Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Borax is one of those domestic remedies that has been long used for local conditions as a soothing substance and for a healing purpose.

In "nursing sore mouth" of mother or child Borax has been used in the families of old, in the form of Borax and honey, as a wash.

The extensive use that has been made of it would make the homoeopath wonder if the people had not hit upon something, and it is a fact that Borax will rapidly heal up a sore mouth.

It is not strange that it does so, for Borax, in its proving, produces aphthous conditions of the mouth, which extend to the throat and even into the stomach. It cures where the genitalia and anus are covered with these aphthous appearances.

Mind: Anxiety, fidgetiness, and sensitiveness are prominent in Borax. He is anxious about trifles. He starts at every noise, on hearing unexpected news, from music, from excitement.

This anxiety or nervousness, this indescribable feeling that is within him, is aggravated from upward or downward motion.

Such a motion as going up in one-of our elevators nearly drives him to distraction, but he is made worse going down. All complaints are aggravated from downward motion.

It has been said in routine practice, that in all cases of sore mouth in children, when the child is worse from downward motion, Borax is the remedy.

When the mother is in the act of laying the child down on the bed it often rouses up in its sleep and cries out in fright. The anxiety may be better appreciated if you will go to the top of one of these high buildings and go down in the elevator.

It is natural for every one to feel, with the rapid motion, an anxious feeling in the Stomach, a sensation of falling; that is natural to the healthy man, but if you exaggerate that intensely you have the Borax condition in which the slightest downward motion, of even riding down hill or walking down stairs, or, in the child, when being carried down stairs in the mother's arms, produces a violent aggravation. All the nerves are in a fret.

We notice that Borax has an intensified activity throughout the body; all of his senses are made more acute.

His hearing is intensified, he is oversensitive to his surroundings, over-anxious. He has an excitable spirit throughout. Riding down hill produces vertigo.

On nervous excitement, fear and apprehension. This is a strong feature of Borax. It has many such symptoms, but the nervous elements, partake of this type.

As we go through the remedy many other things will be called out; but this may be said to be the principal feature of the mental state, and it is to a great extent the key to Borax cases.

"Anxious feeling during downward motion or rocking."

The diarrhoea will be cured when that state is present. Aphthae will be cured when that state is present. The rheumatism, menstrual troubles and numerous other complaints will disappear upon the administration of Borax, when this key is present.

It has hysterical manifestations.

"Changes from one work to another."

It has a restless, nervous, anxious, excitable state that runs through his body. The child screeches and screams when it is dandled and tossed up and down.

The motion of the brain, the upward and downward motion, as in swinging, rocking, etc., makes the patient lose himself, he hardly knows where he is; confusion and vertigo come over him. If one rocks the child, it has an anxious expression of face.

"Very anxious on riding rapidly down hill."

"Anxiety increased until 11 P.M."

That I have noticed in Borax as a peculiar time of aggravation of the anxiety. I have noticed it in women who had periods of insanity, whose nervous trouble and mental state would keep up until 11 P.M. You will notice sometimes in insane people that it seems as if they were possessed of the devil; and at once a lucid interval will come and they will talk just as if nothing had happened.

So it is in Borax that a great change may occur at 11 P.M.; this state of anxiety and nervous excitement may stop at that hour.

"Fretful, ill-humored, indolent" state increased until there is a stool and relieved by stool.

"He starts on hearing an anxious cry;" on hearing an unexpected noise, on bearing something drop from a chair to the floor, or if a door opens unexpectedly.

This is all in keeping with the nature of Borax. If you compare Borax with other Natrums you will find an astonishing likeness in the nervous excitability; Natrum carb. and Natrum mur.

Aggravation from noise, oversensitiveness to noise and overexcitement of the nerves run through all the Sodium family. They are wonderfully intense people.

"While engaged in thinking at his work, strong nausea."

Borax has many times cured this kind of trouble. I have seen it come up in this way; from any sort of meditation he becomes nauseated and excitable and must leave his work and rest a little while, and then he goes at it again until be becomes sick at the stomach and so must rest again.

