Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Causticum is a very searching medicine, suitable in old, broken down constitutions, suffering from chronic diseases.

Only occasionally is it indicated in acute diseases. Its complaints are such as are progressive, slow, and accompanying a declining state of the economy.

Muscular power: Gradual decrease of muscular power, a paralysis. Paralysis of the oesophagus, paralysis of the throat, such as occurs after diphtheria; paralysis of the upper eyelids; paralysis of the bladder; paralysis of the limbs, of the lower limbs; great lassitude, muscular relaxation, indescribable fatigue and heaviness of the body. And there is a tremulousness, a quivering, jerking, twitching of the muscles, twitching in sleep.

Tendons: The next most striking feature is found in the tendons, which become shortened, resulting in a temporary or permanent contracture, and the limb is drawn up.

Tendons of the forearms contract, and there is gradually increasing flexion. Sometimes a whole muscle will harden and shorten, so that it can be felt by the hand as a hard ridge. Contractures of muscles and tendons.

Joints: Closely related to this is a rheumatic state of the tendons and ligaments about the joints, sometimes with swelling, but always with pain and ending in a shrivelling of the joint, a tightening up of the joint so that it becomes ankylosed.

Great stiffness of the joints, and while this is going on the patient is growing weaker, is running into a state of melancholy, of hopelessness, anxiety and fear.

Constantly present in his mind is the hopelessness and a feeling that something is hanging over him, that something is going to happen. These are general features of Causticum. They all go to make up one picture, they are inseparable.

Hysteria: Another kind of progressive trouble in Causticum is hysteria. Gradually increasing hysteria. Hysterical cramping. The woman loses all control of herself and says foolish things.

Her nervous system becomes extremely sensitive to noise, touch, excitement or anything unusual. Starting from the slightest noise; starting in sleep; twitching and jerking; the child is easily startled, or acts as if startled without cause.

Rheumatic diathesis: The paralytic weakness is associated with the rheumatic diathesis. The rheumatic states are peculiar. The patient himself can endure neither heat nor cold. They both aggravate his rheumatic conditions, his nervous conditions and himself in general. His pains are ameliorated by heat, but they are aggravated in dry weather.

Great deformity of the joints; they are enlarged, soft and infiltrated, always worse in dry weather; more pains and aches during dry weather. Rheumatism that affects both the muscles and the joints. This patient is also aggravated by exposure to cold, dry winds. Many an individual who has gone from the low lands of the East up into Colorado will come down with rheumatism from the cold, dry winds.

Let such a patient as I have described take a ride in the cold lake wind and he will have paralysis of the side of the face exposed to the wind. A long drive with the east wind coming against the face.

The next day that side of the face will be paralyzed. Such a paralysis will almost always recover under Causticum.

Reading, tearing, paralytic pains; pains that, benumb; pains that fairly take the life out of him, they are so severe. And they are likely to remain in one place for a long time. Causticum has often greatly mitigated the lightning-like pains of locomotor ataxia.

Now, with all these sufferings the patient is slowly growing weaker, till at length he can no longer walk, he can no longer sit up, he is so tired and weak that he must lie down. He is tired in body and mind. It is a paralytic fatigue.

Convulsive symptoms. Cramps, now here, now there. If frightened he is almost sure to have some form of convulsive condition, The woman with tendency to hysteria will have hysterics from fright; nervous girls that are more inclined to chorea, will start with jerking of muscles and will keep it up day and night. Chorea even at night. Localized chorea, jerking of single parts, chorea of the tongue or of one side of the face.

Epilepsy in young persons at the age of puberty, from fright, from, being chilled or exposed to some great change in the weather. Epilepsy, chorea, paralysis, hysteria worse during menses. We see that Causticum is a deep medicine.

Worse from exposure to cold, dry wind. It also has rheumatic complaints aggravated in the warm, damp days, in wet weather, but this is not so striking.

Any one of the complaints that I have mentioned may be brought on by bathing in cold water. A long, dry, cold spell will aggravate the rheumatic troubles, getting wet or becoming chilled by bathing will start them.

Insanity: Causticum has cured insanity; not acute mania with violent delirium, but mental aberration of the passive kind, where the brain has become tired. The constitution has been broken down with long suffering and much trouble, and finally the mind is in confusion.

At first the patient recognizes his inability to do anything and then comes this foreboding that something is going to happen. He is unable to think, and consequently unable to carry on his business. He is going into imbecility. Full of timorous fancies.

"Timorous anxiety," overwhelmed with fearful fancies.

At every turn there is fear that something is going to happen. Fear of death, fear that something will happen to his family. Always anticipating some dreadful event. That is a striking feature of the Causticum mental state. It is found in old, broken down mental cases, after prolonged anxiety; after a prolonged struggle of some sort.

Anxiety before falling asleep. In addition to this, the Causticum patient lacks balance. Everything excites him. The more he thinks about his complaints, the worse they become. Mental and other ailments from long-lasting grief and sorrow. The injurious effects of fear and prolonged vexation. Tired from vexations of business.

Eruptions: The suppression of eruptions is apt to bring out mental symptoms. Mental exhaustion, hopelessness, despair, appearing after the suppression of an eruption with zinc ointment. He was fairly well while he had the eruption, but when it disappeared his mind gave out.

Eruptions on the side of the head and face, and extending over the whole head. Thick, crusty eruptions covering the whole occiput. When these eruptions are suppressed in children, chorea is apt to follow. In the adult there will be trembling, paralytic weakness and the mental state, sometimes pains in the nerves.

Headaches: The driving in of a facial eruption will frequently result in facial paralysis. The healing of an old ulcer with stimulating lotions and ointments will have a similar result. Then he also suffers from violent headaches, congestive, pulsating headaches; violent, stitches in the head, worse in the evening.

But the headaches are, as a rule, nondescript; only occasion do we find a Causticum headache standing out by itself. It will usually be associated with rheumatic and gouty conditions which also affect the scalp. The scalp contracts and tightens up in places like the contractures in other parts. Rheumatic headaches; sometimes the pain is so severe as to cause nausea, and vomiting. Blinding headaches followed by paralysis.

Torticollis. The head is sometimes drawn to one side by the shortening of the muscles of the neck. Causticum is a curative remedy in this shortening of the tendons and muscles.

Eyes: Causticum is rich in eye symptoms. Very often the patient says that the eyelids feel so heavy that he can hardly hold them up. This gradually increases until it becomes an actual paralysis. Sometimes there is the appearance of a veil before the eyes; foggy vision.

Flickering before the eyes. Air seems full of little black insects. Then, again, large black or green spots are seen. After looking at the light a green spot appears and remains in the field of vision for a long time. Diplopia.

And the vision gradually grows weaker until it is lost. Paralysis of the optic nerve. Lachrymation, tears acrid, burning; ulceration, copious discharges from the eyes, agglutination of the lids, paralysis of the eye muscles.

Causticum cures scrofulous ophthalmia with ulceration of the cornea; chronic, purulent ophthalmia of psoric origin. The cornea is covered with little veins.

Warts: Another very strong feature of this medicine is its tendency to grow warts. Warts on the face, on the tip of the nose, on the ends of the fingers, on the hands.

Hard, dry, horny warts come out on various parts of the body.

It is natural feature of this remedy to produce copious, thick, tough, gluey discharges from mucous membranes.

