Synonym. Chloride of Sodium. Common names. Common Salt. Table Salt. Preparation. Triturations.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Acts upon the blood, the lymphatic system, the mucous lining of the digestive tract and upon the liver and spleen. It causes a deterioration of the blood, which, with a high degree of irritation, results in inflammation, partaking of a scorbutic nature, and from which arise various ulcers and eruptions on the skin, as well as destructive inflammations of mucous and glandular tissues and conditions generally pointing to a distinct dyscrasia of a scorbutic character. Aside from this dyscrasia the most essential feature of Salt is its power to produce a condition of system or a cachexia simulating that which results from long-lasting or badly treated cases of ague, and it is in this sphere of therapeutics that Salt has achieved its greatest victory.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind. Melancholia depressed, sad and weeping (Ignatia, Nux moschata, Pulsatilla, Rhus tox.); consolation aggravates; prefers to be alone. Very irritable and ill-humored; easily provoked to anger (Bryonia, Chamomilla, Nux v.). Excitement. Laughs immoderately and cannot be quieted. Despair depriving him of all power. Disinclination to mental work. Difficult thinking; absence of mind; weakness of memory (Agn., Ambr., Anacardium, Kreosotum, Lachesis, Mercurius, Nux moschata, Phosphorus ac.). Distraction when talking. Easily makes mistakes in writing.
Head. Vertigo; in morning on rising, better on lying down again; and great dullness of the head; with flickering before the eyes (Belladonna). Involuntary nodding the head forward. Dullness and heaviness of the head (Caps., Cinchona); in morning after thinking Headache in the morning on awaking (Kali bichromicum, Nitr. ac., Nux v.); lasts till noon; sick headache. Headache from sneezing and coughing, disappearing on pressure. Dull, pressing stupefying headache. Rush of blood to the head. Throbbing or stitches in head, extending to neck or chest. Throbbing and heat in the head, with redness in the face, nausea and vomiting. Heavy pressive pain in forehead over both eyes; as if the eyes would be pressed out, better from pressure on the eyes. Falling out of the hair (Graphites, Mercurius, Nitr. ac., Petrol., Phosphorus, Sepia, Sulphur); sensitiveness of the scalp (Cinchona, Mercurius, Mez., Nitr. ac.). Itching eruption of margins of hair at nape of neck.
Eyes. Dimness of vision, as if looking through a mist of veil (Causticum, Croc., Petrol., Phosphorus, Silicea, Sulphur). Objects become confused; letters and stitches run together (Silicea). Small fiery points constantly before the eyes (Cyclamen, Mercurius, Sulphur). Eyes give out on using them (Phosphorus, Ruta., Sepia). Inflammation, redness and lachrymation (Aconite, Belladonna); feeling as if balls were too large and compressed. Pressure in the eyes on looking intently at anything. Sensation of sand in the eye mornings (Arsenicum, Causticum, Ignatia, Sulphur). Burning and smarting in the eyes. (Nux v.). Sensitive to light. Margins of lids red, inflamed, burning, agglutinated in morning (Alumina, Graphites, Lycopodium, Pulsatilla, Sulphur); Spasmodic closure of lids. Irritability of margins of lids and of their conjunctivae. Itching of inner canthi, with lachrymation.
Ears. Hardness of hearing. Cracking in ears when chewing. Discharge of pus from ears (Graphites, Hepar s., Mercurius).
Nose. Inflammation and swelling of left side of nose; painful to touch, itching. Internal soreness and swelling. Liable to catch cold; coryza, fluent; discharge of thick mucus; or nose dry and stopped up; sneezing. Epistaxis, blood clotted. Painful burning pustules below septum, of nose, afterward confluent and covered with a scab.
Face. Yellow color of face (Chelidonium, Hepar s., Sepia). Face shines as if greasy. Redness of the left cheek. Lips dry, chapped and cracked; upper lip swollen (Calcarea c). Beard falls out. Great swelling and some burning of lower lip, followed by a vesicle, next day a scab and desquamation. Tettery eruptions around the mouth (Antim crud., Lycopodium). Periodical prosopalgia, especially after checked ague; face sallow, great thirst.
Mouth. Gums swollen and bleed easily (Carb. v., Mercurius, Phosphorus, Nitr. ac.). Painful ulcers. Teeth loose, sensitive to cold; cold air; also gums. Blisters like pearls about the mouth; especially in intermittent fever. Great complaint about dryness of tongue, which is not very dry. Sensation as of a hair upon the tongue (sil.). Fistula dentalis. Tongue dry and stiff, speech difficult. Mapped tongue. Vesicles and ulcers in the mouth, and on the tongue (Lycopodium, Acid Muriaticum); smarting and burning when touched by the food. Salivation in the morning; saliva salty. Taste bitter (bry., Nux v., Pulsatilla, Sulphur); salty (Mercurius); entire loss of taste (Pulsatilla).
