Synonyms. Kali muriate. Potassium chlorid. Common name. Chloride of Potassium. Preparation. Triturations.
GENERAL ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTICS.
Our knowledge of the action of this drug is exclusively from clinical sources, chiefly from Schuessler, who selected it as one of his twelve tissue remedies. He maintains that Kali mur. stands in a chemical relation to fibrin, and that its usefulness is in fibrinous exudations in the interstitial connective tissues. It is therefore accordingly employed in croup, croupous pneumonia, diphtheria (sole remedy in most cases), dysentery, lymphatic enlargements, second stage of inflammations, etc. Chief remedy in puerperal fevers. We have no provings of the drug, but may reasonably assume from its chemical constituents and from clinical reports that it is homoeopathic to these conditions. Hering in Guiding Symptoms gives a long list of clinical symptoms. In accordance with the above we use the drug very successfully in catarrhal diseases, sub-acute inflammations, fibrinous exudations and glandular swellings. The chief characteristics are a white or gray coating at the base of the tongue; white or gray exudations; discharges or expectoration of thick, white fibrinous phlegm from any mucous surface.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Head. Dandruff. Crusta lactea.
Eyes. Discharge of white mucus or yellow greenish matter (Pulsatilla). Superficial ulcers on cornea. Trachoma.
Ears. Chronic catarrh of middle ear. Cracking, snapping noise on blowing the nose of swallowing. Swelling of glands about the ear.
Nose. Nasal catarrh; phlegm white and thick. Vault of pharynx covered with adherent crusts. Stuffy cold.
Face. Cheek swollen and painful.
Mouth. Aphthae; thrush; white ulcers in mouth. Swollen glands about jaw and neck. Coating of tongue grayish-white, dryish, or slimy.
Throat. Tonsils inflamed; enlarged so much can hardly breathe. Grayish patches or spots in the throat and tonsils. Adherent crusts in vault of pharynx.
Stomach. Fatty or rich food causes indigestion. Vomiting of white, opaque mucus; water gathers in the mouth. Pain in the stomach, with constipation. Bulimia; hunger disappears by drinking water.
Abdomen. Abdominal tenderness and swelling. Flatulence.
Stool. Constipation; light-colored stools. Diarrhoea, after fatty foods; clay-colored, white or slimy stools. Haemorrhoids; bleeding; blood dark and thick; fibrinous, clotted.
Female Organs. Menstruation too late or suppressed, checked or too early; excessive discharges; dark-clotted or tough black blood, like tar. Leucorrhoea; discharge of milky-white mucus, thick, non- irritating, bland. Morning sickness with vomiting of white phlegm. Mastitis.
Respiratory Organs. Loss of voice; hoarseness. Asthma, with gastric derangements; mucus white and hard to cough up. loud, noisy stomach cough; cough short, acute and spasmodic, like whooping cough; expectoration thick and white. Rattling sound of air passing through thick, tenacious mucus in the bronchi; difficult to cough up.
Back and Limbs. Rheumatic fever; exudation and swelling around the joints. Rheumatic pains felt only during motion or increased by it (Bryonia). Nightly rheumatic pains; worse from warmth of bed (Mercurius); lightening-like from small of back to feet; must get out of bed and sit up. Hands get stiff while writing.
Skin. Acne, erythema, and eczema, with vesicles containing thick white contents. Dry, flour-like scales on the skin (Arsenicum).
Aggravation. From rich foods or fats. From motion.
Compare. Bryonia, Mercurius, Pulsatilla, Sulphur
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).