Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

The complaints of Graphites are worse morning, evening and during the night, especially before midnight. It is useful in people who are morbidly fat, or have been fat and are now emaciating; with constipation more commonly than diarrhoea; in women in these conditions whose menstrual habit is pale, late, short and scanty; catarrhal discharges that are albuminous and viscid represent to the mind some peculiar general states of the sick man not explainable and not common to diseased conditions nor to many remedies; hence, strange, rare and peculiar. Raw surfaces upon the skin are generally marked by such viscid glutinous discharges.

It is a very deep acting remedy, like all Carbons, and is accompanied with induration and burning in the base of the ulcers, inflamed tissues and old cicatrices; hence, its great usefulness in cancerous growths and ulceration.

Cancerous development in old cicatrices is a strong feature of this remedy. Contraction of tendons, especially behind the knee. It has hemorrhagic oozing of pale blood. In the higher sense the patient is anaemic and chlorotic. From eruptions, catarrhal discharges, menstrual flow, ulcers, breath and perspiration there is marked offensiveness (like Carbo v., Psorinum, Kali phos., Kali ars.).

When eruptions or discharges have disappeared suddenly from any cause and grave chronic phenomena have followed Graphites is one of the medicines to be studied. Scrofulous conditions and swelling of glands; recurrent herpes upon all parts of the body and especially about the anus and genitals; burning in many parts and especially in old cicatrices; general dropsical tendency; weakness in muscles and tendons after straining them by overlifting.

Modalities: The patient is very sensitive to cold and needs warm clothing; he is sensitive to the cold in winter and to the heat in summer; he is sensitive to a warm room and desires open air which is grateful. Worse in a warm bed; complaints come on from becoming cold or heated; the headaches are worse in a warm room and better in the open air. Graphites has cured deep seated spinal complaints, and in such cases the patient delights to lie heavily covered in a cold draft from an open window.

It is easy to see in this, the resemblance to Carbo veg., which often cures when the patient wants to be fanned. Craving for air is strong in the Carbons, yet often easily chilled and just as easily overheated and complaints that come from overheating are related to the Carbons. This one becomes ill from being overheated; exertion makes all symptoms worse.

Motion increases all symptoms except the numbness and general feeling of stagnation which come on during rest. Extreme weakness. Weakness and desire to lie down. Paralysis in any part but especially in the lower limbs; sensation of paralysis or stagnation creeps over the body and limbs.

He is made sick by bathing and is sensitive to cold, damp weather. What there is in the general life to cause eruptions to come out in the bends of the joints must be left for others to explain, but such is the case with this wonderful remedy.

Convulsions: The same may be said of rawness and excoriation in the same regions. Cataleptic conditions are very marked in which the patient is conscious but without power to move or speak; tremulous sensation throughout the body; sudden sinking of strength; sudden weakness. Constriction in many parts. It has cured many kinds of convulsions. It is not the remedy for the convulsion, but in chronic sickness where the convulsion is but one of many elements it is often suitable. It has cured epilepsy and hysterio-epilepsy and epileptiform spasms many times when the totality of symptoms furnished the basis for the prescription.

A careful comparison of the symptoms shows that this remedy acts predominantly on the left side of the body. The patient is oversensitive to pain and outer parts are very sensitive.

Pains: The pains are burning, drawing, pressing. Soreness. Stitching and tearing. Numbness is more characteristic than pain. The formation of fissures in all the commissures and in the anus with cracked and bleeding skin in many parts with much hardening; the tendency to grow wens on the scalp and elsewhere are features of this remedy not to be overlooked, and when coupled with the mental symptoms form such a strong and striking image of perverted vital action that the neophyte should not overlook Graphites.

It is as broad and deep as Sulphur, showing the great similarity to this great remedy in chronic cases.

Mind: The patient becomes very restless when attempting close mental work and there is a marked dread of mental work. The mental depression is extreme, and it is made worse by music; her sadness is so great that she thinks only of death and salvation. Grief and vexation cause of recurrence of all her distressing mental sufferings.

Her moods are constantly changing; while she may recall all the events of youth, recent events are forgotten; slow of thought and weakness of mind worse in the morning; often excited, hurried and exhilarated in the evening; extremely fretful and impatient; irritable about trifles and very critical. Irresolution is a marked symptom.

She cannot make, up her mind to do or not to do. Extreme activity of mind in the evening and first half of the night, which, prevents sleep until midnight; apprehensive and distressed in the. morning and excited. in the evening; extreme anxiety even to desperation.

Vertigo in the morning on waking; in the evening; on looking upwards; on rising from stooping; compelled to lie down; with inclination to fall forward.

When the above general symptoms strongly predominate in any given sickness the following particulars will be cured by this remedy.

Hyperaemia of the brain in the evening in a warm room; frequent moments of congestion to head and face with faint feelings; numbness felt in whole head; burning spot on the vertex; drawing, pressing and tearing in forehead over the eyes; stitching pains in the temples; pain from temples to side of face and to shoulders; one-sided headaches in the morning on waking; tearing in one side of head extending to teeth and side of neck; pressing pain on the vertex and occiput; compressing, constricting pain in occiput and back of neck; pain as though the head were numb; violent headaches during menses.

Head: The headaches are brought on from becoming cold and from looking into a bright light; are worse in a warm room, and better in the open air. There is marked soreness in the scalp; itching of the scalp with or without eruptions; eczema of the scalp oozing a glutinous fluid; eczema behind the cars; fissures that bleed behind the ears; scaly eruptions on scalp; falling out of the hair; bald, shiny patches on the scalp.

Eyes: Extreme photophobia in the sunlight with copious lachrymation. No remedy has photophobia more marked than Graphites. Pain in the eyes and over the eyes by looking long toward a sun lighted window; complaints from eyestrain.

Letters appear double when writing, letters run together when reading; flickerings and fiery zigs-zags just outside the field of vision in the evening; misty vision; vanishing of sight during menses.

Burning, pressing, stitching pains in the eyes. It has cured ulceration of the cornea. Recurrent pustular inflammation of the cornea. Keratitis pustulosa in children with fissures in the canthi, extreme photophobia and eczema on the face.

