Oleum jecoris Morrhuae. Cod liver oil. Oil obtained from the livers of Gadus morrhua & some other allied fishes. *N.O. Gadidae Tincture. Trituration.
Clinical
Addison’s disease. Alopecia. Amenorrhoea. Anaemia. Asthma. Bones, affections of. Bright’s disease. Cold Abscess. Constipation. Coryza. Cough. Diarrhoea. Dwarfishness. Emaciation. Fever. Fistula. Goitre. Hair, abnormal growth of. Headache. Heart, palpitation of. Intermittent fever. Joints, stiffness of, fistulae and abscess around. Liver, diseases of. Lumbago. Phthisis. Pneumonia. Rheumatism. Ringworm. Sacralgia. Sciatica. Scrofulous ophthalmia. Sleeplessness. Spinal irritation. Vision, affections of.
Characteristics
The number of people who “cannot take cod-liver oil” is very great, which means that *Ol. *j. a. is a pathogenetic as well as a curative agent. Neidhard proved it and elicited some very definite symptoms, and to these have been added effects, curative and pathogenetic, observed on patients. The oil contains a large number of proximate principles of great complexity, to which its specific medicinal properties are due. Recent Developments of Sarcopathy mark out *Ol. *j. *a. as a liver remedy, an ally of *Cholesterine, and this the provings confirm. Very decided pains in the liver and liver region with great soreness were noted in Neidhard’s provings, and these symptoms give one of the keynotes of the remedy-Soreness. Not only the liver, but the throat, chest, abdomen, kidneys, ovaries, joints, and back are all sore, the spine is sore as in spinal irritation. Another keynote is the occurrence of palpitation of the heart as a concomitant of other symptoms, with cough, with short breath. Allied to this is a “sense of fluttering, like the movements of a watch, commencing in region of sacrum, gradually rising to occiput, and in its ascent affecting abdomen and chest, so that the patient is transfixed, unable to move hand or foot, ” also “creeping sensation all over with a rush of blood to heart.” The reputation of *Ol. *j. *a. as a remedy for phthisis and scrofulous affections is shown by the provings to be specific, whatever food-value the oil may possess in addition. “Dry, hacking cough, night-cough, cough with tough expectoration, yellow or white, soreness of chest, especially on coughing, sharp stitches here and there, through chest, burning through to back, burning in spots,” are among the symptoms experienced. The fever symptoms are strongly marked, both hectic and intermittent. One very characteristic feature is: “Fever worse towards evening *with burning in palms.” Chills running down the back. Feet constantly cold. *Ol. *j. *a. is a chilly medicine: sensitive to drafts, feels as if continually taking cold. The cough is worse from exposure to cold, worse in damp weather. The sensitiveness to chill and damp is part of the intermittent fever action of the remedy, and along with it is affection of the spleen, which is the seat of several symptoms. During the chill and before it
there is thirst. When the fever came on the cough was better. The *yellowness of *Ol. *j. *a. appears not only in the expectoration, but in the coating of the tongue, yellow mucus from sore throat, and a yellow leucorrhoea. On the female sexual organs *Ol. *j. *a. has a powerful action, increasing the menstrual flow and restoring it when in abeyance. Burnett has shown that ringworm generally has its constitutional basis in a consumptive habit, and *Bacil. has again and again proved the remedy. This is paralleled in a local use of the anti phthisic *Ol. *j. *a. which was taught me by De Noe Walker. In recent ringworm the application of the plain oil at bedtime is at once the most innocent and most effectual of local measures that I know. Before the application the part should be washed well with soft soap. Another use of the remedy taught me by the same authority is as a general application in the case of emaciated, dwarfish, chilly babies and children. A nightly rubbing with the oil soon revolutionizes their condition. The nutrition of the skin is improved and the medicinal properties of the oil are absorbed without any tax being put on the organs of digestion. Burnett says olive oil acts as well. That may be, but it does not act better. I have no comparative figures to refer to. When the symptoms indicate *Ol. *j. *a. it should certainly have the preference. Defective nutrition, anemia, weakness and emaciation, deficiency of animal heat. Children who cannot take milk. The headaches are usually frontal, over right eye, bursting after coughing. Other symptoms are: Red face (also in hectic). Voracious appetite. Foul breath. Symptoms go in all directions _ from above down, from below up, from front to back, and from back to front. One curious symptom was abnormal growth of hair on the face of a woman. Another was passage of mucus from urethra, with burning, during stool. Symptoms are worse by touch, by riding, by a fall. Worse By motion, raising arm, stooping, bending side inwards, walking. Laughing worse cough. Lying down causes oppressed feeling, and worse cough. Coughing causes soreness of chest, headache. Fever better cough. Worse From draft of air, exposure to cold, living in cold, damp localities.
