Category: Materia Medica

PREFACE NINTH EDITION

In preparing the ninth edition of this work, I have followed the lines laid out for all the previous editions, namely, to present in a condensed form the homśopathic Materia Medica for practical use.

The book contains the well known verified characteristic symptoms of all our medicines besides other less important symptoms aiding the selection of the curative remedy, All the new medicines and essentials of the published clinical experience of the school have been added. In its present compact form it contains the maximum number of reliable Materia Medica facts in the minimum space.

I have tried to give a succinct resume of the symptomatology of every medicine used in Homśopathy, including also clinical suggestions of many drugs so far not yet based on provings, thus offering the opportunity to experiment with these and by future provings discover their distinctive use and so enlarging our armamentarium.

I am aware that there is a difference of opinion about the advisability of further introduction of remedies, especially of such as seem obsolete or to some minds illusory. But it is not for the compiler to leave out information about any substance that has received the clinical endorsement from a reliable source.

Our Materia Medica must include all substances which have been proved and which have been used with apparent efficacy. It rests with the individual student to judge for himself the accuracy and, reliability of such observation. In this connection, I cannot forego to avail myself of the high authority of that master of Homśopathy, Dr. Constantine Hering, favoring the introduction of all remedies capable of producing reactions in the body that may guide to their medicinal employment. “Homśopathy is essentially not only many-sided but all-sided. She investigates the action of all substances, whether articles of diet, beverages, condiments, drugs or poisons. She investigates their action on the healthy, the sick, animals and plants. She gives; a new interpretation to that ancient, oft quoted saying of Paul, Prove all things–a new meaning, a new application that acts universally. Elimination of the useless may gradually take place with the growth of accurate physiological and pathological knowledge.”

Again, imperfectly proved remedies necessitate the use of names of diseases at times instead of the component symptoms that alone are the legitimate guide to the choice of the curative remedy. Here, too, I have Hering as pioneer guide for the ligitimacy of this method, which he also followed in his great work, the Guiding Symptoms. He said that he used the disease designations not for the purpose of recommending the particular remedy for that disease, but to show the great variety of remedies that may be used for any form of disease when otherwise indicated. For the same reason I have included nosological terms in the symptomatology and Therapeutic Index, as this is a practical handbook for every-day service, and any aid for finding the curative remedy ought to be utilized. As Dr. J. Compton Burnett expresses it:

“The fact is we need any and every way of finding the right remedy; the simple simile, the simple symptomatic similimum and the farthest reach of all-the pathologic similimum, and I maintain that we are still well within the line- of Homśopathy that is expansive, progressive, science fostered and science fostering.”

The dosage needs some apology. It is, of course, suggestive only; more often to be wholly disregarded. I have followed the lines of the earlier Homśopathists in this regard, and given what was then considered the usual range of potency, to which I have added my own experience and that of many observing practitioners. Every teacher of Materia Medica is constantly importuned by students to suggest the potency–something to start with at least.

The book is in no sense a treatise, and must not be considered or judged as such. It is as accurate and reliable a compilation and the fullest collection of verified Materia Medica facts and clinical suggestions as it is possible to obtain within the compass of the volume. It supplements every other work on Materia Medica, and if used as a ready reminder of the essential facts of our vast symptomatology and as an introduction to the larger books of reference and record of provings, it will fulfill its purpose and prove a useful aid to the student and general practitioner. As such it is again offered with much appreciation of past endorsement to his professional brethren.

I have been aided in seeing this edition through the press by the efficient help of Mr. F. O. Ernesty, who has lightened the labor of making the manuscript more acceptable to the printers, and I desire to express my hearty appreciation of this kind and helpful service.

BOERICK MD

  • VIBURNUM OPULUS

    High Cranberry

    A general remedy for cramps. Colicky pains in pelvic organs. Superconscious of internal sexual organs. Female symptoms most important. Often prevents miscarriage. False labor-pains. Spasmodic and congestive affections, dependent upon ovarian or uterine origin.

    Head.–Irritable. Vertigo; feels as if falling forward. Severe pain in temporal region. Sore feeling in eyeballs.

    Stomach.–Constant nausea; relieved by eating. No appetite.

    Abdomen.–Sudden cramps and colic pains. Tender to pressure about umbilicus.