Ear and nose: The catarrhal troubles creep up the Eustachian tube, from the nose and throat into the car, resulting in roarings, cracking noises and reverberations in the ear. There is great accumulation of car wax; deafness of catarrhal origin and deafness from paralysis of the auditory nerve. Severe, dragging pains in the ear.

The nasal catarrh is very troublesome. Old, atrophic catarrh with accumulation of crusts throughout the whole nasal cavity; post-nasal catarrh with ulcerations, granulations and copious, thick, yellow or yellowish-green discharge; nose-bled; frequent attacks of acrid, watery coryza. Much itching of the nose. A wart grows upon the tip of the nose.

Face and mouth: The pains in the face are violent. Neuralgic pains from exposure to cold. These pains often accompany the facial paralysis. Tearing pains in the face, stitching pains, pains of a rheumatic character.

Ulcerations about the mouth and nose. Fissures about the lips, the wings of the nose and the corners of the eyes. Fissures seem to form upon the least provocation. Fissures of the anus, of the skin about the joints. Old cases of salt rheum with fissures in the bends of the joints. Fistulous openings with indurated walls.

The gums become scorbutic and settle away from the teeth; bleeding and ulceration of the gums. Violent, tearing pains in the roots of the teeth from riding in the wind. Old rheumatic subjects suffer all through every dry spell with toothache.

Stitching, tearing, pulsating pains in the teeth; even in the sound teeth on drawing in cold air. Frequently recurring abscesses of the gums. Putrid sour or bitter taste in the mouth.

When the paralytic condition affects the tongue then we have stammering. There is also the condition of complete paralysis of both the pharynx and oesophagus. Hence Causticum is useful in the results of diphtheria when it has been maltreated or when the remedy has not been sufficient to cure the disease.

The food goes down the wrong way or enters the larynx or the post-nares. Paralysis of the organs of speech, paralysis of the tongue, awkward at talking, awkward at chewing; bites the tongue and cheeks while chewing. Post-diphtheritic paralysis is a serious condition and only a few remedies can cure- it.

Causticum is one of them. Lachesis and Cocculus are also important. Dryness of the mouth and throat; rawness of the throat; must swallow constantly on account of a sensation of fullness in the throat, a nervous feeling in the throat. This is often a forerunner of paralysis. The Staphisagria patient when excited will keep up a constant swallowing and this goes on until it becomes a source of great annoyance.

Burning in the throat; jerking in the throat; constantly scraping thick, tough mucus from the larynx. Study the sounds that patients make in order to ascertain where the mucus comes from. The presence of hoarseness shows that the trouble is in the larynx.

Desires and aversions, stomach: The Causticum patient sits down to the table hungry, but on seeing the food his appetite vanishes. The thought, sight or smell of food takes away the appetite. This is a common symptom in the pregnant woman.

Although hungry, on sitting down at the table, she cannot eat. Kali carbonicum has an empty, all-gone feeling in the stomach, with aversion to food. China has canine hunger, but loathes the sight of food.

Thirst after eating; thirst for cool drinks with aversion to water desire for beer, smoked meats, pungent things, aversion to sweet things and delicacies. Most remedies that have loss of appetite have desire for, sweet things, pastry, etc. The symptoms of thirst with aversion to drinking is very much like Lachesis.

The two run very closely together in the paralytic condition of the throat. There is a queer sensation in the stomach as if lime were slaking there. Trembling in the stomach; burning. Bread causes a sensation of heaviness and pressure, coffee seems to aggravate all the symptoms of the stomach, but a swallow of cold water relieves.

Many symptoms in this remedy are made better by a swallow of water. The violent spasmodic cough may be stopped at once by a drink of cold water. Cold water seems to tone up the paralytic condition. Warm water applied to the hands brings on pains in these old sensitive spinal conditions. Cold washing is their only relief.

Causticum has belching, nausea, vomiting, distension and violent pains in the stomach. Pinching colic.

Rectum: In the rectum there is the same tendency to paralytic weakness that is found in other parts of the body. It is inactive and fills up with hard faeces, which pass involuntarily and unnoticed. Aloe has involuntary dropping of little, hard balls, especially in children. Even when old enough to understand about such things, they will pass little balls unnoticed.

On account of the paralytic condition the stool passes with less straining while the patient is standing. Retention of urine except when standing; unable to pass it in any other position is Sarsaparilla. Constipation, frequent, unsuccessful urging to stool. The stool is tough and shining, and is passed with great difficulty and exertion.

Fissures in the anus; itching and stitching in the rectum, excessive itching day and night; hemorrhoids, pulsating in the perineum I fissures and hemorrhoids pulsate and burn like fire.

The hemorrhoids become infiltrated and hardened.

Bladder: This remedy has two kinds of paralysis of the bladder, one affecting the muscles of expulsion and the urine is retained, and the other center ing upon the sphincter vesicae, and then the urine is passed involuntarily.

"He urinates so easily that he is not sensible of the stream and scarcely believes, in the dark, that he is urinating, until he makes sure by sense of touch."

Causticum is unconscious of the stream as it passes.

It is a very useful remedy in children that wet the bed. Especially is it a wonderful remedy in the woman. The urine escapes involuntarily when coughing. Retention of urine in the woman. Retention after labor.

Paralysis of the bladder. A woman who is too greatly embarrassed to pass through a crowd of observing men to the closet at the end of a railroad car, at the end of the journey finds that she is unable to pass the urine.

Retention of urine from straining the muscles of the bladder. If the patient is chilled at the time the remedy may be Rhus.

Rhus and Causticum are the two great remedies for paralytic weakness of muscles from being overstrained, or from being overstrained and chilled. Great weakness at the time of the menses.

Menstruation: Anxious dreams before menstruation; melancholy; cramp-like spasms; pains in the back. The woman suffers from many annoyances during menstruation just about the time for the flow to start violent cramp-like pains come on. In a woman who is nursing a child the milk almost disappears in consequence of fatigue, night watching and anxiety. The nipples get sore and crack, another instance of the tendency to form fissures.

Voice: The Causticum patient has trouble with the voice. You remember, when we were going over the symptoms of Carbo vegetabilis, I told you that the hoarseness was worse in the evening. Now observe that the hoarseness of Causticum is worse in the morning.

He gets up in the morning with a hoarse voice; if it is an ordinary case, after moving about and expectorating a little mucus, it is better. Sudden loss of voice from paralysis of the vocal cord.

It sometimes begins with the morning aggravation, gradually increasing until it lasts all day and all night.

Cough: The Causticum cough is a hard cough and racks the whole body. The chest seems full of mucus and he feels if only he could cough a little deeper he could get it up, and he struggles and coughs until exhausted or until he finds out that a drink of cold water will relieve. But it must be ice cold.

The cough is hollow, it sounds as if he were coughing into a barrel. It is relieved by expectoration if it can only get deep enough to reach the mucus. Sometimes such a cough precedes quick consumption. It is a deep-acting medicine; it cures phthisis, especially mucous phthisis or quick consumption.

"Cough with a sensation as if the patient could not cough deep enough to start the mucus; produced by tickling, accompanied by rawness. Cough wakens her from sleep in the evening and morning.

Cough relieved by a swallow of cold water. Cough worse by bending forward. Continual, annoy ing cough; with each cough escape of urine."

