness of
venereal appetite, no erections, absence of pollutions; periodical discharges which appear
too soon; itching eruption and excoriation between the thighs during the menses; running
from the vagina; obstruction in the nostrils, dry coryza, cough, cough in the night,
spitting of pus, spittings of pus with a cough, spasm of chest in coughing, difficulty of
breathing, whistling in the chest, asthma in the morning, spasmodic asthma, beating of the
heart, pain in the sacrum, pains in the sacrum following a fall, painful plucking from the
sacrum as far as the middle of the back, plucking pain in the back, stiffness between the
shoulder-blades, stiffness in the nape of the neck, feebleness of the muscles of the neck,
pressure on the shoulders, numbness in the arms, want of power in the arms, lassitude of the
arms in the morning while in bed, stiffness of the elbow-joint, trembling of the hands in
writing, paralytic pain in the articulation of the hand, nocturnal tearing pains in the
legs, cold feet, fetid perspiration of the feet, numbness of the limbs, tendency to shiver
in the day, tendency to twist and strain the loins, want of transpiration and impossibility
to perspire, eruptions, great tendency to perspire in walking, desire to sleep at an early
hour in the evening, dreams, foolish dreams in sleep, unquiet dreams, convulsions in sleep,
morning heat in bed, night sweat, ill humour, disposition to frighten ones self.A patient attacked by ulcerous pulmonary
phthisis will rarely be cured without the use of this antipsoric remedy.
This medicine is a very powerful agent
against certain pains in the head, certain kinds of ophthalmia, cataract, spasmodic pains in
the stomach, obstinate rheumatic pains.Hahnemann discovered that it is, more than
all other remedies, appropriate for cases in which the following symptoms exist:- dull
pressure in the brain producing a sense of fulness, shooting pains in the temples,
lancinating pains toward the top of the head, sparks passing before the eyes, as well as
black spots, incipient amaurosis, suppuration of the eyes, buzzing and noise in the head and
ears, eruption about the nose, old growths about the nose and eyebrows, painful teeth driven
into their sockets, long suppuration of parts of the gum, dental fistula, mucous affection
of the throat and back part of the palate; mucous spittle, which requires efforts to enable
it to be thrown off, inflammation of the glands of the neck similar to goitre, nausea almost
to fainting, pressure and painful sensation in the stomach, heaviness of the stomach after
having eaten bread, pressure at the superior part of the abdomen, swollen abdomen in
children, puffiness of the inferior part of the abdomen, expulsion of wind, with hard
stools, long constipation, tearings of the rectum in going to stool, pressing desire to pass
urine, with thirst, involuntary passage of urine day and night, involuntary emissions,
frequent pollutions without erection, stoppage of the periodical discharges, running from
the vagina, obstruction of the nostrils, short cough, shooting pains in the heart, painful
stiffness of the back, especially in rising from a chair, tearing and pulling in the
shoulder blades, pulling in the arms, painful pressure over the elbow, sensation of fulness
in the hand on seizing an object, shooting from the finger as far as the elbow, cold feet,
swelling of the feet, insecure walking of a child who falls on the slightest cause, beatings
of the heart, agitation in the body, anxiety, melancholy, gloomy thoughts night and day,
weeping.
Chamomile administered in the smallest
dose, appears especially to diminish greatly excess of sensibility to pain and the violent
effects of pain on the moral feelings. Thus it appeases a multitude of evils to which
coffee-drinkers are subject, and those who have been medically treated by means of
palliative narcotics. Hence we ought not to employ it for persons who can support pain with
patience and resignation: this remark is of the greatest importance.Its action being but a short duration, it
is useful only in acute diseases, or altogether as auxiliary in chronic ones. It is chiefly
indicated in catarrhal and bilious affections following an attack of passion or deep sorrow,
principally amongst children and persons very sensible to pain and highly susceptible to its
effect. It is valuable in inflammations, when the inflammatory state has not attained to a
high degree.Chamomile appears to have a direct action
on the ganglionic system; and, whether in childhood or adult age, to produce disturbance in
the abdominal organs.It displays its utility in certain forms of
angina, in asthmas affecting children, bronchitis, cardalgia, colics, convulsions in
maladies brought on by teething, diarrhoea, diseases of infants at the breast,
gastro-enteritis bilious complaints, piles, jaundice, metrorrhagia, toothach, ophthalmia,
puerperal peritonitis, acute rheumatism, &c.
This medicine is useful in nocturnal
convulsive coughs, hooping-cough, in intermittent fevers with vomiting, canine appetite, in
affections produced by worms in cases of weakness produced by loss of blood and other
humours.
Coffee is often useful in certain pains of
the head, in violent pains during accouchement, in a state of over-excitement which is
sometimes observed in lying-in women, in all strong pains, and acute irritations, above all,
in sleeplessness, and in the effects produced by great joy.
The cases in which this remedy displays is
greatest efficacy, are when there exists the greatest possible analogy between the symptoms
produced by it, and the most characteristic ones of the chronic malady: that is, where the
following conditions predominate:- vertigo in looking around, as if the patient were about
to fall to one side, chronic lancinating headach, attack of tearing headach which obliges
the patient to lie down, heaviness in the head, shooting at the top of the head, obscure
points and coloured fillets before the eyes in a room; sense of cold in the eyes on going
into the open air, itching in the eyes when they are rubbed, smarting heat, myopia,
blindness in the light of day, heat in the face, itching eruption in the face, shooting
pains in the ear on going into the open air, tearing and shooting pains in and about the
ears, buzzing and tingling in the ears, plucking shootings in the ears from within to the
outside, confused noise in the ear, accumulation of wax, induration of the parotid glands,
obstruction in the nose in the morning, obstruction in both the nostrils, obstruction of the
nose having lasted for years, painful sensation of dryness in the nose, running of pus from
the nose; lips dry and scaling, plucking pain in sound teeth, involuntary deglutition,
scratching in the throat, frequent empty risings all the day, noise risings, risings with
the taste of food, soda which rises into the throat, fulness in the hollow of the neck, with
attempts at risings which do not however supervene; bread not swallowed and a distaste for
it, nausea in pregnant women; bulimia; heat after having eaten, which rises into the the
pharynx; weight in the stomach after having eaten; painful constriction in the stomach;
spasm of the stomach; displacement of wind, borborygmi and gurglings in the belly, tightness
of the abdomen; sensation of smarting in the abdomen in walking on pavement, fulness in the
abdomen on awaking in the morning, twisting and disturbance in the umbilical region, colic
when wind is endeavouring to escape, stools tinged with blood, hard stools only every other
day, diarrhoea, constipation with useless efforts to go to stool; tearing pains in the
ureter on passing water, pressure in the bladder as if the urine would pass out at once, on
passing it stops suddenly and does not recommence till after some instants, urine thick,
turbid and white; impotence and want of erection, erections which last too short a time,
want of energy in the venereal act; hysteric spasms, pressure towards the fundament, and
shooting pains in the vagina, shooting pains in the external labia, hysteric spasms which
commence by a movement above pudendum, the entire abdomen then swells, the sensation of
risings into the chest, and shooting pains are felt in the left side; itching of the
genitals within, pressure towards the fundament and plucking pain in the thigh during
presence of the periodical discharge, menses too abundant; cough in scrofulous subjects,
asthma in awaking in the morning, morning asthma, short breath in walking, shooting pains in
the sternum; agitation in the chest; weight and compression over the hanches; tension in the
nape of the neck, smarting pains in the inferior cervical vertebra, smarting in the
arm-pits, sweating in the palms of the hands, plucking pain in the hanches, lassitude in the
knees, tendency of the feet to become cold, cold feet; nettle eruptions after great
exercise, frequent red spots and itchings on the body; old moist eruptions, brown spots on
the body; paroxysms of hysteria and hypochondriasis, fit of shootings which come from the
stomach to the left side and extend as far as the back, lassitude throughout the body,
especially in the legs; sudden oppression in walking, sleeping during the day, sleepiness in
the evening with closure of the eyelids; the patient obtaining no sleep in bed until late at
night; sleep with foolish dreams, many dreams during the night; tendency to become
frightened; disgust for employment; melancholy, low spirits, tendency to disappointment, to
low spirits, and hypochrondriasis, irritablity of temper.
