Synonym. Hydrogen Oxalate. Common name. Oxalic Acid. Preparation. Triturations.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Acts powerfully upon the brain and spinal cord, exerting its special influences upon the motor nerve centers, paralyzing them and sometimes annihilating the functional power of the cerebro- spinal axis and destroying life very suddenly. It produces violent spasmodic conditions, especially of the muscles of the chest, and stiffness of the limbs, and also anaesthesia, neuralgia and paralytic symptoms. It also affects the respiratory mucous membrane, producing an inflammatory condition, and in large doses, by its irritating presence, causes violent inflammation of the mucous lining of the alimentary tract.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Mind. Diminished power to concentrate ideas. Very much exhilarated; quicker thought and action (Coffea). As soon as she thinks about the pains they return (Baryta c.).
Head. Vertigo; swimming sensation on lying down. Sensation of emptiness in head; faint feeling, s if all the blood had left the brain. Dull, heavy headache in forehead and vertex. Compression in head, as if from a screw behind each ear.
Eyes. Type blurs when reading. Vanishing of sight, with giddiness and sweat. Pans in both orbits; worse in left.
Nose. Sneezing; watery coryza. Red, shining swelling of right side of nose, beginning at the tip (Belladonna); with pimples in nose.
Face. Face pale and livid. Feeling of heat in face. Feeling of fullness in face; face redder. Face covered with cold sweat (Tabac., Veratrum alb.).
Mouth. Gums bleed and are painful in spots. Small ulcers on gums. Tongue swollen sensitive, red, dry, burning; swollen, with thick, white coating. Sour taste in mouth (Calcarea c., Mag. carb., Nux v.). Profuse secretion of saliva (Iodi., Mercurius, Nitr. ac.).
Throat. Burning in throat and stomach. Rawness and scraping in throat; thick mucus accumulates. Difficult, painful swallowing.
Stomach. Appetite increased; absent, with loss of taste. Thirst, with vertigo, loss of appetite, nausea, colic. Heart-burn, worse evenings. Empty or sour eructations; of tasteless wind, after each meal. Frequent hiccough (Ignatia, Hyoscyamus). Nausea and frequent vomiting. Empty feeling, compelling one to eat. Violent pressive pain at pit of stomach. Burning at pit of stomach (Arsenicum, Colchicum, Mercurius, cor.). Stomach sensitive; slightest touch cases excruciating pain.
Abdomen. Stitches in liver; relieved by a deep breath. Continuous pain in left hypochondrium, as if bruised; stitches. Colic about the navel (Coloc.); difficult emission of flatus. Burning and pain in abdomen.
Stool. Constant involuntary stools: dark, muddy, copious; mucus and blood. Diarrhoea as soon as one drinks coffee. Lying down causes return of diarrhoea. Pressing and straining in rectum; tenesmus. Constipation.
Urinary Organs. Pain in region of kidneys. Frequent and copious urination, which is clear, straw-colored; oxaluria. Burning in urethra, as from acrid drops. Pain in glans penis when urinating.
Male Organs. Great increase of sexual desire. Emissions of night with lascivious dreams. Testicles feel heavy and contused; shooting along cords (Clem., Spongia).
Respiratory Organs. Hoarseness and sensation of mucus in larynx during talking. Constant dry cough on violent exertion. Difficulty of breathing, with constrictive pain in larynx, and wheezing; oppression more towards right side; angina pectoris. Spasmodic breathing. Paroxysms of short, hurried breathing, with intervals of case. Sharp, shooting pains in left lung and heart, extending down to epigastrium; angina pectoris. Dull, heavy, sore pain in chest.
Heart and Pulse. Shooting pains about the heart. Heart in a continual fluttering palpitation. Pulse increased in frequency, almost imperceptible; with coldness, clammy sweat, etc. (Tabac., Veratrum alb.).
Neck and Back. Pain under point of scapula, between shoulders, extending to loins; bruised sensation, worse beneath tip of left scapula, with stiffness. Stitches from chest into scapulae. Acute pain in back, gradually extending down the thighs; with great torture; seeks relief in change of posture. Weakness in loins and hips, extending down to lower extremities; back feels too weak to support the body.
Limbs. Strange sensation of numbness in limbs. Pains in rheumatic gout worse from sweats.
Upper Limbs. Numbness of shoulders to tips of fingers. Sharp, lancinating pains in arms; angina pectoris. Right wrist pains as if sprained; wants to stretch it; cannot hold anything. Hands feel heavy; cold, as if dead; fingers and nails livid; fingers twitching.
Lower Limbs. Blueness, coldness and almost complete immobility of the lower limbs. Numbness and tickling or pricking in thighs. Lameness and stiffness in lower limbs. Numbness and weariness in lower limbs, making it difficult to ascend stairs. Violent contracting pain in external tendon of left knee.
Generalities. Peculiar numbness, approaching to palsy. Symptoms recur in paroxysms; intermit for hours or a day. Pain in small circumscribed spots. Jerking pains, like short stitches, confined to small spots, lasting only a few seconds.
Skin. Sensation during shaving, as from chafing. Skin mottled in circular patches.
Sleep. Yawning; sleepy during the day. awakens at night with palpitation.
Fever. Chilliness, with sneezing. Shaking chill, with red face. Creeping chill up the spine. Heat from every exertion. Flushes of heat, with perspiration. Cold, clammy perspiration.
Aggravation. All symptoms and pains reappear when thinking about them (Baryta c.); from sugar, coffee, wine. Better in the open air (Pulsatilla).
Compare. Arsenicum, Mercurius cor.
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Antidotes. Chalk or Lime; Carbonate of Magnesia; Potash and Soda not available, since their oxalates are exceedingly poisonous. Sugar, Coffee and Wine disagree.
THERAPEUTICS.
Has been used chiefly in spinal diseases. Softening of the spine, with weakness and numbness about the loins and hips, extending down the legs, and numbness in the back. Spinal meningitis, intense inflammatory pains all through the back. Locomotor ataxia, with violent shooting pains down the limbs, dyspnoea and numbness, with symptoms of the drug. Paralysis from inflammation of the spinal cord, stiffness of limbs; paroxysms of dyspnoea. Acute spinal symptoms of this drug are characteristic and important. Spinal neuralgia from under joint of scapula to loins, sharp, lancinating pains. Has proved useful in angina pectoris, sharp, shooting pains about left lung and heart, dyspnoea, with forced expiration; back numb and weak, legs cold and powerless, etc. Palpitation after lying down at night. Congestion and inflammation localized at base of left lung. Neuralgia of spermatic cords, shooting pains. Sometimes useful in amenorrhoea, with spinal symptoms. Oxaluria, with characteristic symptoms of extremities. Rheumatic gout, pains worse from sweets. Diarrhoea immediately after drinking coffee. Dysentery. Gastro- enteritis. Gastralgia.
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).