Influenza with tired aching of the limbs as if they had been beaten.

"Whooping cough in the catarrhal stage."

Great soreness and tightness of the chest, oppression of the chest it feels as if a load were upon it. It seems to be filling up with mucus, and the patient coughs until he raises a mouthful and then he feels a little better for a time. Pale as death, covered with sweat.

Back: There are many symptoms in the back. Pain and stiffness; stiffness on rising from a seat. Stiffness in the limbs, through the hips and in the back, so that he rises up from sitting or the recumbent posture with great difficulty.

In most cases the pains and aches are ameliorated by the warmth of the bed and by applied heat. Only the pains in the fingers are sometimes brought on by heat.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Tinctura acris sine Kali. Potassium Hydrate. Obtained by distilling a mixture of slaked lime and a solution of potassium sulphate. Tincture with spirit.

Clinical.─Acne rosacea. Agalactia. Amaurosis. Apoplexy. Arthritis deformans. Bladder, affections of. Bronchitis. Burns. Cataract. Chorea. Coccygodynia. Constipation. Convulsions. Cough. Deafness. Dentition. Diphtheritic paralysis. Ears, otorrhoea. Emaciation. Enuresis. Epilepsy. Eyes, affections of. Facial paralysis. Fistula. Fistula dentalis. Goitre. Haemorrhoids. Headache. Heart affections. Heel, blistered. Herpes zoster. Hip disease. Hydrogenoid constitution. Impotence. Influenza. Intermittent fever. Intertrigo. Laryngitis. Lead poisoning. Leucorrhoea. Locomotor ataxy. Menière's disease. Menstruation, disorders of. Myalgia. Nails, crippled. Neuralgia. Nose, crusts in; acne on. Paralysis. Pemphigus. Pregnancy. Prostatitis. Ptosis. Rheumatism. Scabies. Scrofula. Skin, eruptions of. Small-pox. Stammering. Syphilis. Tendons, contracted. Throat, affections of. Tongue, affections of; paralysis of. Ulcers. Urethritis. Urine, disordered. Varicose veins. Voice, lost. Warts. Whooping-cough.

Characteristics.─Causticum is one of the great polychrest medicines of the Chronic Diseases. It is both antipsoric and antisycotic and antisyphilitic. The leading feature of the Causticum effects is Paralysis, showing itself both in voluntary and involuntary muscles. The weakening effect of potassium in allopathic overdosing is well known, and is strongly brought out in the Causticum provings. Paralytic weakness. Paralysis of single nerves or single parts. Ptosis; facial paralysis; paralysis of tongue; of extremities; of vocal cords; of bladder; of rectum; lead paralysis. Allied to paralysis are convulsions, chorea, cramps, starting, restlessness, twitching. Contraction of flexor tendons. Trembling. Neuralgic and rheumatic affections; tearing, drawing pains. There is a headache which draws and tears through the body. Glandular indurations are prominent. In children there are many symptoms of scrofula. There is a weakened and emaciated appearance, especially about the face, the abdomen being large. Skin dirty-white. Scrofulous inflammations about eyes, ears, and scalp. The paralytic element comes out in slow learning to talk and walk, and stumbling on attempting to walk. In chorea the right side is more affected than left words seem to be jerked out. During the night the legs are constantly "on the go." This kind of restlessness is characteristic of Caus. The mental state is timid, nervous, anxious. Apprehensive of impending misfortune. Conscience-stricken as if she had committed a crime. Full of fearful fancies, < at twilight. Sees fearful images when closing eyes. Melancholy. Taciturn and distrustful; inclined to fits of anger with scolding. Memory fails (mental paralysis), any attempt at mental exertion = symptoms, such as stitches in temples, tension in head and scalp, especially forehead to temples. There is a sensation as if there was an empty space between the bone of the skull and the brain, > by warmth. Headache; cannot keep upper eyelids up. Vertigo, excitement of brain and spine, incapable, tends to fall forward or sideways (locomotor ataxy); with anxiety, weakness in head, sight as if through a fog; skin dry and hot; constipation. Eruptions on scalp behind ears. Sounds re-echo unpleasantly an ordinary voice sounds loud. Facial paralysis from cold draught neuralgia of right cheekbones to mastoid process < at night. Jaw joints affected with rheumatism. Sickly, sallow, low-spirited expression. Nash cured an obstinate case of prosopalgia with Caust. The patient was emaciated and debilitated by long Suffering; pains came in paroxysms, and were of a drawing nature. She had suffered from eczema at times before the neuralgia appeared. Sulph. had been given in vain. Caust. 200 rapidly cured. The Caust. weakness may result from grief of long standing or from disease. Accumulations of mucus in larynx and fauces; catarrh of throat and Eustachian tubes with tinnitus and reverberation. Difficult swallowing of liquids. Constant sensation as if lime were burning in stomach; with water-brash. Pressure and fulness in abdomen as if it would burst, much < by food. Griping cutting > by bending double, < after least food or tightening clothes; menstrual colic (Caus. will cure after failure of Coloc.). Obstinate constipation (paralysis of rectum); stools covered with shiny coating of mucus; piles, unbearable by walking, by thinking of them, by touch. No remedy has such well-marked aggravations of anal symptoms as Caus. A characteristic is "Passes stool best standing." Spasm of rectum prevents walking. Painful pustules near anus discharging pus, blood, serum. Itching at orifice of urethra. Difficult, frequent micturition; with spasm of rectum. Paralysis of bladder is apparent. Enuresis, especially during first sleep; < winter, > in summer. Tendency to escape during the day, from any extra exertion, laughing, walking. Epilepsy has been cured by Caust., when fit occurs in sleep and urine escapes. Coughing expels urine. (Kraft has cured cases of incontinence following over-distension of the bladder owing to want of opportunity to attend to the call to urinate at the time, such as occurs in shop-girls and school-girls, who cannot leave their tasks.) Prostatitis and urethritis. Itching scrotum; cannot retain urine. Blood with semen. Sexual appetite in women is abolished. Constant indifference, the only time there is any inclination is after the period. Sadness during period. Period too early, too abundant; after it, a little blood passes occasionally, smelling badly. Nursing women lose their milk after exertion or long sleep. Hoarseness (with dry cough and redness of fauces), the result of weather or catching cold, < in morning. Aphonia: paralysis of vocal cords. Dry, hollow cough with mucus on chest; patient cannot expectorate, must swallow phlegm raised. A characteristic is: "Cannot cough deep enough for relief." Rawness and burning down throat and trachea. Rheumatism tends to stiffen joints and contract limbs. Warts are a notable feature in Caust.─on hands, on face, and especially on margins of eyelids. When on hands they are usually found on finger-tips or close to nails. Nails are crippled. Old, large, inflamed and indurated warts. Burning itching on face, discharging acrid fluid which forms crusts. Guernsey commends Caust. in the after-effects of burns and scalds. Patients say, "I have never been well since that burn." Its caustic properties may be its "signature" here. "Burning," indeed, is one of the notes of Caust. Guernsey gives "sensation as if lime were being slaked in the stomach." "Soreness" or "rawness" are also very characteristic, appearing in piles and anal affections (< walking or sitting), in which Caust. is in the very first rank among remedies. Soreness and rawness accompany cough symptoms and urinary symptoms. Malcolm Macfarlan confirms the following symptoms: "Forearms in front very sore to touch and pressure; muscles of extremities sore generally." "Sudden severe pain commences in left hip-joint; lasts a short time; feels as if it had been injured; legs very sore, or rather the lower extremities ache and feel tired." Caust. is a remedy to be remembered in intermittent fevers. One peculiar symptom is, "sweat coming after the chill without intervening heat." Teste places Caust. at the head of a group (including Coccul., Coff. c., Corall., Nux v., Staph., Ars.) the common characteristic being according to him: "Two series of successive and opposite phenomena; the former of short duration, consisting in a sort of universal exaltation of all the functions; the latter, which succeed the former more or less rapidly, consist in a general depression of the vital forces, and constitute the real and permanent action of the drugs of this group." Among instances, he gives mirthfulness followed by ill-humour; sleeplessness followed by yawning and drowsiness; moisture of skin followed by dryness; flow of saliva followed by dry mouth and throat; coryza fluent, then dry. Teste found Caust. of great efficacy in small-pox in alternation with Merc. cor. Periodicity is marked: Periodic, paroxysmal attacks; twice a day to every two, three, or four weeks an attack; at new moon. Symptoms are < at night (great restlessness of body, especially legs). < Early morning (cramp). < On waking. < In morning: hoarseness. < Evening: 6 to 8 p.m. heat. Causticum is one of Grauvogl's hydrogenoid remedies, hence is a chilly medicine; < washing, bathing, open air, draught, becoming cold, after wetting; < every change of weather. Heat, especially getting warm in bed > (rheumatism ceasing on getting warm in bed, but beginning again as soon as he gets up.) On the other hand cold water > face and eruptions, and a swallow of cold water > cough; headache is < entering a warm room; damp weather > pains in scalp, ulcers; rhinitis. Heat < eruptions. < In dark; fear of darkness. < From coffee. < After stool. < From walking. < From taking hold of anything. < In clear, fine weather. Suited to dark-haired persons with rigid fibre; delicate skins; lymphatic, torpid temperament.