This medicine is a specific in diarrhoea,
in pains and uneasiness produced by cold, in some epidemic fevers, and in various acute
diseases caused by taking cold.
Graphitis is useful chiefly when one or
more of the following symptoms predominate in the patient:- buzzing in the head, state as if
of intoxication on getting out of bed in the morning, falling off of the hair, the same on
the sides of the head, itching in the head, tinea, perspiration in the head on going into
the open air, transient heats in the face, aversion for daylight, confusion of the letters
in reading, dimness of sight on stooping, sparks passing before the eyes, weight and
shooting pains in the eyes with weeping, eruption of crusts behind the ears, confused noise
and tingling in the ears, buzzing in the ear, dryness of the internal ear, distressing
dryness of the nose, dry crusts in the nose, ulceration in the corners of the mouth, ulcers
inside the lips, lancinating toothach after having drank cold fluid, risings from the
stomach, morning nausea, nausea every time of eating, dislike for baked food, immoderate
hunger, feebleness of the stomach, weight in the stomach, weight in the abdomen, hardness of
the abdomen, the abdomen blown up with wind on rising from table, blowing up of the lower
part of the belly (taenia), accumulation of wind, expulsion of wind, escape of wind in too
large quantity, chronic constipation with hardness of the abdomen and hardness of the region
of the liver, stools habitually too soft, flow of mucus from the rectum, haemorrhoidal pains
at the anus, want of passing urine in the night, immoderate venereal appetite, ejection of
semen almost involuntarily and without erection, want of venereal appetite, want of morning
erection, menses flowing in insufficient quantity and too pale, discharge reappearing not
soon enough, spasms in the abdomen during menses, pains in the chest during menstrual flow,
weakness during the menses, leucorrhoea, obstruction in the nose, coryza in the daytime when
the weather becomes cold; false voice in singing; cough; night cough, asthma, oppression of
the chest, pain in the nape of the neck, gout knotty in the fingers, excoriation between the
thighs, tetters in the thighs, numbness of the thigh, cold feet at night in bed, burning
heat in the feet, suppuration of the toes, deformity, thickness of the toe-nails, numbness
in the left side of the chest, of the arms and limbs, cramps in the ham, the calfs of the
legs, &c., tendency to sprain the loins, plucking pain in the limbs, want for a long
time of transpiration over the body, perspiring on the least movement, difficulty of going
to sleep, terrifying and unquiet dreams, morning sleep which fatigues the head, sleep at
night which affords no refreshment, foolish dreams in sleep-anxiety at night driving the
patient out of bed, inquietude and anguish in the morning, ill humour, aversion to work.In cases which there has been for a long
time constipation, and the periodical discharges in women retarded for several days beyond
their accustomed time, graphite cannot often be replaced by any other remedy.
In cases of injury to health, resulting
from offensive conduct suffered by persons of mild disposition, who do not resent these
injuries by fits of anger, but conceal their wounded feelings; in short, in those who are
accustomed to dwell in silence upon injuries received, St. Ignatiuss Bean is an excellent
remedy.Thus, epileptic fits, even of a very
chronic kind, brought on by contrariety or other motive of indignation, are prevented by the
speedy employment of St. Ignatiuss Bean. Epilepsy in young persons, following fear, may
be cured by this medicine, if the fits have not been repeated a great many times.Many cases of chorea, of hysteria, of pains
in the abdomen, cramps in the uterus, periodical pains in the stomach, gastric
embarrassment, catalepsy, certain forms of intermittent fever, have been cured by St.
Ignatiuss Bean.This medicine presents a very peculiar
character, which it is important to be well acquainted with. It causes alternate effects,
which succeed each other with great rapidity. This is the reason that when this substance
had been made use of, it sometimes happens that the first dose is not credited as being of
any use, because the patient feels first symptoms opposite to those of the disease, and, in
consequence of the law of reaction, the disease is aggravated; as happens in cases where a
palliation has been employed: in that case, the same medicine is to be repeated, when then
acts properly.It is desirable to administer this medicine
in the morning. It taken but a little time before going to bed, it produces too much
agitation during the night.
This substance is highly useful in certain
forms of diarrhoea and vomiting, vomitings of pregnant women, and cholera.It displays a specific efficacy chiefly in
haemorrhages, in spasmodic asthmas which assume the form of paroxysms, in suffocating
spasms, and in some kinds of tetanus.Certain kinds of intermittent fevers are
perfectly cured by this substance.Diverse consecutive symptoms, which follow
the taking of arsenic and china, yield to ipecacuanha.When any person has been poisoned by a
large dose of opium, recourse must be had to a large dose of ipecacuanha,-thirty, forty,
sixty drops of the strong tincture, unless indeed, camphor or coffee be better indicated.Ipecacuanha is always productive of great
service in pulmonary catarrhs, in gastric affections accompanied by disgusts, wishes to
vomit, etc.