    Female.–Menses too late, scanty, lasting a few hours, offensive in odor, with crampy pains, cramps extend down thighs (Bell). Bearing-down pains before. Ovarian region feels heavy and congested. Aching in sacrum and pubes, with pain in anterior muscles of thighs (Xanthox); spasmodic and membranous dysmenorrhœa (Borax). Leucorrhœa, excoriating. Smarting and itching of genitals. Faint on attempting to sit up. Frequent and very early miscarriage, causing seeming sterility. Pains from back to loins and womb worse early morning.

    Urinary.–Frequent urging. Copious, pale, light-colored urine. Cannot hold water on coughing or walking.

    Rectum.–Stools large and hard, with cutting in rectum and soreness of anus.

    Extremities.–Stiff, sore feeling in nape of neck. Feels as if back would break. Sacral backache. Lower extremities weak and heavy.

    Modalities.–Worse, lying on affected side, in warm room, evening and night. Better, in open air and resting.

    Relationship.–Compare: Virburnum prunifolium-Black Haw–(habitual miscarriage; after-pains; cancer of the tongue; obstinate hiccough; supposed to be a uterine tonic. Morning sickness; menstrual irregularities of sterile females with uterine displacements). Cimicif; Cauloph; Sep; Xanthox.

    Dose.–Tincture, and lower potencies.

  • VESPA CRABRO

    Live Wasp

    Skin and female symptoms marked. Indurated feeling. Vasomotor symptoms of skin and mucous membranes.

    Dizzy, better lying on back. Fainting. Numbness and blindness. Nausea and vomiting, followed by creeping chills from feet upward. Cramping pain in bowels. Axillary glands swollen with soreness of upper arms. Perspiration on parts laid on with itching.

    Face.–Painful and swollen. Erysipelatous inflammation of lids. Chemosis of conjunctiva. Swelling of mouth and throat, with violent burning pains.

    Urinary.–Burning with micturition; also itching.

    Female.–Menstruation, preceded by depression, pain, pressure, and constipation. Left ovary markedly affected, with frequent burning, micturition; sacral pains extending up back. Erosion around external os.

    Skin.–Erythema; intense itching; burning. Boils; stinging and soreness, relieved by bathing with vinegar. Wheals, macules and swellings with burning, stinging and soreness. Erythema multiforme, relieved by bathing with vinegar.

    Relationship.–Compare: Scorpio (salivation; strabismus; tetanus); Apis.

    Antidote: Sempervivum tector, locally.

    Dose.–Third to thirtieth potency.

  • VERBENA URTICAEFOLIA

    VERBENA URTICAEFOLIA
    Blue Vervain
    (VERBENA)

    Affects the skin and nervous system. Nervous depression, weakness and irritation and spasms. Promotes the absorption of blood and allays pain in bruises. Vesicular erysipelas. Passive congestion and intermittent fever. One of the remedies for Poison-oak. Epilepsy, insomnia, mental exhaustion. In epilepsy, it brightens up the patient’s mental powers and helps the constipation.

    Dose.–Single dose of the tincture. In epilepsy must be continued for a long time. Verbena in the form of a tea as a diuretic drink is used by Vannier (Paris) to aid elimination in tubercular therapy.

  • VERBASCUM THAPSUS

    Mullein
    (VERBASCUM)

    Has a pronounced action on the inferior maxillary branch of the fifth pair of the cranial nerves; on the ear; and respiratory tract and bladder. Catarrhs, and colds, with periodical prosopalgia. Quiets nervous, and bronchial, and urinary irritation, and cough.

    Face.–Neuralgia affecting zygoma, temporo maxillary joint, and ear (Menyanth), particularly of left side, with lachrymation, coryza, and sensation as if parts were crushed with tongs. Talking, sneezing, and change of temperature aggravate the pains; also, pressing teeth together. Pains seem to come in flashes, excited by least movement, occurring periodically at same hour in morning and afternoon each day.

    Ears.–Otalgia, with a sense of obstruction. Deafness. Dry, scaly condition of meatus (use locally).

    Abdomen.–Pain extends deep down, causing contraction of sphincter ani.

    Rectum.–Many movements a day, with twisting about navel. Hæmorrhoids, with obstructed, hardened stool. Inflamed and painful piles.

    Respiratory.–Hoarse; voice deep, harsh; sounds like a trumpet; “basso profundo”. Cough; worse at night. Asthma. Soreness in pharynx, cough during sleep.