With the aggravation from mental exertion, from noise, from excitement, from downward motion, we get the mental aspect of Borax.

A further examination of the sensorium shows:

"Vertigo and fullness in head on descending a mountain or stairs."

This is a form of the same anxious feeling. This remedy has a good deal of vertigo, sometimes constant vertigo, which is made so intense on downward motion that be must sit still, and do nothing.

It has many congestive headaches, pressive headaches and much beat in the head.

Eyes: There are many eye symptoms.

"Granular lids."

"Lashes turn inward towards eye and inflame it. Entropion."

Granulation and thickening of the mucous membrane of the lid; contractions and scars and drawing inward.

"Lower lids entirely inverted."

"Difficult opening of lids"

Nose: Like all the salts of Sodium the nose suffers from chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane, a catarrhal state, with copious discharge, and crusts in the nose; stoppage of the nose. The whole Natrum family has these dry crusts in the nose, and copious discharges from the nose.

Natrum mur. predominantly produces white discharge, and so does Borax; Natr. sulph. produces yellow discharge, and so does Borax; Natr. sulph. produces yellow discharge from the nose, even yellowish-green.

Borax is laid down as producing greenish discharge; its characteristic discharge, which is a general of the remedy, is a white discharge.

Face: The face of the infant is pale, and clay-colored.

"Children have small vesicles around the mouth, and on the forehead."

Natr. mur. produces herpetic eruptions around the mouth in all of its febrile states, and when the patient takes cold. Borax is sometimes forgotten, and Natr. mur. is thought of because it is better known.

When the Natrum constitution is present, then it becomes a process of individualization to determine which one of the Natrums is indicated.

"Aphthae in mouth and on tongue."

"Aphthae on tongue and inside of cheek."

This alone is not an indication for Borax, although Borax is one among many medicines when the mouth is so sore that the child lets loose its hold of the nipple or bottle. Many prescribers give Borax on that indication alone; but the constitutional state ought to be hunted up, so that there may be constitutional foundation for the remedy.

Sulph. ac. is more frequently indicated.

"Red blisters on tongue."

"Vomiting after drinking."

This leads one to expect that this aphthous state has traveled down the oesophagus into the stomach. There are many stomach symptoms present that are likely to be the result of some such condition.

"Buccal mucous membrane highly reddened."

The sore mouth, such as mothers have and such as infants have, can be cured with Borax.

"After every meal flatulent distension."

"Constant vomiting."

"Vomiting of sour slime."

The Borax patient with stomach aphthae will gag and retch and cough, and that is what is called a "stomach cough."

Mothers say,

"It is a stomach cough," because the child gags and retches with it.

"Stomach cough with pain extending into region of spleen."

Anus and stools: Little ones often get summer complaints when they need Borax. All around about the anus you will see the aphthous appearances. Great slimy stools are passed day and night; the child keeps up a pitiful crying; the mouth is aphthous, child is emaciating, and holds its head back.

"Stools; frequent, soft, light yellow, slimy."

Quantities of fluid like boiled starch are emitted from the anus; Borax has that as well as Argentum nitricum.

There are also conditions of the rectum producing thickening of the mucous membrane, with stricture, growing, smaller and smaller until finally a long thin stool is passed, no larger than a pencil. This inflammatory stricture has been cured by Borax.

Urines: In this over-sensitive child when the catarrhal state is general the urine burns so when it passes that with the first urging (which causes the child to realize it must soon urinate) it screams out; screams with the desire to urinate.

That is what it means when it says

"Worse before urination."

it is not that the state of the urinary organs is worse before urinating, but the child in realizing that it must urinate screeches and screams.

"Frequent urination preceded by cries."

The urine burns and you may know that the child must soon urinate because it commences to cry.

"Orifice of urethra pains as if sore, after urinating."

"Desire to urinate without being able to pass a drop."