This is one of the most powerful
anti-psoric remedies. It is employed with the most marked advantage in scrofulous
affections, fungus of the cornea, ulcers of a bad kind, especially those of the nose, the
tonsils, and the feet, with heat and itching, in humid eruptions of a purulent kind, in
hepatic spots, in dry bloody cough, asthma, phthisis, vertigo, congestions in the head,
headachs, plica, dryness of the skin, coldness of the exterior of the body, especially of
the extremities.It is especially useful in chronic
diseases, in which the following symptoms predominate:- vertigo principally on stooping,
flow of blood toward the head, heat there, attacks of tearing pain at the top of the head,
in the forehead, the temples, the eyes, the nose, even in tooth, taking place when we go to
bed, tearing pains in the forehead, here and there every afternoon, headach at the exterior
of the head during the night, tearing, piercing and scraping pain; heavy tension in the
head; alopecia; the eyes sensitive in artificial light, prickings in the eyes in the evening
in consequence of the light, pressure in the eyes, chaps in the eyes, suppuration from the
eyes, ophthalmia, with suppuration in the night and weeping during the day, weeping of the
eyes in the open air, presbyopia, disturbed sight as if feathers passed before the eyes,
sparks and black points passing before the eyes, sparks and black points passing before the
eyes, frequent paroxysms of heat in the face, itching eruption in the face, tumefaction and
tension of the face, ephelides in the face, excessive sensibility of the ear, disagreeable
impression produced by organ-music; tingling in the ears, hard hearing; bleeding at the
nose, suppuration of the nostril during the night, crusts in the nose, ulcerated nostrils;
hard swelling at the nose, suppuration of the nostril during the night, crusts in the nose,
ulcerated nostrils; hard swelling at one of the sides of the neck, stiffness at the back of
the neck; absence of thirst while there is dryness of the lips and mouth, so that these
parts stretch, the tongue moves with difficulty, and the words become unintelligible; loss
of the sense of taste, tongue foul and clogged, mucous taste in the mouth in the morning,
the patient brings up mucus in coughing, chronic complaint at the throat, bitterness in the
mouth with nausea in the morning, immoderate hunger, canine appetite, want of appetite, the
appetite gone after the first few mouthfuls, distaste for cooked and warm ailment,
repugnance for brown bread or meat, too great love of sweets, tendency of milk to bring on
diarrhoea; risings of fat, acid risings, heartburn, phlegm, frequent or continual nausea,
the stomach weak in the morning, pressure on the stomach, heaviness in the stomach after
having eaten, swelling in the pit of the stomach and pain when it is touched, fulness in the
stomach and belly, the abdomen blown up, want of escape for wind, borboyrgmus in the belly,
indurations in the lower part of the belly, pinchings in the belly, colics in the superior
part of the abdomen, heat in the lower part of the belly, tension in the hypochondria, pains
in the liver after having eaten with satiety, palpitations of the heart during digestion,
stools difficult to be passed and not without great efforts, constipation for several days,
pains at the arms after having eaten and after having gone to stool, gripings in the rectum
and bladder, gravel, pressing desire to pass urine, too frequent desire to pass urine with
earnest wishes, itching in the ureter on the passage of water and afterwards, hemorrhage
from the ureter, ineffective erection of the male organ, want of erection, absence of
pollutions, absence of the venereal appetite, impotence for some past years, too quick
seminal ejaculations, periodical discharges in women flowing too long and in too great
abundance, menses suppressed by fear for a long time, flow of whites after gripings at the
inferior part of the abdomen, humid coryza, coryza and cough, dry coryza, obstruction of
both the nostrils and cough after drinking, dry cough lasting day and night, dry morning
cough of some years standing, cough and expectoration, cough with purulent spitting,
shootings in the left breast, heat in the chest during descent, continual pressure at the
back part of the side of the chest, short breathing in children, continual oppression of the
chest, the least work rendering the breathing short, shootings in the sacrum on raising the
body after bending, pain in the back at night, tearing pains in the shoulders, plucking
pains in the nape of the neck as far as the occiput day and night, plucking pain in the
arms, pain in the bones of the arm at night, numbness of the arms, the same also when they
were simply raised, numbness of a spasmodic character in the arms at night, loss of strength
in the arms, nocturnal pain of the bones of the elbow, stiffness of the wrist from gout,
numbness of the hands, stiffness in the joints during work, tearing pains in the
articulations of the fingers, redness, stiffness, swelling, and tearing arthiritic pains in
the articulation of the fingers, stiffness in the fingers produced by the knots of gout,
tearing pains at night in the limbs, tearing pains in the knees, stiffness or swelling in
the knee, heat in the limbs, painful contraction in the calfs of the legs in walking,
swelling of the ankle, cramps in the feet, cold feet, cold and perspiration of the feet,
abundant perspiration in the feet, puffiness of the soles of the feet, pain in the soles of
the feet in walking, turning backward of the toes in walking, cramps in the toes, corns in
the feet, corns painful, perspiration during the day on working a little, perspiration in
the day and chiefly on the face from stirring or moving a little, dryness of the skin on the
hands, the skin chaps and becomes split here and there, itching during the day on warming
ones self, itching at night, before lying down, painful eruption on the neck and chest,
boils, old ulcers on the legs with tearing pains at night, itching and heat; cramps in the
fingers and calfs of the legs, spasmodic contractions of the fingers and toes, tearing pains
in arms and legs, tearing in the knees, the feet, and the fingers, painful pluckings in the
limbs, transient heat; varices in pregnant women, great tendency to twist and strain the
loins, as well as to become cold, want of heat in the body, numbness of the limbs, and in
the arms, hands, and legs, day and night; insensibility of the arms and legs after having
walked a little, lassitude of the feet, and heat in the soles of the feet; internal
debility, lassitude in the limbs, lassitude on walking, gaping often and sleepiness,
sleepiness during the day, sleep at night disturbed frequently by dreams, constant dreaming
in sleep, unquiet dreams, terrifying dreams, dreams often in the night, tendency to be a
long time before going to sleep, thoughts preventing sleep, tertian fever with acid
vomiting, puffiness of the face and hands after cold, great sensitiveness, fear of
everything, capricious and irritable temper, morose uneasy mind, desponding character,
tendency to seek quarrels.It is when lycopodium is indicated
homoeopathically, after calcarea has exhausted its action, that it produces effects best
adapted to follow up the treatment.
