Homeopathy LibraryHepar Sulfuris Calcareum
Dunham - Lectures on Materia Medica · Carroll Dunham · 8,099 chars
General
LIVER OF SULPHUR. IMPURE CALCIC SULPHIDE.
THE "liver of sulphur" of the shops and of the British and United States pharmacopoeias, is a sulphuret of potassium, or a potassic sulphide, being prepared with potash and not with lime. It should never be used to prepare the drug known in the homoeopathic pharmacopoeia as Hepar sulphuris. It was discovered, in the course of experiments, that it produces solubility of sulphur. It is prepared by fusion ; sulphur one part and carbonate of potash four parts.
It is used to resolve exudations, as in swollen glands, etc. ; it is also used in obstinate skin diseases, and in the preparation of sulphur baths. (Balneum sulphura- tum of Raye.) Care must be taken if an acid is added, because then sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved, and there is danger of asphyxia.
Dupuytren added glue to the bath, and made the Balneum sulphuratum et gelatinosum.
Hahnemann prepared Hepar sulphuris as follows: " Equal weights of the interior of the oyster- shell and pure sulphur flowers which have been well
HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM. 28 1
washed and dried; mix well, and place in a well- heated porcelain crucible ; cover and keep at a white heat for ten minutes. When cold, open the crucible and preserve in well-stoppered bottles."
It is prepared for use by trituration up to the third centesimal or higher.
Some physicians use the third only of Hepar sulphuris who use higher potencies of other drugs.
SPECIAL ANALYSIS.
Sensorium. Vertigo when shaking the head or from jarring, as, for example, from driving in a wagon, so that on getting out one cannot stand alone. Sometimes faintness accompanies it.
Head
The pains are aching, boring, and sore- ness as if beaten.
As regards locality, the pain is in the temples, forehead and sides of the head, and is sometimes confined to one side of the head, — a kind of megrim.
As regards the time of day, the early morning and the forenoon are the favorite times of head- ache.
As regards conditions, motion and rising from a stooping posture produce or increase the pains ; also moving the eyes increases the boring pain at the root of the nose.
To recapitulate, we find:
Aching pain in the temples and in one-half of
26 2 HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM.
the head, a sensation as if a nail were driven into the brain ; the clavus hystericus. (Ignatia, Thuja.)
Then, on rising from stooping or on moving, and especially after walking in the open air, a stitching pain ; likewise on coughing.
Boring pains in the temples and a boring ach- ing at the root of the nose, worse from moving the eyes.
The forehead and scalp are sore and tender.
(Bryonia, Eupatorium, China.)
The hair falls out in spots, leaving them bald.
Papules and pustules form on the scalp and nape and are sore to the touch.
Also on the forehead ; worse in warmth ; better in cold air.
Eyes
Eyes and lids inflamed.
Lids swollen, red and aching, worse on being touched.
Noc- turnal agglutination ; much muco-pus ; obscured vision.
Eruption on the eyelids and below them on the cheek.
It is a valuable remedy in strumous ophthalmia and ulcer of the cornea, occurring with milk crust, etc., etc.
Complexion.
Yellowish, with blue rings around the eyes.
Red cheeks by day, without heat or thirst; but in the afternoon and night, heat.
Sometimes erysipelatous swelling and redness of the cheeks.
Ears
External : hot, red and itching. Stitch- ing in the inner ear on blowing the nose.
Roaring and noises, worse p. m.
Nose
Boring aching at the root of the nose from seven to twelve a. m.
Dorsum sore to the touch.
Frequent epistaxis.
Loss of smell.
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Mouth
Corner of the lips ulcerated and erup- tion on the lips, with heat; also vesicles, etc., on the chin and neck, very sore to the touch.
Gums.
Swollen, and aching of the molar teeth as if pressed out; painful on biting.
Toothache occurs when eating; drawing pain, worse in a warm room ; and on biting it becomes a jumping toothache.
Throat
Very important symptoms.
