How does the chest oppression of Phosphorus differ from that of Sulphur?
In Phosphorus it is external as of a load on the chest. In Sulphur it is internal as of a congestion in the chest with dyspnoea and burning.
Mention another drug that has weight on the chest but where there is little inflammation.
Ferrum met.
What symptoms has Phosphorus in the back that are characteristic?
Intense burning pains in the spine between the scapulae; the dorsal spines are very sensitive.
Give four characteristics of Phosphorus in fever.
1. The adynamic, low type of fever.
2. The lack of thirst.
3. The periodicity-4 or 5 in the afternoon.
4. The sleepiness which accompanies.
What are the hemorrhagic symptoms of Phosphorus?
The hemorrhagic diathesis; the blood does not coagulate; hemoptysis and hematemesis.
What preparations of Antimony do we use in our Materia Medica?
1. Antimonium crudum or the Sulphuret of antimony.
2. Antimonium tartaricum or Tartar emetic, this is the double Tartrate of Antimony and Potash.
3. Antimonium sulphuratum auratum or the Golden sulphuret of antimony, also sometimes knows as Kermes.
There are also other salts that are sometimes used, as Antimonium arsenicosum, etc. Stibium, properly speaking, is the mental Antimony; however, if Stibium be ordered from the pharmacist Tartar emetic is invariably furnished.
ANTIMONIUM CRUDUM.
Where is the pathogenesis of Antimonium found?
Hahnemann’s Chronic Diseases; Hartlaub and Trinks.
How is it prepared for us?
By trituration.
What are the chief characteristics of this remedy?
1. A thick, milky-white coating on the tongue.
2. The fretful, peevish disposition.
Give the general action of Antimonium.
Antimony depresses the function of mucous membranes, and through the pneumo-gastric nerve produces slow digestion; the mucous membranes become loaded with mucus. It also affects the skin, producing corns, callosities, etc.
What are the mental symptoms?
Cross and peevish; children cannot bear to be touched, or looked at; adults are sulky and sad.
What is the characteristic head symptom?
Headache from bathing; all symptoms of the drug are worse from bathing. Headache from bathing. Headache from deranged stomach.
Give the stomach symptoms of Antimonium crudum.
Nausea and persistent vomiting occurring as soon as the child eats or drinks. Digestive troubles from overloading the stomach; a useful remedy for the ill effects of Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners; there is the white tongue and the vomited matters containing food, and there is a great deal of fulness, distress and distension about the abdomen; eructations tasting of food.
When is Antimonium crudum indicated in diarrhoea and constipation?
When the stools are watery or when they contain hard lumps of curdled milk or faecal matter, worse by acids, cold bathing or overheating.
Give the skin symptoms of this drug.
The skin crack easily and it produces a deficient growth of the nails. It is the remedy for hard and painful callosities, they are thick and horny.
ANTIMONIUM TARTARICUM.
Where are data concerning this remedy found? Allen’s Encyclopaedia; British Journal of Homoeopathy, Vol. XIX.
How is it prepared?
By trituration; also one part, by weight, dissolved in 99 parts of distilled water. Drug power, 1/100.
Give the general action of this drug.
A cardiac depressant; it produces motor and sensory paralysis and loss of reflex action. On the mucous membranes and skin it produces catarrhal and pustular inflammations.
What is the grand characteristic of the drug?
The large accumulation of mucus on the chest, which causes much rattling with perhaps vomiting and drowsiness.
Give the indications for Tartar emetic in whooping cough.
Cough worse when the child is angry, or when eating; it culminates in vomiting of mucus and food.
What are the characteristic chest symptoms of the drug?
There is wheezing breathing and great oppression of the chest; the cough sounds loose, but no phlegm is raised; it seems as if every cough would raise the phlegm, but it does not. Pleuro-pneumonia; croup, with whistling and rattling extending into the trachea.
How do the chest symptoms compare with those of Ipecac?
The rales with Antimonium tartaricum are fine; while those of Ipecac are coarse, and the patient gags all the time, but raises little.
What is the action of Tartar emetic on the skin?
It produces an eruption of pustules resembling that of smallpox, for which it is a remedy.
SULPHUR.
Where are studies of Sulphur found?
In Hahnemann’s Materia Medica Pura; Chronic Diseases; Hartlaub and Trinks; British Journal of Homoeopathy, Vol. XV. and XVI.
What is Sulphur and how is it prepared?
