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

  • Aurum Metallicum

    Gold (The Element)

    Sanguine, ruddy people, with black hair and eyes; lively, restless, anxious about the future. Old people; weak vision; corpulent; tired of life. For constitutions broken down by bad effects of mercury and syphillis. Pinning boys; low-spirited, lifeless, weak memories, lacking in “boyish go;” testes undeveloped, mere pendent shreds. Constantly dwelling on suicide (Naja – but is afraid to die, Nux). Profound melancholy: feels hateful and quarrelsome; desire to commit suicide; life is a constant burden; after abuse of mercury; with nearly all complaints. Uneasy, hurried, great desire for mental and physical activity; cannot do things fast enough (Arg. n.). Ailments from fright, anger, contradictions, mortification, vexation, dread, or reserved displeasure (Staph.). Oversensitive: least contradiction excites wrath (Con.); to pain; to smell, taste, hearing, touch (Anac.). Headache of people with dark olive-brown complexion; sad, gloomy, taciturn; disposed to constipation; from least mental exertion. Falling of the hair, especially in syphillis and mercurial affections. Hemiopia; sees only the lower half (sees only the left half, Lith. c., Lyc.). Syphilitic and mercurial affections of the bones. Caries: of the nasal palatine and mastoid bones; ozaena, otorrhoea, excessively fetid discharge, pains worse at night; drive to despair; of mercurial or syphilitic origin (Asaf.). Prolapsed and indurated uterus; from over-reaching or straining (Pod., Rhus); from hypertrophy (Con.). Menstrual and uterine affections, with great melancholy; < at menstrual period. Foul breath; in girls at puberty. Sensation as if the heart stood still; as though it ceased to beat and then suddenly gave on hard thump (Sep.). Violent palpitation; anxiety, with congestion of blood to head and chest after exertion; pulse small, feeble, rapid, irregular; visible, beating of carotid and temporal arteries (Bell., Glon.). Fatty degeneration of heart (Phos.).

    Relations. – Aurum follows, and is followed well by Syphillinum. Similar: to, Asaf., Cal., Plat., Sep., Tar., Ther., in bone, uterine disease.

    Aggravation. – In cold air; when getting cold; while lying down; mental exertion; many complaints come on only in winter.

    Amelioration. – In warm air, when growing warm, in the morning and during summer.

  • Asterias Rubens

    Star-fish (Radiata)

    For the sycotic diathesis; flabby, lymphatic constitution; irritable temperament. Easily excited by any emotion, especially by contradictions (Anac., Con.). Heat of the head, as if surrounded by hot air. Sanguineous congestion to the brain. Apoplexy; face red, pulse hard, full, frequent. Cancer of mammae; acute lancinating pain; drawing pain in breast; swollen, distended, as before the menses; breast feels drawn in. A livid red spot appeared, broke and discharged; gradually invaded entire breast, very fetid odor; edges pale, clevated, mamillary, hard, everted; bottom covered with reddish granulations. Gait unsteady: muscles refuse to obey the will (Alum., Gels.). Epilepsy: twitching over the whole body four or five days before the attack. Constipation: obstinate; ineffectual desire; stools of hard, round balls, like olives. Diarrhoea: watery, brown, gushing out in a violent jet (Crot. t., Grat., Gum., Jatr., Thuja). Sexual desire increased in women (Lit.).

    Relations. – Similar: to, Murex, Sepia. Compare: Carbo an., Con., Sil. in mammary cancer; Bell., Cal., Sulph. in epilepsy

  • Asarum Europaeum

    European Snake Root (Arsistolochiaceae)

    Nervous, anxious people; excitable or melancholy. Imagines he is hovering in the air like a spirit (Lac. c.); lightness of all the limbs. Cold “shivers” from any emotion. Oversensitiveness of nerves, scratching of linen or silk, crackling of paper is unbearable (Fer. Tar.). Sensation as if ears were plugged up with some foreign substance. When reading, sensation in eyes as if thy would be pressed asunder or outward; relieved by bathing them in cold water. Cold air or cold water very pleasant to the eyes; sunshine, light, and wind are intolerable. Nausea: in attacks or constant (Ipec.); < after eating, tongue clean (Sulph.); of pregnancy. Unconquerable longing for alcohol; a popular remedy in Russia for drunkards. “Horrible sensation” of pressing, digging in the stomach when waking in the morning (after a debauch). Great faintness and constant yawning.