Stitching, as if a sliver of wood or a fish-bone were in the throat, occurring on swallowing, yawning, on tak- ing a deep inspiration, and on turning the head, extending into the ear.
Even also in the exterior parts of the throat, as in the cervical muscles.
Feeling of internal swelling and pressure, as if a plug of mucus or some other body had stuck in the throat and could be swallowed away.
Scratch- ing, scraped feeling in the throat, increased when swallowing solid food.
Constant desire to hawk out mucus, and much saliva from the mouth, like water-brash.
Digestive tract. Bitter or earthy taste in the mouth and throat, yet food has its natural taste.
Appetite fair.
Longing for sour or strongly flavored food.
More thirst than hunger.
Burning eructations.
Nausea when sitting or walking, a. m.
Sour vomiting.
Pressure, aching and hardness in the epigastrium after eating.
Distention of the abdomen and much flatus, which accumulates in the epigastric zone. Tearing and grasping in the umbilical region, with nausea
284 HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM.
and heat of the face. Soreness of the abdomen where flatus moves.
The inguinal glands are swollen and sore, and ulcerate.
Stool
The character of the stool and urine is sluggish evacuation. Then, though the faeces are soft, they are discharged with difficulty and slowly and with much tenesmus.
Sometimes diarrhoea and bloody slime, or green- ish and clay-colored diarrhoea.
Green, slimy diarrhoea, of a sour smell. (See Hering.)
Urine„ Sluggish stream ; must wait long before it starts. It burns on passing, and excoriates and ulcerates the prepuce ; the last drops are bloody.
Itching and sticking pains in the glans; ulcers like chancre on the prepuce.
Respiratory Organs.
Coryza.
Action chiefly on the larynx and trachea.
Dry cough, with dyspnoea, from tickling high in the throat ; uninterrupted in the evening ; pro- voked by speaking or stooping ; it increases more and more, and then stops.
Or, a violent cough, as if he should suflbcate, which ends in vomiting.
Sometimes, afterward, a feeling as of a hard body in the epigastrium ; then comes a haemoptysis.
(Distinguished from Belladonna by non-soreness of the larynx and no fever ; from Conium by the height of the irritation ; from Rumex crispus by not being affected by respiration ; from Lachesis by not being excited by pressure on the trachea.)
HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM. 285
In croup, when the cough begins to loosen, pustular eruption on the outer thorax ; the axillary glands suppurate.
Cutting, drawing and aching in the lumbo- sacral region, especially in the sacro-iliac synchon- droses, causing a halting gait and limping ; it extends down the limb, and is not relieved by sitting, standing or lying.
Stitches in the back, and tight pain on turning.
Tearing, drawing and burning pains in the extrem- ities.
Eruptions, etc.
Sleep
Disturbed by starting, by dreams, and by dyspnoea.
The pains are worse at night.
Chill at night, not followed by heat ; chill in the open air (which aggravates the cough, etc.).
Sweat.
Worse at night, and on the head or the back ; it is clammy or sour.
In the morning, when it occurs, it is sometimes general, sometimes only on the head.
Disposition.
Very peevish ; angry at the least trifle.
Memory weak ; hypochondriacal ; unreason- ably anxious.
General.
Stitches in the joints during repose and motion.
Drawing and tearing in the limbs.
The hands and feet crack and ulcerate ; the ulcers
«.
bleed easily, and burn and throb at night, with stitching and gnawing pain.
Warts inflame and stitch.
Burning, itching over the body, followed by nettle-rash.
Lassitude, weakness ; fainting on slight pain.
286 HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM.
APPLICATIONS.
Suppuration, milk crust, eczema.
Ulcers, warts.
Glands inflamed (high or low?).
Dysentery, catarrh of bladder.
Prostatitis (Digitalis, Nitrum.) Croup, Bcenninghausen, 3*.
Laryngeal cough, increased by slight uncovering of a limb.
* Bcenninghausen's powders ond, Hepar sulphuris ^°°, third, for croup;
First, Aconite ^°°, sec- Spongia==°°. [H.
E.
K.
D.]