Throat. Frequent hawking of salty-tasting mucus. Sensation of a plug in the throat (Belladonna, Nux v.), with rawness and burning pain. Easily chokes when swallowing. Swelling of the cervical glands.
Stomach. Excessive hunger; after eating weary and sleepy. Eructations after eating; incomplete; violent. Loss of appetite (Arsenicum, Calcarea c., Cinchona, Sulphur). Violent hiccough. Aversion to bread, of which he was once very fond (Cyclamen, Lycopodium, Nux v.); also to coffee (Lycopodium, Phosphorus ac.). Repugnance to smoking, to which he was accustomed. Violent, unquenchable thirst (Aconite, Arsenicum, Bryonia, Rhus tox.). Nausea. Heartburn (Lycopodium, Nux v.). Distension. Constrictive cramp in the stomach. Burning and fullness in the stomach. Sore pain after eating. Pressure in pit of stomach, which is sensitive to touch. Throbbing in pit of stomach after eating. Sensation as if a foreign body were sticking in the cardiac orifice and behind the sternum.
Abdomen. Stitches and tension in hepatic (Arsenicum, Bryonia, Calcarea c., Kali. c., Mercurius, Nux. v., Sepia) and splenic regions (Natr. carb., Sulphur). Pinching pain in right side of abdomen. Abdomen distended; rumbling and incarceration of flatus (lyc., Cinchona). Cutting griping pains as with diarrhoea. Pain in ring when coughing, extending into the testicles, as if spermatic cords would be torn to pieces.
Stool and Anus. Constipation, with sensation of contraction of the anus; difficult expulsion of hard, dry and crumbling stool (Ammonium mur.), fissuring the anus (Nitr. ac.), so that it bleeds and pains as if sore. Itching stitches in the rectum; evening in bed. Protrusion of the rectum. Burning in anus after hard stool. Alternate constipation and diarrhoea (Antim crud., Cimic., Nux v., Podophyllum), irregular, unsatisfactory stools. Painless watery diarrhoea (Arsenicum, Cinchona, Podophyllum).
Urinary Organs. Discharge of mucus from the urethra during and after urination (Mercurius cor.), causing itching and biting. Cutting and burning in urethra after urination (Cantharis). Urethra painfully sore to pressure. Frequent desire to urinate, with copious flow of light watery urine. Urine dark and turbid. Clear, pale. Urine passes in voluntarily while walking, coughing or laughing (Causticum, Pulsatilla, Zincum met.). Brick-dust sediment in urine (Arnica, Cinchona, Lycopodium, Phosphorus).
Male Organs. Phymosis. Excessive irritability of the sexual instinct, but with physical weakness. Emissions; every night; soon after coition. Violent itching on and under the scrotum.
Female Organs. Pressing and bearing down in the genitals every morning; has to sit down to prevent prolapsus (Belladonna, Platina, Lilium tigrinum, Sepia). Menses too early and too profuse; last too long. Suppression of the menses (Aconite, Cimic., Pulse.). Itching of the genital organs (Cantharis, Coni., Mercurius). Leucorrhoea., profuse, of a greenish color, worse while walking.
Respiratory Organs. Hoarseness in the morning; accumulation of mucus in the larynx. Cough in the morning; in evening after lying down in bed; from empty swallowing; from tickling in the throat; with bursting pain in forehead (Bryonia, Nux v.); with shortness of breath; with vomiting of food; with tearing pains in spermatic cords. Dry cough with expectoration of blood; tickling cough, worse mornings, with hawking of mucus. Hacking cough. Stitches (Bryonia, Kali carb.) or sore pain in chest (Arnica, Baryta c., Nux v., Phosphorus, Stannum). Dyspnoea, on ascending stairs, breath short.
Heart and Pulse. Fluttering motion of the heart (Lilium tigrinum). Palpitation of the heart; on going up stairs; when lying on left side ( Natr. carb., Phosphorus);with anxiety. Coldness about the heart. Painful stitches in region of heart (Bryonia, Cact., Kali carb.); after reading aloud. Constriction of the heart with intermittent pulse and oppression in lower part of chest, as if lungs had not room enough to expand. Intermission in the beating of the heart and pulse (Coni., Digit., Kali carb.). Pulse rapid.
Neck and Back. Pain in small of back as if broken (Aloe, Belladonna, Cimic., Nux v.). Swelling of lymphatic glands. Pain in back relieved by lying on something hard (Rhus tox.). Throat and neck emaciate rapidly, especially during summer complaint. Stitches kin the neck and back part of the head. Paralytic feeling in small of back, in morning on rising; paralytic weakness nearly all day, better from lying, worse from eating. Violent pulsation in small of back.
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).