Asclepias Tuberosa

[PLEURISY root, natural order, asclepi adages.]

Stem ascending, hairy, with spreading branches at the top; leaves al- ternate, oblong-lanceolate, sessile; umbels numerous, forming a large, terminal corymb ; hoods bright orange, oblong, narrow, with slender, subfalcate, suberect, horns. Dry fields of Canada and United States. Root large, fleshy, sending up numerous stems two feet high, leafy, Leaves scattered, only the upper ones quite sessile, acute or acumin- ate, obtuse at base, two to four inches by six lines to one inch.

Oorvmb of bright orange-colored flowers. Petals and crowns of equal length (three to four inches). Pods or follicles lanceolate- pointed, and like the other species containing long or silky down. Blooms in July and August.

(Wood).

The officinal preparation used is the tincture or the trituration of the green root.

Dr. Thomas Nichols reports a proving made upon himself. [Am. Horn. Observer, Vol. hi, page 109).

Within six days the prover, a strong and well man of thirty-four years of age, and

very susceptible to the action of drugs, took of the first decimal dilution 250 drops, in

vol. 1. — 33.

530 ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA.

doses from twenty to forty drops, and fifty drops of the mother tincture. He experi- enced in substance the following : Dry cough, with constriction of the throat ; feel- ing of warmth in the chest, with dull pain at the base of both lungs, with feeling of tightness. Sharp shooting pains from the left nipple downward. Pulse rose in forty-five minutes from 64 to 88 (small) per minute.

Palpitation of the heart. Respiration painful ; base of the left lung dull on percussion ; cough dry and spas- modic. Dull ache in the head (forehead and vertex) worse upon motion, better upon lying-down. Uneasiness in the bowels ; heat in the umbilical region.

Pain, moving up behind the sternum, sharp and cutting, aggravated by deep inspiration and by motion of the hands as if triturating. Chilly, with cold feet in a warm room. Itch- ing in the thigh and nates (without eruption), Pain in the forehead and abdomen upon coughing; pain in the right lung, relieved by bending forward. Shooting pains in the chest.

Uneasy sleep with frightful dreams. After taking twenty drops of the mother tincture, pressing pain in the bowels and emission of fetid flatulence. Languor. Severe sharp, cutting pains in the bowels.

Upon taking a second dose of thirty drops of the tincture, abdominal pains increased; soft fetid stools; soreness of the peritoneum. Great languor.

Dr. P. H. Hale (Mich.

Inst, of Homoeopathy, 1866), reported a proving made upon himself with the oleo-resin, taking twenty-five drops, in two doses of ten and fifteen drops. He experienced lung symptoms similar to those described by Dr. Nichol. The pulse at first falling from 80 to 60 per minute, rose toward evening to 90 beats per minute.

Chilliness ; yawning and stretching ; weariness. Headache, with tightness about the head; flushed face ; some burning in the eyes and discharge from the nose. Chilliness ; languor. Burning in the stomach ; pain in the region of the bladder, also in the small of the back.

Urine slight and very dark in color ; feverish ; restless. Pungent heat all over the body, with some sweat on the limbs, almost scalding. Great thirst, though the tongue was moist.

An examination of these provings show that the drug produces well-marked effects upon the lungs and causes a pretty decided group of gastric disturbances. The former, as recorded by both Drs. Nichol and Hale, resemble each other closely and would lead us to presume that in pleuritic affections, in certain cases of pneumonia, and in catarrhal inflammations the remedy might prove of value. Clin- ical experience demonstrates the truthfulness of such proposition.

In gastric disturbances, characterized by slightly chilly sensations, dull headache, eructations, burning in the stomach, uneasiness in the bowels, the pleurisy root has been used with satisfactory results. In dysentery even, it is claimed to have been prescribed very success- fully. Other remedies, however, will be found much more reliable in true dysentery.

Our friends of the physiological schools recommend it for a great variety of troubles. Rafinesque, for instance, mentions it as useful in complaints of children, colic, hysteria, menorrhagia, dysentery, asthma, rheumatism, worms, syphilis, etc.

