Petroleum is found, in large quantities, in various countries of Europe, America and Asia. It exudes in the form of an oily liquid from rocks, or is found on the surface of streams near large deposits of coal ; it is one of the products of the decomposition of coal. There are several varieties. Among them we may mention : 1. The black rock-oil (oleum petrae nigrum) which is very dark and thick, becomes like tar if exposed to the air and has a very offensive odor. 2. The red rock-oil (oleum petrae rubrum) which is lighter- 568 PETROLEUM. colored, of less offensive odor, and thickens gradually if exposed to the air. 3. The white rock-oil (oleum petrae album) which, if burnt, leaves a residue. 4. Naphtha pura (naphtha montana) which is clear in color, thin, possesses an aromatic odor, and burns without leaving a residue. The oleum petrge album is used for medicinal purposes by homoe- opathic physicians. We distil it and dilute the product (a colorless, nearly tasteless and odorless thin oil,) with alcohol as prescribed. The effect of petroleum upon the healthy organism are not void of interest. It acts decidedly upon the vegetative system, the spine, the urinary organs, the skin and upon the intestinal and respiratory mucous membrane. A child, ten years of age, drank copiously of refined carbon oil or petroleum, which produced the following symptoms : Abdomen wonderfully distended, the spine bent backward and stiff (opistho- tonos), excessive thirst, etc. Died in six hours without medical treatment. (Dr. E. 0. Beckwith, Am. Observer, vol. ii., p. 363.) A negro child, aged two years, drank freely of carbon oil on August 18, 1865. In thirty minutes the abdomen swelled, the vertebral column was bent backward and stiff, the child was rational but excessively thirsty. We gave ipecacuanha, tincture, Avhich pro- duced vomiting of oil. In six hours we saw the child again and found the spine still stiff and bent backward, the abdomen was still tympanitic, the eyes wild and staring; thirst not so great. We ordered warm baths and arsenicum. In twelve hours we found the tympanitis removed, the spine normal, the pulse 140 per minute, no thirst, suppression of urine. Prescribed aconite3. August 19th. — Pulse 130 per minute, urine scant with brick-colored sediment and of carbon oil smell. Prescribed cantharides3. August 20th. — Pulse reduced to 100 beats per minute. Otherwise no change. August 21st. — Pulse 80 per minute. Child convalescent. (Ibid.) Dr. J. O. Mueller relates the case of an intemperate but healthy woman who took two ounces of petroleum when partially intoxicated. She fell down immediately and was taken into the hospital without any loss of time. After about an hour she vomited repeatedly and had a violent attack of diarrhoea. The passages from the bowels, but especially the urine, smelled for several days of petroleum. Dr. Mueller was anxious to watch the effects of the oil and, hence, gave her no antidote. The acute symptoms soon passed off, but in a week she complained of vertigo and noises in both ears, with stitches in them. She heard noises, as if bells were tolling or of a waterfall. Two weeks later the stitches in the ear were less, but* otorrhcea set in, with a yellow, bloody, odorless discharge, more copious from the PETROLEUM. 569 left ear. She had constant vertigo and pressing headache ; her neck was covered with deep-seated subcutaneous abscesses in the corium. Soon after, a moist, itching eruption appeared on the scalp of the occiput, and as the eczema spread, the otorrhcea grew less. One boil opened after another, and with it the vertigo and the impossibility of standing on her feet for some time disappeared, at the same time a conjunctivitis developed itself with a blepharadenitis, involving all the Meibomian glands. The right arm now commenced to be pain- ful and to swell at the elbow-joint, but this also disappeared quickly. There remained only a rheumatic drawing in the elbow and linger- joints of both hands, so that the pronation of the forearm produced pains in the elbow, while flexion was painful only in the axillary fossa and supination was entirely void of pain. She had also a few boils in the neighborhood of the anus, and the last symptom was a bronchial catarrh, with expectoration of light-yellow sputum of oily consistency and appearance. Especial mention is made of the rapidity with which new symptoms appeared and disappeared. CEPHALIC GROUP. We have recorded under the head-symptoms of petroleum a large variety of aches and pains in the various regions of the head, such as : Headache in the right side of the head ; heaviness of the head, in the morning, with a sensation of fulness and heat, especially when stooping and sewing. Pressure in the occiput ; pressure in the fore- head with single stitches above the eyes. Constrictive headache ; stitches in the head, accompauied with pressure in the head and nausea. Throbbing in the head. Strong, pulsative undulations, especially in the forehead, as if the head would burst, better during motion. Trembling and roaring in the head, but without any feel- ing of heat. HEADACHES. — These symptoms suggest the use of this remedy in headaches of persons who are laboring under skin affections, accompanied by burning itching, or people whose skin shows a decided tendency to fester and to remain sore long from a slight injury. There is usually present much vertigo ; the eyes are apt to be weak ; the digestion may be greatly enfeebled, and various exjires- sions of a psoric taint will exist. The headache itself is worse from anger, excitement or close mental application ; it is relieved by pres- sure. The headaches of pregnant women, who suffer much from nausea, are