This remedy has cured gonorrhoea. Wherever there is mucous membrane you may expect to find the aphthous patches. There is another feature like Natr. mur. and Natr. Carb.; in both male and female it takes away sexual desire; it benumbs the patient, and hence the mind and sexual organs are in a state of indifference.

Females, mothers and children: Then we come to the most striking feature of Borax in regard to the female sexual organs; in the menstrual flow will be found membrane.

Borax cures the most violent forms of membranous dysmenorrhoea, when there are violent labor-like pains before and during the flow and it seems as if the uterus would expel itself from the vagina.

The flow starts slightly, but the same violent pains keep on, until the expulsion of the membrane. I have known Borax to cure when the membrane was a cast of the uterus. Such patients are easily startled from downward motion; let that be your guide to Borax in membranous dysmenorrhoea.

She dreads downward motion, and motions like swinging and rocking.

"During menses; throbbing in head and rushing in ears."

"Pinching and griping in abdomen;"

that word does not describe it exactly, for it is like the pain in labor;

"pain extending from stomach."

Pain like the stabbing of a knife in the groin, and that may occur either before or during menstruation.

"Tired; sweat after midnight."

But, remember, with such things you must have the mental state, the nervous, ex citable state and then Borax will cure this dysmenorrhoea.

Another grand feature of Borax I read in the next sentence.

"Leucorrhoea like the white of eggs."

It has albuminous leucorrhoea which feels like a hot fluid, and flows down the legs.

"White albuminous or starchy leucorrhoea."

"Acrid leucorrhoea appearing for two weeks."

"Leucorrhoea white as mucus, without any other ailment."

Now from this acrid leucorrhoea, from the menstrual state, this false membrane forming and being thrown off, it is no wonder that women are sterile.

All these women are sterile, all who have such symptoms are sterile and Borax has cured sterility when this condition was the cause. You will find routinists prescribe Borax for all women who are sterile, regardless of the state. When a remedy is given for sterility, the state must be looked into which is peculiar to the remedy given such a state as that remedy can produce upon the healthy woman.

Another feature. Many times I have used Borax when the mother could not nurse the child; she talks about always having a little, thick milk.

"The milk is too thick and tastes badly."

This condition of the milk prevents the mother from nursing her child. This is a constitutional state, and Borax, if given in the beginning of pregnancy, to a Borax patient will so change the milk as well as the rest of the constitution that the mother will be able to nurse the child.

I have a number of times, when a mother has brought forth several children that she was unable to nurse, given Borax and it has so affected the case that she could nurse the next child. This remedy also has loathing of the breast in infants, due to the fact that the milk tastes bad and not due to any defect on the part of the child.

You might think of prescribing for the infant, but if you examine into the case you will find that the child will not take the milk, because it is loathsome. The mother needs a dose of Borax, which will cure the child of its diarrhoea and loathing of milk.

"The infant becomes pale, nearly earth-colored."

"The child throws up its hands when an attempt is made to put it down."

If the mother was a Borax mother, the child very likely is a Borax child; it is not an uncommon thing for the mother and baby to need the same remedy; many times I have medicated the child through the mother's milk if both needed the same remedy.

Another peculiar feature is that when the child is nursing, there is pain in the opposite breast. Borax is not necessarily limited to the state of confinement; there is a practical use for Borax among nervous women in all states of life.

Borax has cured pleurisy that very much resembled Bryonia, especially on the right side like Bryonia; stitching or darting pains from without inward as if through the upper right lung posteriorly

the stitching pains might make you think of Bryonia.

"Wilted, wrinkled skin."

"Skin pale or livid."

Emaciated; flabby child becomes emaciated. Children become marasmic along with the aphthous condition; they cannot digest. They vomit or have diarrhoea; aphthous condition that extends the whole length of the intestines; involving all mucous membranes. Oversensitive child, screams from downward motion. The aphthae involve a good many other symptoms; crying before urination, because the bladder is involved.

The aphthous condition and worse from downward motion; the oversensitiveness to noise, easily startled, anxious feeding, etc., are the most striking and characterizing features.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Borax veneta. Natrum biboracicum. Sodium biborate. Na2 B4 O7 10H2O. Trituration and Solution.

