Spongia Tosta

[CARBO SPONGIA, SPONGIA USTA, BURNT SPONGE.]

We obtain the best preparation of sponge by roasting it in a com- mon coffee roaster until it has a blackish-brown color ; afterward, it is finely pulverized and kept in a well-closed glass vessel for use. Before roasting it, it has to be cleansed with a brush from all im- purities that it may contain, dust, little shells, pebbles and the like.

Spongia acts especially upon the glandular structures, causing en- largement and induration ; it affects also the larynx, trachea, heart and testicles, setting up inflammation and even fibrous exudation. It resembles jodum.

Spongia has caused : hoarseness ; great dryness of the larynx, in- creased by hawking ; sensation of obstruction in the larynx, as from a plug, with impeded respiration ; scraping, burning and constric- tion of the larynx. Paroxysms of dry, suffocative cough, with diffi- cult respiration. Dry, barking cough, with burning in the chest and expectoration of frothy, blood-streaked mucus. Hollow cough,

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with some expectoration, night and day. Continual cough, proceed- ing from a deep cough in the chest, with rawness and soreness of the chest. Expectoration yellowish, tenacious, slimy, tasting salty. Wheezing, whistling, anxious breathing, worse during inspiration and when lying down. Painful pressure under the short ribs, when coughing. Severe stitches in the left chest, and then in the right ; burning sore pain in the chest and bronchi, with rawness in the throat when coughing.

Spongia is extensively used in the following affections of the res- piratory organs.

CROUP, where it may be given after aconite, when aconite has been given for some time, and the disease seems to assume a more malignant form in spite of this medication. The breathing is excee- dingly wheezing, the patient feels as if he would suffocate, is oppressed with anguish, looks anxious and pale; the throat feels very dry, the voice is feeble, hoarse ; the face begins to bloat, the eyes pro- trude from their sockets ; the child talks and swallows a little water hurriedly.

Jahr gives spongia when the aconite symptoms have disappeared and the characteristic symptoms only of a violent croup remain, when the sickness takes this form from the beginning, with harsh, hollow, ringing, barking cough, or with dry cough, with labored ex- pectoration of a little mucus ; with slow, loud, whistling and sawing respiration, or with suffocative spasms with impossibility to breathe except with the head thrown way back.

A blooming boy of five years has had a peculiar cough for two evenings. At 9 o'clock of the third evening there were present : heat ; red countenance': frequent, full, hard pulse; hurried breathing, short, sawing, labored. Suddenly he jumped up, opened the eyes and nostrils as wide as possible, and, with his face purple, and .his mouth wide open, gasped for air. Immediately after, a few short, barking, hoarse coughs and then long, whistling inspiration.

During the height of the paroxysm ex- treme distress, clutching of the throat and throwing back of the head. After it, exhaustion and complaint about pain in the windpipe. Hoarseness. Prescribed spongia, tincture, six drops in a glass of water, a spoonful every fifteen minutes.

Im- mediate improvement and perfect cure in six days. (Billig.)

A girl, twenty-four years old, presented the following symptoms three days after her recovery from cholera : Purple countenance, somewhat bloated ; anxious ex- pression. Temperature increased ; lessened on the limbs. Breathing quick and short ; with deeper inspirations a whistling noise in the windpipe and collapse of the intercostal spaces. Feeble respiration.

Occasionally sudden, hollow cough, termi- nating in a long, whistling inspiration; with it, oppressed breathing, anxiety, cyano- sis of the face. Speech lisping. Pulse feeble, 100. Violent, compressive pain during deglutition.

Pain in the throat during coughing and talking. Tenderness to pressure in the windpipe. Constant anxiety. Great heat and feeling of exhaustion.

The attacks are constantly increasing, reaching a high degree of violence. Bella- donna exerted a temporary relief upon some of the symptoms. Thm, white coating in the posterior throat. Spongia36, every half hour, curpd the croup in the same night.

The catarrh continued a fortnight. (Klin. Studien, 32.)

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LARYNGEAL PHTHISIS, in the first stage, may require spongia. It is indicated by a feeling of dryness and burning in the larynx, paroxysms of a dry, suffocative cough, expectoration of a frothy, and at a later period, purulent mucus ; the voice is feeble ; occasionally there is a complete loss of voice. In

ASTHMA THYMICUM Kopp has used a decoction of burnt sponge with very good effect.

