which causes patient to stretch violently for hours, must stretch in every direction. Assumes strangest attitudes in bed at night. *Peculiar sensations are: As if something were working at top of head, with a sense of screwing from behind forward Eyelids as if paralysed. As a ball rising from throat into brain. As if a wheat-hull in throat. Cornea as if breathed upon. Eyes as if too large. As of a plug in throat. As if everything were weighted down. As if abdomen and back were too close together, abdomen drawn to spine with a string. Bowels as if twisted, constricted, distended with gas. As if abscess forming near umbilicus. Sphincter ani as if drawn in. As if a bag not quite filled with fluid lay in bowels. As if fluid rolled from one side to other of abdomen. As if thighs pierced with needles. As if feet made of wood. Pains are wandering or radiating, vague, paroxysmal. Ailments develop slowly and intermit for a time. Alternations are common: Delirium with colic, diarrhoea and constipation, jerks of flexors and extensors, paralysis and colic. Right side is most affected, symptoms go from left to right (throat). In ladies poisoned by cosmetics the vaginismus which resulted increased *pari passu with paralytic symptoms. With *Plumb. 6 Theuerkauf cured in six weeks a case of hypopion with great pain (*B. F. H., xxxvii. 303). W. H. Woodyatt (*Ibid., 205) reports a case of “vasomotor neurosis” affecting left eye. Mrs. D., 29, had been ill two weeks, and supposed she had caught cold in the eye. The symptoms were: Drooping upper lid, intense photophobia, very profuse lachrymation of hot tears, pericorneal injection, *deep bluish redness of sclerotica, most marked at corneal margin. Cornea very faintly hazy. *Pupil contracted. *Sight misty. *Arsenicum 6x and *Plant. 6x failed to relieve. *Plumb. 6x was then given with immediate improvement, which went on to cure in seven days. The italicized symptoms were the leading indications for *Plumb. In a case of right-sided sciatica which had been greatly benefited by *Gnaph. 1, but which had returned, the symptoms being: Stiffness, soreness from great trochanter and point of exit of nerve to knee, weakness in thigh, worse by stooping, walking causes sensation as if pushing a knife in thigh, *Plumb. 6 was given four times day. Up to the twelfth day there was no change, on that day the pain suddenly went. The case had lasted nine months. The symptoms are worse by touch. better By hard pressure and by rubbing. better At rest. Worse By motion. Mental exertion worse. Better lying down. Worse Lying right side (swelling in abdomen, cough). Lying on left side worse violent palpitation. Bending back ameliorates pressure in stomach, pain in epigastrium, pain in back. Bending forward causes pressure in stomach, ameliorates pain in back. Bending double ameliorates colic. Back sensitive when leaning on it. Better Stretching limbs. Worse At night. Worse In rough, foggy weather. Open air, coldness in, sensitive to, ameliorates vertigo. Damp weather causes profuse salivation. Worse In room full of company.
Relations
*Antidoted by: Sulphuric acid, diluted, taken as a lemonade, is one of the best antidotes to the chronic effects of lead, Alcohol is a preventive, Alumen, Alumina. Arsenicum, Ant. C., Bells. Coccul., Hepar, Kreosotum, Nux vomica, Opium, Petrol., Platina, Piperaz., Zn. (Taste, who classes Plumb. With Mercurius and Arsenicum, says Ethus. cyn. Is the best antidote in his experience, he names also Hyo., Plect., Stramonium, and Electric.) *It antidotes: Bad effects of long abuse of vinegar. Compatible: Arsenicum, Belladonna, Lycopodium, Mercurius, Phosphorus, Pul., Silicea, Sul. *Compare: Constipation, inertia, hard black balls, Opium (Plumb. has also some spasmodic constriction at anus). Delirium, bites and strikes, Belladonna (Plumb. has tremors of head and hands, yellow mucus about teeth, colic alternating with delirium). Head and abdominal symptoms alternating, Pod, Brain softening, Zn. (Plumb. has pain in atrophied limbs alternating with colic), Vanad. Constipation from inertia, vaginismus, Platina (Platina ameliorates these conditions of Plumb.). Irritable inertia, vaginismus, up sensation at anus, Lachesis Peritonitis with retracted abdomen, Euphrasia Head turns to right, Stramonium (to left, Lycopodium, to either, Bufo, Camph.). Globus, Ignatia, Lachesis Lycopodium Diseases originating in spine, Pho., Pic-ac., Zn. Weak memory, unable to find right words, Anacardium, Lac caninum Face greasy, shiny, Natrum mur., Sanicula Desire to stretch, Amyl. n. Illusion of smell Anacardium
Causation
Repelled eruptions. Sexual excess.
SYMPTOMS.