Clinical.─Aphthae. Corns. Dentition. Diarrhoea. Ear-discharge. Entropion. Erysipelas. Eyes, affections of. Finger joints, ulcers on. Herpes. Menstruation, painful (membranous). Nipple, sore. Nose, affections of. Pleurisy. Plica-polonica. Psoriasis. Screaming. Sea-sickness. Sterility. Syphilitic sore-throat. Taste, disordered. Trichiasis. Ulcers. Urine, strong-smelling. Vertigo. Zoster.

Characteristics.─Borax has some very peculiar symptoms which will serve as keynotes to many cases. Chief among them are: (1) Sensitiveness to sudden noises, as a distant shot, which causes violent starting. (It has cured "shot-shyness" in sporting dogs.) (2) Intolerance of downward motions a child screams when nurse puts it into cot, or when she rocks it symptoms are worse going downstairs; sea-sickness (when the downward motion is felt most: "Every time the ship goes down, everything in me comes up"). Restlessness with ebullitions, especially after talking, with nausea. Laughter alternating with weeping. Cobweb sensations; sore mouth; infant pale, earthy, flesh flabby; screams out in sleep, wakes frightened and clings to nurse; excessively nervous, a slight noise arouses. Starts with pain. Muco-cutaneous surfaces are sore; in the eyelids there is ingrowing of lashes. Otorrhoea and inflammation of auricle: "starts with the pains." Nostrils ulcerated; soreness, pain and swelling of tip of nose. Aphthae; mouth of child feels hot to mother's nipple; child lets go nipple and cries with pain and vexation, or else refuses breast altogether. Diarrhoea with pain or soft yellow stools accompanying aphthae. Child screams before urinating (from inflammation of mucous membrane). Leucorrhoea clear, copious, albuminous, unnaturally hot. Painful nursing; pain after nursing; empty feeling in breasts; they ache because they are empty, > by pressure: this is characteristic. Dysmenorrhoea (may be membranous), pain excessive during flow. Leucorrhoea preceding and following menses, albuminous, acrid. Herpetic eruptions; pleuritic symptoms (upper right chest) and cough, with expectoration of a mushy, mouldy odour. A notable symptom is: Before the easy stool in afternoon, fretful, ill-humoured, indolent, and discontented; after it, lively, contented, and cheerful. Another mental symptom is: Idles through the afternoon does not really get to work; changes from one business to another from one room to another. It is suited to the period of dentition; to persons with light hair; lax skins and muscles; wrinkled skin consequences of getting cold in cold and wet weather; riding eating fruit. Symptoms are < in warm weather, < after menstruation. Parts usually red turn white. Many Natrum symptoms appear in the proving. Stitching pains predominate.

Relations.─Compare: Calc., Nux, Bry., Lyc., Merc., Puls., Rhus All. c., Sil., Sul., Ars., Bell., Graph., Ign., Kali bi., Phos. Antidoted by: Cham., Coff. Similar to: Am. c. and Mag. m. (right nostril stopped); Calc. (inclination to breathe deeply); Kali bi. (tough mucus); Aur. and Puls. (laughter alternately with weeping); Sars., Lyc., Benz. ac. (strong urine, crying before urination; but these three have gravel: with Borax it is from inflammation of mucous membrane); Arum tri. (sore mouth); Graph. (trichiasis); Bell. (hot leucorrhoea); Sep. (small ulcers about joints); Bar. c. (cobweb-sensation); Nat. sul. (cheerful after stool). Incompatible: Acet. ac., Vinegar, Wine.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Great anxiety, esp. when riding in a carriage or descending a mountain.─Dread of downward motion; child has anxious countenance when laid in cot, or carried downstairs.─Easily frightened and startled with least noise.─Before stool irritable, cheerful and happy after.─Fear of being infected by some contagious disease.─Strong tendency to be frightened.─Irritability.─Disposition to be angry, with ill-humour and passion.─Becomes vehement and swears.─Does not wish to do anything.─Dread of labour.