Marked congestion and injected veins of the conjunctiva. Chronic lachrymation in open air, tears acrid. The fissured canthi bleed easily and itch violently. Purulent discharges from the eyes; the lids are stuck together at night; the eyes feel hot; the lids are much swollen and the margins are red, raw and bleed easily-sometimes hard; ulcers on the; margins of lids; the lids are covered with crusts; eczema of the eyelids and about the eyes; dry mucus in the lashes, styes on the lids, with drawing pain, especially when they recur frequently. Cystic tumors on the lids.

Ears: Discharge from the ear of sticky, viscid pus; bloody, offensive.

Noises in ears; cracking; bumming; hissing; ringing; rushing, roaring; reverberations. Violent roarings at night and the ears feel stopped; thundering, rolling sounds in ears.

Deafness in various degrees and he hears better in a noise. He can hear better when riding on the cars, in the roaring of the train.

Deafness with eczematous eruptions on and behind the ears. Stitching pains in ears in cold air. Marked swelling of the ears.

Nose: Smell very acute; she cannot tolerate flowers; loss of smell with dryness in the nose; with coryza. Discharge from nose bloody mucus or pus, very offensive, viscid, thick, sometimes yellow.

It is a most useful remedy in chronic nasal catarrh. Very painful dryness in the nose. The bones and cartilages of the nose become very sore to touch. Sneezing and fluent coryza as marked as in Carbo veg.

Frequent attacks of coryza all winter, worse in cold air; the coryza extends to larynx, like Carbo veg; the excoriated, sore, cracked nostrils are plugged with scabs and hard mucus far up in the nose. Ulcers in the nose. Fissures in the nostrils that burn and indurate.

Face: The face is pale, waxy and sickly.

Eczema and herpes are found on the face with glutinous moisture. Itching with or without eruptions. A sensation as of a cobweb on the face. The commissures of mouth are fissured and the fissures ulcerate and the edges become bard and there is great burning in them. The skin chaps and cracks and often becomes excoriated and bleeds. Erysipelas of the face, spreading from right to left. The beard falls out.

Crusts form on the lips and the chin is covered with eczema. The submaxillary gland is swollen and indurated.

Mouth: The gums are settling away from the teeth; the teeth burn and sting; drawing pain in teeth in cold wind; tearing in teeth worse from warmth.

Taste in the mouth is bitter, salty, sour and like spoiled eggs; nauseating taste in the morning; sour taste after eating. The tongue is coated white; burning blisters on lower lip and on tip of tongue, painful ulcers on under surface of tongue, putrid odor from gums and mouth; breath smells like urine.

Dryness of the mouth in morning on waking; also in the night on waking; saliva flows from the mouth during the night.

Throat: Chronic sore throat with ulceration and swelling; swollen tonsils; nightly pain in throat; copious white, viscid mucus; a continuation of the nasal and post nasal catarrh.

Constant choked feeling or constriction in the throat that makes swallowing difficult. Constant spasms in the throat compelling swallowing.

Stomach and abdomen: Ravenous appetite.

Violent thirst in the morning with dry mouth and internal fever. Aversion to meat; to cooked food; to fish; to salt, to sweets. He is driven to eat to relieve a feeling of suffocation and burning gnawing in the stomach.

Pain in the stomach, relieved by eating. Eructations bitter; sour; putrid; tasting of food eaten; of greenish water. Rancid heartburn after eating; nausea much of the time during menses, with trembling; vomits all she eats; vomiting, purging and cold sweat.

The stomach feels constantly in a spoiled state or as from indigestion. Flatulence is as marked as in Carbo veg., and the relief from belching is just as great. Burning, constriction, pulsation and cramping are frequent symptoms. Fullness, distension, pressure are constant features of Graphites.

Retching on swallowing food (like Merc. c.). Gastric catarrh with internal heat drive him to eat and drink. Gastric pains worse from cold drinks and better by warm milk; periodical gastralgia with vomiting of food soon after eating. It is a wonderful remedy for old drunkards when the gastric symptoms agree (like Carbon bisulphide).

It is a most useful remedy in hard, swollen, sore liver with weight and distress in the liver; stitches in both hypochondria, burning in left hypochondrium when lying on it; sensitive to clothing in the liver region. Great suffering in the abdomen from flatulence; incarcerated flatus causes cramping pains, distension, and a continual source of distress.

Everything eaten seems to ferment and turn to gas; rumbling and movements felt in the abdomen; there is great burning and griping; cramping in the abdomen soon after eating; the clothing distresses the abdomen. The slightest indiscretion in eating causes increased flatus, rumbling and diarrhoea; the abdomen is distended with dropsy. Herpes zona oil the side of abdomen; herpes over lower abdomen and groin; hard swelling of inguinal glands; oedema of the abdominal walls.

Anus and stools: From the anus there is copious discharge of very offensive flatus day and night. While diarrhoea is not so common as constipation, yet it is a marked condition in some patients, The diarrhoea is painless with much flatus, with watery, brown, putrid, lienteric stools; excoriating stools, extreme soreness of the anus; fissures of the anus; great burning. Chronic diarrhoea; from the slightest indiscretion in eating on comes a renewed attack.

With the loose stools, and with the constipated stools copious white jelly-like mucus is often found. Discharge of mucus from anus and a constant moisture about the outside parts. Large hemorrhoids extremely sore with fissures.

Constipation with large, hard, knotty, difficult stools passed with extreme pain from soreness and fissures of the anus. Long narrow stools (like Phos.). Violent burning in the anus, prolapsus of the anus.

It has cured many cases of bleeding piles of long standing where there was extreme soreness and fissures and great burning. Violent pains during stool. No desire to go to stool for many days. It requires a long time with hard straining to pass the stool.

It often suits patients who have no stool except by injection or cathartic. Violent itching of the anus; eczema and herpes near the anus or involving the anus. It has cured the stomach and abdominal conditions that favor the tapeworm.

Genitals and urines: The urine flows in a feeble stream, becomes very putrid after standing and deposits much red or white sediment; after standing the urine is covered with an iridescent cuticle.

After urination there is some dribbling; burning in the urinary passages and neck of the bladder when not urinating; pain in the sacrum and coccyx when urinating.