Relations.─Caust. is antidoted by: Asaf., Coff., Coloc., Dulc., Guaj. (rheumatic contractions); Nit. spir. dulc., Nux. Is antidote to: Asaf., Chi., Coloc., Euphras., Plumb. (lead poisoning); type-poisoning; abuse of Merc., and Sulph. in scabies. Incompatible: Acids, Coff., Pho. Compatible: Before─Calc.; Kali i. (facial paralysis from an abscess); Lyc., Nux, Rhus, Ruta, Sep., Sil., Sul. Intercurrently─Ars., Cupr., Ign., Pod., Puls., Rhus, Sep., Stan. After─Calc., Coccul., Coloc., Cup., Hyo., Ign., Petrol., Petrosel., Rhus, Sep., Stram., Sul. Complementary: Petrosel. Merc. cor. assists the action of Caust. and vice versa (in small-pox, according to Teste). Compare: Nit. ac. is like Caust. in being at once antipsoric, antisycotic, and antisyphilitic. Phos. touches Caust. at many points, and is too near it to be compatible with it. (This only applies to cases in which either of the two has done good; if one has been given without any result the other, if indicated, will very likely succeed.) Both Caust. and Phos. are taciturn and distrustful, or inclined to fits of anger; both are < at twilight; both have sensations of tension. The hoarseness of Phos. (like that of Carb. v.) is < in evening. Phos. has extreme sensitiveness of larynx and dreads to cough or talk. The Caust. cough is > by cold drinks. Carb. v. has rawness and burning down throat (like Caus.) and hoarseness from damp evening air. Compare also: Calc. (images on closing eyes); Nat. m. and Sep. (spurting of urine with cough); Rhus (rheumatism from damp and cold; but With Rhus there is restlessness and > from motion always─Caus. has restlessness at night only); Eup. perf. (hoarseness < in morning; influenza with aching all over body; has more soreness on chest than Caust.); Salic ac., Chi., Carbo. sul. (Menière's disease); Coloc. (colic); Lyc. (sweat and heat < 6 to 8 p.m.); Bar. c. (mental weakness, paralysis; < damp weather); Sep. (enuresis in first sleep;─in deep sleep, Bell., Sul.); Calc. (scalding urine); Sars. (urine, especially in women, passed without patient's knowledge); Bell., Hyo., Ign., Lach., Lyc. and Pho. (difficult swallowing of liquids); Calc., Carb. an., Stro. and Stram. (fear of darkness); Tarentula (restlessness) Gels. (ptosis, paralysis, faint-like weakness and trembling, blindness) Ant. t. (laryngeal affections); Lyc. (contraction of brow with pain in head); Cepa (sore heel); Sep. (sadness, especially before menses. Face yellow); Am. c. (rawness and burning in chest); Aco. (paralysis from cold); Puls. (cystitis; failure of milk after labour); Euphorb. (ptosis from cold); Nat. c. Sul. and Sul. ac. (falls easily); Kali bi. (blindness with headache;─Kali bi. has blindness >, as headache <).

Causation.─Burns or scalds. Fright. Grief or sorrow. Night-watching. Suppressed eruptions. Ulcers maltreated with lead.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Mirthfulness sometimes, and soon after, ill-humour.─Melancholy and vexatious thoughts, day and night, with tears.─Hypochondriacal sadness.─Restlessness, apprehension, and great anguish.─Anxiety of heart.─Fearfulness, esp. at night.─Afraid at night (in the dark room; the child does not want to go to bed alone).─Mistrust of the future.─Discouragement.─Irascibility and passion, with great sensitiveness of disposition.─Quarrelsome and wrangling spirit.─Indisposition to labour.─Disposition to be frightened.─Weakness of memory.─Absence of mind.─Tendency to make mistakes when speaking.

2. Head.─Confusion in the head, as if it were compressed.─Feeling of intoxication, and as if momentarily on the point of falling.─Vertigo, with sensation of weakness in the head, and anxiety.─Attacks of headache, with nausea.─Headache in the morning, sometimes on waking, with sensation, as from a bruise, in the brain.─Nocturnal pain in the head, as if from an abscess in the brain.─Dull and pressive headache, which occasions gloominess, and is felt chiefly in the forehead or in the occiput.─Shooting pains, esp. in the temples.─Digging, with sudden shocks in the head.─Congestion in the head, with ebullition and noise internally.─Tensive or compressive pains in the head.─The headache sometimes exhibits itself only on one side (l.).─Heat and sensation of burning in the head.─Tightness and shootings in the head.─Tension and tightness in the head, and of the scalp (forehead and temples).─Sensation of torpor in the occiput.

3. Eyes.─Pain in the eyes, as if the eyeball were dilating.─Aching in the eyes, as if from sand, sometimes aggravated by the touch.─Itching, smarting, and burning pair, in the eyes.─Inflammation of the eyes, with burning and itching of the eyes and eyelids.─Ulceration of the eyes.─Lachrymation.─Difficulty in opening the eyes, with a sensation as if the eyelids were swollen.─Visible quivering of the eyelids.─Obscuration of the eyes, often sudden, and sometimes as if the eyes were covered by a skin.─Sight confused, as if a gauze or mist were before it.─Ophthalmia where there is opacity of the cornea which has spread over the pupil.─Movements before the eyes, as of a swarm of insects.─Dark nets, which seem to dance before the eyes.─Lights and sparks before the eyes.─Photophobia.─Warts of old-standing in the eyebrows; on the upper eyelid (and nose).