AURUM. 531

Dr. H. Noah Martin relates a case (N. A.

Journal of Horn., Aug., 1870), or a man, aged about fifty years, who had been troubled, from childhood, with looseness of the bowels, aggravated, to all appearances, by the immoderate use of tobacco. During the last few years the patient began to feel an acute soreness, attended with sharp, griping pains in the lower part of the abdomen whenever he indulged freely in smoking, and the soreness and pain increased to such an extent that he was at times unable to walk or ride in a carriage, without great suffering, and the bowels were so irritable, that he had five or six stools per day.

The soreness and pain seemed to be in the peritoneal lining of the lower part of the abdomen, and over the fundus of the bladder, but not in the rectum or bladder or urethra. There were no symptoms of dysentery or diarrhoea. Presuming the whole difficulty to be due to tobacco poison- ing, antidotal treatment was employed in vain, and after taking homceopathically- indicated remedies without deriving any benefit, the symptoms in fact becoming graver, he resorted to opiates, without experiencing any relief, even upon the discon- tinuance of his old habit.

Acting upon an impulse to give pleurisy root a trial, he finally took five or six drops of the tincture in a glass of water. Thirty minutes after- ward all the pain and nearly all the soreness in the abdomen disappeared, the irritability of the bowels ceased, and the next day the patient had the first stool of solid feces he could recollect for twenty-five years ; a few more doses of asclepias were taken, and he has now remained, for several weeks, free from all pain or incon- venience in the abdomen and "bowels, except a slight flatulence.

The patient now abstains almost entirely from the use of tobacco, but has occasionally used part of a cigar, when the old symptoms show a disposition to return, particularly the irrita- bility of the lower intestines.

AUEUM

[aurum metallicum (seu eoliatum) metallic gold ; AURUM

MURTATICUM, MURIATE OF GOLD.]

Of the finest gold-beater's leaf we make triturations in the pro- portion of 1 to 10 or 1 to 100, continuing this trituration process according to the rules laid down for silver.

Hahnemann has furnished some interesting provings of this agent which reveal important therapeutic virtues.

In his brief but interesting introduction to the provings of gold, Hahnemann mentions several authors who have recommended this agent as a medicine for conditions to which it is eminently homoe- opathic, as shown by the results of the experiments instituted by Hahnemann and his disciples.

The provings of gold are of great interest. Without giving a full statement of the symptoms noted by the pro vers, permit me to say that the most important feature of its pathogenesis is the peculiar and depressing effect which this drug produces upon the mind. It is characterized by a loathing of life, a hopelessness and utter weariness, far more marked than similar effects of any other drug known ; and an impulse toward suicide, as the natural outgrowth of the mental condition described, is so constant a symptom of the conditions, favorably affected by aurum as a remedy, that you can

532 AURUM.

justly look upon it as a reliable, trustworthy keynote. Hahnemann states that he has cured several cases of melancholy with inclination to suicide by means of a few doses of gold.

Another remarkable feature of the drug is the curative effect which it exerts upon the ulcerations, swellings, etc., which follow the reckless use of mercury, or which may be produced by the action of the syphilitic poison upon the system. No remedy has a more brilliant record in this class of affections than aurum, and when these conditions are accompanied by the characteristic mental state, we may prescribe it with hopes of relief even in cases which are apparently beyond the possibility of recovery.

CEPHALIC GROUP.

CONGESTIVE HEADACHES.— Gold causes: rush of blood to the head ; pain in the head as if the brain felt sore, and had been bruised ; semi-lateral, acutely-throbbing headache ; pain in the skull bones, when lying down, as if they were broken. Hence aurum is used in congestive headaches ; in hysteric hemicrania with rush of blood to the brain ; in mercurial syphilitic headaches, with excessive pain in the skull-bones, as if they would be crushed ; a violent hard- aching, bruising pain.

M., twenty-two years old has suffered for two months from severe left-sided hemi- crania ; violent, cutting, stitching and tearing pains which change from the left fore- head to the left teeth', are quiet for a short time only and return without provocation. They disturb his sleep. Decayed teeth. Mental depression and weariness of life, with thoughts of suicide.