Violent sexual excitement and nightly emissions; the excitement is so strong that ejaculation comes instantly after intromission. The opposite state is also found where there is aversion to coition and erections are wanting. It is a most useful remedy for impotency following secret vice and sexual excesses. Emissions with feeble erections.

Herpes on the prepuce; excoriated and fissured glans penis; dropsical swelling of the scrotum and penis, hydrocele in small boys and baby boys. Itching and moist eruptions on the scrotum. It has cured gleety, viscid discharge from the urethra. It has cured swollen testes.

In the female it causes aversion to coition; enlarged, hard ovaries great tenderness in uterus and ovaries. It has cured ovarian tumor. Pain in the uterus when reaching high with hands; bearing down in uterine region.

It cures cauliflower excrescence of the uterus; it has restrained the growth of cancer in the cervix uteri, when there was burning and putrid bloody discharge; in this it resembles Carbo an. Menses late, irregular, scanty, pale or mixed with scanty dark, small clots, short duration. Menses six or eight weeks apart.

Menses suppressed or very late in chlorotic girls. First menses delayed. Leucorrhoea instead of the menses (Cocculus). Oedema of the vulva. Leucorrhoea in gushes day and night. Dryness and heat in the vagina; coldness in the vagina.

Extreme lassitude during the menses. Many symptoms come during menses; dry cough, copious sweat; oedema of feet; hoarseness; coryza; headache; nausea; morning nausea. Violent itching of the vulva before menses; marked excoriation of the genitals and between the thighs during menses; excoriating leucorrhoea before menses.

Leucorrhea white; yellowish-white; thin; viscid; offensive. Sore, cracked nipples in nursing women. Cancer of the breast coming in the cicatrix of an old cancer.

Larynx and cough: sensitive to touch.

Hoarseness in the evening (like Carbo veg.). Dryness in the larynx in the night; copious glutinous mucus in the daytime.

He suffocates when falling asleep (like Lachesis) and often wakes up in the night gasping for breath; constriction of the chest.

Paroxysmal cough like whooping cough, cough is followed by expectoration of copious white viscid mucus; paroxysms come at any time It has cured whooping cough. Cough from tickling in the larynx or trachea; violent night cough; deep inspiration causes cough.

Rawness in the trachea; stitching pains in the chest.

Constriction of the heart; electric shocks in the heart; palpitation on motion or exertion with strong pulsation all over the body and in the extremities, pulse full and heard, slow during day but fast in the morning; fast pulse in evening after eating, with fever. Itching herpetic eruption on the chest; herpes zona on left side of chest with pain. It is a useful remedy to ward off phthisis.

Enlarged hard painful glands of neck. Painless swollen glands of neck. The spine is very sensitive to the jar of the bed; pain in lumbar region as if "spine were broken "; pain in sacrum with numbness down the limbs; pain in sacrum and coccyx while urinating; itching and moisture over the coccyx.

Drawing and tearing pains in limbs; weakness of all limbs; sensation of paralysis of limbs; herpes and eczema on the limbs; marked numbness of the upper limbs, during rest and when lain on; numbness and coldness of fingers and hands.

Skin: Rheumatic and tearing pains in shoulders, worse in left.

Herpes in axilla and bend of the elbow; horny callosities on the palms; skin of the hands hard, fissured, hot and bleeding. Psoriasis of the hands and fingers; raw, moist places between the fingers; the finger nails thick and brittle; the finger nails become black and fall off. Great heat of palms.

Smarting and sore between the nates; excoriation from walking. Many eruptions on the thigh, but especially herpes and eczema; eruptions that ooze a glutinous fluid. Numbness of lower limbs during rest; the legs are weak and heavy as if paralyzed; oedema of the legs and feet.

Herpes in the groin and hollow of the knee. Cold feet in evening in bed; copious, offensive sweat of the feet; ulcers on the feet and legs; tearing in thighs, legs, feet and toes; burning heat in soles and heels; gouty-tearing in the toes; spreading blisters on the toes that become ulcers; the toenails become black; thick; and crippled toenails the nails are painful; ingrowing toenails.

Dreams vivid; anxious, horrible, vexatious. Sleepless before midnight; sleepiness during the day. Nightly pains in sleep. Frequent waking. Unrefreshed in the morning.

Graphites should be used more frequently in chronic recurrent intermittent fever. Chill in the evening with tearing in the limbs chill intermingled with the fever; wants to be covered in all stages chill worse after eating, better after drinking and in open air. Nightly fevers with chilliness but no sweat; dry beat evening and night, especially before midnight; anxiety and restlessness during the fever, hands and soles very hot; even burning heat.

It has chill with fever followed by sweat; sweat from slight exertion; sweat on front of body; the sweat is offensive, cold and stains yellow; copious night sweats in weakness and during phthisis; entire inability to perspire, in many chronic complaints.

Itching of the skin all over the body, with or without eruptions itching worse at night in the warm bed; itching and burning with eruptions; the skin is very hot at night; excoriation of the skin in the bends of joints.

Every injury festers. Fissures on ends of fingers, on nipples, labial commissures at anus and vulva, between the toes. Itching blotches. Erysipelas beginning in face and spreading to other parts; erysipelas beginning in face and going from right to left.

Itching over varicose veins; itching piles. Herpes and eczema oozing a glutinous moisture. Crusty and scabby ulcers. Hard, painful cicatrices; old ulcers with proud flesh and burning, itching and stinging ulcers with indurated base and margins.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Plumbago. Black Lead. An allotropic modification of carbon. (The finest specimens contain traces of iron, 0.04 to 0.6 per cent.; poor qualities as much as 4 per cent.) Trituration of prepared Black Lead from finest English drawing-pencils.

Clinical.─Acne. Amenorrhoea. Anus, affections of. Blepharitis. Breasts, indurated; cancer of. Cancer. Catarrh. Chaps. Chlorosis. Colic. Constipation. Deafness. Dropsy. Dysmenorrhoea. Ears, affections of. Eczema. Epistaxis. Erysipelas. Eyes, affections of. Face, erythema of. Feet, affections of. Fissures. Gastralgia. Glandular swellings. Gleet. Gravel. Haemorrhoids. Headache. Herpes. Hydrocele. Influenza. Irritation. Lachrymal duct inflamed. Leucorrhoea. Lips, cracked. Liver, indurated. Menstruation, disorders of. Mentagra. Nails, disorders of. Noises in head. Nose, affections of. Nose-bleed. Obesity. Ovarian tumours. Paralysis. Parotitis. Pityriasis. Priapism. Pruritus vaginae. Psoriasis. Ptosis. Rectum, affections of. Rhus poisoning. Scar., inflamed. Scrofula. Seminal emissions. Skin, affections of. Smell, disorders of. Stomach, cramp in. Sycotic diathesis. Syphilis. Trichiasis. Tumours. Ulcers. Urine, disordered. Uterus, cancer of. Vaccination, effects of. Wens. Whooping-cough. Worms. Zona.