4. Ears.─Otalgia, with pressive pain outwards, as if the inner parts were pressed out.─Shootings, and pain, as of excoriation, in the ears.─Swelling of the ears, externally, with shooting and burning pain.─Stitches in the (r.) ear.─Discharge of fetid pus from the ear.─Itching in the lobe of the ear, as if from a tetter.─Words spoken and steps re-echo in the ear.─Tinkling in the ears.─Loud resounding noises in the ear, with hardness of hearing.─Rumbling and buzzing, rolling and murmuring in the ears, and in the head.─Sensation of stoppage in the ears.

5. Nose.─Itching at the point, and the alae nasi.─Scaly nose, externally and internally, with burning and itching.─Eruption at the point of the nose.─Warts of long standing on the nose (orbits, upper eyelids).─Blowing of blood from the nose, every morning.─Epistaxis.─Loss of smell.─Obstruction of the nose.─Dry chronic coryza.─Coryza with hoarseness preventing loud speech.─Fluent coryza, with nocturnal cough, rough hoarseness and headache.─Discharge of fetid mucus from the nose.─Sneezing in the morning.

6. Face.─Yellow colour of the face, esp. in the temples, with bluish lips.─Burning sensation in the cheeks, and esp. in the cheek-bones.─Arthritic and tensive pains in the bones of the face, in the cheek-bones, and in the jaws.─Swelling of the cheeks, with pulsative pains.─Sensation of tension and of swelling under the jaw, which impedes its opening.─Itching eruption on the face.─Eruption of red pimples on the face.─Semi-lateral (r.) paralysis of the face, from the forehead to the chin.─Cramps in the lips.─Excoriation and eruption on the lips, and at the commissures of the lips.─Tetter on the lower lip.─Tensive, dragging pain in the jaws, with difficulty in opening the mouth.─Inflammatory swelling of the chin, with burning pain.

7. Teeth.─Odontalgia, provoked by the introduction of air on opening the mouth.─Pain, as from excoriation, or tractive pains, and acute pulling, throbbings, or shootings in the teeth; in the under jaw, in the lower teeth, (particularly on the (l.) side).─Painful loosening and elongation of the teeth (incisors).─Fistula in the gums.─Prolonged ulceration of the gums.─Painful sensibility, swelling, and ready bleeding of the gums.

8. Mouth.─Dryness of the mouth and tongue.─Accumulation of mucus in the mouth.─Pain, as of excoriation and burning in the mouth, in the palate, and at the point of the tongue.─Stuttering, embarrassed, wheezing, and very indistinct speech.─Paralysis of the tongue.─Swelling of the inner side of the cheek; he bites it when chewing.─Distortion of the mouth and of the tongue, when speaking.─Burning ulcer on the inner surface of the upper lip.

9. Throat.─Sore throat on using exertion, as if it were lacerated internally.─Pain as of excoriation, roughness, scraping, and burning pain in the throat.─Shooting pain in the throat on swallowing.─Audible cracking in the throat.─Constant urging to swallow, with sensation of swelling or of contraction of the gullet.─Difficulty in swallowing, from paralysis of the organs of deglutition.─Sensation of cold which ascends to the throat.─Dryness of the throat, without thirst.─Accumulation of mucus in the throat, and behind the palate, with expectoration by hawking.

10. Appetite.─Putrid, greasy, rancid, or bitter taste.─Burning thirst for cold drinks and for beer.─Sensation as if lime were being slaked in the stomach.─Dislike to sweet things.─At the commencement of a meal, loss of appetite and disgust.─Fresh meat causes nausea; smoked meat agrees.─Sensation of suffering as from indigestion.─Pressure in the stomach, after eating bread.─After every meal, pressure on the whole abdomen, or on the stomach, or else nausea and inflation of the abdomen, or else, again, shivering or heat in the face.

11. Stomach.─Empty risings, with a taste of undigested food.─Abortive risings, with strangulation in the gullet.─Nausea, esp. after a meal, or during one, or else in the morning.─Sensation of faintness, as though about to swoon.─Water-brash.─Vomiting of acidulated water, followed by acid risings.─Vomiting of food.─Nocturnal vomiting of coagulated blood.─Pains in the stomach with heat in the head, increased by every quick movement, mitigated by a recumbent posture, and shuddering when the pains are aggravated.─Pressive squeezing, as if from claws, constriction and cramp-like pains in the stomach, and in the epigastrium.─Shooting pains in the epigastrium.

12. Abdomen.─Pressure of the clothes on the hypochondria painful.─Tension and shootings in the hepatic region.─Pains in the abdomen in the morning.─Pressure on the superior and inferior part of the abdomen.─Painful and tensive inflation of the abdomen.─Violent distension of the abdomen after a meal (breakfast).─Swelling of the navel, which is painful on being touched.─Enlargement of the abdomen in children.─Contractive pains in the abdomen.─Susceptibility to cold in the abdomen, whence results diarrhoea, or pressure at the stomach.─Incarceration of flatus, with hard faeces.─Frequent expulsion of offensive flatus, in small quantities.

13. Stool and Anus.─Chronic constipation.─Frequent and ineffectual efforts to evacuate, with pains, anxiety, and redness of the face.─The faeces are passed more easily, in an erect posture.─Faeces knotty, or of a very small size.─Faeces hard, tough, covered with mucus; viscid, and shining, as if with fat, or of a bright and whitish colour.─Diarrhoea in the evening and at night.─Diarrhoea, with tenesmus and burning in the rectum.─Diarrhoea, after the abdomen has been chilled.─Flow of blood and incisive pains in the rectum, during the evacuation.─After the evacuation, anguish, with palpitation of the heart and burning in the anus.─Itching in the anus.─In the anus, appearance of haemorrhoidal tumors, which are hard, swollen, painful, and which impede evacuation.─Walking and meditation aggravate the haemorrhoidal pains, so as to render them insupportable.─Varices of the rectum, hindering stool; large; painful; stinging; burning when touched.─Pressure in the haemorrhoidal tumors of the rectum, so as to cause them to protrude.─Pulsation in the perineum.─Fistula in the rectum.─Abscess in the anus.─Pain of excoriation, and moisture in the anus.

