INTRODUCTION
MERC. DULC. Calomel. See Hahnemann’s “Mat. Medorrhinum,” 111., Hartmann, and a number of allopathic authorities.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS.
Derangement of the whole nervous system. Trembling of the hands and feet. Trembling of the limbs Hypochondriac and hysteric spasms.
SKIN.
Erythema in the region of the genital organs, spreading over the whole body within twenty-four hours. The skin bright-red, as in scarlet-fever, somewhat swollen, but not painful, without any increase of warmth and without fever. Eczema-mercuriale. Hydrosis-mercurialis.
FEVER.
Continual fever and heat, with night-sweats, sinking of strength, lacerating pains in the limbs, and trembling, frequent, round, deep, and spreading ulcers in the mouth and fauces, in the face, on the genital organs, and the rest of the body, with white base and inflamed, excessively-painful edges.
MERCURIUS SYMPTOMS.
Oppressive anxiety. Uneasiness in the whole.
HEAD.
Swelling of the head.
FACE.
Inflammation of the lips and tongue.
TEETH.
Breaking off, exfoliation, blackness, looseness, and falling out of the teeth. Interstitial distention and chronic decay of the gums. Noma: rapidly spreading, gangrenous destruction of the soft and hard parts of the face, lips, cheeks, gums, teeth, upper jaw generally in children.
MOUTH.
Profuse ptyalism. The salivary glands and tongue were very much swollen; adventitious growth and bleeding of the gums; deep, bleeding ulcers. Complete loss of appetite; the patient was unable to swallow even the softest kind of food, owing to violent pans in the throat. Ulcers in the mouth.
GASTRIC SYMPTOMS.
Vomiting. Chronic vomiting. Chronic weakness of the stomach.
STOMACH AND ABDOMEN.
Violent pains in the stomach. Inflammation of the liver. Enlargement and induration of the liver. Enteritis. Excessive pains in the abdomen, with vomiting and diarrhoea. Violent colic. Ascites. Adenophyma mesericum mercuriale. Alternate constipation and diarrhoea. the diarrhoea stool seats in with colicky pains in the abdomen.
STOOL.
Abdominal ptyalism, in the shape of a watery, copious diarrhoea. Chronic disposition to diarrhoea, with cutting colic. Greenish and blackish evacuations. Grass-green evacuations.
CHEST.
Fetid breath. Asthma.
DIVERS MERCURIAL PREPARATIONS.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS.
Hydrargyrosis of less degree: grater or less affection of the mucous membranes. HYDRARGYROSIS OF A HIGHER DEGREE, MERCURIAL CACHEXIA: languor and exhaustion, derangement of the digestive organs, alternate constipation and diarrhoea, sour eructations, emaciation, apathy. Inflammatory affections of the glands, swelling of the parotid, axillary, inguinal, and cervical glands. Striking deficiency and corruption of the blood. Haemorrhage from every orifice of the body, from the gums, mouth, nostrils, lungs; putrid, rapidly-spreading ulcers of the mucous membranes and skin; profuse, even bloody sweat; all the symptoms of fully- developed scurvy. Local and general dropsy. The pulse becomes irritated, frequent, small, tight. Lentescent, exhausting fevers, with unquenchable thirst and rapid emaciation. Fetid, diarrhoeic stools. drawing, lacerating, and boring pains in the muscles, sheaths of muscles, articulations, and bones. Acute and chronic eruptions. Affections of the periosteum and bones. Swelling of bones, softening of bones. RHEUMATISMUS MERCURIALIS, affecting the knee and shoulder-joints, rarely the hip, arm, an wrist- joints, sometimes the rheumatism is acute and, if left itself, results in dropsy and suppuration of the joints. Lacerating in the joints, with heaviness. Dull pain in the joints. Excessive pains in the muscles, tendons, and joints, resembling rheumatic and arthritic pains. Pains in the loins and knees, and afterwards in the rest of the body, which are at first wandering, then seated, penetrating Darting and pricking pains in various parts off the body. NEURALGIA MERCURIALIS: along the track of a motor never the patient experiences a drawing-lacerating pain. The pain may be seated, but more frequently it wanders here and there along different parts of the affected nerve. Violent lacerating pains in the tibia and face proceeding from he teeth, and extending to the parietal bone and the frontal region, and depriving the patient of sleep. Trembling of the limbs. Epilepsy. Predisposition to apoplexy. Apoplexy. Softening of the brain, with consequent apoplexy. General paralysis. Paralysis of the extremities. A variety of severe nervous affections. Excessive sensitiveness to external impressions, changes of temperature, ossium. Exostosis. Osteomalacia. Osteosarcoma Liability of the bones to break.