Weakness of the legs, especially of the knee-joints, oppres- sion of the chest, stitches which, at times, during inspiration, dart into the back. Pollutions ; masturbuation ; weakness of memory. Prescribed aurum fol.2, twice each day. Cure of the pains on the second day and early, general improvement.

(Schleicher in Allg. Horn. Zeitg. Vol. liv., 23.)

Dr. Keil states (Zeitschrift fur Horn. Klinik, Vol. iii., 24,) that a robust woman was attacked with a stitching pain in the left side of the forehead, and a similar pain in a decayed tooth of the same side, whenever she took a dose of the muriate of gold. This peculiar effect of the drug certainly shows that in

HEMICRANIA, where this stitching pain constitutes a leading symptom, the muriate of gold may manifest curative powers.

ORBITAL GROUP.

AMBLYOPIA. — Aurum is a useful remedy in amblyopia or dim- ness of vision, when its most prominent features are the constant playing of blaek spots before the eyes ; also for

HEMIOPIA, (half-sight) when the objects are cut in two horizon- tally and when there is severe tensive pain in the eye.

AURUM. 533

IRITIS, if depending upon mercurial poisoning, may find its remedy in gold, when there is "aching, throbbing and tearing pain in the orbit, sometimes extending to the top of the head ; pains in the bones about the eyes ; fiery sparks before the eyes ; intolerauce of light ; contracted pupil ; partial or entire loss of vision; dark or greenish color of the iris ; spots of }Tellow lymph, or ulcers on the iris." (Marcy and Hunt.) If there is reason to suspect syphilitic taint the remedy will be still more clearly indicated.

BLEPHAEOPHTHALMIA, with swelling and inflammation, and scurfy incrustations on the lids, has yielded to the internal and exter- nal employment of the muriate of gold ; for external use a solution of two grains in six ounces of water was prepared.

AURICUAR GROUP.

OTOEEHCEA. — It is an excellent remedy in otorrhoea, character- ized by fetid discharge ; caries of the mastoid process and ossicula, after abuse of mercury. (Eaue.)

A little girl, aged four years, of strumous diathesis, had otorrhoea immediately fol- lowing an attack of scarlet fever. Both ears were affected, the right one worse. The discharge was yellow, profuse, and very offensive. Prescribed aurum fol.6, four times a day. In a few days a marked improvement commenced, and in about four weeks the discharge ceased. (Dr. Richards in Horn. World, April, 1870.)

Dr. W. E. Rounds gives the following as indicative of the muriate of gold in otitis media suppurativa chronica (Halm. Monthly, Nov., 1877,) " cases with a suspicious history. Caries of the mastoid process when the discharge from the ear is exceedingly offensive, accom- panied by drawing pains, worse at night. Relieved by warm and aggravated by cold applications. Peevish and melancholy; an extremely offensive nasal catarrh is a usual concomitant."

INFLAMMATORY GROUP.

BEIGHTS DISEASE.— In Bright's disease we may find gold useful when there is a mercurial or syphilitic cachexia, palpiation, indurations, caries, swelling of the liver ; bloated, shining face, with melancholy and despairing moods. (Dr. Holcombe in Am. Inst, of Horn., 1875.)

Three months ago a woman, thirty-four years old, aborted in the third month of pregnancy, with profuse haemorrhage ; this was followed with typhus, which left oedema of the feet, which she claimed to have cured with juniper berries. On her journey here she was taken with violent colic, nausea and frequent diarrhceic stools, in which condition she was received at the hospital in Vienna. Her strength was moderately good; the head was hot, the limbs cold, the countenance pale red, pulse, 90.

Enlargement of the spleen. Meteorism. Symptoms of dropsy in the right iliac region; frequent watery, yellow stools. Continued pain in the bowels.