    Relation. – Similar: to, Caust. in modalities; to Aloe, Arg. n., Mer., Pod., Puls., Sulph. ac. in stringy shreddy stools. Followed: by, Bis., Caust., Puls., Sulph. ac.

    Aggravation. – In cold and dry, or clear, fine weather (Caust.).

    Amelioration. – Washing face or bathing affected parts with cold water; in damp, wet weather (Caust.).

  • Arum Triphyllum

    Indian Turnip (Araceae)

    Coryza; acrid, fluent; nostrils raw. Nose feels stopped up in spite of the watery discharge (compare, Am. c., Samb., Sinap.); sneezing < at night. Acrid, ichorous discharge, excoriating inside of nose, alae, and upper lip (Ars., Cepa). Constant picking at the nose until it bleeds; boring with the finger into the side of the nose. Picks lips until they bleed; corners of the mouth sore, cracked, bleeding (with malignant tendency, Cund.); bites nails until fingers bleed. Patients pick and bore into the raw bleeding surfaces though very painful; scream with pain but keep up the boring (in diphtheria, scarlatina, typhoid). Children refuse food and drink on account of soreness of mouth and throat (Mer.); are sleepless. Saliva profuse, acrid, corrodes the mucous membrane; tongue and buccal cavity raw and bleeding. Aphonia: complete, after exposure to northwest winds (Acon., Hep.); from singing (Arg. n., Caust., Phos., Sel.). Clergyman’s sore throat; voice hoarse, uncertain, uncontrollable, changing continually; worse from talking, speaking or singing; orators, singers, actors. Desquamation in large flakes, a second or third time, in scarlatina. Typhoid scarlatina, with apathy, scanty or suppressed urine; threatened uraemia. The sore mouth and nose are guiding in malignant scarlatina and diphtheria.

    Relations. – Useful: after Hep. and Nit. ac. in dry, hoarse, croupy cough; after Caust. and Hep. in morning hoarseness and deafness, and in scarlatina. Should not be given low or repeated often as bad effects often follow. – Dr. L. The higher potencies most prompt and effective.

  • Arsenic Album

    White Oxide of Arsenic (As2O3.)

    Great prostration, with rapid sinking of the vital forces; fainting: The disposition is:
       a – Depressing, melancholic, disparing, indifferent.
       b – Anxious, fearful, restless, full of anguish.
       c – Irritable, sensitive, peevish, easily vexed.
    The greater the suffering, the greater the anguish, restlessness and fear of death. Mentally restless, but physically too weak to move; cannot rest in any place: changing places continually; wants to be moved from one bed to another, and lies now here now there. Anxious fear of death; thinks it useless to take medicine, is incurable, is surely going to die; dread of death, when alone, or, going to bed. Attacks of anxiety at night driving out of bed, < after midnight. Burning pains; the affected parts burn like fire, as if hot coals were applied to parts (Antr.), > by heat, hot drinks, hot applications. Burning thirst without special desire to drink; the stomach does not seem to tolerate, because it cannot assimilate cold water; lies like a stone in the stomach. It is wanted, but he cannot or dare not drink it. Cannot bear the smell or sight of food (Colch., Sep.). Great thirst for cold water; drinks often, but little at a time; eats seldom, but much. Gastric derangements; after cold fruits; ice cream; ice water; sour beer; bad sausage; alcoholic drinks; strong cheese. Teething children are pale, weak, fretful, and want to be carried rapidly. Diarrhoea, after eating or drinking; stool scanty, dark-colored, offensive, and whether small or large, followed by great prostration. Haemorrhoids: with stitching pain when walking or sitting, not at stool; preventing sitting or sleep; burning pain < by heat; fissures make voiding urine difficult. Breathing: asthmatic; must sit or bend forward; springs out of bed at night, especially after twelve o’clock; unable to lie down for fear of suffocation; attacks like croup instead of the usual urticaria. Rapid emaciation: with cold sweat and great debility (Tub., Ver.); of affected parts; marasmus. Anasarca, skin pale, waxy, earth-colored (Acet. ac.). Excessive exhaustion from least exertion. Exhaustion is not felt by the patient while lying still; when he moves he is surprised to find himself so weak. Symptoms generally worse 1-2 p. m., 12-2 a. m. Skin: dry and scaly; cold, blue and wrinkled; with cold, clammy perspiration; like parchment; white and pasty; black vesicles and burning pain. Bad effects from decayed food or animal matter, whether by inoculation, olfaction or ingestion. Complaints return annually (Carbo. v., Lach., Sulph., Thuja).