14. Urinary Organs.─Frequent inclination to urinate, with thirst and scanty emission.─More copious emission of urine.─Emission of urine at night, and wetting the bed.─Involuntary emission of urine (as in cases of children who wet the bed at night; in women, when urine spouts from them in walking, coughing, etc.), day and night.─Acrid and corrosive urine, or pale, aqueous, of a deep-brown, or reddish colour.─Stringy mucus in the urine.─The urine becomes turbid, after settling.─Sensation of burning in making water.─Itching of the orifice of the urethra.─Flow of blood from the urethra.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Increase of sexual desire.─Absence of erections.─Frequent pollutions.─Escape of prostatic fluid after a stool.─Emission of sanguineous semen, during coition.─Pressure and shooting in the testes.─Ulcers and itching scabs on the interior part of the prepuce.─Red spots on the penis.─Copious secretion of smegma behind the glans penis.─Itching at the scrotum, glans, and prepuce.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Catamenia retarded, but more copious, with flow of blood in large clots.─Difficult first menstruation.─During the menses no blood is passed at night.─Before the catamenia, melancholy, sacral pains, and colic.─Catamenia too feeble; sexual desire too weak.─During the catamenia, pains in the loins, cuttings, and paleness in the face; yellowness of the face; vertigo.─Excoriation between the legs, at the vulva.─Dislike to coition.─Cramps of the matrix.─Profuse leucorrhoea, having the smell of the catamenia, or which flows in the night.─Leucorrhoea flows at night and not during the day.─Nipples excoriated, cracked, and surrounded with tetters.─Want of secretion of milk.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Rough hoarseness, morning and evening.─Prolonged hoarseness, with voice weak and stifled.─Aphonia from weakness of the muscles of the larynx.─Sensation of excoriation in the larynx, when not swallowing.─Hawking up of abundant mucus, esp. in the morning.─Cough, with short breath, and difficulty of respiration.─Cough, excited by speech and by cold.─Cough is worse: in the evening till midnight, from exhaling; drinking coffee; cold air; draught of air; when awaking from sleep.─Cough is relieved by a swallow of cold water.─Matutinal or nocturnal cough.─Short cough, provoked by a tickling and a sensation of excoriation in the throat.─Cough, dry, hollow, shaking, with sensation of burning, and pain as of excoriation in the chest.─Rattling in the chest while coughing.─Pains in the hips while coughing.─Cough with involuntary passage of some drops of urine.─Inability to expectorate the mucus, which is detached by coughing (the expectoration comes up far enough apparently, but it cannot be spat out; greasy taste of the expectoration. The inability to expectorate is found in every species of cough, whooping-cough, etc.).

18. Chest.─Breath short.─Attacks of spasmodic asthma.─Asthma, esp. when sitting or lying down.─Fits of suffocation on speaking and walking quickly.─Oppressiveness of clothes on the chest.─Pressure on the chest.─Shootings in the chest and thorax, on making a full inspiration, and during corporeal exertion.─Burning, stitches, and soreness in the chest.─Attacks of cramp-like compression and of constriction in the chest, with feeling of suffocation.

19. Heart.─Palpitation of the heart, with languor.─Oppression of the heart, with melancholy.─Shootings in the heart.

20. Neck and Back.─Stiffness and tension in the nape of the neck.─Pain, as from a bruise in the nape of the neck.─Miliary eruption at the nape of the neck, between the shoulder-blades.─Itching and humid tetters at the nape of the neck.─Goitre-like swelling of the cervical glands.─Pains in the loins which render the least movement exceedingly painful.─Aching pains in the loins when seated.─Painful stiffness (between the scapulae and) in the back, esp. on rising from a chair.─Pulling and acute drawing pains in the shoulder-blades.─Itching and tingling in the back.

22. Upper Limbs.─Pains in the arms at night.─Drawing pains and acute pulling, in the arms and hands.─Convulsive movements and shocks in the arms.─Itching and eruptions on the arms.─Warts on the arms.─Pressure on the shoulders.─Shooting pains in the front part of the arms, from the fingers to the elbow.─Paralytic feeling in the r. hand.─Sensation of fulness in the hands, on grasping an object.─Tearing in r. wrist-joint.─Drawing pains in the hands, and the joints of the fingers.─Spasmodic weakness and trembling of the hands.─Paleness and painful torpor of the fingers.─Tension of the posterior joints of the fingers when bending them.─Contraction and induration of the tendons of the fingers.─Itching tetters on the fingers.

23. Lower Limbs.─Pain as from dislocation in the coxo-femoral joint, with inability to walk and to continue standing.─Pain as from a bruise in the thighs and legs, whilst in bed, in the morning.─Tensive stiffness in the joints of the legs, and of the feet.─Contraction and tension in the heel and tendo Achillis.─Drawing pains and acute pulling in the thighs, the legs, the knees, and the feet, with swelling of the parts.─Unsteady walk, and tendency to fall in children.─Skin marbled, on the thighs and on the legs.─Tension and cramp-like pain in the legs and calves of the legs.─Cramps in the feet.─Pains in the instep, in the ankle bones, in the soles of the feet, and in the toes, on walking.─Neuralgic pains in the soles of the feet.─Contraction in the instep, with tensive pain when stepping.─Coldness of the feet.─Swelling of the feet.─Pains in the varices.─Tingling in the soles of the feet.─Festering vesicles and ulcerations on the heels.─Whitlow on the great toe.

24. Generalities.─Arthritic and rheumatic drawing and tearing pains, esp. in the limbs.─Acute and violent pulling in the joints and the bones, mitigated by the heat of a bed.─Contraction of the tendons, and stiffness in the flexor muscles of the limbs.─Cramp-like contraction of several limbs.─Torpor and paleness of some parts, or of the entire l. side of the body.─Paralysis.─Jerkings and convulsive movements.─St. Vitus' dance.─Convulsive attacks, with cries, violent movement of the limbs, grinding of the teeth, smiles or tears, eyes half-closed, fixed look, and involuntary emission of urine; the fits are reproduced by cold water, and are preceded by pain in the abdomen and in the head, frequent emission of urine, irascibility, and tears; after the fit the eyes are closed.─Epileptic convulsions (at night during sleep).─Aggravation of the symptoms, generally in the evening, or in the open air, while those which have appeared in the open air disappear in a room.─Coffee seems also to aggravate all the symptoms.─Semi-lateral sufferings.─Insupportable uneasiness in the whole body in the evening, and when seated, with anxiety in the region of the heart.─In the evening, great dejection and oppression of the whole body.─Paralytic weakness, with trembling and tottering of the limbs.─Paralysis (one-sided).─Great sensibility to currents of air, and to cold.

25. Skin.─Violent itching, esp. in the back, and in the calves of the legs.─Itching of the whole body at night (Itch).─Injuries of the skin, which had been healed, become sore again.─Itch suppressed by mercury or sulphur; burning itch.─Tingling (or stinging) swelling (sometimes called "buzzing" swelling) (Guernsey).─Eruptions resembling scabies.─Miliary eruptions and nettle-rash.─Itching and humid tetters.─Ulcerative vesicles.─Burning ulcers, with yellowish-looking skin; ulcers burning, with corroding pus, with thin or watery pus, suppurating; jerking pains running through the ulcers.─Excoriation in children.─Painful corns in the feet.─Warts, also with pain and inflammation.─Panaris.─Painful varices.

26. Sleep.─Drowsiness in the day, like coma.─Nocturnal sleeplessness, caused by anxiety, inquietude, dry heat, and other annoyances, with frequent starts.─Starts on going to sleep.─Frequent movements of the arms and legs during sleep.─Anxious dreams, about grievous things, or about quarrels, or confused and voluptuous, with talking and laughter.─At night, vertigo, headache, dryness of the mouth, and painful heaviness of the legs.

27. Fever.─Pulse only accelerated towards evening.─Much shivering.─Chilliness predominating, frequently with coldness of the l. side.─Internal chilliness, followed by perspiration, without previous heat.─Nocturnal shivering, with pains in the back, and followed by general sweat.─Heat in the evening, from 6 to 8 p.m.─Flushes of heat, followed by chilliness.─Copious sweat while walking in the open air.─Nocturnal sweat, sometimes of an acid smell.─Morning sweat (smelling sour).