2. Head.─Fits of vertigo, with fainting.─Vertigo, with fulness in the head, esp. when going upstairs, or to any elevation whatever.─Headache, with shootings in the ears.─Headache (all over, with trembling of the body), with nausea and inclination to vomit, mostly at ten o'clock in the morning.─Fulness in the head, and pressure above the eyes.─Aching and drawing pains in the forehead, and as far as the root of the nose and the nape of the neck, increased by writing, by reading, and by stooping.─Successive drawing pains in the forehead, with nausea, and acute drawing pains in the eyes.─Shootings in the head, esp. above the eyes and the temples.─Congestion in the head, esp. in the occiput, with pulsative pains.─Sensibility of the teguments of the head to cold and to bad weather.─Hair entangled, as in plica polonica; is rough and frowsy, splits; sticks together.

3. Eyes.─Pressure on the eyes.─Itching in the eyes.─The eyes burn and are contracted on putting on spectacles.─Inflammation of the eyes, esp. in the canthi, with excoriation of the edges of the eyelids, trichiasis, and nocturnal agglutination.─Granular eyelids.─Sparkling before the eyes when writing.─Too great sensibility of the eyes to candle-light.

4. Ears.─Shootings in the ears, with pain as of excoriation.─Inflammation and swelling of the ears, with discharge of pus and shooting cephalalgia.─Fits of stoppage of the ears and of deafness.─Buzzing and murmuring in the ears, with acute, drawing pains in the top of the head.─Affections of the l. ear particularly.─Itching; stitches.

5. Nose.─Itching in the nose, with tingling.─Nostrils ulcerated, with swelling and pain, as of excoriation at the point of the nose.─Dry scabs in the nose.─Blood follows on blowing the nose.─Red shining tip of nose; red noses of young women.─Nasal haemorrhage, with pulsative pains in the head.─Sneezing, with violent shootings in r. side of the chest.─Accumulation of thick and greenish mucus in the nose.

6. Face.─Complexion (in a suckling woman) wan, pale, and earth-coloured.─Sensation in the r. side of the face as if it were covered with cobweb.─Muscular palpitation in the corners of the mouth.─Erysipelatous inflammation and swelling of the cheeks, with acute, drawing pains in the cheek-bone, aggravated by laughter.─Eruption of pimples on the face, the nose, and the lips.─Smarting in the lips.─Tettery spots round the mouth, and scabs on the upper lip.─Swelling of the lower lip, with burning and pain as of excoriation.─Red papulous eruption on cheeks and around chin.

7. Teeth.─Pressive and cramp-like pain in teeth which are carious, esp. in damp weather, sometimes with inflammatory swelling of the cheek, or swelling of the gums.─Acute drawing pains in the teeth which are carious, spreading over the head, when they are touched with the tongue, or when cold water is applied to them.─Pressive tingling in the teeth, immediately after supper, or breakfast, > by smoking tobacco.─Shooting pains in teeth which are carious, with shootings in the ears, and headache.─Ulcers in the gums, with inflammatory swelling of the cheek.─Bleeding of the gums.

8. Mouth.─Aphthae in the mouth and on the tongue, which bleed easily.─Spasmodic stiffness and torpor of the tongue.─Skin of the palate hard and wrinkled.

9. Throat.─Dryness in the throat.─Tenacious mucus in the throat, with difficult expectoration.

10. Appetite.─Bitter taste in the mouth on eating, or on swallowing the saliva.─Loss of taste.─Thirst in the morning.─Desire for acid drinks.─Appetite moderate, esp. at supper.─Nausea and uneasiness during a meal.─After every meal inflation of the abdomen, with diarrhoea and colic.─Fulness and pressure in the stomach, with uneasiness and ill-humour, after having eaten fruit (pears and apples).─Colic, with tendency to diarrhoea after smoking tobacco.