SKIN.
Desquamation of the epidermis, particularly the hands and feet. The skin, particularly on the chest, thighs, lower part of the back, is covered with a burning and itching rash. Millaria mercurialis. after the usual precursory symptoms, with marked irritation of the nervous system, and a slow, almost torpid febrile paroxysm, the exanthem makes its appearance on the chest, after which the anxiety and the restlessness of the patient abate. On the day following, the rash appears on the back and loins, preceded by the same precursory symptoms. In this way the rash breaks out in patches, until the eruption is complete, after the lapse of four or five days. The vesicles are close together and white. After the breaking out of the rash, the fever continues to make its appearance every evening Nervous symptoms, sleeplessness, slight delirium, every convulsions supervene.
Eczema mercuriale symptomaticum: gradually the skin become rose- colored. The reddened cutaneous surface imparts a sensation of burning heat to the finger. The redness disappears when pressing on it, but returns immediately after the pressure ceases. ECZEMA MERCURIALE CRITICUM: the first stage is characterized by the presence of mercurial fever, which is generally slight, although the catarrhal symptoms are sometimes violent. Towards the end of the skin is felt in different parts of the body. At the beginning of the second stage, the parts become rough and scarlet red, and covered with vesicles, at first filled with a transparent fluid, but which soon becomes milky and turbid. The epidermis peels off in large patches. The pain is severe on changing position, and is felt the more at night. Erysipelas: erysipelatous eruptions (Loewenhardt). Intense inflammation of the skin, spreading over the larger portion of the body, and terminating in the formation of an immense number of vesicles and blisters filled with pus. Herpes praeputialis mercurialis (Dietterich). Psydracia mercurialis (mercurial itch): in single parts of the limbs the patient experiences a violent itching, on the second day a slight elevation of a dark rosy redness is perceived, which increases in size on the day following, becomes pustulous on the fourth, and is fully developed on the fifty. These elevations vary in size from that of a millet-seed to the size of a pea. They are surrounded with a very narrow areola, their color remains of a dark rosy red. On the fifty day their tips are filled with a fine yellow pus; they are never seen in groups, but are scattered, as it were, over the extremities. On the sixth day their tips commence to fall in, they become paler and the areola narrower. In three days the pustule changes to a light-brown scurf, which is absorbed in two days, and then scales off. IMPETIGO MERCURIALIS: dark-red spots of various sizes are first perceived in the region of the genital organs and then on the chest. At first the vesicles are seen only on the sternum, after which they spread over the whole chest, arms, calves, and inner surface of the thighs. The vesicles break out repeatedly; sometimes some of them burst, leaving small, indented ulcers, which run into one another, and secrete a brownish-yellow, tenacious, and viscid pus. The gums are livid, receding from the teeth, the teeth have a dirty-black appearance, the small from the mouth is bad, the mucous membrane of the fauces is bluish, interstitially distended, and traversed by injected vessels, with lacerating pains in the limbs,. Spreading, spongy, bluish, readily- bleeding ulcers. Completely cicatrized ulcers burst again without any apparent cause, and become gangrenous. Ulcers which are extremely painful when touched every so little, discharging an acrid, corrosive ichor, spreading rapidly, and forming unequal elevations and depressions as if corroded by insects, with unequal and quick pulse, sleeplessness, restlessness, profuse night-sweat, great nervousness and impatience from the slightest with causes. Ulcus mercuriale simplex. Ulcus mercuriale mixtum is mercurial ulcer which has arisen from an already existing syphilitic one.
SLEEP.
Sleeplessness.
FEVER.
Fever and general irritation of the nervous system. Fever, with painful local inflammation termination in gangrene. Acute, putrid fevers. Febris erethica. In the evening slight chills proceeding from the abdomen, increasing gradually, and penetrating to the very bones. After this, sleep becomes restless and is disturbed with heavy, fanciful dreams. The urine is fiery-red, the pulse irritated, full, and quick. The dryness in the mouth increases to a burning sensation, the gums become dark-red, and recede some- what from the teeth, the tongue commences to swell, the tensive aching pain in the occiput extends to the nape of the neck, and even to the region between the scapulae, inducing stiffness of the neck. The patients small unpleasantly, and complain of a metallic taste in the mouth. Thy moan continually, and suffer with great oppression and anguish. The chills alternate with flushes of heat. The eyes become red, and assume a water and glassy appearance. Aching pain in the forehead towards the root
