ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
It is evident that the Nitrate in small quantities and the chloride and Oxide of silver in larger proportions, are absorbed in to the vascular system, and thus conjoined to all parts of the body, a nd consequently also to the nerves, with which they doubtless come in immediate contact. Upon these they may exert and irritant or astringent, or toughening action, a nd probably the salts of Silver may also enter into chemical combination with some of he constituents of he nervous mass, especially the albumen, and that an actual and tangible Alumina of Silver may be thee formed, as if it is the blood and in other parts of the system. In. the case of poisoning before quoted, it produced confusions, and hence it seems to act decidedly upon the motor nerves, of he spine and brain while clinically it has been found more useful in epilepsy and other spasmodic disorders than in neuralgic or other affections of the nervous of sensation.
CLINICAL REMARKS.
DR. GAY “According to my observations the Nitrate of Silver is eminently indicated in disturbances of the brain, a nd the consequent derangements in the system generally, which have arises from moral causes. the opinion advanced by Muller does not correspond with the facts I have witnessed.
Epilepsies produced by moral causes (such as, for example, very impassioned lay preaching), a promptly and durably cured by a few small doses of his drug, whilst those proceeding from abdominal irritation, independently of moral causes, are, at best but poorly palliated by very large and frequently repeated doses. the same observation must I am persuaded, hold good with respect to gastric disturbances; those only will be really cured by it which have arisen during too great or too long continued mental exertion.
The bodily symptoms being similar to those produced by this drug, I should regard is as an indispensable remedy when there are the following moral conditions:
1. A crowd of impulses to act, to move, to be busy, which, without any distinct purpose to effete, keeps the patient in continual motion; a state of unrest, which gives the appearance of hurry and discontent to all its conduct.
2 The opposite of he foregoing condition;not the calmness of deportment which occurs when the mind is in healthful contemplation, but an apathy inactive of a privation of motive or purpose; a state verging upon, and open ending imperfect imbecility. Or,
3. Errors and defects of perception. The erroneous perceptions in which I have seen Nitrate useful, have been: 1. As to time; the patient constant;y fearing the should be too late, and supposing that one or two hours had elapsed, when not more than a quarter or an eighth of the supposed time had passed, and this all the while; night and day, for many weeks together; and 2. Errors as to the velocity of gait, the patient supposing that he was walking very rapidly, when he was, in fact, moving but very slowly indeed.
Moreover, I should regard the Nitrate as the remedy (other indications existing for its use) in all severe commotions of he system arising from too great acuteness of the perceptive organs; e.g., certain forms of epilepsia and chorea.
It is, I think probable that Silver will be found as strictly adapted to the cure of morbid perceptions, and their concomitant disturbances point the digestive, motor, and genital apparatus, as Gold is to the removal of diseased affections, and their consensual motory and genital diseases. However the reader may regard the foregoing speculations of Muller, he cannot, if he be a thorough student of Hahnemann permit them to have the slightest weight with him in the choice or rejection of the Nitrate of Silver as a remedy for a case in hand; they are beyond the limits of possible testimony, and for all known purposes of the homoeopathic art they would be useless, even if demonstrably true, because we have or the abdominal ganglia are the essential site of disease.”ED.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS.
Great debility and weariness in. the lower limbs the whole afternoon, as after a long journey on foot, with sick feeling,
dread of labor, drowsiness, chilliness, and sickly appearance Peculiar debility Rigidity in the calves Feeble, weary, and without appetite In the morning, after rising, debilitated, tremulous, irritated, and apprehensive Tremulous weakness, accompanied with general debility, as after physical exertion, and apathy Nervous, faintish, tremulous sensation, as if a severe disease were about to attack him Excessive debility, wretched appearance, a nd emaciation Tremor of the limbs, general debility, as from physical exertion Powerful excitation of the muscles and mere, and consensual excitation of the nervous of the stomach Seething in. the whole body, with increase temperature Sensation as if the body, and especially the face and head, expanded; he feels as if the bones o he skull separated with increase of temperature Sensation in the limbs as if they would go to sleep or become rigid Complete insensibility of the body Convulsions sentiment of the approaching epileptic fit paralysis of the extremities.