Heaviness of the head. She talks little, drinks much and complains of lameness of the legs. Prescribed acid phosph.6. Gaining, and again losing ground, she received at last,

534 AUKUM.

arsenicum. The diarrhoea became less frequent; so did the pains in the bowels, but the feeling of lameness in the legs remained. A well-defined cedematous swelling appeared on the left leg. Arsenicum was continued.

In two weeks, general dropsy ; cachectic, leucophlegmatic, stupid appearance ; the skin is dry and shrunken ; languor and sleepiness ; frequent urination, especially at night. Diarrhoea; green vomiting ; frequent chills with nausea. Arsenic3 proved useless. Prescribed aurum muriat.6.

Improvement after a few days and a perfect cure in six weeks. (Loew in Allg. Horn. Zeitg.

Vol. liii., 28.)

ALBUMINURIA. — A similar set of symptoms indicates gold in albuminuria. There will be irritability ; painful retention of urine with pressure on the bladder. Turbid urine, like buttermilk, with much sediment of mucus ; urine smells like ammonia and decomposes rapidly ; hot, red urine, containing sand. Even after the full devel- opment of ascites a cure has been effected. It is however in specific inflammations that the gold acts with remarkable brilliancy. Thus,

ASCITES, of scrofulous, persons, depending upon diseased liver, has been cured with the muriate of gold, when every other remedy failed.

ANASARCA, after fever and ague, and likewise after scarlatina, has yielded to this drug, after other means had been exhausted.

HERPETIC ULCERATIONS and scrofulous sores on the extremities have been cured with the muriate of gold.

In inflammatory conditions which depend upon a syphilitic taint, aurum has no superior. In these the muriate of gold acts with much more intensity than metalic gold.

According to Chrestien, muriate of gold acts similarly to corrosive sublimate, except that it does not irritate the salivary glands as powerfully as the bichloride of mercury. Taken to the extent of one-tenth of a grain daily, it has occasioned violent fever. This fever, if restrained within proper limits, is not accompanied with any remarkable or even sensible lesion of the functions. The mouth is good, the tongue moist, the appetite continues, the bowels are not disordered, and there is ordinarily only augmentation of urine and transpiration ; but, if carried too far, we incur the risk of producing general erethism, inflammation of this or that organ, according to the predisposition of the patient, which will not only check the treat- ment, but mav even induce a new disease often more troublesome than the original one.

One-fifteenth of a grain has occasioned gastric irritation, dryness of the tongue, redness of the throat, colic and diarrhoea.

Magendie has seen it cause gastritis, accompanied by cramps and pains in the limbs, agitation, loss of sleep, and afterward great heat of the skin, obstinate sleeplessness and fatiguing erections.

AURUM. 535

These physiological effects of the chloride of gold may occur as elements of a group of mercurial and syphilitic poisoning. As an antidote to mercury, mercurial stomatitis, ptyalism, ulcers, this agent deserves our highest regard

SYPHILITIC EHEUMATISM.— It has been used in syphilitic rheumatism.

A young man who had contracted syphilis and was treated with massive doses of mercury, was pronounced cured by his medical advisers, and he went to his business. He soon began to experience pain in the lower extremities and feet, that greatly im- paired his ability to stand or walk. He experienced pains in the soles of his feet and ankles, and deep-seated pains in the legs; more troublesome at night. Gave aurum6; the first prescription gave prompt and radical relief. (Dr. Small.)

SYPHILITIC INFLAMMATION OF THE LARYNX In

this affection aurum muriaticum may be found beneficial when the constitutional symptoms call for it. Dr. Schneider (Internal. Horn.

Presse) has found the 3d attenuation highly beneficial. I have used it in one case of several years' standing, where there existed much drawing, tearing pain in the bones; very unpleasant ozoena, and a terrible depression of the mind. The local symptoms were very severe, and after a patient but unsatisfactory use of the iodide of potash, I was much surprised to see the gold not only relieve the general symptoms of the case, but effect a radical cure of the laryn- geal trouble.

CARIES OF THE BONE has been cured by gold.

Dr. Lindsay [Am. your. Horn. Mat.