Characteristics.─The first idea of using this substance as a drug, says Hahnemann, is due to S. Weinhold, who was led to it by seeing workmen in a mirror-factory use it as a local application for tetters. Ruggieri followed him, using it both internally and locally. Hufeland relates the cure of a lady, 41, by the internal and external use of Graph., of an acne rosacea which had defied all other modes of treatment. Teste classes Graph. in the Pulsatilla group with Silic., Calc., Hepar, and Phos. He gives the following among other symptoms as common to Puls., Silic., and Graph.: "Anxious, changeable, wavering mood; aversion to work; vertigo with cloudiness; a sort of intoxication in the morning; sense of fulness or emptiness in the head; drowsiness in daytime; single, acute, deep shocks in right half of brain; flickering before eyes; suspension of visual power; photophobia; lachrymation in open air; foul smell before nostrils; amenorrhoea; swelling of right testicle; swelling of veins; wandering pains; pain in the parts not lain upon; heaviness in affected parts; rheumatism at nape of neck; sweat at night having odour of urine; drowsiness in daytime."

Hahnemann was quick to perceive that Graph. was much more than a mere remedy for skin affections. Like that other great skin remedy, Sulphur, Graph. proved to be a leading antipsoric. Hahnemann's provings and observations defined its powers over skin affections. Its special characteristic is: "Eruptions oozing out a thick, honey-like fluid." Wherever such eruptions are found Graph. is in all probability the remedy. I have cured many cases, notably some occurring on the occiput, and behind the ears. It is no less frequently a remedy for the results of repelled eruptions of the kind. Nash records such a case: A child had been "relieved" of an eczema capitis under old-school treatment, whereupon entero-colitis set in, and became so alarming that it was pronounced "consumption of the bowels." Nash when called in found the child greatly emaciated, with little or no appetite, very restless, passing "stools of brown fluid mixed with undigested substances, and of an intolerably fetid odour." Graph. 6m (Jenichen) cured promptly. Graph. being one of the forms of Carbon, it is therefore related to Carbo anim., and Carbo veg.; and as it contains a small percentage of iron, it is also related to Ferrum.

Graph. causes slight erethism at first, then a weak, relaxed, condition; anaemia; chlorosis. The typical Graphites patient is "fat, chilly, and costive." Lymphatic glands are swollen. Like the skin, the mucous membranes are cracked and fissured, and have scanty secretions. Irregularities in the distribution of the blood occur, pallor of skin and mucous membranes. The circulation is at first excited, then follows loss of energy and consequent venous hyperaemia. Fainting readily occurs with great anxiety; motion is impaired and the tissues relaxed, but paralysis is not complete. A marked characteristic of Graphites is a rush of blood to head, with flushed face. I have cured two very severe cases of nose-bleed in elderly people where this symptom was present. In one case there had been flushing of head and neck for many months previous to the attack, and flushing preceded and accompanied each occurrence of the bleeding. In the other case the patient said the precursory flush seemed to come up from his toes. He had had his nostrils plugged, without avail, before I saw him. Graphites, in a high potency, cured promptly in both instances. Hahnemann gives the symptom on which I based the prescription as follows: "Bleeding of the nose at 10 p.m.; preceded in the afternoon by rush of blood to the head, and heat of face," There is also "rush of blood to head, with distension and flatulence."

Graphites is suited to persons who have a tendency to put on unhealthy fat. Defective animal heat from defective oxygenation; always cold, indoors or out. Chlorotics. Affections of glands, skin, and mucous membranes, especially at orifices. The Graphites condition is not sensitive and herein it differs from Hepar, which has extreme sensitiveness of affected parts. The tone of mind is sad and foreboding. The eyes, ears, and nose are affected, especially the integumentary parts. There is a very characteristic symptom in reference to the hearing: "hardness of hearing > when riding in a carriage." There is a sore throat like that of Lachesis; sensation of a lump, < on empty swallowing. It has also a "lump" sensation at the stomach. It resembles Lachesis, too, in its flushings; in gastralgia > by eating. Hurries to meals to relieve violent pain at epigastrium; especially to dinner and supper. Goullon cured two notable cases of cramps in the stomach with "improvement of the cramps by eating." There was also clean tongue. Milk agreed well, especially hot milk. In one case roast meat agreed, but not boiled meat, and, still less, potatoes. In the morning there was a fishy taste, disappearing later in the day. Another cure by Goullon was of a young lady who was troubled with salivation, coming on any time; sometimes just before sitting down to dinner; oftenest when riding in a carriage, less often when riding in a train. She was prevented by it from seeing company, and was low-spirited. There was also habitual costiveness. Graph. 12 at first aggravated and then rapidly cured. Goullon understood the power of Graphites, perhaps, more completely than any other writer, and I will give another of his cures, as it illustrates several points in the drug's action. A well-grown, healthy-looking girl of fifteen had violent headache in right temple every four weeks; the pain was stinging. Glittering before the eyes frequently preceded and followed the attack, which recurred to the hour, and sometimes also on the following day. Drowsiness accompanied the attack, deep sleep, heat and redness of the head, followed by a chill. Sep. 6 relieved the headache, but the glitter remained. The heaviness of the eyelids led Goullon to Graph. (which causes ptosis). His choice was strengthened on learning that there had been no menstruation, and finally she "had a degree of hoarseness that indicated chronic hypertrophy of the tonsils. (A. Vogel claims this to be a sign of scrofula derived from syphilis.") Graph. 2x trit., in two-grain doses, was given six mornings in succession. The period for the headache passed without recurrence, and the sensation of lights completely disappeared (H. R., vi. 271). Graphites causes suffocative spells which arouse the patient from sleep, he must jump out of bed, < after midnight (Lach. < after sleep). There is a diarrhoea of thin, offensive, partly digested stools. Constipation is more common, the stools being in lumps coated with mucus, and with mucous shreds. Habitual costiveness and, in females, scanty menses form a keynote indication when found associated with other complaints, as headache, skin-affections, etc. Moist itching excoriation around anus and fissures. The male sexual organs are affected as well as the female: Uncontrollable sexual excitement, with violent erections. Priapism. (I have frequently seen this condition produced in patients taking Graph. for other things; and have frequently relieved priapism with Graph.) Impotence. In the female the breasts are affected. Pain under left breast at menstrual period, often waking patient in the night. Hysterical melancholia with occipital headache. Leucorrhoea profuse, in gushes, excoriating. It has many symptoms in common with Sepia, but Graph. affects the ovaries more markedly than the latter. There is a feeling as if the uterus would press out at the vagina. Stiffness of knees. The skin of Graphites is rough, hard, and dry. Eczematous and herpetic eruptions predominate. Eruption on occiput exuding gluey humour; eczema of ears; moist eczema round anus. Pimples, acne. Wens. Gastro-intestinal affections alternating with acne and erythema of face, herpetic lesions or scrofulous hypochondriasis. Excoriations between toes. Syphilitic and "constitutional" ulcers. Recrudescence of scars. Cracks and fissures. Offensive discharges and secretions. Sweat: stains yellow; sour, offensive.

