The eye symptoms, like Phosphorus in general, have amelioration after rest. Momentary blindness like fainting; seems to suddenly become blind; paralysis of the optic nerve; blindness after electric shocks, or after a stroke of lightning. It has cured glaucoma. It has cured inflammation of the retina in Bright’s disease.
It has cured opacity of the vitreous humor. It has cured paralytic weakness of the various muscles of the eyes. It has cured paralysis of the third pair of nerves where there is falling of the lids; sub-acute inflammation of the eyes.
Burning, redness, and smarting ameliorated from cold applications. The eyelids twitch and tremble; swelling of the eyelids; dropsical swelling of the eyelids; great darkness around the eyes; great circles around the eyes. It is a very useful remedy in malignant growths involving the eye, restraining very much the progress of the disease.
The eye symptoms like the head and mind symptoms are such as often come on in brain workers; working under a bright light causing much determination of blood to the head in which the eyes as well as other parts suffer.
Ears: Phosphorus has a peculiar deafness.
One of the most striking features of Phosphorus is inability to understand the articulations of the human voice. Hearing is difficult. He sometimes feels as if there were something over the ears; as if the ears were covered, obstructing the waves of sound.
Violent itching in the ears; congestion of the external ear; itching, tearing, throbbing, burning pains within the ear, It has cured polypi in the ears.
Nose: The nose symptoms are also very numerous; inveterate nasal catarrh.
He takes cold in the nose, but the most common seat of the Phosphorus cold is in the chest, and most of his difficulties begin in the chest, but Phosphorus cures nasal catarrh and coryza.
There is painful dryness in the nose; constant sneezing and running from the nose of bloody water.
Frequent alternations of fluent and stopped-up conditions of the nose; coryza with sore throat; stoppage of the nostrils; much sneezing and stopping of the nose alternating with dryness of the nose in scarlet fever; nostrils filled with green mucus; a copious nasal discharge of greenish-yellow, blood-streaked mucus, worse in the morning; bad odor from the nose; frequent blowing of blood from the nose; copious hemorrhage from the nose of bright red blood; swelling of the nose, redness and shining; very sensitive to touch; necrosis of the bones of the nose.
It has cured polypi of the nose, especially bleeding polypi. Fan-like motion of the nose, like Lycopodium.
Face: The Phosphorus patient presents a sickly face, earthy, sunken and pale, such as we find in consumption and those about to go into consumption those suffering from deep-seated constitutional conditions; haggard, anemic.
The color is changeable; swollen, oedematous face; puffed under the eyes; lips and eyelids swollen. Again, red spots upon the checks, which appear in hectic fever; the hectic blush. Tension of the skin and of the face; tearing, shooting pains all through the face and about the eyes, from the temples and vertex down to the zygoma. Jerking, tearing pains in the teeth.
The pains of the teeth are often ameliorated by warmth, while those of the head are ameliorated by cold. The pains of the teeth are worse when talking and eating, and worse after eating It has violent neuralgias of the face involving the jaw and temples, with hot, bloated face, worse from talking and from eating.
It has caries of the lower jaw, with great heat, burning and fistulous openings. Neuralgia of the face and teeth; has to be wrapped up at night; worse in windy weather.
The countenance is sickly, sunken, declining, as if a serious sickness was coming.
The lips are parched, dry and bleeding. The lips become black, brown and cracked as in low forms of fever, and with necrosis of the lower jaw. Inflammation of the parotid gland, especially when it suppurates or there are fistulous openings. Rapid decay of the teeth. The gums bleed and settle away from the teeth.
Phosphorus is very useful for the bright red hemorrhage after the extraction of teeth. The tongue is swollen and speech is difficult. It is difficult to articulate. The taste in the mouth is bitter or sour, especially sour after taking milk; sometimes salty or sweetish; bitter after eating.
Taste of hydrogen sulphide in the morning. The tongue is coated like fur; sometimes chalky-white, sometimes yellow; dry, cracked and bleeding; sordes on the teeth. Crusts form upon the mucous membranes of the mouth, gums, lips and tongue. The tongue is swollen and the papillae are engorged.
Throat: Dryness of the mouth and throat; sore, excoriated mucous membranes of the mouth and throat.