frequently relieved by petroleum. Vertigo, particularly on rising up from bed, a chair, and on moving, feeling as though he were intoxicated, worse in the afternoon ; he does not lose his eyesight, neither do articles in the room seem to move. He says the dizziness is in the back of the head and in the left side of the occiput, and it seems to go all over him, mak- 570 PETROLEUM. ing him feel numb and stiff: sour eructations ; some nausea; he dislikes bread ; has hot flashes, sweats by night and is greatly troubled by an itching of the back and thighs. This last was so bad, that he would have his wife rub his back and thighs with a rou^h stick. He described this dizziness "like a whirling in his head." Petroleum200 cured him in the course of a few weeks. (Dr. O. M. Drake, Hahn. Monthly, April, 1875.) ORBITAL AND AURICULAR GROUPS. The following symptoms are pathogenetic : Great pressure in the eyes, as from a grain of sand, especially at candle-light. Cutting in the eyes, when reading. Beating pain in the right eye. Itching of the eyelids. Itching and stinging of the eyes ; burning in the eyes. Inflammatory swelling in the inner canthus. Pimples on the eye- lids. Frequent lachrymation. Weak eyes; dimness of sight. Long-sightedness. Frequent obscuration of sight, with diplopia. Black spots before the eyes. Scintillations and vibrations before the eyes. Petroleum is of use in inflammatory conditions of the inner eye- lids (blepharitis), especially in persons of a scrofulous diathesis. To prescribe for such a case, a close study of the general symptoms is of the utmost importance. Besides the symptoms already given, the following are of great, and possibly diagnostic, value : falling off of the eye-lashes: formation of thick, dirty, yellow crusts along the line of the lashes, which cover a raw, moist surface ; tendency of the skin, on any part of the body, to fester and to remain sore for a long time, when injured. The following ear-symptoms belong to petroleum : Pressure in the ears, with heat. Darting, tearing, cutting pain in the ears. Itching in the ear and discharge of sanguineous pus. The meatus is closed from swelling. Kedness, rawness, soreness and humor be- hind the ears. Diminished, hearing. Roaring and pain in the ears. Singing in the ears. Whizzing before the ears, diminished hearing. Sensation, as of the rushing of water before the left ear, with occa- sional cracking of the ear. Gurgling sensation in the ears. DYSECOIA. — Petroleum is an important remedy in the treat- ment of dysecoia or deafness. It is especially adapted to cases of progressive deafness, preceded by various noises and sounds in the ear, as humming, singing, hissing, etc., and accompanied by consti- tutional expressions of a scrofulous diathesis, as eruptions, rough- ness of the skin, falling off of the hair, enlargement of the tonsils, etc. A strong, otherwise healthy peasant had, as a consequence of a chill, for four months lost his hearing power so much that when several persons conversed together, even when close to him, he could not hear what they said, and even when he spoke PETROLEUM. 571 with only one, it was necess.irv to speak pretty loud in order that he might under- stand. Besides this, he complained of humming in the ears. Examination revealed nothing particular. The patient got petroleum3 and in a fortnight he was cured of his deafness. (H. Goullon, Brit, your Horn., vol. xxxv., p. 444.) AUDITORY VERTIGO— In the treatment of auditory vertigo (see paper by W. H. Woodyatt, M.D., in Trans, of Am. Inst, of Horn., 1878, page 465,) petroleum promises to be a valuable rem- edy. As yet, little is known of the real nature of this perplexing and distressing group of symptoms ; a careful comparison of them with the head, ear and stomach symptoms of petroleum will show a close similarity, which would undoubtedly justify the use of the remedy. In the article already referred to, Dr. Woodyatt gives a number of clinical cases, in which petroleum was used with seeming- success. It is to be regretted that other remedies were exhibited before the cures were completed. CHYLO-POIETIC GROUP. Petroleum has caused : White-coated tongue ; fetid odor from the mouth ; even the saliva smelled badly. Slimy taste in the mouth. Sour, bitter, flat, putrid taste in the mouth. Changeable appetite. Giddiness after a meal. Repletion after a moderate din- ner, with pressure in the pit of the stomach. Sour eructations, setting tiie teeth on edge. Nausea and qualmishness. Heartburn. Nausea with accumulation of water in the mouth. Qualmishness aud empty feeling in the stomach. Pressure in the stomach ; ten- derness and pain in the pit of the stomach. Sudden gripings in the stomach. Pressure in the region of the liver and in the left hypo- chondrium. Stitches in both hypochondria, going off without emis- sion of flatulence. Griping in both sides of the abdomen from below upward, with heaviness of the lower limbs and great drowsi- ness. • Pinching, cutting and griping in the abdomen from below upward, with heaviness of the lower limbs aud great drowsiness. Pinching, cutting and griping in the abdomen, with nausea and diarrhcea. Grumbling in the abdomen. Great straining at stool, as if the rectum were too weak to expel it. Yellowish, watery stools. Diarrhoea, consisting of bloody mucus. Soft, difficult stool, as if from inactivity of the bowels. Weakness, dizziness, flatulency, canine hunger (easily satisfied) after stool. Burning and itching in the anus and rectum. Scarf on the border of the anus. Itching herpes on the perineum. The following are characteristic of petroleum : Diarrhoea always at day-time, never at night. Disgust for meat. Cold feeling in the 572 PETROLEUM.