The senses are abnormally acute: music causes weeping; cannot tolerate the smell of flowers. Weak, exhaustion of whole body. Spasms; contractions of muscles; twitching of eyelids. Cataleptic condition. Sensitiveness of internal parts; numbness in various parts; drawing pain in whole body. Pain as if head were numb, or pithy, or made of wood. Pain as if constricted in occiput, extending to nape of neck, which pains as if broken. "Intense, heavy weight in occiput, as if head drawn back, must rest it, unable to read or think" (result of 2x and 3x, on three separate occasions in a patient of Dr. W. Epps. Chi. 1x. relieved in a few days─Hom. Rev., xl. 162). As if skin of forehead was drawn into folds. As if a skin were before ear. As if a hard body as large as an egg were behind ear. As of a cobweb over the face. As of a lump in stomach, with beating as of two hammers. As if intestines were torn; croaking as of a frog in abdomen. As if everything would be torn to pieces during menstruation. Bearing-down pains in various parts. Rest >; motion <. Riding in a carriage < many complaints; but > hardness of hearing. < Lying on left side. Cold drinks, cold air, damp, wet atmosphere, washing <. Warmth < tearing pain in teeth; warmth of bed < itching; > crampy pain in stomach; scrofulous affections of bones. Eating > cramps in stomach; hot drinks, especially hot milk, >. < In open air; in wind. Bathing after measles = paralysis of face. Getting feet wet = delayed menses. Attacks occur during summer and autumn. Ears feel stuffed at the full moon. Suffering parts emaciate. Overlifting easily. Haemorrhages. (When giving Graphit. internally in cases of anal eruption I have found the external use of an ointment made with a drachm of the 3x trituration to an ounce of Cetacean ointment of great service. Hirsh, of Prague, has also used Graph. locally in cases of disease of the nails, with very good results.)

Relations.─Antidoted by: Acon., Arsen., Chi., Nux v. Antidote to: Arsen., Iod., Rhus t. It follows: Calc., Lyc., Puls., Sep., Sul. Complementary: Caust., Hep., Lyc. Compare: Petrol., Lach., Carb. v., Carb. a., Caust., Nit. ac., Rhus (erysipelas, left then right; Graph., right then left), Ant. c., Ratan., Paeon, Nit. ac., Sil. In priapism, Pic. ac. In affections of right ovary, Pallad., Op. Laughing and weeping alternately, Aur., Pul., Lyc., Stram., Alum. Hears better in ears, Nit. ac. Obesity, Calc. ars. Trichiasis, Borax. Erysipelas beginning on nose, Canth. Fat constitutions, Calc. Burning excoriating discharge from eyes, Ars. (but with Ars. there is spasmodic closing of lids); Sul. has margins of lids reddened; with Graph. they are paler than usual; Euphr. has thick, purulent discharge, Graph. has thin. Profuse salivation, Bism. Graph. is a chronic, or over-grown Puls. (but Puls. has <, and Graph. has > from milk).

Causation.─Grief. Fear. Overlifting.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Dejection, sadness and profound melancholy with discouragement and much weeping.─Feels miserably unhappy.─Agitation, compression of the heart, and anguish, as if at the point of death, or under the fear of some calamity, often with headache, vertigo, nausea, and perspiration.─Anxious agitation (with inclination to grief, anxiety about the future), sometimes when seated at work, or at night, with impulse to quit the bed.─Agitation and inquietude in the morning.─Much inclined to grieve and cry in evening, whilst in forenoon she had laughed about every trifle, contrary to her habit.─Weeping without cause.─Obliged to weep at music.─Timid disposition.─Irresoluteness with excessive cautiousness and hesitation.─Too great susceptibility to impressions.─Tendency to be frightened.─Irascibility.─Dread of labour.─Extreme hesitation; unable to make up her mind about anything.─Absence of mind.─Forgetfulness with misapplication of words in speaking or writing.