This medicine shews itself efficacious
chiefly in chronic maladies, in which are found the following conditions:- black spots
before the eyes, frequent sudden loss for words, difficulty of comprehension, stiffness in
the nape of the neck, inguinal hernia, constipation, hindrance of the periodical discharge,
want of erection, obstruction in the nose, dry coryza, fits of tearing pains in the axilla,
the same during the night, with formication as far as the fingers, and impossibility of
moving them in the slightest degree, the whole arm painful, boils on the leg, itching,
frequent and sudden falling without loss of consciousness whether while stationary or
walking; sleepiness during the day, every night dreams equally terrifying caused by
oppression at night in the abdomen.
This medicine is remarkable for the variety
of symptoms which it produces in those persons who make use of it. It is employed
successfully against aphthae, ulcerations of the mouth, glandular obstructions, angina with
salivation, inflammations of the tongue, cramps in the stomach, diarrhoea, dysentery,
venereal complaints, parotitis, small-pox, scrofula, rheumatism, gout, acute hydrocephalus,
many kinds of toothachs, in the precursors of amaurosis, &c.
This medicine render the greatest service
in the following cases:-daily headach, pulsation in the ears, heavy pain in the liver, the
same in walking and touching it, but especially on lying down on the right side, great and
continual swelling of the abdomen, with constipation, long-standing and painful hardness of
the right side of the abdomen, which extend themselves to the thighs, and are followed by a
flow of white discharge, stools round, hard, difficult of passage, insufficient in quantity,
and retained, numbness of the arms on awaking in the morning, sweating of the feet.Muriate of magnesia exists in abundance in
the ocean, and, by the properties which it is known to possess of developing a number of
phenomena in the human system, we can explain the great efficacy of sea-baths in many
chronic diseases.
A very powerful medicine. The best effects
are produced by it in incipient cataracts, when the patient sees insects flying before his
eyes, and when, as he reads, the letters seem to change places; in cases of incontinence of
urine, chlorosis and leucorrhoea.This remedy is one of the most valuable in
vomitings of pregnant women, in loss of smell, induration of the glands, dental fistulas,
heartburn, inappetence, cardalgia.The cases in which this medicine chiefly
exhibits its curative power are those in which, amongst others, the following states are
observed:- vertigo, in which all objects turn round before the eyes, and the subject of it
is in danger of falling forwards on the ground; vertigo, with joltings in the head and
giddiness, incapability of thinking, dizzy headach, heaviness in the head, daily heaviness
in the head, chiefly in the occiput, which causes the patient to shut the eyelids, headach,
as if the head would split open, tearing and lancinating headach, which obliges the patient
to lie down, shootings in the parietal bone, morning headach on walking, plucking and
beating pain in the forehead, strokes in the head, headach, in which it seems that there are
strokes from a hammer, crusts on the scalp, button-like eruption on the forehead, shootings
over the eyes, painful pressure over the eyes, obscurity of the sight in walking or
stopping, sudden obscurity of sight on the access of tearing and lancinating headach, kind
of gauze appearing before the eyes, which prevents anything seen, incipient amaurosis, the
sight troubled as if feathers were being passed before the eyes, presbyopia, confusion of
the letters in reading, shutting up of the eyelids in the evening, flow of tears from the
eyes, inflammation of the eyes, viscous matter in the external angles of the eyes, issue of
pus from the eyes during the night, buzzing in the ears; pain as of internal ulceration in
the jaw-bones in chewing; dryness in the nose, want of smell, swelling of the upper lip,
smarting of the upper lip, blisters on the inner side of the upper lip, which are painful to
the touch, frequent swelling of the maxillary glands, dental fistulae, blisters on the
tongue, chronic affections of the throat, from which proceed mucous ejections in the
morning, bitter taste in the mouth, risings from the stomach, disagreeable risings after
having eaten fat or milk, sour risings, heartburn, heat which ascends from the stomach;
contraction of the throat, with flow of water into the mouth and sensation of whirling in
the stomach, distaste for fat aliments, vomitings of food, distaste for bread, want of
appetite, immoderate appetite for dinner and supper, continual thirst, bulimia, with fulness
and satiety after having eaten but a little, pressure on the praecordial region, pressure on
the stomach, spasm of the stomach, pressure on the stomach with nausea and sudden depression
of power, pain in the praecordial region when it is pressed upon, swelling in the
praecordial region which, when pressed upon, causes the same pain as if it were ulcerated
within, catching in the praecordial region, perspiration in the face while eating, empty
risings after having eaten, nausea after eating, heartburn after having eaten, cramp in the
diaphragm on stooping, daily colic, swelling of the abdomen, expulsion of air, noisy
gurglings in the abdomen, tumefaction of the belly, noise in the left side of the belly, too
frequent stools, constipation every other day, habitual constipation, useless efforts to go
to stool, difficult passage of stools with tearing and lancinating pains in the anus and
rectum, hemorrhoids at the anus, smarting and beating in the rectum, heat in the rectum on
going to stool, desires to pass urine in the night, involuntary flow of urine in walking,
coughing and sneezing; mucous running from the penis, immoderate venereal appetite, itching
in the pudendum, headach before, during, and after the periodical discharge, melancholy
before appearance of it, sadness during its presence, whites, hoarseness, sneezing and
coryza, useless efforts to sneeze, cold in the head, stuffing in the nose, collection of
mucus in the chest with cough, morning cough, habitual short cough, tickling in the chest,
which induces cough, in walking or making a deep inspiration; headach, as if the forehead
were about to split; roughness in the chest, short breathing on walking quickly, asthma on
performing mechanical labour, tightness of the chest, painful tension in the chest,
shootings in the chest on making a deep inspiration, shooting in the chest on coughing,
shootings in one of the breasts, palpitations of the heart with anxiety, tearing pains in
the sacrum, sharp painful tension in the sacrum, sharp pains passing across the hips and
sacrum, painful tension in the back, pressure in the neck, paralytic oppression, lassitude
of the arms, shooting pains in the articulations of the hand, numbness and formication in
the fingers, pain like dislocation in the hip, pain as of plucking in the legs, tetters in
the hollows of the thighs, painful contractions in the tendons of the thighs, lassitude in
the knees and calfs of the legs, ulcerative pain in the ankle in standing or touching it,
swelling of the feet, plucking pressure in the limbs, fatigue from much talking, ailments
occasioned by grief, indisposition from acid foods, inconvenience produced by bread, great
tendency to take cold, to strain or twist the loins, a frequent coldness within, continual
sense of cold and failing of heat, leanness, difficulty of moving the body, lassitude,
indolence in rising in the morning, sleepiness during the day, confused and imperfect dreams
during sleep, unquiet dreams with weeping, thirst at night, painful dreams at night and
sleeplessness for whole hours, privation of sleep when once aroused, morning sweat,
irritability which disposes to anger, anxiety, sadness, great propensity to take alarm.