11. Stomach.─Nausea, with inclination to vomit, when riding in a carriage.─Vomiting of sour mucus, when fasting in the morning or after breakfast.─Pressure in the stomach after every meal.─Contractive pains in the stomach, or a sensation such as would follow a strain in the loins, with shootings in the vertebral column and loins.─Pain in region of stomach, after lifting heavy weights, extending into the small of back, quite incapacitating one.

12. Abdomen.─Pain in the hypochondria, mostly pressive and in the l. side, and esp. when riding in a carriage.─Pressure and shootings in the lumbar region.─Pains in the hypochondria and in the lower part of the abdomen, as if hard and cutting bodies were moving in them.─Pinching in the abdomen, with diarrhoea.─Accumulation of flatus in the abdomen, and frequent escape of wind.

13. Stool and Anus.─Evacuations frequent, soft, or loose, with pinching and borborygmi in the abdomen.─Greenish evacuations (in children).─Slimy diarrhoea.─Abundant flow of pale, yellowish, or brownish slime, and of blood from the anus, with pains in the loins.─Itching, contraction, and shootings, in the anus and in the rectum.

14. Urinary Organs.─Ineffectual urgency to urinate, with incisive pains in the urethra, and swelling in the lumbar region.─Urgent inclination to urinate.─Frequent emission of urine even in the night.─Hot urine.─Acrid fetor of urine.─Soreness in the urethra after micturition, and esp. on being touched, even when not making water.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Absence of sexual desire.─Erections, with painful tension, on waking in the morning.─Gonorrhoea.─Chancres studding prepuce.─Stitches.─Sticking, sore pain, < when touched.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Catamenia premature and too copious, of a pale red colour.─During the catamenia, pulsative pains in the head, buzzing in the ears, nausea, with pains in the stomach and in the loins, or shootings and aching in the groin.─Leucorrhoea, corrosive, and thick, like starch.─Sterility.─Acrid leucorrhoea, appearing for two weeks between catamenia, with swelling of labia and inflamed and discharging Duverney's glands.─Stinging and distended feeling in clitoris.─During pregnancy, swelling, itching, and burning of vagina, with a discharge like gonorrhoea.─False pains.─Labour pains: spasmodic; more in stomach than in uterus; dart upwards, head of child goes back.─Griping and sometimes stitches in l. mamma, and when child has nursed she is obliged to compress the breast with the hand because it aches from being empty.─Pain in the breasts when suckling.─Flow of milk, which curdles speedily.─Aphthae so tender they prevent child nursing.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Acute, drawing pains in the larynx, extending to the chest, with inclination to cough.─Hoarseness in the throat, with drawing shootings on coughing and sneezing.─Dry cough, caused by a tickling and scraping in the throat, with pressure on the chest.─Dry, hectic cough, with shootings in the r. side of the chest, and the groins, relieved by washing with cold water, increased by drinking wine.─Nocturnal cough.─Cough, with expectoration of the smell and taste of mould.─On coughing, expectoration of mucus with streaks of blood.

18. Chest.─Difficult respiration, with urgent want to inspire deeply, and shootings in the r. side of the chest.─Constrictive oppression of the chest, esp. on going upstairs.─Shortness of breath after having ascended the stairs, with shootings in the chest on speaking.─Feeling of congestion, with heaviness in the chest.─Shootings in the chest, esp. on the r. side, and principally on yawning, on coughing, on breathing deeply, on running, and during every physical effort.─Drawing shootings in the intercostal muscles of the r. side, extending to the groins, augmented by the least movement of the chest or arms, with inability to remain lying on the side affected.─Pains in the chest >, esp. when lying quietly on the back, or on walking slowly, and pressing the part affected with the hand.

19. Heart.─Sensation as if the heart were on the r. side, and were going to be crushed.─Infants cyanotic from birth.

20. Neck and Back.─Sharp and drawing pains between the shoulder-blades, on the shoulder, and in the nape of the neck, with inability to stoop.─Furunculus in the arm-pit.─Itching and crawling in the sacrum.─Aching and burning pains in the sacrum, esp. when seated and when stooping.

