Glandular swellings, suppurations and Caries are similar to those in Silicea. The appetite is good; he craves cold food, cries when he sees ice-cream, etc., often awakens at night, not and restless, and will drop off at once to sleep if fed. The stools are green; watery, bright-yellow, undigested, hot involuntary, coming out with force, worse mornings. Stools often contain little particles looking like tallow. Vomiting accompanies the diarrhoea; longs for cold water, but ejects it so soon as it becomes warm in the stomach.
Hydrocephaloid may ensue. The face is hippocratic, with sunken eyes, surrounded by blue rings. The tongue is dry; the pulse thready; breathing quick; the child lies half-comatose.
PETROLEUM stands between Sul. and Phosphorus on the one hand the Carbons on the other. It has emaciation, irritability; the child is vehement, susceptible to electric changes (like Phosphorus), Sudden urging in the morning, followed by profuse watery stool (like Sulphur) and Eczema, excoriations, cracked, bleeding rhagades (like Graphites Carbo veg. etc.) Its individuality, however, is maintained by the periodicity of the diarrhoea, stools only during the day, and by the colic arising from sleep in the morning, relieved by bending double. Hunger after stool. Its gushing stool and eruption make it a concordant of Croton Tiglium.
IODIUM causes rapid emaciation, even though the appetite is inordinate. The child is restless and continually desires to change position. The face is yellow or brownish and shrunken.
It is especially useful in enlarged mesenteric glands, with the above symptoms and with intolerable irritability; the child will be approached by no one. Glands are swollen and painless; Goitre.
LYCOPODIUM produces emaciation. The abdomen is bloated while the limbs are wasted. The face is earthy, With blue rings around the eyes. At other times it is wrinkled. Eruptions are well-described. The Crusta Lactea is thick, cracks and bleeds, and emits a mousy smell. TENDENCY to Capillary Bronchitis. The appetite is inordinate, but food soon produces a fulsome feeling, so the child begins hungry enough, but soon desists, and the abdomen seems distended, with much rumbling of wind, especially in the left hypochondrium. The child belches and is soon hungry again. The region of the stomach is distended and intolerant of any pressure, especially after nursing. The urine deposits a read sediment, or is suppressed. Sleep is disturbed by frequent awaking. The child springs up in bed, seemingly frightened, knows no one, pushes every one away angrily. The Lycopodium patient is weak, with well developed head, but puny, sickly body. When sick the child is irritable, nervous and unmanageable. After sleep he is cross, kicks or scratches at any one who approaches him.
PSORINUM stands forth as an ally of Sulphur. There are great debility and sweat from any exertion. The skin has the same irremovable odor that so distinguishes Sulphur. The eruptions are well-described. Crusta Lactea forms on face and scalp, appearing prominently down over either ear and cheek. It exfoliates numerous scales, or cracks and discharges a yellow foetid humour. Boils from on the scalp, which looks dirty and emits an offensive odor. The body itches intolerably at night, worse in the warmth of the bed.
The child is pale, sickly, emaciated; nervous, crying out at night, as from bad dreams; all medicines fail to relieve. The stool is distinctive, watery, brown or black, horribly offensive, worse by night. The child is worse when the weather changes.
The Antimonies have place here by reason of their resemblance to Sulphur, and because they are well-adapted to Scrofula, diarrhoea, etc., The child may look fleshy and well, but is subject to gastric catarrh. The eruptions are pustular (especially in the Tartrate); or develop thick horny crusts (Crudum). In the latter drug we find the nostrils and corners of the mouth covered with crusts, which crack and bleed.
The tongue in Ant.Crud. is white; the babe vomits sour curdled milk as soon as takes the bottle. Vomiting of food or drink as soon as taken. After nursing, the bowels move. Stools watery containing fecal lumps, or costive, the stools being white, dry, irregular or hard lumps of curd; Marasmus.
ANTIMONIUM TARTARICUM has nausea and retching, with vomiting, sweat on the forehead, afterwards languor, sleep. The stools are brown-yellow, fecal, watery, profuse, with sharp cutting colic. There are frequent jerks of the limbs during sleep.
