The Halogens



According to the studies of Ellinger and Kotake, it is very improbable that bromine poisoning and simple chlorine deprivations (without substitution by bromine) are identical, for although high-grade chlorine deprivation also leads to paralytic manifestations, the remainder of the picture shows considerable differences. It may be assumed that the bromine ions also have an independent action which cannot be explained by mere replacement of chlorine. The more marked swelling of brain tissue by bromide than with chlorides speaks for this. Up to a certain grade bromine can replace the action of chloride. On the surviving frog heart the chlorides of potassium and calcium in the Ringer’s solution can be replaced by the bromides with out functional alterations; likewise the acidity and function of the stomach are improved when an artificially produced chlorine deficit is replaced by sodium chloride deficiency can be removed up to a certain degree by sodium bromide. In the last case it should also be recalled that the addition of sodium can lead to the improvement.

It is probable that in bromization the chief actions is to be ascribed to the bromine anion itself; that this action is further increased through a chlorine defect, though, on the other side, the sodium salts of chlorine and bromine can interchange functionally to a certain degree.

We have here a very instructive example of a so-called ion antagonism before us: the close chemical relationship of chlorine and bromine makes possible to a certain degree an opposing interchange and displacement. On the other side the displacement of the physiologic chlorine by the less suitable, heavy bromine soon provokes functional disturbances in which the antagonism of the ions appears distinctly. Thereby the foreign bromine action can be removed much more easily through chlorine than an improvement of deficient chlorine symptoms is possible through bromine. A certain synergism of the two ions rests also upon the close chemical relationship, but an increasingly distinct antagonism is obvious from the completely different physiologic breadth of these ions. Lipschutz draws the practical conclusion from the above-mentioned facts that in the bromide treatment of epilepsy it depends less upon a definite salt deprivation than upon keeping the salt introduced constant, because only through this uniformity of dosage is the effectiveness of bromide made possible.

For the theory of bromine salts, according to the finding of Januschke, it is worthy of note that bromine does not seem to be especially rich in the brain. For its action in contrast to chlorine, a marked swelling of the brain tissue is perhaps of significance, and again the fact that bromine is more lipoid soluble than chlorine.

STIMULATING BROMINE ACTIONS

Of the various bromine salts, according to the findings of Januschke, it is worthy of note that ammonium bromide in large doses provokes severe paresis, reflex increase, tonic and clonic cramps, and respiratory paralysis. In this salt we have also toxic effects which might permit the remedy to be considered in epilepsy according to the simile rule. But in general chronic bromide medication in epilepsy is conceived as a palliative suppressing therapy.

But that the depression of the brain centers is not the sole phase of bromide action is perhaps most clearly shown by the self-investigation of Schabelitz using sodium bromide in large doses. The trial continued over a two months period. Very soon, after five grams, appeared an irritable frame of mind, a type of intoxication, with some confusion and uncertain gait. With continuous introduction of bromine great desire for undertaking work and a cheerful frame of mind alternated with lassitude and ill-humor. On the seventh day of taking bromides the variation in disposition ceased and a euphoric frame of mind remained. To inattentiveness and forgetfulness there were added joking, the urge to speak, pugnacity, unrestrained and noncritical attitude, a submanic state with many light and color manifestations, auditory delusions, disturbances of speech and language, cramp from writing, disturbance of convergence, ear noises, disturbance of equilibrium, mislaying of objects, inattention to clothing. Recollections from youth are very animated, while, recent impressions are unrecalled.

As epileptics tend to do, I could not simply name a picture but had to form a judgment about it.

The disposition was rosy, I made the most beautiful plans for the future and was irritated if any one contradicted me.

On the twentieth day of bromides there appeared a striking motor unrest. With the cessation of bromides and the addition of salt the disposition changed like a flash. Two days after the discontinuance of the bromides, there suddenly appeared marked delusions in the sense of relativity on the basis of a marked feeling of inferiority.

Under the use of bromides the sleep was deeper; during the day there were attacks of great malaise. With progressive bromization the pulse increased from 66 per minute to 110 and sudden increases up to 130 even in the state of complete rest. These suddenly appearing increases could be maintained for hours. Arhythmia and attacks of cardiac anxiety were observed. The appearance was bad, sallow, with temporary congestions of the head. The tongue was coated white and pasty. In the latter periods of bromides there were several days of acid risings, later bitter taste in the mouth. The urinary output varied with the introduction of salt. No manifestations in the skin were observed in the entire bromide period.