This medicine acts powerfully upon the
nervous system, and the abdominal viscera. It is applicable in gastric and bilious
affections, in those which the symptoms are aggravated in the morning, and in many chronic
diseases caused by the abuse of coffee or of spiritous liquors for those who lead a
sedentary life, and fatigue themselves with mental labour.It is proper for individuals who have black
hair, dark complexion, and who are disposed to be constipated, for persons of a lively,
ardent, active character, and who have a temper inclined to mischief, or anger.This medicine is employed with success when
the menses are apt to appear some days before their time, and when they are too abundant; in
certain epidemic maladies or other acute febrile diseases, principally those in which the
cold stage is preceded or accompanied by heats, as well as in complaints produced by cold.Nux Vomica is applicable especially when
the state of the patient is aggravated in the morning, when he awakes towards three oclock,
and cannot sleep again, on account of a succession of ideas which besiege him, or when he is
kept awake till daybreak only to fall into a sleep full of anxious dreams, from which he
wakes up more fatigued than when he lay down, and is reluctant to rise. It is applicable
also to those who many hours before they lie down cannot resist sleep, and fall into slumber
in a chair.Nux vomica has cured many bronchial
catarrhs, spasms in the stomach, chronic constipations, headaches, angina, diseases of the
eye, inflammatory rheumatisms, bilious fevers, jaundices, hemorrhoidal diseases, hysteric
indispositions, complaints of pregnant women, chronic gastro-enteritis, hepatitis; but, to
obtain a clear idea of the power of the remedy, attentive regard must be paid to the
numerous symptoms which it develops in healthy person, and this is moreover the only guide
to be followed in the selection of a remedy, as we have already so many times observed.Unless under pressing necessity, this
medicine should be administered at night before the patient goes to bed.
According to Hahnemann, petroleum has been
found efficacious when the following symptoms predominate:- loss of memory, vertigo,
swimming in the head, heavy and lancinating headach; beating in the occiput, falling off of
the hair, eruption on the head and neck, crusts on the scalp, eruptions on the neck, yellow
complexion, appearance of gauze before the eyes, presbyopia, impossibility of reading small
type without spectacles, tingling in the ears, buzzing and tingling in the ears, hardness of
hearing (especially when use has previously been made of nitric acid); dryness and a painful
sensation of it in the internal ear, dryness and painful sense of it in the nose,
obstruction in the nose, swelling of the submaxilliary glands, tongue white and clogged,
noisy risings from the stomach, contraction of the throat, with afflux of water into the
mouth; sickness, loss of appetite, repugnance for meat, canine appetite, great commotion in
the abdomen, colics, hard stools, involuntary leaking of urine, narrowing of the ureter,
heat in the ureter, itching and moistness of the scrotum, frequent pollution, hoarseness,
coryza, cough after having gone to bed, dry cough during the night, shootings in the side of
the chest, tetters on the chest, pain at the sacrum, which prevent the patient from
standing; backach, bleeding cracks in the skin of the hands and fingers in winter,
arthiritic stiffness of the articulations of the fingers, tearing pains in the hands, brown
spots on the wrist, tetters on the knee, cracking noise and stiffness of the articulations,
numbness of the limbs, repugnance to the open air, production of unhealthy flesh in ulcers,
ebullition of the blood, vivid dreams, hard sleep in the morning, intermittent fever in the
evening, cold and afterwards heat in the face, with cold in the feet; night sweats,
irascible temper, inclination to mischief, disquietude.
Phosphorus is most valuable in diseases of
the eyes, especially in gutta serena, in an incipient state; violent headaches, discharges
from the ears, spasmodic coughs, uneasiness of the stomach, pains in the epigastrium, colics
of the lower belly, diarrhoea of a chronic kind, menstrual derangements, and, above all,
diseases of the bones, rickets, and scrofula.This remedy is seldom indicated in cases of
chronic diseases, characterized by the loss of venereal appetite and feebleness of the
genital organs, or when the periodical discharges appear before their epochs; so, in
general, in all those where there is weakness from too great depression of vital energy.This medicine is one the most appropriate
in cases of habitually soft or liquid stools.Phosphorus will be found very efficacious,
chiefly in the cases in which the following symptoms predominate:- vertigo, of different
kinds; stupifying headach, afflux of blood toward the head, morning headach, shootings
externally at the side of the head, falling off of the hair, difficulty in opening the
eyelids, heat and smarting in the external angles of the eyes, running from the eyes when
exposed to the wind, weeping and suppuration of the eyes at night, inflammation of the eyes,
heat within them and pressure, as if caused by a grain of sand; myopia, dim sight, dark
spots flying before the eyes, blindness, by day every object appearing covered with a grey
veil; dimness of sight in artificial light, sallow complexion of the face, beating in the
ear, buzzing in the ears, difficulty of hearing the human voice, discharge of blood on
blowing the nose, distressing dryness of the nose, continual running of mucus from the nose,
bad smell exhaled by the nose, swelling of the neck, white tongue, erosion in the interior
of the mouth, mucus in the mouth, mucous taste in the mouth, taste of cheese in the mouth,
mucosities clinging to the throat in the morning, dryness in the throat day and night,
risings from the stomach, spasmodic risings, acid risings, morning sickness caused by
hunger, wish for restoratives, hunger after having eaten, uneasiness in the abdomen after
having breakfasted, heat and anxiety after having eaten, burning heat in the hands after
having eaten, indolence and drowsiness after eating, a kind of narrowing of the cardiac
orifice which causes the food on being swallowed to rise again in the mouth, pain proceeding
from pressure in the praecordial region, disturbance in the praecordial region, sense of
fulness in the stomach, swelling in the same region caused by wind after dinner, borborygmi
in the abdomen, pains caused by wind, discharges of wind, morning colic while in bed,
tearings in the abdomen, accompanied by much desire to go to stool; discharge of blood on
going to stool, piles in the rectum and at the anus, mucous running from the anus, which
remains open; tension in the ureter, smarting in the ureter while passing urine, head of the
urine, burning spasm in the ureter, very strong erections by night, continual desire of
coitus, too quick ejaculation of semen in the venereal act, frequent pollutions, shootings
in the vagina as far as the uterus, dry coryza, difficulty of breathing, tickling in the
chest, cough provoked by tickling, roughness in the larynx, mucous expectoration from the
larynx, cough, with hoarseness and harshness in the chest; cough at night, with shooting
pains in the larynx; shooting pains in the left side of the chest, pain in the chest when
the patient lies down, palpitation of the heart when sitting, stiffness in the neck, tearing
shootings in the arms and shoulder blades, trembling of the hands, swelling of the bones of
the leg, shakings of the feet day and night before sleeping, yellow spots on the abdomen and
chest, brown spots on the body, transient heat, sleep long delayed, morning sweats, tendency
to fear, moroseness, timidity, disquietude when along, great irritability and
susceptibility, ill humour, aversion to work.