In temperament, the Antimonies display marked irritability; the child will be neither touches nor looked at. ANTIMONIUM CRUDUM is adapted to complaints arising from the heat of Summer. While in Sulphur all bathing aggravates, in AntimoniumCrud. it is particularly cold bathing which cannot be borne.
The gastric symptoms and intolerance of summer-heat place Antimonium Crudum with Bryonia. But the Tartarate favor more Veratrum Album. (See Bell on Diarrhoea.)
BORAX reserved from the nurses, who gave it no higher function than that of awash for excoriated nipples or infant’s sore- mouth, takes a useful place in our list of remedies.
The child grows pale, relaxed, flabby, cries, loathes the breast and falls into a heavy sleep. The head and palms of the hands are hot, the face is pale, clay-coloured. Impaired nutrition is shown by the not mouth and aphthae on the tongue and cheeks, bleeding when rubbed. When awake or not sound asleep, the child is nervous, startled by sudden noises, as thunder, distant cannon-firing, etc. When rocked or lowered into its bed, it screams as if, affrighted. It can bear no downward motion. Every attempt to nurse cause screaming. The stools are light-yellow, slimy, green, consist of small pieces of yellow faeces, or are painless and if fermented, thin, brown, smelling like carrion.
Dr. Bell, in his oft-quoted Monograph, refers to the danger of mistaking Borax for Belladonna Both have screaming out and starting from sleep, with tossing about, clinging to those near, etc., but only Borax has the fear of downward motion and the aphthous mouth.
SEPIA bears some resemblance to Borax, as indeed it does to all Soda compounds. The child wastes rapidly, eyes are sunken, palms and soles burning hot. During dentition the child cannot take any milk, especially if boiled. The stools are green and painless; the child awakens frequently, especially wakeful after 3. A.M. Possibly suitable to females. Moist scabs on the scalp; forehead rough.
SARSAPARILLA is of service in those cases in which the child soon wastes away and looks withered like an old man and the skin hangs in folds. Eruptions are prone to appear in the Spring, their bases are inflamed, the crusts detach readily out of doors, and the adjoining skin becomes chapped. On the forehead the Crusta Lactea is thick, becoming moist when scratched. Herpes and offensive sweat about the genitals, as in children of sycotic parents.
The child becomes very restless and uneasy, screams before passing water, afterwards the diaper is found covered with white sand.
The stool is accompanied by much flatus, and is often followed by fainting.
GRAPHITES is selected by its skin symptoms principally. Like all Carbons, the discharges are apt to be offensive. Thus breath, stools, urine, sweat, all are offensive. The diarrhoea is brown, thin, fetid, mixed, containing half-digested food, or watery and scalding, or composed of white mucus, which also coats what fecal matter passes.
The child is impertinent and laughs at reprimands. It has a harsh rough skin, disposed to chafing. Eczema Capitis forms thick dirty crusts, which ooze a glutinous humour, matting the hair. The eye-lids thicken, their tarsi thicken, crack and bleed; crusts form in the nose, with soreness and oozing; a gluey discharges oozes from a raw surface behind the ears. The groins become sore and the inguinal glands swollen. Best-adapted to fair plump children, who look like the typical Calcarea-child but with well-marked skin symptoms.
CARBO VEG. is generally called for late in the disease, when the vital powers are failing and there is little or no reaction to well-chosen medicines. The skin is cold, pale, or blue, the face having a greenish hue. The feet and legs to the knees are as cold as death. The child may have an anxious look, but it is too lifeless to move or exhibit much restlessness. The breath may be cold and the pulse weak and rapid. The stools are dark, thin and cadaverous-smelling. Useful, too, in protracted sultry weather, when the days are hot and damp.
ARSENIC steps in here as a worthy concordant of Carbo Veg. The skin is dry, parchment-like; the face is sunken, pale, or earthy, and expressive of deep-seated distress. When eruptions are present the crusts are thick, on an angry, excoriated surface, or dry, forming branlike scales. As the child grows weaker the eruptions assume a darker hue, and Intertrigo may look even purple. Arsenic develops a perfect picture of Gastritis, acute and sub-acute. Food and drink cause instant vomiting and diarrhoea. The constant burning thirst demands iced drinks, ice, etc. but they invariably cause distress in the stomach, making the child writhe in agony until they are ejected.