    Urinary.–Constant dribbling. Enuresis. Burning urination. Increase with pressure in bladder.

    Extremities.–Cramp-like pain in soles, right foot, and knee. Lower extremities feel heavy. Thumb feels numb. Neuralgic pain in left ankle. Stiffness and soreness of joints of lower extremities.

    Modalities.–Worse, change of temperature, talking, sneezing, biting hard (inferior dental nerve); from 9 am to 4 pm.

    Relationship.–Compare: Rhus arom; Caust; Platin; Sphingurus (pain in zygoma).

    Dose.–Mullein oil, (locally, for earache and dry, scaly condition of meatus. Also for teasing cough at night or lying down. Internally, tincture and lower potencies). Enuresis, five-drop doses night and morning.

  • VERATRUM VIRIDE

    White American Hellebore

    Paroxysms of auricular fibrillation. Induces fall of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Congestions, especially to lungs, base of brain, with nausea and vomiting. Twitchings and convulsions. Especially adapted to full-blooded, plethoric persons. Great prostration. Rheumatism of heart. Bloated, livid face. Furious delirium. Effects of sunstroke. Œsophagitis. (Farrington). Verat vir, will raise the opsonic index against the diploccus pneumonia, 70 to 109 per cent. Congestive stage and early manifestations of hepatization in pneumonia. Zigzag temperature. Clinically, it is known that such diseases as Tiegel’s contracture, Thompson’s Disease, athetosis and pseudo-hypertrophic muscular paralysis present a symptomatology quite like that produced by Veratrum vir upon muscular tissue (A. E. Hinsdale, M. D).

    Mind.–Quarrelsome and delirious.

    Head.–Congestion intense, almost apoplectic. Hot head, bloodshot eyes. Bloated, livid face. Hippocratic face. Head retracted, pupils dilated, double vision. Meningitis. Pain from nape of neck; cannot hold head up. Sunstroke; head full, throbbing arteries (Bell; Glon; Usnea). Face flushed. Convulsive twitching of facial muscles (Agaricus). Vertigo with nausea.

    Tongue.–White or yellow, with red streak down the middle. Feels scalded. Increased saliva.

    Stomach.–Thirsty. Nausea and vomiting. Smallest quantity of food or drink immediately rejected. Constrictive pain; increased by warm drinks. Hiccough; excessive and painful, with spasms of œsophagus. Burning in stomach and œsophagus.

    Abdomen.–Pain above pelvis, with soreness.

    Respiratory.–Congestion of lungs. Difficult breathing. Sensation of a heavy load on chest. Pneumonia, with faint feeling in stomach and violent congestion. Croup. Menstrual colic before the appearance of the discharge with strangury.

    Urine.–Scanty with cloudy sediment.

    Female.–Rigid os (Bell; Gels). Puerperal fever. Suppressed menstruation, with congestion to head (Bell). Menstrual colic before the appearance of the discharge with strangury.

    Heart.–Pulse slow, soft, weak, irregular, intermittent. Rapid pulse, low tension (Tabac; Dig). Constant, dull, burning pain in region of heart. Valvular diseases. Beating of pulses throughout body, especially in right thigh.

    Extremities.–Aching pain in back of neck and shoulders. Severe pain in joints and muscles. Violent electric-like shocks in limbs. Convulsive twitchings. Acute rheumatism. Fever.

    Skin.–Erysipelas, with cerebral symptoms. Erythema. Itching in various parts. Hot sweating.

    Fever.–Hyperthermy in the evening and hypothermy in the morning. Suppurative fevers with great variation of temperature.

    Relationship.–Compare: Gels; Bapt; Bell; Acon; Ferr phos. Antidotes Strychnin-fluid extract, 20-40 drops.

    Dose.–First to sixth potency.

  • VERATRUM ALBUM

    White Hellebore

    A perfect picture of collapse, with extreme coldness, blueness, and weakness, is offered by this drug. Post-operative shock with cold sweat on forehead, pale face, rapid, feeble pulse. Cold perspiration on the forehead, with nearly all complaints. Vomiting, purging, and cramps in extremities. The profuse, violent retching and vomiting is most characteristic. Surgical shock. Excessive dryness of all mucous surfaces. “Coprophagia” violent mania alternates with silence and refusal to talk.