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

Hahnemann's (Tinctura acris sine Kali)

Adapted to persons with dark hair and rigid fibre; weakly, psoric, with excessively yellow, sallow complexion; subject to affections of respiratory and urinary tracts. Children with dark hair and eyes, delicate, sensitive, skin prone to intertigo during dentition (Lyc.), or convulsions with eruption of teeth (Stan.). Disturbed functional activity of brain and spinal cord, from exhausting disease or severe mental shock, resulting in paralysis. Rawness or soreness: of scalp, throat, respiratory tract, rectum, anus, urethra, vagina, uterus (as if bruised, Arn.; as if sprained, Rhus). Melancholy mood: sad, hopeless; from care, grief, sorrow; with weeping, "the least thing makes the child cry.". Intense sympathy for sufferings of others. Ailments: from long-lasting grief and sorrow (Phos. ac.); from loss of sleep, night watching (Coc., Ign.); from sudden emotions, fear, fright, joy (Coff., Gels.); from anger or vexation; from suppressed eruptions. Children slow in learning to walk (Cal. p.). Unsteady walking and easy falling of little children. Constipation: frequent, ineffectual desire (Nux); stool passes better when person is standing; impeded by haemorrhoids; tough and shining, like grease; in children and nocturnal enuresis. Urine involuntary: when coughing, sneezing, blowing the nose (Puls., Squil., Ver.). Cough: with rawness and soreness in chest; with inability to expectorate, sputa must be swallowed (Arn., Kali c.); relieved by swallow of cold water; on expiration (Acon.); with pain in hips; remaining after pertusis; with expectoration chiefly at night. Hoarseness with rawness, and aphonia < in the morning (< in the evening, Carbo v., Phos.). At night, unable to get an easy position or lie still a moment (Eup., Rhus). Must move constantly, but motion does not relieve. Cannot cover too warmly, but warmth does not >. Faint-like sinking of strength; weakness and trembling. Xixeixwa, especially burns, scalds, freshen up, become sore again; old injuries re-open; patients say "they never have been well since that burn.". Menses: too early; too feeble; only during the day; cease on lying down. Paralysis: of single parts; vocal organs, tongue, eyelids, face, extremities, bladder; generally, of right side; from exposure to cold wind or draft; after typhoid, typhus or diphtheria; gradually appearing. Drooping of upper eyelids; cannot keep them open (Caul., Gels., Graph. - of both lids, Sep.). Rheumatic affections, with contraction of the flexors and stiffness of the joints; tension and shortening of muscles (Am. m., Cimex, Guaiac., Nat. mur.). Warts: large, jagged, often pedunculated; bleeding easily; exuding moisture; small, all over the body; on eyelids, face; on the nose. Patient improves for a time, then comes to a "standstill" (Psor, Sulph.).

Relations. - Complementary: Carbo veg., Petros. Incompatible: Phos. Must not be used before or after Phos., always disagrees; the Acids; Coffea. Compare: Arn., must swallo mucus; Gels., Graph., Sep. in ptosis; hoarseness, Rumex and Carbo v. when < changes to evening; Sulph. in chronic aphonia. Causticum antidotes paralysis from lead poisoning (bad effects of holding type in mouth of compositors). and abuse of Merc. or Sulph. in scabies. It affects the right side most prominently.

Aggravation. - In clear, fine weather; coming from the air into a warm room (Bry.); cold air, especially draft of cold air; on becoming cold; from getting wet or bathing.

Amelioration. - In damp, wet weather; warm air.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Great weakness, faint-like goneness culminating in local paralysis (vocal organs, tongue, muscles of deglution, eyelids, face, bladder and extremities).

Obstinate neuralgias, especially of psoric origin; pains of a cramping, drawing nature.

Sensation of sore rawness (Scalp, throat, larynx and trachea, chest, rectum, anus, urethra and eruptions with burning).

Contractions of the ligaments (arthritis deformans).

Dry cough with pain in hip and involuntary urination. Soreness and rawness in air passages, cannot raise the mucus, < on expiration, > swallowing cold water.

Haemorrhoids sore and raw < on walking. Constipation frequent, ineffectual desire for stool; passes better on standing.

Modalities: < dry weather, walking (piles), > wet weather, swallowing cold water (cough).

* * * * *

This is a very unique remedy, proven by Hahnemann and classed among the anti-psorics. Its exact chemical composition is not known but it is supposed to be a kind of potash preparation.

It has quite a long list of peculiar symptoms, which are, nevertheless, very reliable. In the first place it has great weakness, such as characterizes the potash salts generally. It is with Causticum "faint-like weakness, or sinking of strength, with trembling". In this it resembles Gelsemium, and it has another symptom, in connection with its general weakness which resembles Gelsemium, viz.: "Drooping of the lids". Sepia, Causticum and Gelsemium is the trio having this peculiar symptom in a very marked degree. Now, the weakness of Causticum progresses until we have "gradually appearing paralysis", indeed, paralysis is common with Causticum and attacks in a general way the right side (Lachesis the left), but it also has local paralysis; as, for instance, of the vocal organs, muscles of deglutition, of tongue, eyelids, face, bladder and extremities. On the other hand, it has all grades of nervous twitchings, chorea, convulsions and epileptic attacks, even progressive locomotor ataxia. I can only name these diseases here, but will notice further on the symptoms and conditions which appear in connection with them.

Neuralgic affections are also common with this remedy and are generally of an obstinate character. Causticum has helped me out in such cases when other seemingly indicated remedies failed. One of our oldest and most eminent writers on Materia Medica, Charles J. Hempel, sneered at the multiplicity of symptoms of this remedy, as found in the "Chronic Diseases", but the clinical test has proven it to be a remedy of great use and wide range. On the mind it exerts a very depressing influence in keeping with its general action on the nervous system. Melancholy mood; sadness, hopelessness; is apt to look on the dark side of everything. This melancholy may come from care, grief or sorrow. It often comes from long lasting brief or sorrow, and should be remembered here alongside Ignatia, Natrum muriaticum and Phosphoric acid.

This is the preponderant mood of Causticum, but it may alternate with an anxious, irritable or hysterical mood. We have already spoken of the paralysis of the eyelids. The vision is often affected; there is an appearance of gauze before the eyes, or as if a fog or cloud were there. This is often the case in incipient cataract, and Causticum often remedies it.

Upon the ears there is roaring, tinkling, humming and all sorts of noises. It is one of our best remedies in deafness with these noises. Reverberation of sounds, especially the patient's own voice, finds here a remedy. Then the ears (external) burn and are very red. Sulphur also has this symptom very prominently: and right here we may say that there are many resemblances between these two remedies, and they follow each other well, especially in chronic diseases.

Upon the face we have four prominent peculiar symptoms:

1st. Yellowness of the face; sickly yellow (not jaundice).

2d. Paralysis of a rheumatic or psoric origin.

3d. Prosopalgia of the same origin.

4th. Stiffness of the jaws; could not open the mouth.

This latter symptom also seems to be rheumatic and is in keeping with the arthritis deformans, of which we will say more further on.

Upon the tongue we have: 1st. Paralisis; or indistinct speech without complete paralysis (Gels.). 2d. Tongue coated white on the sides, red in the middle, but not so sharply defined as in Veratrum viride.

The throat comes strongly under the influence of Causticum.

"Burning pain in throat, not < by swallowing; pain is in both sides or seems to arise from chest."