GOITEE — The effect of spongia upon the glandular structure and its adaptation to the scrofulous element have led to its use in goitre. There is on record a vast amount of clinical evidence which proves, beyond a doubt, the efficacy of spongia in the treatment of this affection. We are forced to admit, however, that, in many cases, its use is largely empirical, and, in fact, the absence of marked constitutional symptoms frequently makes it very difficult to indi- vidualize closely. The homceopathicity of spongia to a case of goitre must be found in consensual symptoms like the following: violent pressure in the forehead and occiput, as if the head were pressed together ; throbbing in the left temple ; when lying in bed, she feels, in the region of the ear upon which she is lying, a blowing sensation somewhat like a strong throbbing, as if the pulse beat double ; when turning to the other ear, she feels a similar sensation on that side ; sensation as if the blood would rush out of the forehead ; violent heat on one side of the face ; irritation and weakness of the eyes, weakness of sight ; noises in the ears ; disturbed sleep ; dizziness ; eruptions on the scalp and in the face ; slow, deep inspirations, as if exhausted, for several minutes ; after exerting herself a little, she suddenly feels faint, the chest in particular feels exhausted ; hot flashes of heat in the face; after the least exercise of the whole body, she feels weak, the blood seems to rush to the chest, her face becomes hot, the whole body is in a glow, the veins swell up, she loses her breath ; it is only after a long rest that she again feels comfortable.

Miss M., aged twenty-five years, healthy, plump and ruddy, weight 150, dark hair and eyes : tumor of three years growth, very large and unsightly, lumpy, irregular, hard, slightly tender always on having cold. Spongia3 and 12 were used in alterna- tion for about ten weeks, when there remained no indication of the disease. Eight years have now elapsed and the health of the patient remains perfect. (Dr. S. B. Barlow in JV. A. Jour. Horn., August, 1868.)

A. W., a maiden lady of thirty-two years, tall, slender; thick skin and thick lips, in medium flesh, evidently strumous; tumor of many years standing, extremely un- sightly and repulsive in looks, hard, knotty, somewhat tender; yet in tolerably good health otherwise. This case was treated, some thirty years since, with lozenges con- taining three grains of crude Spongia tosta each; one given night and morning, dis-

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solved in the mouth and swallowed. An unguent of the crude remedy in lard was freely rubbed into the tumor each night. In four weeks every vestige of the tumor had disappeared. Cure perfect and permanent. (Idid.)

A lady, aged twenty three. Commenced about two years ago ; thyroid gland of both sides was swollen even with the chin ; at night, suffocating spells and a barking and stinging in the throat, with soreness in the abdomen. Prescribed spongia®, to be taken morning and evening. After two weeks one dose per day for two weeks. After three weeks the swelling had disappeared and she felt well otherwise. (Dr. C. W. Sturm, Am. Jour. Horn. Mat. Med., vol. iii., p. 108.)

The interesting provings which Hahnemann has given us of this drug, have limited its therapeutic range to the following affections :

SCROFULOUS DEAFNESS, with otorrhoea; noises in the ears, sensation as if the ear would be pressed out ; occasional dryness in the ear, utter deficiency of ear-wax ; swelling and inflammation of the concha; pimples and blotches on the concha, with oozing of dampness and terminating in a scurf. Other provers record a drag- ging pain in the ears, stitches through the ears, deafness.

CHRONIC SORE EYES.— The eyes are likewise affected; we have : stinging and burning around the eyeballs ; itching of the lids, suppuration of the canthi; yellowish, crusty eruption in the left eyebrow ; lachrymation, redness of the sclerotica. These symp- toms may occur in the chronic sore eyes of scrofulous individuals.

ORCHITIS AND ORCHEOCELE, a swelling of the testicles with aching pain when pressing upon the testicle. Noack and Trinks define this affection by the following group of symptoms : Increasing swelling of the testicle ; firm, smooth, round swelling of the size of a fist, without alteration of the external skin, generally painless, except some dull pains or shooting stitches at intervals; the testicles are sensitive to pressure, with drawing in the spermatic cord and loins.

Hahnemann has furnished a few symptoms which justify the use of spongia in this disease: Pain in the testicle, when touching it; crampy, crushing, choking pain in the testicles ; long, dull stitches darting from the testicles along the spermatic cord ; swelling of a testicle, with aching pain ; painful swelling of the spermatic cord.

DYSMENORRHEA — Spongia likewise affects the catamenia; one prover records : premature and profuse menses. Another : the menses are preceded by backache and palpitation of the heart all day ; drawing in the upper and lower extremities during the menses. These symptoms made be made available in the dysmenorrhoea or menorrhagia of scrofulous women when other symptoms will com- plete the therapeutic group.

STAN NUM. 807