    Mind.–Melancholy, with stupor and mania. Sits in a stupid manner; notices nothing; Sullen indifference. Frenzy of excitement; shrieks, curses. Puerperal mania. Aimless wandering from home. Delusions of impending misfortunes. Mania, with desire to cut and tear things (Tarant). Attacks of pain, with delirium driving to madness. Cursing, howling all night.

    Head.–Contracted features. Cold sweat on forehead. Sensation of a lump of ice on vertex. Headache, with nausea, vomiting, diarrhœa, pale face. Neck too weak to hold head up.

    Eyes.–Surrounded by dark rings. Staring; turned upwards, without luster. Lachrymation with redness. Lids dry heavy.

    Face.–Features sunken. Icy coldness of tip of nose and face. Nose grows more pointed. Tearing in cheeks, temples, and eyes. Face very pale, blue, collapsed, cold.

    Mouth.–Tongue pale, cold; cool sensation, as from peppermint. Dry in center not relieved by water. Salty saliva. Toothache, teeth feel heavy as if filled with lead.

    Stomach.–Voracious appetite. Thirst for cold water, but is vomited as soon as swallowed. Averse to warm food. Hiccough. Copious vomiting and nausea; aggravated by drinking and least motion. Craves fruit, juicy and cold things, ice, salt. Anguish in pit of stomach. Great weakness after vomiting. Gastric irritability with chronic vomiting of food.

    Abdomen.–Sinking and empty feeling. Cold feeling in stomach and abdomen. Pain in abdomen preceding stool. Cramps, knotting abdomen and legs. Sensation as if hernia would protrude (Nux). Abdomen sensitive to pressure, swollen with terrible colic.

    Rectum.–Constipation from inactivity of rectum, with heat and headache. Constipation of babies, and when produced by very cold weather. Stools large, with much straining until exhausted, with cold sweat. Diarrhœa, very painful, watery, copious, and forcibly evacuated, followed by great prostration. Evacuations of cholera morbus and true cholera when vomiting accompanies the purging.

    Respiratory.–Hoarse, weak voice. Rattling in chest. Much mucus in bronchial tubes, that cannot be coughed up. Coarse rales. Chronic bronchitis in the aged (Hippozanin). Loud barking, stomach cough, followed by eructation of gas; worse, warm room. Hollow cough, tickling low down, with blue face. Cough comes on from drinking, especially cold water; urine escapes when coughing. Cough on entering warm room from cold air (Bryonia).

    Heart.–Palpitation with anxiety and rapid audible respiration. Pulse irregular, feeble. Tobacco heart from chewing. Intermittent action of heart in feeble persons with some hepatic obstruction. One of the best heart stimulants in homeopathic doses (J. S. Mitchell).

    Female.–Menses too early; profuse and exhausting. Dysmenorrhœa, with coldness, purging, cold sweat. Faints from least exertion. Sexual mania precedes menses.

    Extremities.–Soreness and tenderness of joints. Sciatica; pains like electric flashes. Cramps in calves. Neuralgia in brachial plexus; arms feel swollen, cold, paralytic.

    Skin.–Blue, cold, clammy, inelastic, cold as death. Cold sweat. Wrinkling of skin of hands and feet.

    Fever.–Chill, with extreme coldness and thirst.

    Modalities.–Worse, at night; wet, cold weather. Better, walking and warmth.

    Relationship.–Compare: Veratrinum-alkaloid from seeds of Sabadilla.–(electric pains, electric shocks in muscles, fibrillary twitchings); Cholos terrepina (cramps in calves); Camph; Cupr; Ars; Cuprum ars (intermittent, cold, clammy sweat); Narcissus poeticus (gastro-enteritis with much griping and cutting pain in bowels. Fainting, trembling, cold limbs, small and irregular pulse); Trychosanthes–(diarrhœa, pain in liver, dizziness after every stool); Agaric emetic (vertigo; longing for ice-cold water; burning pains in stomach); Agaric phalloides (cholera, cramps in stomach, cold extremities, urine suppressed). Veratrine (Increased vascular tension. It relaxes it and stimulates the elimination of toxins by skin, kidneys, and liver).

    Dose.–First to thirtieth potency. In diarrhœa, not below the sixth.

  • VARIOLINUM

    Lymph from Small-pox Pustule

    Used for “internal vaccination.” Seems to be efficacious in protecting against, modifying and aiding in the cure of smallpox.

    Head.–Morbid fear of small-pox. Deafness. Pain in occiput. Inflamed eyelids.

