Silica Marina.
Silica maritima. Sea sand. Trituration. [My preparation was taken from the
beach, just as it was left by the tide, on a part of the coast many miles distant from a
river estuary or a drained town.]Clinical.─
Constipation. Glands, enlargement of;
suppuration of. Gonorrhśa. Tartar.
Characteristics.─
Having seen a statement that Sil. mar. had a pronounced action on inflamed glands, I had a
specimen triturated and run up to the 30th attenuation. I had not long to wait for an
opportunity of testing it. A tall, fair young man of 24, a violinist, presented himself with
a mass of scrofulous glands on the right side of the neck softening at one point. I gave him
Sil. mar. 3, gr. v., three or four times a day, and
warned him not to poultice. The mass of glands soon began to diminish. The abscess matured
and discharged itself through a minute opening, and eventually healed without leaving a
perceptible scar. The rest of the glands in the meantime disappeared. Sil. mar. 3, gr. v., three times a day, rapidly cured a case of
gonorrhśa in a patient who had had many previous attacks, as well as stricture which had
been treated with cauterisations and strong Arg. nit. It
was this history which partly led me to give the remedy on account of the Nat. mur. element contained in it. The discharge was creamy, and
there was tenderness in the middle of the urethra. For three days after commencing the Sil. mar. there was a sharp aggravation, the discharge became
very profuse, was < at night and accompanied by
painful erections. In a general way I use this preparation where Nat.
mur. symptoms are present in a Sil. case.
Burnett told me an interesting experience of his. He was consulted about a boy who
persisted, in spite of punishment, in eating sand when playing on the beach. Burnett advised
the parents to let the boy eat as much as he liked. He kept it up for a fortnight, at the
end of which time he was vastly improved in health, and he neither wanted nor ate any more
sand from that day. W. B. Clarke, of Indianapolis (A. H.,
xxvi. 237) tells of the use of Sil. mar. as a remedy for
constipation. He has used it in patients of all ages with excellent results, giving it
crude. He prefers the rather coarse sand taken from a river sand-bar. This is thoroughly
washed and baked in an oven. He thinks a finer variety may be better for younger patients.
The sand is taken plain, or enclosed in capsules, or made into pills. In either case it is
washed down with water, and water is to be drunk freely during the treatment. W. B. Clarke
mentions this case as the hardest he had encountered: A man, 60, had suffered for thirty
years with severe constipation, often sitting at stool for an hour and nearly fainting. He
took a teaspoonful after dinner daily for a week, without particular effect. Then he took it
three times a day for a week. After this he was able to return to the one dose a day, and
soon required it but once a week. “The peculiarity of this treatment is the ease with
which evacuation is accomplished after the first impression is made, the discharges being
soft, mushy, and yellow, and the regular habit then seems established, for the treatment can
then be discontinued.” If there is any return of the trouble, a dose or two more will
be sufficient to put it right. This experience is of great value and interest as Sil. in the potencies (as well as Nat. m.)
is a great constipation remedy. W. B. Clarke has never observed any ill effects of the
treatment. In the case of a child, ćt. 4, to whom Cooper gave Sil.
mar. 6x (my preparation) “a thick mass of tartar which had accumulated
behind the front teeth came away in flakes.”® 2000
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