Relation
*Antidoted by: Iris v. (chill with sick stomach and diarrhoea). *Compare: Cholest., Fel., and sarcodes generally. In phthisis, ringworm, emaciation, Bac., Pho. Emaciation and ravenous appetite, Iodium Intolerance of milk, Aethus., Calcarea, Lac v., Mag- c. Pains in head with cough, Caps., Bryonia, Natrum mur. Chilly, effects of damp localities, Nat-sul., Aranea Heavy eyelids, Gelsemium, Opium
SYMPTOMS.
Mind
Feels miserable all over, with great nervous irritation. Sensation as if out of her mind.
Head
Giddiness in head. Dull aching pain in forehead. Steady aching sensation from left to right temple. Aching about inner part of right eyebrow as if in periosteum. Bursting headache after coughing as if head would split. Pain from occiput to forehead with nausea.
Eyes
Eyes swelled. Heaviness over eyes with dry and parched hands. Aching pain in right eye when using it. Lachrymation when walking in open air ( worse left). Lids so heavy, can hardly raise them. During chill, blindness. Everything turns black.
Ears
Deafness in left ear, abscess in right Fetid discharge from ears.
Nose
Dry coryza, cough and sneezing. Fluent coryza, hoarseness and rawness of chest. Chronic catarrh and ozaena. Nose-bleed when sleeping, with amenorrhoea.
Face
Face red. A growth of short, thick hair on chin and upper lip (in a woman).
Mouth
(Putrid smell from decayed tooth ceased while taking the oil.) _ Tongue: loaded, coated yellow. Parched feeling in mouth. (Fetid breath cured.).
Throat
Soreness in throat after hawking up phlegm. Chronic sore throat, with expectoration of yellow mucus. Tickling in throat, weakness in breath. Thyroid gland swollen.
Stomach
Voracious appetite diminished (in rickety children). Appetite
lost, could not take milk. Thirst: great, constant, before and during chill. Nausea. Vomiting, of bile and mucus with bitter and acid taste at expiration of chill. Acid vomiting with the chill. Burning in stomach. Weight in stomach.
Abdomen
Soreness and heaviness in region of liver worse by exercise, sore like a boil on pressure. Heavy pain in right side with numbness of right arm as if dead. Beating pain in spleen. Aching in spleen region on breathing and coughing, with pain at apex of scapula (at end of chill). Jerking, drawing pains in region of spleen. Flatulence relieved. (Atrophia mesenterica).
Stool and Anus
Diarrhoea: at night and early morning, with the chill. Constipation.
Urinary Organs
Soreness in kidneys, following soreness in liver. Discharge of mucus from urethra with burning, every morning during stool. Acceleration of urinary secretion. Urine with brick coloured sediment. (Incontinence cured).
Female Sexual Organs
Acts as emmenagogue. Menses re-established (cure) Increase of menstrual flow so strong as to render a suspension of the oil necessary. Soreness of both ovaries, dysmenorrhoea. Leucorrhoea: yellow, with weak back.
Respiratory Organs
Cough: all night, hard spells in morning, hacking, tickling in middle of upper chest with palpitation, violent with retching, night and day, with stitches, on raising arm, worse from drafts of air, worse lying down at night, prevents sleeping, loose all day, from exposure to cold, damp weather, with emaciation and weakness, better when fever comes on. Expectoration: yellow or yellowish-green, saltish, tough, tough white, bloody mucus. Breath short, with palpitation of heart, asthmatic.
Chest
Oppression, with heat. Weakness in chest and back ( worse left). Soreness: all over chest or in center, with hacking cough and aching between shoulders, worse right side, in chest and stomach with cough, worse by motion. Burning pains in spots in some one portion of chest. Burning and heat in left chest, through to back, with cough. Pains in upper chest on coughing. Pneumonia of both upper lobes of lungs. Pain through lower chest to back. Pain right side above and below scapula, breathing there is arrested by soreness, sharp stitch left side. Sensation of excoriation in left chest, worse upper and lower part of left chest, extending to back. Weakness in breast, tickling in the throat. (Phthisis.).