    Respiratory.–Oppressed breathing. Throat feels closed. Cough with thick viscid, bloody mucus. Feeling of a lump in right side of throat.

    Relationship.–Excruciating backache. Aching in legs. Tired all over with restlessness. Wrists pain. Pains shift from back to abdomen.

    Fever.–Hot fever, with intense radiating heat. Profuse, bad-smelling sweat.

    Skin.–Hot, dry. Eruption of pustules. Shingles.

    Relationship.–Compare: Vaccin (same action); Malandrinum–the morbid product of the grease of the horse (a prophylactic of small-pox and a remedy for the ill-effects of vaccination; chronic eczema following vaccination).

    Dose.–Sixth to thirtieth potency.

  • VANILLA AROMATICA

    Vanilla
    (VANILLA – PLANIFOLIA)

    Marked skin irritation resembling milk Poison-oak; is sometimes produced by handling the beans, also by local use of vanilla essence in a hair wash. Vanilla is supposed to stimulate the brain and sexual propensities. Do not use the synthetic Vanilla extract. Various disorders of the nervous system and circulation are produced in workers with Vanilla. Is an emmagogue and aphrodisiac. Menses prolonged.

    Dose.–Vanilla, 6th to 30th, has been found effective in curing the skin affection.

  • VANADIUM METALLICUM

    The Metal
    (VANADIUM)

    Its action is that of an oxygen carrier and a catalyzer, hence its use in wasting diseases. Increases amount of hemoglobin, also combines its oxygen with toxines and destroys their virulence. Also increases and stimulates phagocytes. A remedy in degenerative conditions of the liver and arteries. Anorexia and symptoms of gastro intestinal irritation; albumen, casts and blood in urine. Tremors; vertigo; hysteria and melancholia; neuro-retinitis and blindness. Anæmia, emaciation. Cough dry, irritating and paroxysmal, sometimes with hæmorrhages. Irritation of nose, eyes and throat. Tuberculosis, chronic rheumatism, diabetes. Acts as a tonic to digestive function and in early tuberculosis. Arterio-sclerosis, sensation as if heart was compressed, as if blood had no room in the aorta. Anxious pressure on whole chest. Fatty heart. Degenerative states, has brain softening. Atheroma of arteries of brain and liver. Compare: Ars; Phos. Ammon vanad (fatty degeneration of liver).

    Dose.–6-12 potency. The best form is Vanadiate of Soda, 2 mg daily, by mouth.

  • VALERIANA OFFICINALIS

    Valerian
    (VALERIANA)

    Hysteria, over-sensitiveness, nervous affections, when apparently well-chosen remedies fail. Hysterical spasms and affections generally. Hysterical flatulency.

    Mind.–Changeable disposition. Feels light, as if floating in air. Over-sensitiveness (Staph). Hallucinations at night. Irritable. Tremulous.

    Head.–Sensation of great coldness. Pressure in forehead. Feeling of intoxication.

    Ears.–Earache from exposure to draughts and cold. Nervous noises. Hyperæsthesia.

    Throat.–Sensation as if a thread were hanging down throat. Nausea felt in throat. Pharynx feels constricted.

    Stomach.–Hunger, with nausea. Eructations foul. Heartburn with gulping of rancid fluid. Nausea, with faintness. Child vomits curdled milk in large lumps after nursing.

    Abdomen.–Bloated. Hysterical cramps. Thin, watery diarrhœa, with lumps of coagulated milk, with violent screaming in children. Greenish, papescent, bloody stool. Spasms in bowels after food and at night in bed.

    Respiratory.–Choking on falling asleep. Spasmodic asthma; convulsive movements of the diaphragm.

    Female.–Menses late and scanty (Puls).

    Extremities.–Rheumatic pains in limbs. Constant jerking. Heaviness. Sciatica; pain worse standing and resting on floor (Bell); better walking. Pain in heels when sitting.

    Sleep.–Sleepless, with nightly itching and muscular spasms. Worse on waking.

    Fever.–Long lasting heat, often with sweat on face. Heat predominates. Sensation of icy coldness (Heloderma; Camp; Abies c).

    Relationship.–Compare: Asaf; Ign; Croc; Castor; Amm valer (in neuralgia, gastric disturbance, and great nervous agitation). Insomnia especially during pregnancy and menopause. Feeble, hysterical nervous patients.

    Dose.–Tincture.