In the trial, the impairment of mind is well shown in respect to recently noted things and a slowing of psychic accomplishment of work, but most striking was the submaniacal state. Further, one cannot say that bromides in large doses act as a sedative in the healthy. Much more the therapeutic sedative action corresponds in a homoeopathic sense. The same also holds for the vasomotor irritability, the increased pulse rate and the motor unrest.

Exactly the influence of bromine on the psychic functions, as came into expression here in the production, of a hypomanic state, is of high interest in respect to the newer investigations of H. Zondek and Bier. Bromine stands in the relation of 100:1 to iodine in the blood. The amount of bromine is extraordinarily constant. Only in the manic depressive insanities it lies 40-60 per cent under the normal, and indeed only in the endogenous and not in the reactive forms. In the anterior lobe the hypophysis contains unusually large amounts of bromine. A substance which resembles thyroxin, in which the iodine is replaced by bromine, released very marked fatigue. These organic bromine compounds should, moreover, be markedly more effective than the inorganic bromine compounds. The hypophysis is perceived as the absorption and regulation organ for bromine, similarly as the thyroid for iodine.

Undoubtedly, bromine has for its most important field the psychic functions, which until now have not received due attention in homoeopathy. One was obviously of the opinion that the well-known sedative action was to be viewed as a purely palliative antipathy. According to the self-investigation of Schabelitz, however, this cannot be maintained in general. So it comes to the point that the suitable bromine preparation in correct dose for the psychic and motor excitation and disturbances of coordination must be determined in order to obtain more than a transient result.

THE BROMINE DRUG PICTURE

The rare use of bromine and bromine compounds in homoeopathy up to the present is based upon older observations of intoxication, animal, investigations and provings on the healthy:

(1) Horing: Ueber die Wirkung des Broms und mehrerer seiner Praparate auf den tierischen Organismus Gekronte Preisschrift, Tubingen, 1838.

(2) Heimerdinger: In. Diss., Tubingen, 1837.

(3) Fournet: Schmidts Jahrb, vol. 22, p.144.

(4) Hering: Neues Archiv.f. Homoop. Heik., vol. 2, p.109, 1846.

(5) Lembke; Allg. homoop. Ztg. vol. 37, p. 115;

vol. 44., p. 369; vol. 49., p. 186.

In addition on potassium bromide:

(1) Graf: In Diss., Leipzig, refer. in Allg. hom. Ztg., vol. 19, p.126 (eight provers and few organ symptoms).

(2) Korsz: In. Diss., Kiel, 1875.

In many observation on bromism the chief actions appear in the skin and mucous membranes and central nervous system. In the provings arranged with bromine water, chiefly irritative symptoms of the mucous membranes of the respiratory passages and of the gastro-intestinal canal are noted. Of the psychic symptoms, illusions as though someone stood behind him and looked over his shoulder, many dreams, anxiety, restless moving around in sleep, trembling and weakness on awakening, are reported; in potassium bromide there is the urgency of occupation, so well known from iodine, and the motor unrest, the hypomanic excited state besides the well-known depressive actions of the psychic functions (thought, conceptions, judgment, speech); the detailed observations with sodium bromide by Schabelitz read similarly. It is conceivable that for medical use it is not the depressive and paralytic symptoms which are suitable for comparison but the excitation symptoms. Also that many similarities of bromism exist with the psychic state of epileptics suggest that, with better adaptation to the single case, bromides may become more than mere palliatives in many forms of epilepsy. Here there is lacking as yet an exact working out of the symptomatology. A modality which agrees with the urgency for moving is also worthy of note for the central nerve action: the improvement through movement and walking about. Further, a connection with the sexual function, which may be reduced from large and persistent doses of bromides, may be significant for the selection of bromine. The special bromine symptom audible discharge of gas from the vagina, has been reported to me as a symptom from an epileptic with a distention of the os of the cervix and at times accompanies states of excitation of the sexual organs.

Otto Leeser
Otto Leeser 1888 – 1964 MD, PHd was a German Jewish homeopath who had to leave Germany due to Nazi persecution during World War II, and he escaped to England via Holland.
Leeser, a Consultant Physician at the Stuttgart Homeopathic Hospital and a member of the German Central Society of Homeopathic Physicians, fled Germany in 1933 after being expelled by the German Medical Association. In England Otto Leeser joined the staff of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. He returned to Germany in the 1950s to run the Robert Bosch Homeopathic Hospital in Stuttgart, but died shortly after.
Otto Leeser wrote Textbook of Homeopathic Materia Medica, Leesers Lehrbuch der Homöopathie, Actionsand Medicinal use of Snake Venoms, Solanaceae, The Contribution of Homeopathy to the Development of Medicine, Homeopathy and chemotherapy, and many articles submitted to The British Homeopathic Journal,