BARYTA CARBONICA


As a first argument in evidence of the verity of our Hahnemannian position, let me state that we know very little of the pathological conditions of the great majority of affections we are called upon to treat. What is the pathology of rheumatism, and in what possible way can the pathological condition of the case explain why Bryonia is indicated where the patient is worse from movement and Rhus tox.


Baryta carbonica, or barium carbonate, is prepared by trituration. It has been proven thoroughly in the 12th, 24th and 30th potencies. Provings were made by Hahnemann, Nenning, Ruckhart, Hartlaub, Rummel, Gross and Neumann. Sometimes the acetate is included in the provings, these symptoms having been observed from the poisonous effects; and in practice there is practically no difference in the symptomatology.

Baryta carb. is one of the most deeply, acting constitutional remedies in the homoeopathic materia medica. It is tied up and associated with the chronic miasms. These deep acting remedies are always interesting, although they are always hard to understand until one comprehends their true nature. Everything in the nature of these deep acting remedies seems to hinge upon one characteristic, that permeates the entire symptomatology and every part of the remedys action. In Baryta carb. this characteristic thread has to do with the development of the body and mind, and almost one might say, of the unfolding of the soul. The one great characteristic around which the entire symptomatology of the remedy revolves is dwarfishness.

The dwarfishness of the mind is as conspicuous as the dwarfishness of stature. These people are always under-developed; or perhaps arrested development is a more exact term, whether of the mind or body, or both; and we find this dwarfishness or arrested development in the two extremes of life. In the young, it is almost invariably associated with emaciation, general and progressive of the entire body, but with a large abdomen. In old age there is a progressive rapid emaciation, when the mind becomes first arrested and then dwarfed and the body enfeebled; or premature old age and senility in very fat people.

Baryta carb. is a remedy that affects pre-eminently the glands of the body, causing nodulated glands and indurated glands, with much swelling and emaciation. In the constitutional diseases of child life and in the effects of exanthematous diseases such as scarlet fever, we find the glands involved and indurated. It is a remedy to be thought of when the thymus gland ceases to retrograde, with other symptoms characteristic of the remedy.

In old people we find fatty tumors, encysted tumors and encysted wens. In lupus conditions and in cystic growths on the head there is a tendency to suppuration or breaking down. In very old people we find a sensitive skin which itches intolerably, but with no eruption. Baryta carb. is one of the principal remedies to be thought of in these conditions.

Baryta carb. has many skin symptoms; there are warts, ringworms and sores that become humid, and a humid skin. The perspiration is peculiar in that it is offensive, and on one side, usually the left. These patients often suffer from night seats, as do many of the carbonates. There is a foetid foot sweat, and it is especially applicable in complaints arising after suppressed foetid foot sweats. There are chills on one side only, usually the left.

The Baryta carb. patient craves fresh air and has a great aversion to a closed room. Warm air aggravates the head symptoms, and a warm bed aggravates the skin symptoms. Yet while the Baryta patient wants fresh air, he is sensitive to cold, and he is subject to complaints from taking cold.

Now let us take up some of the symptoms located in the various parts of the body.

The mental symptoms show marked weakness of memory and weakness of reason. In children this is manifested in the lack of ability to reason things out, and they forget things in general. In elderly people it is manifested particularly in the weak memory and the aphasias that occur in prematurely old people; they lose the word or phrase they were intending to use and cannot recall it, and the attempt to recall the word or sentence aggravates the condition. In its loss of memory for words and phrases and the inability to carry out a line of reasoning Baryta carb. vies with Kali brom.

These patients are very childish in behavior, either children or adults. Baryta carb. children are shy and timid; they are so averse to meeting strangers, particularly men, that they will run away and hide. That they are much more afraid of men than of women is doubtless due to the fact that they are habitually more used to being in the company of women. These children will not play normally, but just sit about, interested in nothing, showing a decided tendency to absent-mindedness and idiocy. In certain lines the senses may be exceedingly acute, especially when it comes to meeting strangers; then the absent-mindedness vanishes and the timidity shows itself.

The sullen, backward boy whose hands are covered with warts, who sits idly gazing at nothing in school and cannot or will not apply himself, who is timid with the teachers but bullies the younger children, and who is generally a “problem child”, is very often suffering from the need of Baryta carb.