Med., March, 1868,) relates the following interesting case: S. M., aged four years, has had caries of left external maleolus for a little more than two years. His mother had carried him many miles in her arms and spent over two hundred dollars upon allceopathic celebrities, when chancing to pass the homoeopathic dispensary, on June 23, 1867, she received for him a prescrip- tion of aurum mur.30, which so benefited the patient that she continued the treatment. The child was of a very delicate constitution, with a comparatively fine head.

The disease could not be traced to any injury. After taking aur. mur.30, a powder every second night for one month, he was put upon the 200th potency of the same for two weeks. On the last day of October the discharge had ceased and the patient soon commenced to walk.

A syphilitic patient was covered all over with sores and carious ulcerations of the articulations of the extremities. He was emaciated and had hectic fever. All treatment had been unavailing. The muriate of gold cured him gradually but per- fectly after a persevering use of this agent for ten months. The right elbow joint remained anchylosed, but painless.

EXOSTOSIS of skull and pelvic bones. Our provings have osseous tumor on the right side of the vertex, with boring pain which is made worse by contact; small osseous tumor 011" the left side of the forehead.

CATARRHAL GROUP.

CHRONIC CATARRH, with inability to breathe through the

536 AUKUM.

nose, with ulceration of the nostrils, loss of smell and great despon- dency, may be benefited by the use of gold, particularly if there is syphilitic taint, inherited or acquired. In

OZCENA, especially if it depends upon scrofulous or syphilitic dyscrasia, this remedy is of the highest importance. The especial indication for the drug would be the mental condition, the destruc- tion of the cartilages and of bony tissue, a condition found in the graver forms, and favored in its development by the specific virus.

A dwarf aged sixteen years, with large head, joints tumid, long bones curved, whose family was scrofulous, the father having died of phthisis, has ozoena of four years' standing. The offensive matter runs over the upper lip, is sometimes greenish or yellowish, and is so acrid that it excoriates the skin. The smell is so offensive that no one can go near her, and she uses twenty handkerchiefs per week. The mucous membrane of the nose is red and inflamed, and she perspires profusely every night from the middle of the body downward.

Aurum, twice a day, was prescribed. She improved considerably in three weeks. After the continued use of the drug she gained greatly, using four or five handkerchiefs in fourteen days, instead of fifty, as formerly. But there is now, four months later, no purulent discharge, no smell per- ceptible, unless after taking cold.

General health is excellent. (Dr. Harper.)

THOEACIO GROUP.

PALPITATION OF THE HEART, especially when arising from a rheumatic or arthritic diathesis, or from excessive loss of blood. Dierbach mentions the following interesting case illustrative of the curative virtues of gold in this affection:

A lady was attacked with haemorrhage from the womb in consequence of the expul- sion of a mole. Palpitation of the heart, anxiety and violent congestion to the upper organs, which are the usual results of the increased efforts of the heart to keep up the equlibrium of the circulation, set in with great violence after the arrest of the hemor- rhage. Nothing seemed to be of any avail to counteract this weakness but gold, of which one-sixth of a grain was prescribed three times a day.

After taking a few doses, the patient began to improve, the improvement being attended with a violent itching of the soles of the feet, which spread thence over the whole body, but gradu- ally disappeared in a few days. The patient took in all two grains of gold. Similar results were observed in other cases where violent palpitation, rush of blood, oppress- ive anxiety, even unto fainting, were the consequences of metrorrhagia after confine- ment.

CHYLO-POIETIC GROUP.

INDIGESTION. — In indigestion gold is, at times, indicated. The provings show that it causes gastric disturbances, flatulency, etc.

Quito states that such symptoms are often attended with palpita- tion of the heart and keen, darting pain in the cardiac region, with difficulty of breathing. In such cases gold may prove valuable.

B. F., aged about sixty years, dark complexion, nervous bilious temperament, remarkably active, pulse 90, called upon me for advice about ten years ago. For about twenty years he had occasionally consulted his physicians for paroxysms of flatu- lency, palpitation and pains in the chest. The paroxysms were not of long duration, and were usually relieved by eructations of gas.