22. Upper Limbs.─Sensation in the hands, as if they were covered with cobweb.─Pulsative pains in the extremity of the thumb, day and night, preventing sleep.─Burning pains, heat and redness of the fingers, like chilblains.─Pustules on the fingers, with swelling and suppuration of the affected limb.

23. Lower Limbs.─Ulcerating vesicles on the buttocks.─Burning pain in the thighs.─Sensation as if warm water were running down thighs.─Erysipelatous inflammation and swelling of the leg and of the foot, principally after having danced a long time, and sometimes with drawing pains, burning and tensive, esp. when touched.─Great weakness and debility of the lower extremities.─Shootings in the soles of the feet.─Pain, as of excoriation, in the heel.─Suppuration of a spot in the heel, where the rubbing of the shoe had occasioned a wound.─Burning pains, heat and redness of the toes, as if from chilblains.─Shooting piercing in the corns, esp. in rainy weather.

24. Generalities.─Parts which are usually white, turn red.─Shooting and drawing pains.─Commencement and aggravation of sufferings from damp and unsettled weather, or during and subsequent to a meal.─Sufferings from riding in a carriage or from eating fruit.─Uneasiness in the whole body, which does not permit one to remain long in the same place.─Restlessness and ebullitions, esp. after talking, with nausea.─Uneasiness, trembling nausea, giddiness, and vertigo, after an animated conversation, or when thinking.─Want of strength, esp. in the joints.─Attacks of syncope, with tingling, trembling of the feet, and nausea.

25. Skin.─Skin difficult to heal; dingy, unhealthy-looking skin; every injury tends to ulceration.─Erysipelatous inflammations, with swelling and tension of the part affected, and fever.─Erysipelatous inflammation on the lower leg, with chilliness, followed by heaviness and pulsation in the head; later, bleeding of the nose.─Tendency of old wounds to suppurate.─Whitish pimples, with red areola.─Herpetic eruptions.─Purulent and phagedaenic vesicles.

26. Sleep.─Sleepiness during the day, and sleeplessness at night.─Inclination to sleep long before the usual hour, and too long sleep in the morning.─Restless sleep, in consequence of ebullition of the blood, of colic, and of diarrhoea.─Waking too early, with difficulty in going to sleep again, from heat and too great a flow of ideas.─Anxious cries of children, during sleep, with convulsive movements of the hands.

27. Fever.─Shivering, shuddering, or cold with trembling, heaviness and weakness, or with cephalalgia and pains in the periosteum of femur, followed by heat.─Chilliness, esp. during sleep.─Flushes of heat (morning and evening).─Perspiration during the morning sleep.─Coldness, most frequently in the afternoon; afterwards heat, with headache or pain in the hypochondria, sometimes followed by sweat.─Thirst before or during the cold, or else after the sweat.─Heat in the evening in bed, with shivering on being on the least uncovered.─Moisture of the body during the night.

Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica (Allen's Keynotes), Henry Clay Allen

Biborate of Soda

Dread of downward motion in nearly all complaints. Great anxiety from downward motion; when laying the child down on a couch or in the crib, cries and clings to the nurse; when rocking, dancing, swinging; going down stairs or rapidly down hill; horseback riding (compare Sanic.). Children awake suddenly, screaming and grasping sides of cradle, without apparent cause (Apis, Cina, Stram.). Excessively nervous, easily frightened by the slightest noise or an unusual sharp sound, a cough, sneeze, a cry, lighting a match, etc. (Asar., Calad.). Hair becomes frowsy and tangled; splits, sticks together at eh tips; if these bunches are cut off, they form again, cannot be combined (Flour. ac., Lyc., Psor., Tub.). Eyelashes: loaded with dry, gummy exudation; agglutinated in morning; turn inward and inflame the eye, especially at outer canthus; tendency to "wild hairs.". Nostrils crusty, inflamed; tip of nose shining red; red noses of young women. Stoppage of right nostril, or first right then left with constant blowing of nose (Am. c., Lac c., Mag. m.). Aphthae: in the mouth, on the tongue, inside of the cheek; easily bleeding when eating or touched; prevents child from nursing; with hot mouth, dryness and thirst (Ars.); cracked and bleeding tongue (Arum.); salivation, especially during dentition. Aphthous sore mouth; is worse from touch; eating salty or sour food; of old people, often from plate of teeth (Alumen). Child has frequent urination and screams before urine passes (Lyc., Sanic., Sars.). Leucorrhoea: profuse, albuminous, starchy, with sensation as if warm water were flowing down; for two weeks between the catamenia (compare, Bov., Con.). Skin: unhealthy, slight injuries suppurate (Calend., Hep., Mer., Sil.).