"Rawness and tickling in throat with dry cough and some expectoration after long coughing."

This again in similar to Sulphur, which has burning in throat, more on right side. I have found that if Sulphur did not relieve, Causticum given after it, often would.

Intestinal Canal. -Sensation of lime being burned in the stomach, with rising of air. Guernsey praised this symptom and considered it reliable. I have not verified if Causticum is one of our best remedies in anal troubles, and has very peculiar symptoms. "Constipation, frequent but unsuccessful desire to stool." (Nux.) "Frequent ineffectual desire to stool, with much pain and straining, with redness of face." "The stool passes better when standing. Haemorrhoids impeding stool, swollen; itching: smarting; rawness; moist; stinging; burning; raw and sore, aggravated when walking, when thinking of them, from preaching or straining the voice." All these symptoms have been verified over and over again. There are other symptoms also in this region that are very valuable, but we are not writing a complete Materia Medica and will only say in addition that in all anal troubles we should let Causticum rank among the first in our mind when we are hunting for the simillimum. We do not know in what part the peculiar and characteristic symptom which leads to the simillimum will appear, but must be on the alert to recognize it promptly.

Causticum also has very marked action upon the urinary organs, as is shown by the following symptoms: "Itching of the orifice of the urethra." "Constant ineffectual desire to urinate, frequent evacuations of only a few drops, with spasms in the rectum and constipation."

This is like Nux vomica and Cantharis, and I once cured a chronic case of cystitis in a married woman, which had baffled the best efforts of several old school physicians, eminent for their skill for years. There was another symptom in the case that was prominent, and that was a sensation of soreness or rawness. More will be said, when we come to write on sensations, of this last symptom. Again, "retention of urine, with frequent and urgent desire, occasionally a few drops dribble away."

"Involuntary passage of urine when coughing, sneezing, blowing the nose; at nigh when asleep; when walking." "He urinates so easily that he is not sensible of the stream, and scarcely believes in the dark that he is urinating at all, until he makes sure by sense of touch." I do not know of any remedy in which this weakness of the neck of the bladder is more prominent. Causticum also affects the urine itself "The urine is loaded with lithic acid and lithates (Hughes), there are thick deposits or sediments of various colors from dark to light" These are a few of the leading urinary symptoms and show its importance here.

Respiratory Organs.–Hoarseness worse in the morning, with rawness and sudden loss of voice. Laryngeal muscles refuse to act; cannot speak a loud word. Chronic hoarseness remaining after acute laryngitis. Hoarseness with deep bass voice (like Drosera). These are all very reliable symptoms, and no remedy removes them oftener than Causticum. All this loss of voice may come from paresis of the vocal chords, or from catarrhal causes. Then following down the respiratory tract, we have great rawness and irritation of the trachea, cough dry, hollow; with sore or raw sensation in a streak down along the trachea. Cough with pain in hip and involuntary urination. Cough with sensation as if she could not cough deep enough to start the mucus. Coughs worse on expiration (Acon.) Cough relieved by a swallow of cold water. Cough with inability to raise the mucus, it must be swallowed; but the most characteristic symptom all through the cough and chest symptoms is the sensation of soreness and rawness accompanying them. Some will express this as a sensation of burning, if so we must remember Iodine and Spongia. In influenza or what is now called La Grippe it disputes for first place with Eupatorium perf. and Rhus toxicod. All three have a tired, sore, bruised sensation all over the body, and all have soreness in the chest when coughing, but if involuntary micturition is present Causticum wins. No homoeopath can afford to be without an understanding of Causticum upon the respiratory organs.

Now upon the back and extremities we have – stiffness and pain in neck and throat, muscles feel as if bound, could scarce move the head. Painful stiffness of the back and sacrum, especially on rising from a chair. Paralysis of either or both lower and upper extremities. Dull drawing pain in hands and arms. Drawing and tearing in thighs and legs, knees and feet, worse in open air and better in bed. Weakness and trembling of the limbs. Rheumatic and arthritic inflammations with contractions of the flexors and stiffness of the joints. All these, and many more symptoms, show what a useful remedy this must be in its general action on the back and extremities, but right here I wish to say that if I were to select the three remedies to the exclusion of all others for the treatment of chronic rheumatism and paralysis Causticum, Rhus tox. and Sulphur would be the three. These three remedies studied in their correspondence and relation to each other will more than repay the careful student, and Causticum holds well its own in the comparison. You will remember that I have before alluded to the resemblances of Causticum and Sulphur, and may continue to do so further on. I wish here, although constitutionally opposed to making too much of complementaries and incompatibles (so-called), to state that there are no two remedies that are oftener indicated after each other, and work as well when so indicated, than these two. If Hahnemann had never given to the homoeopathic school any remedy but Causticum, the world would still be to him under lasting obligations.

Sensations.–Tearing pains are, characteristic of this remedy. They are often paroxysmal. This is often found in neuralgia of the face. Then again I wish to call particular attention to the sensation of soreness or rawness. This is found in scalp, throat, larynx and trachea, chest, rectum, anus, urethra and eruptions. We observe that the sensation of soreness is not like that of Arnica, which is a soreness as if bruised and mostly muscular, nor of Rhus toxicodendron, which is an aching soreness as if sprained and oftenest found in the tendons and sheaths of muscles, or areolar tissues; but it is a soreness mostly, if not altogether, of mucous surfaces as if the parts were raw. This is important and a very reliable sensation. Then again we have in Causticum much burning. These burnings are found almost everywhere, and in this we again see its resemblance to Sulphur. Now let it be remembered that the burnings of Sulphur are associated with itching, those of Apis mellifica with stinging, and those of Causticum with soreness. So we must always learn to differentiate, because it is only by so doing that we can select the one remedy out of a class, and sometimes a large class, having the same or similar symptoms. The drawing pains that in many cases result in forcing out of shape the extremities so as to cause that terrible affliction known as arthritis deformans are found as prominently under Causticum as under any other remedy, and it is one of the most useful agents for the relief or cure.

Causticum is classed among Hahnemann's anti-psorics. It is certainly one of the prominent remedies for affections arising from the suppression of itch or chronic skin troubles, like eczema. I was once called, in consultation, to a case of prosopalgia which had for a long time baffled the skill of a very good homoeopathic practitioner. Not being able to relieve the case, he had become demoralized, and as the pain and suffering were very great he had resorted to anodynes, but with the usual result of making the patient worse, after the anodynes had worn out, than she was before. On looking over the case carefully, I found in addition to the emaciated and greatly debilitated condition of the patient, after so long suffering, that the pains came in paroxysms, that they were of a drawing nature, and that she had suffered from eczema for years, at different times, before this pain appeared. Sulphur had been given, but without relief. So I advised Causticum. It was given, in the 200th, and a rapid and a permanent cure was the result. Whether Causticum could be called an anti-sycotic as well as anti-psoric, or not, I do not know. Certain it is that it is one of our most successful remedies for warts. It stands next to Thuja, if not equal. It is also foremost in old sores originating in burns. I have given more space to Causticum than I otherwise would, for the reason that I am sure that this great remedy is not generally appreciated. I know of no remedy more positive and satisfactory in its action when indicated. Generally < in clear fine weather > in damp wet weather. (Nux vom., asthma < in dry weather > in damp weather.).