    Relation. – Complementary: Allium s., Carbo. v., Phos., Pyr. Ars. should be thought of in ailments from: chewing tabacco; alcoholism; sea bathing; sausage poisoning; dissecting woulds and anthrax poison; stings of venomous insects.

    Aggravation. – After midnight (1 to 2 a. m. or p. m.); from cold; cold drinks or food; when lying on affected side or with the head low.

    Amelioration. – From heat in general (reverse of Sec.) except headache, which is temporarily > by cold bathing (Spig.); burning pain > by heat.

  • Arnica Montana

    Leopard’s Bane (Compositae)

    Nervous women, sanguine plethoric persons, lively expression and very red face. For the bad effects resulting from mechanical injuries; even if received years ago. Especially adapted to those who remain long impressed by even slight mechanical injuries. Sore, lame, bruised feeling all through the body, as if beaten; traumatic affections of muscles. Mechanical injuries, especially with stupor from concussion; involuntary faeces and urine; After injuries with blunt instruments (Symph.). Compound fractures and their profuse suppuration (Calend.). Concussions and contusions, results of shock or injury; with laceration of soft parts; prevents suppuration and septic conditions and promotes absorption. Nervous, cannot bear pain; whole body over-sensitive (Cham., Coff., Ign.). Everything on which he lies seems too hard; complains constantly of it and keeps moving from place to place in search of a soft spot (the parts rested upon feel sore and bruised, Bap., Pyr.; must move continually to obtain relief from pain, Rhus). Heat of upper body; coldness of lower. The face or head and face alone is hot, the body cool. Unconsciousness; when spoken to answers correctly but unconsciousness and delirium at once return (falls asleep in the midst of a sentence, Bap.). Says there is nothing the matter with him. Meningitis after mechanical or traumatic injuries; from falls, concussions of brain, etc. When suspecting exudation of blood, to facilitate absorption Hydrocephalus; deathly coldness in forearm of children (in diarrhoea, Brom.). Apoplexy; loss of consciousness, involuntary evacuation from bowels and bladder; in acute attack, controls haemorrhage and aids absorption; should be repeated and allowed to act for days or weeks unless symptoms call for another remedy. Conjunctival or retinal haemorrhage, with extravasation, form injuries or cough (Led., Nux.). Gout and rheumatism, with great fear of being touched or struck by persons coming near him. Cannot walk erect on account of a bruised sort of feeling in the pelvic region. Tendency to small, painful boils, one after another, extremely sore (small boils in crops, Sulph.). Paralysis (left-sided); pulse full strong; stertor, sighing, muttering. Belching; eructations; foul, putrid, like rotten eggs. Dysentery; with ischuria, fruitless urging; long interval between the stools. Constipation: rectum loaded, faeces will not come away; ribbon like stools from enlarged prostrate or retroverted uterus. Soreness of parts after labor; prevents post-partum haemorrhage and puerperal complications. Retention or incontinence of urine after labor (Op.).

    Relation. – Complementary: to, Acon., Hyper., Rhus. Similar: to, for soreness as if bruised, Bap., China, Phyt., Pyr., Rhus, Ruta, Staph. Arnica follows well: after, Acon., Apis., Ham., Ipec., Ver., is followed by Sul. ac. In ailments from spiritous liquors or from charcoal vapors, Arn. is often indicated (Am. c., Bov.). In spinal concussion, compare, Hyper.