Relation. - Borax follows: Calc., Psor., Sanic., Sulph. Is followed: by, Ars., Bry., Lyc., Phos., Sil. Incompatible: should not be used before or after, Acetic acid, vinegar, wine.

Aggravation. - Downward motion; from sudden, slight noises; smoking, which may bring on diarrhoea; damp, cold weather; before urinating.

Amelioration. - Pressure; holding painful side with hand.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Dread of downward motion; child jumps and cringes or cries when laying it down; also very sensitive to noises.

Aphthous sore mouth; greenish stools day and night; mouth very hot.

Pain in right pectoral region; enough with expectoration of an offensive, herby taste.

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This remedy, although an old one, is not universally appreciated. Its action upon the nervous system is very marked. In the first place it manifests itself in what is called nervousness in regard to noises, to which the patient is very sensitive. Almost any noise, as a cough, a sneeze, restling of a newspaper, a cry, distant shot, etc. Belladonna is sometimes given for this starting at noises; when Borax would do better. Then there is another very peculiar nervous symptom, viz., fear of falling, from downward motion (Gelsem., Sanicula). The child cries out and clings to the nurse when she attempts to lay it down in the cradle. Carrying it down stairs has the same effect. It will scream and cling to the nurse as long as the downward motion continues. Adults get the same symptom. Will not sit in a rocking chair, or ride on horseback, or on the waves, or swing, or go coasting, because of this dread of downward motion. There is only one other remedy having this symptom that I know of, and that is Gelsemium, and so far I think that this has only appeared in intermittent fever.

A child may be sleeping quietly and awake suddenly screaming and holding on to the sides of the cradle, without an apparent cause for so doing, or it may start from sleep clinging to the nurse as if frightened. In such cases we might think of Apis mellifica, Belladonna, Cina. Stramonium, etc., but don't prescribe on the one symptom. Look at the child's mouth and if you should find an aphthous sore mouth it would settle it pretty surely for Borax. Then, again, Borax has a very strong action as a general remedy, even domestic, from "way back", and has been prescribed without rhyme or reason until the homoeopaths took it and found its exact place. Now the choice has to be made between it and Mercurius, Hydrastis, Sulphur and Sulphuric acid. etc.

It is not necessary to draw the line between the different remedies here, but I will say that the sore mouth itself is only one symptom in every case. The rest are found outside the local affection and often have more to do with the final choice of the remedy. The nervous symptoms already mentioned are "pointers", for Borax. Not only upon the mucous membranes of the mouth is this action of Borax notable, but upon every other one. The eyelashes become gummy and stick together, or turn inward. The ears discharge. I cured a case of otorrhoea of fourteen years' standing with this remedy.

Dry crusts form in the nose and re-form if removed. Greenish stools day and night, with aphthae. The infant cries when urinating or before, showing an inflamed condition of the urethra. If the crying spells before urinating should be followed with a deposit of sand in the diaper or vessel, Lycopodium or Sarsaparilla would be thought of.

The mucous membranes of the respiratory organs are also affected. There is cough, and expectoration of an offensive herby taste. Then we have decided pleuritis in the chest, in the right pectoral region.

Borax has also white, albuminous, starchy leucorrhoea, quite profuse, and with a sensation of warm water running down.

These altogether show the action of Borax upon the mucous membranes. Like Chamomilla, Hepar sulphuris and Silicea, Borax has ulcerations of the skin from slight injuries, which suppurate.