2. Head.─Fatigue in consequence of intellectual labour.─Sensation of numbness in the head.─Intoxication and vertigo, esp. in the morning on rising, or on awaking (the forehead is contracted, with nausea and vomiting); as well as in the evening, with want to lie down.─Confusion in the head.─Attacks of headache, sometimes semi-lateral, with nausea and acid vomiting.─Feeling of looseness of the whole brain.─Violent headache with eructations and nausea, during menstruation.─Periodical unilateral headache, with constipation and amenorrhoea.─Pain in the head as if the head were numb and pithy.─Violent headache in the morning, driving out a cold perspiration, and inducing syncope.─Headache from the motion of a carriage, as well as on moving the head, or during and after a meal.─Headache on the side which presses the pillow.─Tension and pressive constriction in the occiput, with stiffness at the nape of the neck.─Intense heavy weight, or dull pressure, in upper part of occiput, with a feeling as if the head were drawn back, obliging him to rest his head; unable to read or work while pain lasts.─Sensation of compression and contraction in the forehead.─Compressive pain in the vertex in the afternoon, with rotatory movement in the head.─Burning on the top of the head on a small spot.─Ebullition of blood, with beating and buzzing in the head.─Fulness in and congestions to the head, the menstruation being suppressed.─Tearing and pulling in the scalp, in the teeth, and in the glands of the neck.─Itching in the scalp.─Humid scabs on the head.─Humid, spreading, scurfy eruption on the top of the head, painful to the touch, as if from subcutaneous ulceration, and emitting a disgusting odour; extending down to sides of the head into the whiskers; after scratching, more sore and humid; later drying up to a white scurf.─Sweat on the head, while walking in the open air.─Smooth large wens on the hairy scalp; the hairy scalp is very hot, and itches very much, esp. when walking in the open air.─Abundant desquamation of the scalp.─Falling off of the hair, even on the sides of the head and the whiskers.─Rheumatic pains in the scalp, principally in the sides, extending to the teeth and cervical glands; < when walking and becoming cold in open air, > from warmth and while getting warm when walking.─Perspiration smelling acid or very offensive, colouring the linen yellow; on the head (as on the whole body) at night and during the day, from the least exercise; < even while talking, > when walking in the open air.─The hair turns grey.

3. Eyes.─Eyelids heavy and falling, as if paralysed.─Aching in the eyes and eyelids, as if sand had been introduced into them.─Shootings in the eyes.─Heat and burning sensation in the eyes, esp. by candle-light.─Inflammation of the eyes, with redness of the sclerotica, injection of the veins, swelling and abundant mucous secretion of the eyelids.─Hordeolum, with drawing pain.─Dry humour in the eyelids, and in the eyelashes.─Agglutination of the eyelids and lachrymation.─Pressure and stinging in the eyes, with lachrymation.─Agglutination of the eyes early in the morning.─Dry gum in the eyelashes.─Obscuration of the sight on stooping.─Myopia.─Confusion of characters on reading.─Sparkling before the eyes.─Photophobia, esp. by day, inflammation and red, swollen eyelids.─Intolerance to the light of day.

4. Ears.─Shootings and beatings in the ears.─Dryness of the internal ear.─Fetid smell and discharge of blood and of pus from the ears.─Scabs, tetters, running, and excoriation, behind the ears.─Hardness of hearing.─Hardness of hearing, > by the motion of a carriage.─Singing, tinkling buzzing, and rumbling like that of thunder in the ears.─Buzzing in the ears at night.─Sensation, as if air were enclosed in the Eustachian tube.─Sensation as if the (l.) ear were filled with water.─Sensation as if a skin were before the ear.─Whistling in the ears.─Cracking in the ears when moving the jaw.

5. Nose.─Swelling of the nose.─Sensation of tension in interior of nose.─Black pores on nose.─Dry scabs in nose.─Painful dryness of nose.─Nostrils, excoriated, cracked and ulcerated.─Fetid smell from nose.─Discharge of blood when the nose is blown.─Epistaxis, esp. in the evening and at night; preceded by rush of blood to head, and heat in the face.─Discharge of fetid pus from the nose.─Sense of smell sharpened (too sensitive, cannot bear the smell of flowers).─Stoppage, and troublesome dryness of nose.─Quotidian coryza, on being chilled.─Dry coryza, with headache and nausea, which compel the patient to lie down.─Flow of mucus from the nose, liquid, or yellowish, or thick, with putrid smell.─Fluent coryza, with catarrh (as soon as he becomes cold).

6. Face.─Pale yellow complexion, with livid circles under eyes.─Flushes of heat in face.─Erysipelatous inflammation and swelling of the face (burning and stinging; the erysipelas spreading in rays), with eruption of vesicles.─Erysipelas preceded by chills and heat alternating; beginning r. side of face, going to l.─Encysted tumour on the cheek.─Constant sensation, as if the face were covered with cobweb.─Semi-lateral paralysis, and distortion of the muscles of the face, with difficult articulation.─Drawing and tearing pains in the bones of the face.─Eruption on the face, in appearance as if the skin were raw.─Scabs and moist pimples on the face.─Ephelis.─Falling off of the beard.─Ulcers on the internal surface of the lips.─Fissures in the ulcerated lips.─Ulcerated corner of the mouth.─Lips cracked.─Scabby eruption on the chin and round the mouth.─Painful nodosities in the lower jaw.─Swelling and hardness of the submaxillary glands.

7. Teeth.─Toothache at night, or in the evening in bed, < by heat, and sometimes with heat of the face and swelling of the cheek.─Pains in the molars, on closing the jaws.─Lancinating and drawing toothache, esp. after drinking anything cold, and < by warmth.─Pain, as from excoriation, in teeth and gums, during and esp. after a meal.─Easy bleeding and swelling of the gums.─Fetid odour from the gums and mouth.─Discharge of black and sour blood from the teeth.

8. Mouth.─Dryness of the mouth in the morning.─Putrid and urine-like smell from the mouth, gums, and nose.─Pain, as from excoriation, vesicles and ulcers on the tongue.─Bitter taste in the mouth, the tongue being much coated.─Taste of rotten eggs in the morning, after rising.─Profuse salivation, and accumulation of mucus in the palate and throat.─Speech impeded by paralysis of the muscles.

9. Throat.─Almost constant soreness of the throat, on swallowing, generally lancinating, with feeling of strangulation.─Pain in the throat, even at night, as if there were a plug within it, or as if the food had stopped there.─Swelling of the tonsils, with pain when swallowing.─Cramps in the throat, with feeling of strangulation.─Roughness and scraping in the throat.

10. Appetite.─Bitter or acid taste, with sourness in the mouth and throat.─Great thirst in the morning, and after a meal.─Immoderate hunger (with acidity of the stomach).─Repugnance to cooked food, and to meat: also to anything saline or saccharine.─Weakness of digestion, with drowsiness, headache, pains in the stomach, fulness, and inflation of the abdomen, after a meal.─Hot things disagree with stomach.

