Borax Veneta

The term borax comes originally from the Arabian baurach, a name which the Arabians applied to the nitrum of the Greeks. Subsequently, after the difference between nitrum and borax became known, the term borax was exclusively applied to the latter article.

Borax or the biborate of soda is found in a lake in Thibet, Asia, the water of which contains common salt and borax in solution. The latter crystallizes on the edges and shallows of the lake, and is taken up in large masses, which are broken and dried. It is im- ported from Calcutta under the name of Tinkar (Persian for borax) or Tincana (Hindoo name for borax,) in the form of flattened, six- sided prisms.

Borax of a superior quality is found in China.

Eefined borax is obtained from the commercial borax by destroy- ing the fatty matter which coats the crystals of tincar ; various processes are resorted to for this purpose which we cannot detail here.

Borax affects the mucous membrane and acts more particularly npon the mouth, alimentary canal, female sexual organs, respiratory tract and upon the skin.

It has been used, homoeopathically, in the treatment of the follow- ing conditions :

APHTHiE of small children, with dryness and heat in the mouth, red blisters on the tongue, shrunken appearance of the gums, great tenderness, causing the child to cry hard when attempting to nurse, sudden starting in sleep, fear of downward motion. Pallor and cachectic appearance of the face ; diarrhoea (see cholera infantum). It is also of service in the sore mouth of old people, who are accus- tomed to the constant use of sour or fermenting food.

HEPATIC SPOTS with severe itching, especially on the back of the fingers, necessitating violent scratching.

ACNE of plethoric young women ; red papulous eruption on the cheeks and chin.

COUGH with stitches in the chest when inspiring deeply, yawn- ing or coughing. Slight expectoration of mouldy taste and smell. Stitching, drawing pain passing through the central portion of the right lung to the scapula.

A man had a common bronchial catarrh, but with this peculiarity, that, with every cough, he had a nauseous mouldy taste. His breath smelled mouldy and the loose expectoration had the same odor and taste. Appetite and digestion were good. Borax2, two closes a day, cured in six days. (Kafka, Allg. Horn. Zeitg., lxi, 148.)

BOY I ST A. 603

CHOLERA INFANTUM.— The stools are painless, frothy and brown, or colorless and slimy, at times of a peculiar, cadaverous odor, thin, and containing bits of yellow, solid pieces ; the child is greatly emaciated, the abdomen is sunken in and the eyes are hollow. The child cannot bear a downward motion ; it cries aloud when put into the crib, but is perfectly at ease when it is lifted up.

LEUCOIiRHCEA, just between the menstrual periods. The dis- charge is white, albuminous, escaping with a feeling of warmth. Too early and too profuse menstruation, with pain extending from the stomach to the small of the back. Unhealthy condition of the skin, the slightest scratch heals slowly. Acne.

DYSMENORRHEA with colic, nausea, pain extending from the stomach to the back ; membranous dysmenorrhoea.

Mrs. M., aged thirty-four years, several years married, but never pregnant, tall, rather dark, thin of flesh, had suffered extremely at every menstrual period since the menses were first established. The hardest pain began in the right ovarian region and extended to the thigh of that side and sometimes to the knee. The pains came on in paroxysms and were accompanied by expulsive efforts simulating those of labor. * # * The paroxysms ceased with the discharge of cylindrical shreds of a "meaty" appearance, varying in length from one to two inches, and, in diameter, about the size of a common lead pencil.

These shreds did not break up or dissolve by wash- ing in water, but became very light-colored, and then reminded the patient of pieces of "lights" of some animal. The surface was rough, suggesting to the patient before washing " a shred of fresh meat torn from a mass of the same." Cured by borax, crude, given in five-grain doses, taking in all seventy-two powders. (Dr. A.

H. Tompkins, New Eng. Med. Gaz., Dec, 1879.)

"BO VISTA.

The provings which Hahnemann has left us of bo vista or the puff- ball are exceedingly superficial and unreliable ; they do not point with any sort of positiveness to pathological conditions, with which they might be brought into curative rapport.

Noack and Trincks recommend bovista for the following affections and cutaneous disorders: Papulous, squamous and vesicular erup- tions, such as lichen, particularly agrius, prurigo, psoriasis, psoriasis diffusa, pityriasis, herpes (dry and humid), erythema intertrigo, impetigo, acne. Eruption in the corners of the mouth, and ulcers on the lip; ulcers on the fingers, warts. Intermittent fevers, particu- larly when chilliness precedes the fever, etc. Catarrhal and rheu- matic affections, fevers.

Catarrhal and gastric fevers. Catarrhal ophthalmia. Scrofulous or catarrhal affections of the ears. Haemor- rhage from the nose and teeth, the haemorrhage of the nose occurring principally in children and in persons affected with cutaneous erup-

604 BROMIUM.

tions. Toothache, particularly when accompanied with swelling of the lips, etc.; fever of dentition. Menostasia, particularly when arising from taking cold. Leucorrhoea of thick, slimy, tenacious mucus, like the white of an egg ; or acrid, dark yellow or green, and corrosive.

Affections of the heart; palpitations of the heart, arising from an organic affection of that organ. The extremities go to sleep, feeling of numbness and lameness in the hands, being a remnant of an arthritic or rheumatic affection, or accompanying an affection of the heart.