    Aggravation. – At rest; when lying down; from wine.

    Amelioration. – From contact; motion (Rhus, Ruta).

  • Argentum Nitricum

    The Silver Nitrate (AgO,NO5)

    Acute or chronic diseases fro unusual or long-continued mental exertion. Always think of Argentum nit. on seeing withered, dried-up, old-looking patients (thin, scrawny, Sec.). Emaciation, progressing every year; most marked in lower extremeties (Am. m.); marasmus. Apprehension when ready for church or opera, diarrhoea sets in (Gels.). Time passes slowly (Can. I.); impulsive, wants to do things in a hurry; must walk fast; is always hurried; anxious, irritable, nervous (Aur. Lit.). Headache: congestive, with fullness and heaviness; with sense of expansion; habitual gastric, of literary men; from dancing; hemicrania, pressive, screwing in frontal eminence or temple; ending in bilious vomiting; < from any exhaustive mental labor; > by pressure or tight bandaging (Apis, Puls.). Acute granular conjunctivitis; scarlet-red, like raw beef; discharge profuse, muco-purulent. Ophthalmia neonatorum: profuse, purulent discharge; cornea opaque, ulceration; lids sore, thick, swollen; agglutinated in morning (Apis, Mer. s., Rhus). Eye strain from sewing, < in warm room > in open air (Nat. m., Ruta); diseases due to defective accommodation. Craves sugar; child is fond of it, but diarrhoea results from eating (craves salt or smoked meat, Cal. p.). Belching accompanies most gastric ailments. Flatulent dyspepsia: belching after every meal; stomach, as it it would burst with wind; belching difficult, finally air rushes out with great violence. Diarrhoea: green mucus, like chopped spinach in flakes; turning green after remaining on diaper; after drinking; after eating candy or sugar; masses of muco-lymph in shreddy strips or lumps (Asar.); with much noisy flatus (Aloe.). Diarrhoea as soon as he drinks (Ars., Crot. t., Throm.). Urine passes unconsciously day and night (Caust.). Impotence: erection fails when coition is attempted (Agnus, Calad., Selen.). Coition: painful in both sexes; followed by bleeding from vagina (Nit. ac.). Netrorrhagia: in young widows; in sterility; with nervous erethism at change of life (Lach.). Great longing for fresh air (Amyl., Puls., Sulph.). Chronic laryngitis of singers; the high notes cause cough (Alum., Arg. m., Arum.). Great weakness of lower extremities, with trembling; cannot walk with the eyes closed (Alum.). Walks and stands unsteadily, especially when he thinks himself unobserved. Convulsions preceded by great restlessness. Sensation of a splinter in throat when swallowing (Dolch., Hep., Nit. ac., Sil.); in or about uterus when walking or riding. Chilly when uncovered, yet feels smothered if wrapped up; craves fresh air.

    Relation. – Natrum mur, for the bad effects of cauterizing with nitrate of silver. Coffee increases nervous headache. Boys’ complaints after using tabacco (Ars., Ver.). Similar: to, Nat. m., Nit. ac., Lach., Aur., Cup. After Ver.; Lyc. follows well in flatulent dyspepsia.

    Aggravation. – Cold food; cold air; eating sugar; ice cream; unusual mental exertion.

    Amelioration. – Open air; craves the wind blowing in his face; bathing with cold water. The 200 or 1000th potency in watery solution as a topical application in ophthalmia neonatorum has relieved when the crude Silver nitrate failed.