It is one of the elements, and we prepare it for use by triturating the Sublimed Flowers of Sulphur; the tincture of Sulphur is a saturated solution of Sulphur and Alcohol, and is equivalent to the 2x dilution.
Give the general action of Sulphur.
It acts upon every organ and tissue of the body. It produces venous engorgement, chronic in nature, with long trains of symptoms. The discharges are excessively acrid. By its action on the sympathetic nerve it causes defective assimilation. It is especially applicable to chronic diseases, which originate in the ganglionic system.
What is the temperament of the Sulphur patient?
Light complexioned, easily angered people, who have a harsh, dirty skin, and who are afraid of water; children look tired, dirty and old, “use their sleeves both for a handkerchief and looking-glass;” the patient is coarse in fibre and dirty in habits, and walks stooped from weakness of the spine.
Give ten characteristics of Sulphur.
1. Dirty and poor habit of body.
2. Aversion to water and washing.
3. Sinking at stomach at 11 A.M.
4. “Cat-nap” sleep.
5. Heat on top of head and burning of palms and soles.
6. Defective reaction, after carefully chosen remedies fail to act.
7. Walks stooping.
8. Drinks much, eats little.
9. Morning diarrhoea, driving him out of bed.
10. Great nocturnal aggravation.
What are the mental symptoms of the drug?
Irritable; chronic constitutional grumblers; a “ragged philosopher,” life having been a failure; religious melancholia, dresses up in rags and imagines that they are the finest silk; anxious about his own salvation, but indifferent to that of others.
Give the scalp symptoms of Sulphur.
Great dryness and heat of the scalp, with intense itching, and scratching, though it relieves, causes burning; all the eruptions are greatly aggravated by washing and by being wet; wetting produces burning; there may be also an eruption of yellow crusts on the scalp.
What are the characteristic discharge of Sulphur?
All discharges are burning and acrid, be they from the eyes, ears, nose, vagina or bowels; the diarrhoea burns, the urine burns; excretions burn parts over which they pass is characteristic.
Give indications for Sulphur in eye troubles.
In scrofulous children with ophthalmias, acute or chronic, or ulcerations of the cornea. The pains are sharp and lancinating as if a needle or splinter were in the eye. Great lachrymation and great intolerance of light.
Give some of the nasal symptoms of Sulphur.
Chronic, dry catarrh; the nose bleeds easily; the nose is stuffed up and burning, and there is a smell of old catarrhs before the nose.
What of the face symptoms?
It is careworn and old looking, with all sorts of eruptions on it, especially comedones.
What are the indications for Sulphur in stomach troubles?
Bitter taste in the morning; putrid eructations. It has a feeling of satiety after a small quantity of food, and an empty, gone feeling in the epigastrium at 11 A.M. There is a desire for sweets, which make him sick, causing a sour stomach and heartburn. There is canine hunger, the patient having to get up at night to eat, and there is a craving for spirits.
Give the action of Sulphur on the liver.
It increase the flow of bile; there is also much pain and soreness of the liver.
When is Sulphur indicated in constipation?
There is an uneasy feeling all through the intestinal tract, and the constipation usually alternates with the diarrhoea. Constipation, with hemorrhoids, from abdominal plethora or passive congestion of the portal system.
What is the diarrhoea of Sulphur?
The stools are changeable in color and may contain undigested food. It occurs in the morning and drives the patient out of bed; there is a great deal of abdominal uneasiness, the odor of the stool clings to the patient for a long time, and there is much soreness at the anus.
How does the stool of Podophyllum compare?
It has a morning stool, with a great deal of soreness and fulness in the region of the liver, and it continues throughout the day.
What are other drugs having early morning diarrhoea?
Aloes, Thuja and Bryonia.
When should Sulphur be given in gleet?
In persons subjects to catarrh, where the case has been maltreated by injections, and where there is much irritation and soreness and the urine burns the parts.
What are the indications of Sulphur in the respiratory sphere?
In cases of pneumonia where there is no tendency to recuperation and resolution; the lungs tend to break down; there are rales all over the chest, muco-purulent expectoration and symptoms of hectic fever; all the symptoms being worse at night, and the cough is apt to be dry. Sense of internal oppression.
Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Michigan Homeopathic Medical College. Member of American Institute of Homeopathy. In addition to his editoral work he authored or collaborated on: Boericke and Dewey's Twelve Tissue Remedies, Essentials of Homeopathic Materia Medica, Essentials of Homeopathic Therapeutics and Practical Homeopathic Therapeutics.