11. Stomach.─Frequent and sometimes abortive risings.─Sour risings, with bitterness in the mouth.─Sour regurgitation of food.─Bitter and green regurgitations.─Frequent hiccough, esp. after a meal.─Nausea, esp. in the morning, or after every meal, with inclination to vomit.─Water-brash, at night.─Obstinate vomiting of food.─Vomiting after the slightest loathing, with great nausea and pinching in the abdomen.─Retching, with rising up of mucus.─Acid vomitings.─Colic, and pressure on the stomach, sometimes with vomiting, > by a recumbent position, and by the heat of the bed.─Cramp-like pains, or squeezing, as from claws in the stomach.─At night, pinching in the stomach, with digging in the chest.─Burning pain in the stomach, which compels eating.─Cramps in stomach > by eating.

12. Abdomen.─Tension, shootings, and beatings in the hypochondria.─Hepatic pains after breakfast, which render it necessary to lie down.─Fulness and heaviness, in abdomen.─Abdomen enlarged, tight, inflated. Inflation of the abdomen, with congestion of blood to the head, heaviness in the head, and vertigo.─Hardness in the abdomen.─Nocturnal, cramp-like pain in all the intestines, with deficient secretion of urine.─Incarceration and accumulation of flatus in the abdomen.─Expulsion of an excessive quantity of fetid flatus, preceded by pinchings.─Rumbling in the abdomen.─Croaking, as of frogs in the abdomen.─Painful sensitiveness of the groins.─Painful swelling of the inguinal glands.─Erysipelatous inflammation, with large vesicles near the navel.─Pressive, stitching, boring pain in region of navel; extending into back and hypochondria; with habitual costiveness; < evening.

13. Stool and Anus.─Obstinate constipation, with hard faeces (the lumps being united by mucous threads), and hardness in the hepatic region.─Faeces hard, knotty, of too great a size, and scanty.─A quantity of white mucus is expelled with the stool.─Faeces too soft.─Stools of a putrid, sour smell (with burning at the rectum), or of sanguineous mucus.─Mucous diarrhoea.─Diarrhoea, with tightness of the abdomen.─Faeces of a very small size, like a worm.─Lumbrici and ascarides.─Taenia.─Itching, sensation of excoriation, and swelling of the anus.─Large haemorrhoidal excrescences in the anus, with pain as from excoriation, esp. after a stool.─Painful and burning cracks between the haemorrhoidal tumours.─Prolapsus recti with the varices, as if the rectum were paralysed.

14. Urinary Organs.─Urgent, anxious, and painful want to make water, with emission drop by drop, with a stitch in the urethra, when emitting it.─Scanty secretion of a deep-coloured urine, soon becoming turbid, with white or reddish sediment.─Urine of an acrid sour smell.─Stream of water small, as if from contraction of the urethra.─During micturition pain in the os sacrum.─Involuntary emission of urine.─Nocturnal emission of urine.─Wetting the bed at night.─Pain in the coccyx when urinating.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Tension and cramp-like pains in the genital parts, with troublesome voluptuous ideas.─Eruption of pimples on the prepuce, and on the penis.─Dropsical swelling of the prepuce and the scrotum.─Dropsical swelling of the testes.─Voluptuous excitation in the genital parts.─Indifference, or extreme excitement of sexual desire.─Violent erections.─Uncontrollable sexual excitement.─Priapism.─Absence of erections in the morning.─Emission of semen, almost involuntary, without erection.─During an embrace painful cramps in the calves.─After an embrace coldness of the legs, exhaustion, heat of the body, and perspiration.─Absence of emission of semen during coition.─Feeble enjoyment during coition.─Flatulent colic during the excitement in the genital parts.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Great aversion to coitus.─Vesicles and pimples on the vulva.─Excoriation on the vulva and between the thighs.─Soreness of the vagina.─Painful swelling of the ovaries; < every time she takes cold or gets her feet wet.─Swelling and hardness of ovaries after menses.─Tearing, grinding, bursting in r. ovary, as if it would burst, before and during menses.─Tumour in r. iliac fossa; also l.─Pain in uterus when reaching high with arms.─Sensation of bearing down towards the genital parts.─Catamenia too slow, too scanty, and too pale.─The first menses delay.─Suppression of catamenia, with heaviness of the limbs and congestions of blood to the head.─Cutting pains on the appearance of the catamenia.─During the catamenia, flow of blood from the anus, pains in the limbs, ulcers become worse, swelling of the cheeks or of the feet, catarrh, with hoarseness and coryza, toothache, or cramps and violent cuttings in the abdomen, headache, nausea, pain in the chest, and weakness.─Before and during the menstruation, fatiguing cough (morning and during the day.).─Leucorrhoea, white and liquid, like water, with tension of the abdomen, and weakness in the back.─Leucorrhoea, before and after the catamenia.─Leucorrhoeic discharge occurs in gushes day or night.─Painful sensibility and excoriation of the breasts, with eruption of running phlyctenae.─Obstruction and induration of the mammary glands.─Hard cicatrices remaining after mammary abscess.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Sensitiveness of the larynx.─Catarrhal roughness and hoarseness, with sensation of excoriation, burning pain and scraping in the throat, coryza and obstruction in the chest.─Voice false (for singing).─Accumulation of slimy matter in the chest.─Cough, produced by roughness of the throat.─Cough at night, or in the evening in bed, excited by taking a full inspiration, with oppression of the chest.

18. Chest.─Difficulty of respiration and oppression on the chest.─Nocturnal attacks of suffocation, on going to sleep, or on walking in the open air.─Suffocative paroxysm at night, awakens him out of sleep, usually after midnight; must quickly jump out of bed, hold himself firmly to something, and quickly eats whatever is at hand, which gives relief; or hoarse cough (asthma).─Wheezing respiration.─Pain in the chest on ascending, on riding on horseback, on yawning, or on putting the hand on the chest.─Perspiration on the sternum every morning.─Swelling and induration of the mammary glands.─Soreness of the nipples, with small corrosive blisters.─Pressive, cramp-like pain in the chest.─Spasms in the chest.─Shootings in the chest on the least movement.