The use of pulsatilla will be found most
salutary in those diseases, during the prevalence of which the patient exhibits a lowness of
spirits and dejection of mind, or else a state of mildness and resignation, especially if,
when in sound health, his temper was easy and his disposition benevolent. It is therefore
chiefly useful for lymphatic temperaments, and consequently improper for persons of decided
character and hasty temper. Most of all it is favourable when the patient feels from time to
time a sense of chilliness and experience no thirst.Pulsatilla is suitable to women whose
monthly discharges are frequently obstructed, or whose sleep is long delayed at night, and
whose sufferings are most acute at that time and in the evening. It is beneficial for
indispositions produced by pork, and in numerous affections of the digestive organs.
Chlorisis is often very speedily cured by this medicine, also certain kinds of ophthalmia,
inflammations of the throat, acute incipient phthisis, affections of the stomach and
intestines, puerperal fevers, certain intermittent fevers, hooping-coughs, chronic
vomitings, acute rheumatisms, some kinds of headaches, measles, affections of the ear,
incipient amaurosis, and lastly, affections caused by vexation. It displays its effect most
frequently by symptoms shewn on one side of the body. The effects which are produced by it
during sleep are soothed or dispelled by motion.It is one of the most powerful antidotes to
sulphur, and consequently a remedy against ailments produced by the use of sulphur baths.
Cinchona is useful in scrofulous
ophthalmias, delirium tremes, bilious fever, certain forms of intermittent fever,
consequences of onanism, chlorosis, the effects of loss of blood and humours, rheumatic
pains accompanied by heat and burnings, in amauroses.
The principal symptoms produced by this
remedy take place during sleep:No other medicine possesses this property
in so remarkable a degree. There is much analogy between it and bryony, but the preceeding
circumstance marks the difference between these two remedies. Rhus and bryony conquer typhus
in an infallible manner, and were employed with the greatest success against the terrible
epidemic of the year 1813, which broke out in Germany after the great battles which were
fought there.Rhus is the best specific against the
effects of muscular straining and contusions, certain paralyses, chronic rheumatisms,
affections of the abdominal organs, headaches, tetters, eruptions, sprains, erysipelas,
ophthalmia, ozena, pemphigus, peritonitis, puerperal peritonitis, pneumonia, scrofula,
tetanus, vertigo, &c.Rhus is applicable to persons of
pusillanimous disposition, of a melancholy humour, and lovers of solitude, to those who
readily weep, or who live in dread of death.After the administration of this substance,
it is often observed that the patients malady is not alleviated till after twenty-four or
thirty-six hours: we must therefore be on our guard as to the choice of this medicine, and
bear in mind this last important circumstance in the repetition of the doses.
The sufferings and pain occasioned by
gravel are sensibly calmed by this medicine; it is appropriate in great sensibility of the
scalp, in chronic arthiritis, stiffness of the joints, painful constrictions of the bladder,
mercurial ulcers, and chronic diseases of the skin.
This medicine is extremely beneficial in
megrim, congestions of the head, falling of the eyelids, prolapse of the anus and uterus,
sharp pains in the womb, incontinence of urine, convulsive cough, chronic amenorrhoea,
growths.It is found chiefly useful in cases in
which the patient presents some of the following symptoms:- vertigo, attacks of piercing
headach, so violent as to extort cries, and accompanied by vomitings, commonly called gouty
headach, pulsating headach, chiefly in the occiput, the head confused, and inapptitude of
mental labor, afflux of blood toward the head on stooping, itching in the head, nose, and
ears; falling-off of the hair, impossibility of opening the eyelids during the night,
heaviness and falling of the upper eyelid, an appearance of gauze before the eyes and black
flying spots, the eyelids glued during the night, buzzing and tinkling in the ears,
excessive sensibility to sound, hardness of hearing, yellowness of the face, distressing
dryness of the interior of the nose without obstruction, want of smell, swelling of the
gums, lancinating pains in the teeth, excoriation of the tip of the tongue, which is white
and clogged, dryness in the mouth, thirst in the morning, constriction in the throat,
risings, contraction of the throat chiefly after having drunk, acid taste in the mouth after
having eaten, reluctances to eat, difficulty to swallow food, distaste for meat and for
milk, great appetite, voracity, beating in the region of the heart while walking,
stomach-ache after supper, sweating after having eaten, heat in the stomach and abdomen,
piercing sensation n the hypochondriac region, sensation of emptiness in the abdomen,
sensation of hardness in the abdomen, swelling of the abdomen in women after fecundity,
abundant production and expulsion of wind, borborygmi and gurgling in the belly, especially
after having eaten, colics after motion, itching in the rectum and at the anus, afflux of
blood toward the anus, protrusion of the rectum in going to stool, projection of hemorrhoids
from the rectum, leaking from the anus, delayed stools, evacuation too lax, earnest desire
to pass urine at night, involuntary flow of urine during the first sleep, during deep in
colour, smarting in the ureter in passing urine, pain in the testicles, feebleness of the
genital organs, suppression of the menses, white and yellow discharges from the vagina,
coryza, dry coryza, boarseness, ebullition in the chest, sensation of excoriation in the
middle of the chest, pain in the chest on moving, oppression on the chest, shooting pains in
the left side of the chest, shootings on the chest during mental applications, pain in the
side on breathing and coughing, cough evening and morning, with ejections of saline
spittings, phelgm difficult to be cast off, pain in the sacrum, shiverings in the back,
itching eruptions on the back, tearings and cramps in the back, stiffness in the back,
stiffness in the neck, sweatings in the axilla, stiffness in the arms, lassitude of the
arms, shootings in the articulation of the hand when moved, heat in the palms of the hands,
paralysis of the legs, cold in the legs and feet, plucking pains in the legs and in the
great toe, convulsions of the feet during sleep at mid-day, cramps in the calfs of the legs,
swelling of the legs and feet, abundant perspiration of the feet, or its suppressions,
violent heat in the feet, formication and deadness of the soles of of the feet, numbness of
the arms and legs, especially after mechanical employment, stiffness and inflexibility of
the joints of the hand, knee, and foot, ulcers on the articulations of the fingers and toes,
agitation and beatings in all the limbs, burning pains in many parts of the body, transient
feelings of heat, sense of ebullition in the blood, palpitations of the heart, attacks of
heat when seated, and while walking in the open air, copious perspiration on the slightest
motion of the body, want of natural heat, great tendency to take cold, great tendency to
sprain the back, baneful effects of grief, lassitude causing tremor, indolence and
difficulty of moving the body, sense of exhaustion on rising, drowsiness in the day,
frequent and unquiet dreams giving alarm, nocturnal perspiration, morning sweats of an acid
quality, anxiety, anxiety at night when in bed, anxiety and uneasiness with transient heat,
tendency to be alarmed, aversion to habitual duties, indifference to kindred, discouraged,
melancholy.