  • Argentum Metallicum

    The Metal. (Pure Silver)

    Tall, thin, irritable persons. Ailments from abuse of Mercury. Constitutional effects of onanism. Affects the cartilages, tarsal, ears, nose, Eustachian; the structures entering into joints. Seminal emissions: after onanism; almost every night; without erection; with atrophy of penis. Crushed pain in the testicles (Rhod.). Prolapsus; with pain in left ovary and back, extending forward and downward (right ovary, Pal.); climacteric haemorrhage. Exhausting, fluent coryza with sneezing. Hoarseness; of professional singers, public speakers (Alum., Arum. t.). Total loss of voice of professional singers. Throat and larynx feel raw or sore on swallowing or coughing. Laughing excites cough (Dros., Phos., Stan.) and produces profuse mucus in larynx. When reading aloud has to hem and hawk; cough with easy expectoration of gelatinous, viscid mucus, looking like boiled starch. Great weakness of the chest (Stan.); worse left side. Alternation in timbre of voice with singers and public speakers (Arum t.). Raw spot over bifurcation of the trachea. worse when using voice, talking or singing.

    Relation. – Follows well: after, Alum. Similar: to, Stan. in cough excited by laughing.

    Aggravation. – Riding in a carriage (Coc.); when touched or pressed upon; talking, singing, reading aloud.

  • Apocynum Cannabinum

    Indian Hemp. (Apocynaceae)

    Excretions diminished, especially urine and sweat. Dropsy of serous membranes; acute, inflammatory. Dropsy: with thirst (Acet. ac.), water disagrees or is vomited (Ars.); most cases uncomplicated with organic diseases; after typhus, typhoid, scarlatina, cirrhosis; after abuse of quinine. Acute hydrocephalus, with open sutures; stupor, sight of one eye lost; constant and voluntary motion of one arm and one leg (left arm and leg, Bry.); forehead projected. Amenorrhoea in young girls, with bloating or dropsical extension of abdomen and extremities. Metorrhagia: continued or paroxysmal flow; fluid or clotted; nausea, vomiting, palpitation; pulse quick, feeble, when moved; vital depression, fainting, when raising head from pillow. Cough, short and dry, or deep and loose, during pregnancy (Con.).

    Relations. – Similar: to, Acetic Acid, Apis (no thirst), Ars., Cinch., Dig., in dropsical affections. Blatta orientalis has cured bad cases of general dropsy, after Apis, Apoc. and Dig. failed. – Haynes.

  • Apis Mellifica

    Poison of the Honey Bee (Apium virus.)

    Adapted to the strumous constitution; glands enlarged, indurated; scirrhus or open cancer. Women, specially widows; children and girls who, though generally careful, become awkward, and let things fall while handling them (Bov.). Bad effects of acute exanthema imperfectly developed or suppressed (Zinc.); measles, scarlatina, urticaria. Ailments from jealousy, fright, rage, vexation, bad news. Irritable; nervous; fidgety; hard to please. Weeping disposition; cannot help crying; discouraged, despondent (Puls.). Sudden shrill, piercing screams from children while waking or sleeping (Hellebore). Oedema; bag-like, puffy swelling under the eyes (over the eyes, Kali c.); of the hands and feet, dropsy, without thirst (with thirst, Acet. ac., Apoc.). Extreme sensitiveness to touch (Bell., Lach.). Pain: burning, stinging, sore; suddenly migrating from one part to another (Kali bi., Lac c., Puls.). Thirstlessness: in anasarca; acites (Acetic acid, but face more waxy and great thirst). Incontinence of urine, with great irritation of the parts; can scarcely retain the urine a moment, and when passed scalds severely; frequent, painful, scanty, bloody. Constipation: sensation in abdomen as if something tight would break if much effort were used. Diarrhoea: of drunkards; in eruptive diseases, especially if eruption be suppressed; involuntary from every motion, as though anus were wide open (Phos.). Affects right side; enlargement or dropsy of right ovary; right testicle. Intermittent fever; chill 3 p. m., with thirst, always (Ign.); < warm room and from external heat (Thuja, 3 a. m., and at 3 p. m.).

    Relations. – Complementary: Nat. mur. Disagrees, when used either before or after Rhus. Ars. and Puls. follow Apis well. Has cured scarlatina albuminuria after Canth., Dig., Hell. failed.

    Aggravation. – After sleeping (Lach.); closed, especially warmed and heated rooms are intolerable; from getting wet (Rhus), but better from washing or moistening the part in cold water.

    Amelioration. – Open air; cold water or cold bathing; uncovering; pains by coughing, walking or changing position; when sitting erect;