The mouth may be covered with thrush, as in nursing sore mouth; bloody erosions of the mouth; nursing sore mouth. Much watery saliva and bloody saliva flows from the mouth. The saliva is copious, tasting sweetish, saltish or foul. The mucous membranes of the throat are like those of the mouth. Great dryness, roughness, rawness, excoriation, bleeding, and inflammation of the tonsils; inflammation of the throat; sensation of cotton in the throat; sensation of velvet in the throat.
The tonsils are much swollen. Intense pain in the throat and burning in the throat that extends into the oesophagus. Inability to swallow any nourishment because of paralysis of the oesophagus or acute inflammation of the mucous membranes of the throat and oesophagus; constriction of the oesophagus.
In Phosphorus there is violent hunger and very soon after eating the hunger returns again. Must eat during the chill. Must get tip in the night to eat. Feels faint and is driven to eat. Ravenous hunger during headache; he knows that the headache is coming on because of his violent hunger; in periodical headaches.
The hunger is often spasmodic, because at times there is aversion to food. Again, he wants to eat and as soon as the food is offered he does not want it. Thirst is one of the most constant features of Phosphorus.
In acute and chronic complaints there is violent thirst; thirst for ice-cold drinks. Wants something refreshing; is ameliorated momentarily by drinking cold things, but the thirst appears as soon as the water gets warm in the stomach. Vomiting comes on as soon as the water becomes warm in the stomach, but there are many conditions where the ice-cold water agrees.
Unquenchable thirst. When the water is vomited there is always unquenchable thirst. He wants cold food as well as cold drinks; refreshing, spicy things, juicy things; desire for wines and sour things. Phosphorus often cures the violent’ longing in inebriates for alcohol.
It simply resembles the congestion of the mucous membrane of the stomach. Aversion to sweets, to meat, to boiled milk, to salt fish, to beer, to puddings, to tea and coffee.
Many of the complaints of Phosphorus are ameliorated by eating. The nervous symptoms of Phosphorus drive the patient to eat and he feels better for a little while, and then he must eat again or the nervous symptoms will come on. Often he can sleep better after eating and cannot go to sleep until he eats something.
Stomach: The stomach symptoms are numerous: pains, nausea, vomiting, burning.
The stomach symptoms are ameliorated by cold things and aggravated by warm things. The nausea and vomiting are brought on by putting the hands into warm water, from being in a warm room, from warm things and from taking warm things into the stomach. The nausea of pregnancy is cured when the woman cannot put the hands into warm water without bringing on vomiting. Another marked feature of Phosphorus is eructations of food.
The food is eructated by mouthful until the stomach is emptied of the last meal. Constant nausea except when something cold is in he stomach. As soon as water becomes warm in the stomach it comes up. This very much resembles the vomiting and nausea of Chloroform, and Phosphorus is a great friend to the surgeon because he can nearly always antidote the stomach affections of Chloroform by Phosphorus. Vomiting of blood and violent vomiting of sour fluids; vomiting of bile and mucus; vomiting of black substances, coffee-ground substances. Awful sinking, gone feeling in the stomach.
This sometimes comes at 11 o’clock like Sulphur. Pressing pains, burning pains, tearing pains in the stomach; pain in the stomach after eating; sensitiveness in the pit of the stomach; inflammation of the stomach. It has been a very useful remedy in cancer of the stomach, with coffee-ground vomiting and burning; coldness, as if freezing, in the pit of the stomach; paroxysms of knife-like pains in the stomach.
The pains in the stomach are ameliorated by ice-cold things for a moment; spasmodic contractions of the stomach; hemorrhage from the stomach; vomiting of great quantities of clotted blood; long-standing dyspepsia; much flatulence; regurgitation of food; distended stomach and abdomen; ulceration of the stomach.
The liver furnishes us many symptoms of Phosphorus. Congestion of the liver, fullness, pain, hardness, fatty degeneration of the liver, hyperemia of the liver. Phosphorus is one of the most useful liver remedies; hard, large liver. With the stomach and liver symptoms there is commonly jaundice.
In 1881, Kent accepted a position as professor of anatomy at the Homeopathic College of Missouri, an institution with which he remained affiliated until 1888. In 1890, Kent moved to Pennsylvania to take a position as Dean of Professors at the Post-Graduate Homeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia. In 1897 Kent published his magnum opus, Repertory of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. Kent moved to Chicago in 1903, where he taught at Hahnemann Medical College.