Baryta carb. has severe headaches, with a pressing pain above the eyes and in the vertex. The headache is aggravated in a warm room and ameliorated in the open air; nevertheless, the head is sensitive to cold, and especially to washing the head. There are moist crusts on the scalp, such as are frequently found with these dwarfish children; and there are wens in abundance, which are apt to break down and become encysted. The hair of young people falls out freely.

In the eyes there is a photophobia, and dim vision caused by cataracts which come on early in life; there is opaque cornea and ulceration of the cornea.

There are many ear symptoms. Roaring, buzzing, and cracking sounds in the ears, especially on blowing the nose; and the meatus of the ear itches intensely. There are eruptions around the ears and knotty swellings that drain to the lymphatics from these eruptions. It is frequently claimed that inflammation of the parotid gland, when it affects the ears, causes permanent deafness. These cases of inflamed parotid gland where the ear becomes involved can hardly get well without the administration of Baryta carb.

The lymphatic glands of the neck are very much enlarged, and in the throat the tonsils are very large and hard. They take cold in the tonsils after suppressed foot sweat. Baryta carb. is one of the remedies that is markedly affected by suppression, showing the effects especially in the throat and tonsils.

This remedy has a tendency to tonsillitis of the suppurative type, where it extends to the quinsy form, and the patient has repeated attacks of quinsy every year, or it may repeat several times during the winter. Baryta carb. will stop this tendency to repeating, because it will cure the tendency that has been suppressed. There is paralysis of the soft palate, and liquids come out of the nose when he attempts to swallow; these conditions frequently appear after scarlet fever and diphtheria.

Another trying symptoms is the spasm of the oesophagus which causes the food to regurgitate; there is often an actual stricture of the oesophagus, when the patient can swallow only liquids.

We find in Baryta carb. a sudden disgust for food; the child will be exceedingly hungry, yet when he reaches the table he is seized with this sudden disgust for food. There are eructations, with aversion to food. These patients have considerable thirst. They complain of pain and aching in the stomach, with no apparent reason; there is pressure and cramp, and they will vomit everything. Many of the stomach symptoms are aggravated after eating. There is also a very marked nausea, not simply a wave of nausea but a nausea which stays by the patient for a long time. In examining the patient there may be noted a hardness in the region of the stomach in gastralgia.

A peculiar symptom in the abdomen is the sensation as if the intestines fell to the side upon which the patient lies. The abdomen is large and distended and very sensitive to touch; there is tabes mesenterica.

The stool, as in all the carbonates, is hard, dry and knotty with the constipation; the haemorrhoids protrude with the stool and in passing the urine, with a sensation of crawling and burning around the anus.

In old people the bladder becomes very irritable at night and they must urinate frequently.

The male organs show the symptomatology in loss of desire and erection; in other words, they become prematurely old. The prostate is enlarged. In connection with this symptoms we may study also Calc. carb., Con., Dig., Puls. There is chronic induration of the testes and numbness of the genital organs in general. Baryta carb. has a yellowish gleet similar to Alum.

In women, the menses occur for only one day; and the menstrual period ceases at an early age, usually about 35 years. It is one of the remedies to be considered in amenorrhoea in chlorotic women. There is a leucorrhoea, white, yellow or bloody, worse before menses.

A peculiar symptoms is the sensation in the larynx as if the patient were inhaling pine smoke; then there is loss of voice. There is a catarrhal condition of the trachea, especially in old people. In the respiratory organs there is the asthma of old people, and the suffocative catarrh which often affects old people. In these states there is a paralytic weakness, where they cannot cough to raise the mucus. The cough is mostly at night. One of the marked symptoms is the aggravation of the cough at night and when lying, except when lying on the abdomen. Children with chronic enlarged tonsils and glands, associated with a chronic cough, probably need this remedy. There is much rattling of mucus in the chest.

H.A. Roberts
Dr. H.A.Roberts (1868-1950) attended New York Homoeopathic Medical College and set up practrice in Brattleboro of Vermont (U.S.). He eventually moved to Connecticut where he practiced almost 50 years. Elected president of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical Society and subsequently President of The International Hahnemannian Association. His writings include Sensation As If and The Principles and Art of Cure by Homoeopathy.