Mind
Silent melancholy and dejection. Great anguish and uneasiness, with sighs. Anxiety, with restlessness and yawning. Weariness and dislike to conversation and labour. Discouragement. Weariness of life. Weakness or loss of memory. Slow of perception, increasing apathy. Unable to find proper word while talking. Coma. Imbecility. Dementia. Mania. Delirium, alternating with colic. Fury. Frantic delirium (bites, strikes), sometimes with demented aspect. Dread of assassination, poisoning, thinks every one about him a murderer.
Head
Head confused and heavy, as from apathy and melancholy. Dizziness to the extent of falling senseless. Intoxication. Vertigo, especially on stooping, or looking up into the air. Headache, as if caused by a ball rising from throat into brain. Heaviness of head, especially in (cerebellum) occiput and forehead. Tearing in forehead and temples. Lancinating headache. Congestion of blood to head, with pulsation and heat. Violent pains in integuments of skull from occiput to forehead. Great dryness of hair. Hair becomes very greasy. Falling off of hair of scalp, also of eyebrows and whiskers (moustaches).
Eyes
Pressive and very acute pain, as if eyeballs were too large. Heaviness of eyes when moving them. Paralysis of upper eyelids. Contraction in eyes and eyelids. Tearing in eyelids, with sleep. Sanguineous congestion in eyes. Inflammation of eyes and of iris. Nocturnal agglutination of eyes. Swelling of eyes. Yellowish colour of sclerotica. Spasmodic closing of eyelids. Eyes convulsed. Pupils contracted. Sight confused, as if directed through a mist, which forces the patient to rub eyes. Hypopion. Myopia. Diplopia. Blindness, as from amaurosis. Optic neuritis.
Ears
Tearing in ears. Boring and shooting in ears. Sensibility to noise. Occasional sudden diminution of hearing. Deafness, sudden. Buzzing in ears. Hears music, with frightful delirium.
Nose
Coldness of nose. Erysipelatous inflammation of nose. Red, purulent vesicles in nasal angles. Fetid smell in nose. Loss of smell. Obstruction of nose. Accumulation of tenacious mucus in nostrils, which can only be expelled by way of the nasal fossae. Fluent coryza, with discharge of serous mucus.
Face
Face pale, yellow, hippocratic. Bewildered air, distorted countenance. Bloatedness of face. Semilateral swelling of face. Paralysis of lower two branches of right facial nerve. Skin shining and greasy to sight and touch. Tearing in maxillary bones, which is removed by friction, or made to appear in another place. Boring in lower jaw. Exfoliation (painless) of lips. Cramps in jaw. Lockjaw. Swelling of submaxillary glands.
Teeth
Tearing, jerking pains in teeth, worse by cold things. Teeth coated with yellow slime. The teeth become black. Fetid, hollow, carious teeth, which break off in notches. Looseness and falling out of teeth. Grinding of teeth. Gums pale and swollen, purple- coloured thin border on gums nearest teeth. Painful and hard nodosities on gums.
Mouth
Dryness of mouth. Copious accumulation of sweetish saliva in mouth, with dryness of gullet. Salivation, tenacious, mercurial, worse during sleep. Froth in mouth. Viscid mucus in mouth on waking in morning. Haemoptysis. Aphthae and fetid ulcers in mouth, and purple blotches in mouth and on tip of tongue. Breath fetid. Inflammation, swelling, and heaviness of tongue. Tongue brown and dry, with rhagades. Tongue green, slate-coloured, or coated yellow. Paralysis of tongue, preventing speech, cannot put tongue out.
Throat
Sore throat, as if caused by a swelling (plug) or foreign body in gullet. Sensation as if a ball were rising in throat (globus hystericus). Sensation of constriction in throat (as soon as the least effort is made to swallow, with great urging to do so). Paralysis of gullet, with inability to swallow. Drawing in throat when eating, as if oesophagus were being turn out. Sensation as if an insect were crawling in oesophagus. Inflammation and induration of tonsils, granular sore throat, going from left to r. Formation of consecutive, small, exceedingly painful abscesses in tonsils.
Appetite
Sweetish, bitter, metallic, or horribly offensive taste. Sulphurous, acid taste in bottom of throat. Violent thirst, especially for cold water. Anorexia. Violent hunger, even shortly after a meal. Great desire for bread and fried things, cakes, rye bread, tobacco.
Stomach
Risings, with a taste of food. Empty risings, sometimes very violent and painful. Sweetish risings. Hiccough. Regurgitation of sweetish or sour water. Disgust and frequent nausea, with disposition to vomit, sometimes with retching. Continued and violent vomiting of food, or of greenish and blackish matter, or yellowish, with violent pains in stomach and abdomen. Vomiting of bile or of blood. Vomiting of faecal matter, with colic and constipation. Very violent pains in stomach. Sensation of heaviness and aching in stomach, sometimes after a meal. Dull and anxious pressure in scrobiculus. Constrictive cramps in stomach. Shootings from pit of stomach into back. Cuttings and burning pain in stomach. Inflammation of stomach.