He had taken considerable digitalis and some tonics. At the time he consulted me, the paroxysms had increased in frequency and intensity. Violent constrictions of the chest, pain in the region of

AURUM. 537

the heart, extending down the arm to the fingers, and palpitation, compelled him to sit up in bed, stop when walking or riding, seize the left arm and grasp it tightly. They lasted about half an hour and were relieved by eructations of gas. As soon as the paroxysm passed off he felt as well as usual. No abnormal condition of the heart, valves or arteries could be detected.

Prescribed aurum met.12 morning and evening. The paroxysms were soon manifestly lighter and less frequent, and in four months they had ceased. Nine years after, he called for more aurum ; said he felt some shooting pains in the chest, and feared a return of the old complaint. Prescribed aurum18.

He is now seventy, well, hearty and active as a boy.

HYPERTEOPHY OF THE LIVER may call for aurum. The following case will give you an understanding of the condition and symptoms which indicate the drug.

A gentleman of forty-five, dark complexion, has been sick for ten years and now presents the following symptoms : Weight in the right side of the abdomen; occasional sharp pain felt there ; quick, darting and alternating with a similar pain in the upper arm ; obstinate constipation ; urine scanty, colorless during the first hours, then tur- bid, with brick-dust sediment; little appetite : deep sadness, discouragement; desire for death and inclination for suicide, notwithstanding the open profession of religious ideas.

The right hypochondrium gives resistance to palpation. In pressing the palm of the hand under the false ribs, from before backward, three hard lumps are felt, belonging to the thin edge of the liver; this pressure causes sharp pains and much difficulty of breathing. Aurum6 and later aurum30 cured the case. (Marcy and Hunt.)

EXCESSIVE CORPULENCY.— In excessive corpulency gold is often a valuable remedy.

Dr. Bute [Halm. Monthly, October, 1871,) relates a case, one of four sisters (two of whom were said to have died from a similar cause) in whose case four doses of aurum30, one dose every two weeks, effected a complete care. "Delicate sensitiveness, longing for the open air, weariness of life and constant whining" were the indica- tions on the strength of which the remedy was selected.

EXANTHEMATOUS GROUP.

Gold causes and cures blotches of dingy yellow color on the legs. Dry crusts. Pustules on face, neck and chest. Cancerous (?) and syphilitic ulcers. Boils. Herpes. All these are characterized by burning, itching ; heavy bone-pains, soreness, tenderness ; they are worse in the cold in the open air and are better in the warm room and from moving about.

URINARY AND SEXUAL GROUP.

INCONTINENCE OF URINE— Frank reports a case of incon- tinence of urine which was cured by the muriate of gold. The patient was an old man who had had the dropsy ; the incontinence was most probably owing to a paralytic condition of the urinary bladder, and was particularly troublesome at night. Yet the diuretic property of the muriate is a well-established fact, so much so, that

\

538 AURUM.

Dr. Delafield recommends this drug, alloeopathically, in diseases which depend upon a suppression or considerable decrease of the urinary secretions.

We find at times such incontinence in mismanaged gonorrhoea, with continual urging to urinate and stricture of the urethra. In such cases aurum mur. is an excellent remedy.

CONDYLOMATA at the anus and on the prepuce, have yielded to the internal and external use of this agent.

CHANCRES which failed to yield to mercurial treatment ; more particularly flat chancrous ulcerations on the scrotum and prepuce, have been cured by the muriate of gold.

ORCHITIS of a chronic nature. Our provings show swelling of the lower portion of the right testicle, with aching pain when touch- ing or rubbing the parts, commencing at six o'clock for several evenings in succession, and disappearing again about eleven.

A shoemaker, who had gonorrhoea several times, had considerable swelling and hardening of the left testicle. The weight became more and more troublesome and for some time past he has had much pain. He is sad and discouraged. Has been under treatment for two weeks, receiving, among others, mezereum and arnica, but has not improved.

After aurum the healthy testicle swelled as much as the diseased organ, and became very sensitive. After a few weeks both became normal. (Gastier in Allg. Horn.

Zeitg., Vol. xviii., p. 89.)