This medicine proves of great use in
whitlows,, in old fungous ulcers of a bad kind, in glandular indurations, scrofula,
deviations of the spine, white swellings, chronic catarrhs, phthisis, corrodings white
discharges.Its efficacy particularly shews itself in
circumstances in which the following symptoms predominate:- vertigo, loss of memory,
affection of the head caused by reading and writing, giddiness in the evening as if in a
state of intoxication, heaviness in the head, headach from the nape of the neck to the top
of the head which prevents sleep in the night, daily headach, tearing with heat of the
forehead during the morning, heaviness as if something were about to issue from the
forehead, dragging pain in the head extending to the forehead, pain in the head as if
bursting, pulsating headach, headach on one side only, tearing and shooting pains meeting at
the eyes and in the bones of the face, night sweats in the head, moist and itching crusts on
the head, tuberculous elevations on the scalp, falling-off of the hair, cracks in the skin
of the face, presbyopia, blindness in broad day, black spots flying before the eyes, whilst
the sight seems veiled as if by a grey body, amaurosis, sparks of fire before the eyes,
feebleness of the sight, so that letters seem confused together when reading, paleness of
the face while reading, attack of sudden blindness which takes away the sight for several
minutes, running of the eyes in the open air, smarting in the eyes, suppuration of the eyes
which glues together the eyelids, redness with pain in the angles of the eyes, ophthalmia,
noise in the ears, stoppage in the ears which sometimes passes off with noise, hardness of
hearing, piercing pain in the ears, shootings from within to the outer part of the ears,
bleeding at the nose, painful sensation of dryness in the nose, want of smell, eruptions of
pimples in the nose, swelling of the lower jaw-bone, pluckings and shootings during the
night in the lower jaw, ulceration in the interior of the lower lip, tetters on the chin,
swelling of the submaxillary glands, piercing pains in the teeth, tearing pains in the teeth
and along the jaws day and night, excoriation of the tongue, privation of taste, constant
presence of mucus in the mouth, risings, risings taste of food just eaten, morning nausea,
continual nausea and vomiting, nausea succeeding every motion producing excitement, nausea
every morning with headach and pains in the eyes when they are turned, tightness of the
throat with shivering, much thirst, distaste for all food, aversion to meat, disgust for
meat, in children refusal of the breast or vomiting after having sucked, heaviness of the
stomach after drinking too fast, painful sensibility in the praecordial region when it is
pressed upon, the same after having eaten, heaviness of the stomach for years, tightness of
the throat followed by vomiting after having eaten any food, fulness after having eaten,
tension and hardness of the belly in infants, gurgling in the belly during bodily motion,
expulsion of wind, painful inguinal hernia, gripings, colics, tearing pains in the abdomen
without diarrhoea, belly-ache with diarrhoea, many stools soft during the day, constipation,
delayed stools, constipation with frequent and useless endeavours to go to stool, excessive
venereal appetite, menses in too small quantity, suppression of the menses for several
months, emission of blood from the womb during suckling, white discharges preceded by colics
in the umbilical region; itching of the genitals, incessant or too frequent sneezing,
obstruction in the nose for years, dry coryza, running coryza which overcomes a chronic
obstruction of the nostrils, hoarseness, asthma, short breathing on the least mechanical
exertion, short breathing or panting on walking quickly, suspended breathing when lying on
the back, suspension of respiration in walking, running, or coughing; cough with
expectoration of a purulent kind, phelgm, or of suffocating cough in the night, spitting of
pus, oppression on the chest, oppression of the chest in coughing or sneezing, pulsation in
the sternum, shooting pains from the chest to the back, shootings under the left false ribs,
pain at the sacrum, with or without being touched; spasmodic pullings in the sacrum, which
will not allow of an erect posture and oblige the patient to lie down; shooting pains in the
back, tearings in the trunk of the body, as if from the rack; pains, when sitting or lying
down, in the loins above the pelvis, numbness in the arms on placing them on the table or
lying on one of them; pain and numbness in the arm which has been lain on, state similar to
paralysis and trembling in the right arm on the least exertion, plucking pain in the arm,
tearing pain in the arm, commencement of paralysis of the fore-arm, the hand involuntarily
letting slip what it holds, shootings at night in the wrist, which ascend toward the arm;
formication in the fingers, plucking pains and stiffness in the legs, pressure felt in the
muscles of the thigh, swelling of the knee, pulling pains in the legs, numbness of the calfs
of the legs, numbness of the feet at night, cramps in the calfs of the legs on leaving off
employment in the evening, shootings in the ankle in walking, cold feet, perspiring of the
feet, suppression of the natural perspiration in the feet, cold in the feet, a sensation of
tickling in the sole of the feet which becomes so intolerable that it almost distracts the
patient, fetid smell of the feet, swelling, swelling of the feet, shooting pains in corns,
ebullition of the blood, and thirst after having drank a little wine, great tendency to
sprain the back, perspiration from walking a little, great tendency to take cold in
uncovering the feet, shiverings, ganglions, fetid smelling ulcers, unsightly ulcers on the
legs, itching ulcers on the thigh and ankle, nocturnal shootings in all the limbs, tearing
pains in the arms and legs, cramps in the arms and legs, numbness of the limbs, state
similar to paralysis of the limbs at night, bruised sensation of the limbs in the evening,
general debility, tendency to fainting on lying down on the side, frequent gapings,
difficulty of obtaining sleep at night in bed, unsound sleep at night, similar to a mere
state of drowsiness; much dreaming and frequent waking during the night, repeated dreams
every night, uneasy dreams, convulsions of the body at night, while sleeping, frequent and
painful dreams in the night, speaking aloud during sleep, night sweats, abundant acid sweats
at night, ill-humour.
