The seventh of a series of published papers on silica, sulphur, iodine, bromine, calcium and arsenic.
The middle syllable of the name Tut-Ankh-Amen is the Egyptian sign of enduring life and it was given to the king to symbolize his hope and anticipation of a hereafter. In his time copper was known for its enduring properties and was used synonymously with “Ankh”; the tablets of 5000 years ago show that the metal was divined as symbolic of the promise of perpetual life. The ancient alchemists administered it in diluted solutions to maintain health and prolong existence.1.
Copper is distributed in the soil the world over and enters into the composition of vegetables, cereals and fruits. A trace is found in the egg and one oyster contains about 8 milligrams of copper. The ash of the snail shows 2.4 per cent. of copper as an oxide. In this lower order hemocyanin (protein copper) corresponds to hemoglobin (iron pigment) in the higher animals and man and to chlorophyll (magnesium) in plant life.
The Copper Content in Nature.2
I Kilogram Potato Contains 1.5 to 3. Milligrams
” ” Wheat ” 4 ” 10 ”
” ” Bread ” 5 ”
” ” Ox Liver ” 50 ”
” ” Human Liver ” 1.5 ” 15. “.
According to Slowtzoff 3, copper in a very dilute solution binds itself to t he nucleus of a cell; this probably accounts for its poisonous effect on pathogenic bacteria when exposed to copper sulphate, one grain per 50 gallons of water. Moreover, the analysis of the cellular substance of the bacillus coli communis 4, shows traces of copper when developed in cultures in close proximity to copper utensils. Here again the nucleins are very susceptible to copper emanations, but the quantity absorbed is not sufficient to retard the growth of these micro-organisms. by referring to the materia medica we find that copper arsenite is regarded as an excellent remedy in intestinal toxemia and nephritis of pregnancy,both of which diseases have the bacillus coli communis as the basic offending factor.
Copper arsenite in one-fiftieth to one-one hundredths grain doses can readily be perceived to act as a true antiseptic, while smaller doses are positively known to perform the role of “activators” to cell life (Bertrand) and to speed up the molecular motion in the deficient tissue cells,which, in response, eliminate the bacteria from the field of attack.
To appreciate the fact that copper metal in the 3x (1/1000 grain) potency is too low in the scale of homoeopathic triturations to produce a biological effect, dissolve several tablet triturates in a glass of water and in a very few minutes the coarse grains of copper will be seen to collect at the bottom of the container.
A few of the important symptoms which appear after the ingestion of toxic quantities of copper products are nausea, a flow of saliva with metallic taste, vomiting and desire for cold water, which affords relief from the distress; there is gurgling sound when the water is drunk; the abdomen is contracted, tense and tender; there are violent, recurring cramps in the intestines and in the calves, attended by a passing dark clotted blood. A sense of constriction may appear about the heart with palpitation, spasmodic pain and anxiety. The face later becomes distorted pale, with a bluish cast and convulsions, identical with true epilepsy, appear. There may be suggestions of anemia and jaundice.
To appreciate the meaning of symptoms, it is, of course, necessary to review the pathology caused by the poison. The above nausea, we will say, tentatively, is directly due to the irritation and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach. The metallic, taste is naturally a manifestation of copper itself and it stimulates a flow of saliva. The gurgling sound caused by drinking water is due to peristaltic contraction of the oesophagus, forcing air through the fluid as it descends. The contraction of the abdomen is due to a severe gastro- intestinal inflammation, as well as tonic spasm of the abdominal muscles. The intense excitation of the intestinal ganglia produces spasm of the muscular coat; hence, the cramps.
The cholera is caused by irritation of the mucous lining and ulcerations, especially in the rectum. The passage of dark, clotted blood is the result of venous dilatation and necrotic debris. The bluish tinge and pallor of the skin is an index of blood disintegration, oxygen hunger and whichever other effects may arise from this acute toxic shock. Anemia is seen in chronic cases and jaundice in very acute cases of fatty degeneration of the liver. Convulsions may be the result of uremia from acute parenchymatous nephritis, or when the central nerve cell processes are irritated with copper. The angina state is a muscular spasm of the heart, which disturbs the function of the coronary arteries.
To illustrate the point in homoeopathic principles that a remedy will not always act on the indication of a single symptom, without the presence of other signs which correspond to the characteristic symptoms produced by toxic doses of, say, copper, attention is directed to an experiment by the writer in prescribing cuprum metallicum 6x for twelve cases of stuttering (speech spasms) without a single result.
Now, in recent epidemics of influenza, very interesting reports were sent to THE HOMOEOPATHIC RECORDER5 during a certain period when a strain of the bacteria causing influenza exhibited in their victims a picture of toxic shock, remarkably similar to that caused by copper intoxication. The clinical results with this metal in potency, were of course quite worthy of recording in the annals of homoeopathic science.