SPERMATORRHOEA may call for aurum. There will be great moral and physical weakness ; frontal headache ; excessive despond- ency ; inability to study ; gastric disturbances. In

MENORRHAGIA we may find the remedy useful, especially if there is induration of the os or cervix uteri ; ulceration, or if there has been mercurial or syphilitic poisoning of the system. The mental condition must be taken into consideration.

Dr. Tritscher claims that gold cures softening in the uterine tissue in whatsoever region, and insists that the internal administra- tion of the drug will cure flexions of the uterus by removing the cause of the difficulty, viz., the softening of the tissue, causing a weak spot, at which the flexion necessarily takes place. He urges the discontinuance of the use of instruments and cites cases success- fully treated by the administration of the drug alone. Indurations of the neck of. the womb, often causing habitual abortion ; chronic metritis and ovarian enlargement have also been cured with the same drug.

He says, " Martini cured five cases of ovarian dropsy by the use of this drug. Ulcers of the uterus and of the vaginal walls, developing themselves from swellings and indurations, even where a cancerous character was feared, healed, without any local application

AURUM. 539

whatever, by the steady use of muriate of gold." (Ilahn. Monthly, May, 1877.) In

UTERINE DISPLACEMENTS aurum has been recommended. After lifting a heavy load, a sense of weight in the pelvis, with ischuria and constipation, worse at each menstrual period ; great dejection of spirits ; longing for death, creating a desire for self- destruction ; or vehement moods, the least contradiction excites her." (Raue). Even in

CANCER OE THE UTERUS gold may assist in bringing about an improvement in the general state of affairs, although the drug will hardly cure cancer. In such a case the pains are severe and cutting, attended by gastric disturbance, such as flatulency ; the dis- charge is very offensive, and the mind is despondent.

MENTAL GROUP.

It is hardly necessary to repeat the statement already made in re- gard to the remarkable despondency caused by gold. No remedy can rival it in this respect ; and whenever utter depression of spirits, disposition to suicide, rush of blood to the head ; obscuration of sight by black spots moving before the eyes, attacks of dyspnoea, unrefreshing sleep with unpleasant dreams, loss of sexual power are present, aurum, either the metal itself or its salts, will be a rem- edy of prime importance. You find these symptoms after excesses of various kinds ; deep, powerful emotions, even of a religious nature, may produce them ; or they may be caused by long-continued illness, especially in very nervous, easily excited and deeply impressed per- sons. Hahnemann recommends in such cases the lower dilutions.

In the spring of 1868, Mr. G. was married. In June his mother came to me and said she believed G. was becoming deranged. She was greatly alarmed about bim. and said he had not appeared natural for some time.

He was nervous, restless, sometimes cheerful, but more often excitable, angry and passionate without cause. He was naturally mild, gentle and cheerful. He could not work or attend tp his business ; could do nothing satisfactory if he tried to do it. He was taken home to his parents and I visited him there.

In a long conversation with him I gradually drew from him his confession : the idea possessed him that his case is hopeless, that he was himself the cause of all his troubles (self-pollution), and that he should never be any better until, as he says, "my blood flows." 1 gave him nux; but he grew worse, more excitable and passionate, sleepless and uneasy, disliked to see anybody ; would hide if he saw anyone coming. One day his mother saw him in the pantry with a butcher knife, feeling its edge.

She courageously demanded the knife, and he reluctantly gave it up ; was very angry. He then went for his father's razor, but she managed to get hold of it first ; foiled again, he was terribly angry and threatened all sorts of things. At this time I made another visit, and learning these facts, gave him aurum 6x attenuation. He had to be watched continually.

In a few days he became more quiet, not so excitable, slept better and improved rapidly every way. He soon lost all desire for suicide. In six weeks he was well and returned to his business, (Dr. J.

L. Gage in Am, Homceopatkist, April, 1878.)

540 BAPTISIA TINCTOKIA.

Poisonous effects of the chloride of gold are antidoted by the same means which we use in cases of poisoning with corrosive sub- limate. Our principal antidote is the white of eggs.