This medicine is very applicable in
particular cases: for example, in that kind of hypchondriasis in which the digestive organs
are habitually so feeble that to depart in ever so small a degree from the usual diet is
enough to occasion and maintain ill humour and general uneasiness.Hahnemann has discovered also that it
exhibits great efficacy in chronic (psoric) diseases, or where the following symptoms are
marked:-vertigoes, general uneasiness after mental exertion, tearing pains on the exterior
of the forehead at certain hours of the day, headach produced by the sun, shooting pains
from the inside to the outside of the eyes, impossibility of reading small type, perception
of bodies flying before the eyes, yellow spots on the forehead and on the upper lip,
freckles on the face, hardness of hearing, uncommon sensitiveness of the ear to noise,
toothach, chiefly during eating; nausea, continual sickness, bitter taste in the mouth,
thirst, affections caused by cold drinks, as for example, pains in the left hypochondrum;
heaviness on the stomach after having eaten, dragging spasms in the stomach, pain on
touching the praecordial region, accumulation of wind in the abdomen, great distention of
the belly, retention of wind, scanty evacuations, heat in the ureter after having passed
water, pains during the periodical discharges of women, obstruction in the nose, coryza
every second day, continual coryza brought on by a current of air and which does not cease
till after a sweat, short breathing, saline and purulent expectoration with cough, continual
cold in the left side, tearing pains in the hands and feet, cramps in the calfs of the legs,
coldness or swelling in the feet, a tendency in the articulations of the foot to be
sprained, shooting pains in the soles of the feet in walking, copious perspiration on the
least exertion in works, aversion to the open air, extreme tendency to take cold, great
tendency to strain the loins, dryness of the skin, warts and tetters, chronic weakness,
relaxation and atony of the whole body after having walked a little; fatigue, almost great
enough to cause the sufferer to fall down; sleepiness during the day, delayed sleep at
night, too early waking; dreams during the night, night sweats, cold and lasting
perspiration, the consequence of anxiety, anxiety, tremor and sweats caused by pain, a state
of mental anguish, palpitation of the heart which produces anxiety, aversion to persons and
society, hypochondriacal disposition, discouragement.
Croup, convulsive coughs, and pains in the
oesophagus and larynx, seldom resist the effect of this medicine. It is administered with
success in bronchitis and tracheal phthisis, worms, and worm fever.
This medicine is adapted to chronic
catarrhs in the chest, mucous phthisis, and chronic haematemesis.
This remedy is powerful against scrofulous
diseases, certain pains in the joints, tinea, chronic exanthemata on the face, pains in the
nerves of the teeth at the period of menstruation. This remedy disperses chagrin and
melancholy.
Stramonium effects the greatest services in
nervous affections; in epilepsy, catalepsy, St. Vituss dance, in some mental diseases,
melancholy, spasmodic affections, hydrophobia.
Sulphur is chiefly proper in cases where
the following symptoms exist; vertigo when sitting down, headach with difficulty of
thinking, weakness of memory, pulsating headach, formication and buzzing in the head,
appearance of gauze before the eyes, contraction of the eyelids in the morning, complexion
pale and sickly, buzzing and noise in the ears, tinkling or roaring in the ears, dryness,
bleeding in the nose, liver-coloured spots on the upper lip, toothach in the evening,
swelling in the gums with pulsating pain, chronic sensation of some foreign body in the
throat and pharynx, risings, accompanied with disagreeable smell while asleep, risings of
food, nausea before eating, morning nausea, tightness of the throat, with afflux of water
into the mouth; insipid taste of food, bulimia, oppression of the chest having eaten a
little, as if were laden with a weight; agitation in the region of the heart, shooting pains
in the left side of the belly in walking, colic after having drunk, expulsion of wind, hard
stools, stools only every two or three days, flow of urine in the bed at night, feebleness
of the genital powers, pressure on the genital organs, headach before the appearance of the
menses, too early return of the periodical discharge; leucorrhoea, coryza, formication in
the larynx exciting cough, cough in the night, difficulty in breathing, asthma, with
whistling and stertorous breathing and visible palpitations of the heart, fulness in the
chest, burning heat in the chest, pressure on the sternum, pains in the sacrum, sense of
pulling in the back, pulling in the joint of the elbow, of the hand and fingers, weakness in
the knees and arms, heaviness in the legs, stiffness in the articulations of the foot, cold
and stiffness in the toes, erysipelas in the leg, nettle rash, numbness of the limbs,
lancinating pains, sinking of the head in walking, an unpleasant sensation produced by
talking, sleepiness during the day, desire to vomit after dinner, unrefreshing sleep, fear
during sleep, uneasy and terrifying dreams, inducing broken speeches during sleep; trembling
and convulsions of the body in sleep, acrid sweats every night, much perspiration during
bodily exercise, liability to be cold, irritability, propensity of ill-humour and dejection
of spirits, aptness to alarm.Sulphur is one of the most important
medicines in chronic psoric diseases; and it is in few cases that this substance will not be
found useful. Recourse must, however, be had also to the study of the symptoms which it
produces on persons in health, in order to recognize completely the cases to which it is
especially applicable.
This medicine is chiefly useful in sycosic
excrescences, blennorrhoea, some painful affections of the eyes, cataract, exanthematous
eruptions of the face and nostrils, with acute pains.
This medicine is very useful in chronic
vomitings, vomitings with diarrhoea, principally bilious; repugnance to food, especially if
hot. Veratrum is one of the principal remedies for certain headaches with vomiting. It is,
moreover, a powerful remedy in cholera morbus.I recollect to have cured a patient
affected with a disease of the stomach, the symptoms of were in perfect harmony with those
produced by Veratrum; and the patient was, besides, so irascible, that at certain times, if
not prevented, he was impelled to the most furious actions: he even assured me that he would
not hesitate to plunge a knife into the bosom of any person who might be exposed to his
fury. Veratrum restored the digestive canal to a healthy state, and the tumultuous passions
which had agitated him were completely set at rest.
This medicine is useful in the paralysis of
the eyelids, purulent runnings of the ears, cramps of the oesophagus, pains of the spleen,
stone in the kidneys and bladder, certain eruptions on the skin, mealncholy, and derangement
of the menstruation.* * * * *
I shall here conclude my observations on
medicaments. Those remarks are a useful introduction to the Materia
Medica Pura, of which they will facilitate the difficult study by pointing out
several striking properties which will afterwards afford to the physician the advantage to
collect round them more minute details.It is from Hahnemanns works that I have
chiefly borrowed these practical remarks; when physicians shall have carefully weighed all
the matter this work comprises, they will be perfectly able to ascend to the fundamental
sources of the system, and the constant study of Materia Medica will enable them most
successfully to practice the doctrine of our venerable founder.
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