SKIN.
Cachexia emaciation, affection, of the liver, dropsy Fatal dropsy pricking itching in, the skin at night small itching pimples Small itch pimples, bleeding when scratched Pustules ecthyma. Wart shaped excrescences on the skin Peculiar discoloration of the skin (argyria) from the bluegrey, violet or bronze colored tinges to the real black.
SLEEP.
Soporous condition Sleepiness when sitting Nightly nervousness Night nervousness, with heat and fUllness in the head. Sopor, with tossing about in the night; no sleep. Sleep very restless Restless night; tossing about;heavy fantastic dreams. Restless, m stupefied sleep, with horrid dreams. Restless night, with headache and stupefaction. The night’s rest is disturbed with a dull headache. In the morning he wakes from a slumber full of dreams, with dullness of the head. He wakes in the night with sore throat.
FEVER.
Yawning and chilliness.
FEverish sick feeling the whole afternoon constant weakness and exhaustion. Shuddering over the whole body, which passed into a febrile chill, the head being hot and the hands cold, with
nausea. Chilliness and nausea after rising. Chilliness and headache in the forenoon. The chilliness was accompanied with pale, almost yellowish countenance, nausea, and empty rising. Fever, after a meal. Febrile condition; headache and chilliness in the forenoon; in the afternoon, creeping chills, dry and hot skin, and nausea Night sweat. Sweat, with chilliness in bed. Morning sweat.
MORAL SYMPTOMS.
Irritated and anxious mood in the morning after rising, with great nervousness, feeling of weakness, and tremulousness Anxiety in the praecordial region; sighing; feeling of disease. Apathy, with great debility and tremulous weakness. Hypochondriac taciturnity, with dullness of the head, and beating in the whole body. Hypochondriac and gloomy mood drawing pain in the forehead; yellowish complexion; sweetish bitter taste in the mouth; dry, viscid lips; feebleness, and febrile sensation; debility and weariness of the lower limbs.
HEAD.
Vertigo in the morning, with headache. Vertigo, with complete but transitory blindness, nausea, and confusion of he senses, buzzing in the ears, and general debility of the limbs as after fatigue, and debility of the lower limbs. Giddy fullness of sense, as if he has lost all sensations with drowsiness. Dizziness before falling asleep. Soporose condition. Difficulty to collect his senses. Dullness of sense. Weakness of memory. Imbecile appearance. On lying down for the purpose of relieving his head, visions and distorted faces hover before his imagination. Stupid feeling in the head when writing. Dull headache over night; in the morning sometimes changing to fullness, a nd stinging in the forehead. Confusion of the head. Dull and muddled state of the head, with heating in the whole body, a nd hypochondriac taciturnity after dinner The head feels obtuse, with whizzing in the ears and hard hearing. Headache at night, with heat relieved by cold. Sensation in the head as if the epileptic fit were approaching When waking in the morning, h has a terrible headache, obliging him to gnash his teeth. The head feels full, heavy and stupid; the headache becomes intolerable when making the least movement, and continues the whole day. Pressing pain, or painful fullness and heaviness in the head. Pain in the forehead and vertex as if the parts were grasped together. Pressure in the forehead. Aching pain in the forehead, above the eyebrows. Aching pain extending as far as the eyes, with sneezing. Pain in the head. as if it would burst, occasioned by mental labor. Undulating throbbing in the whole forehead. Drawing, or bands, over the surface of the brain, apparently in the membranes of or the sinuses. Lacerating extending down the temple as far as the face. Drawing, with pressure and heaviness in the side of the head abating in rest, but increasing by the least motion pushing beating pain in the rest, but increasing by the least motion