19. Heart.─Palpitation of the heart on the least movement.─(Constant emptiness and coldness about the heart and in chest, with sadness.).─Region of heart: constriction; pressure; stitches.─Sensation like electric shock from heart toward front of neck.─Strong pulsations of blood in whole body, but esp. about heart, < by every motion.─Throbbing in region of heart, in evening, after lying down, when lying on l. side so violent that the covering was moved thereby, with anxiety; disappearing on turning over.

20. Neck and Back.─Stiffness in the nape of the neck.─Violent pain in the nape of the neck and the shoulders, on stooping the head, and on raising the arms, like a tearing incision.─Blisters on the neck.─Swelling of the glands of the neck.─Tearing in the glands of the neck.─Bruising pains in the loins, or violent achings in the loins, like squeezing from claws, or from twisting the body.─Contractive pain in the back (between the shoulders).─Sensation of tingling in the back.─Formication in the back.

22. Upper Limbs.─Tearing and lancinating in the shoulders.─Sensation of contraction in the joint of the elbow, on extending the arms.─Cramp and tearing in the hands.─Emaciation of the hands.─Erysipelas, callosities, dry skin, and cracks in the hands.─Pain as from dislocation, in the joint of the thumb.─Swelling and inflexibility, stiffness and distortion of the fingers.─Granulated eruption and corrosive vesicles on the fingers.─Arthritic nodosities on the fingers.─Tettery excoriation between the fingers.─Thickness of the nails of the fingers.

23. Lower Limbs.─Heaviness, lassitude, and numbness of the legs in the open air.─Excoriation between the legs.─Arthritic tearing in the hip-joint, the feet, and the toes.─Numbness and stiffness of the thighs, and of the toes.─Restlessness in the legs.─Tetters on the thighs, on the hands, and on the tibia.─Sensation of contraction in the tendons of the ham, and in the tendo Achillis.─Tension in the varices, on extending the legs.─Stiffness and want of flexibility in the knee, which does not permit sitting squat.─Cramps and starting of the muscles in the calves of the legs.─Congestion in the legs and in the feet, when standing upright.─Ulcers in the legs.─Swelling of the legs and of the feet, with hardness and shooting pain.─Stiffness of the instep.─Shooting pain, like that of an ulcer, in the heel and in the soles of the feet, on rising from the sitting posture.─Cold feet, even in the evening in bed.─Feet burning.─Fetid sweat on the feet.─Contraction of the toes.─Swelling and distortion of the toes.─Sore pain of the corns.─Callous skin, corrosive vesicles and ulcers on the toes.─Ulceration on the borders of the big toe.─Tettery excoriation between the toes, with violent itching.─Thickness and deformity of the toe-nails.

24. Generalities.─Cramp-like pains, cramps and contraction in different parts.─Tension in some parts, as from contraction of the tendons.─Starting and distortion of the limbs.─Arthritic pullings and tearing in the limbs and joints, esp. in ulcerated parts.─Arthritic nodosities.─Tendency to strain the back.─Limbs become easily numbed.─Stiffness and complete inflexibility of the joints.─Hard swellings, with shooting pains.─Nocturnal pains, which are felt even during sleep.─The symptoms disappear after a walk in the open air.─Varices, with shootings, tension, and itching.─Swelling and hardness of the glands.─Pains during change of weather.─General uneasiness (sensation of debility), which extorts groans, without any distinct sensation of pain.─Strong pulsation in the whole body, and esp. in the heart, augmented by the least movement.─Pulling in the whole body, with urgent inclination to extend the limbs.─Sensation of trembling in the whole body, with jerking of the limbs.─Great emaciation.─Great tendency to take cold, and fear of the open air, and of currents of air.─General lassitude.─Rapid failure of strength.

25. Skin.─Obstinate dryness of the skin, and absence of perspiration.─Ephelides.─Red spots on the skin, like flea-bites.─Erysipelatous inflammations.─Vesicular erysipelas, like zona, on the abdomen and on the back.─Itching of the varices on the lower limbs.─Itching-stinging on the surface of a mole.─Eruptions oozing out a thick honey-like fluid.─Tetters, and other humid or scabby eruptions, sometimes with secretion of corrosive serum, or with itching in the evening, and at night.─Eruption of pimples and nodules (principally under hair and on covered parts) which itch very much.─Swelling and induration of the glands.─Encysted tumours.─Corrosive nodules.─Excoriation of the skin (in the bends of the limbs, groins, neck, behind the ears), esp. in children.─Unhealthy skin, every injury tending to ulceration.─Proud flesh, and fetid pus, in ulcers, with tearing pains, burning, and shooting.─Scrofulous and syphilitic ulcers.─Burning pain in an old cicatrix.─Deformity and thickness of the nails.

26. Sleep.─Great drowsiness during the day, and early in the evening.─Difficulty in falling asleep.─Agitated sleep at night, with frequent waking.─Nocturnal sleep incomplete, as if only dozing.─Unable to fall asleep before midnight on account of a fixed idea.─Unrefreshing sleep at night, followed in the morning by a comatose sleep.─At night, profusion of ideas, sometimes troublesome.─Great agitation at night, with anxious and frightful dreams, oppression and choking.─During sleep, starts, with fright.─Dreams of death and of fire; dreams with meditations.─At night, discomforting ideas, anguish, heat, inquietude, startings, gastric sufferings, and many other affections.─Perspiration about the head, when falling asleep.─Bleeding from the nose at night.─Wakens at night from a suffocative attack.─Constant talking during sleep.─Wetting the bed at night while asleep.

27. Fever.─Pulse full and hard, but not accelerated.─Shiverings, morning and evening, with or without heat, and followed by perspiration.─Chill and chilliness, principally in the evening, after 4 p.m.─General dry heat, evening and night, preceded by a chill.─Heat when riding in a carriage.─Perspiration sour, colouring the linen yellow, of offensive smell.─Inability to perspire.─Perspiration, often very fetid, on the least movement, or on the least fatigue, even from speaking.─Nocturnal sweat, sometimes fetid.─Quotidian fever; shaking chill in the evening; an hour afterwards heat in the face, and cold in the feet, without any subsequent perspiration.

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

Black Lead (Amorphous Carbon)

Suited to women, inclined to obesity, who suffer from habitual constipation; with a history of delayed menstruation. "What Pulsatilla is at puberty, Graphites is at the climacteric.". Excessive cautiousness; timid; hesitates; unable to decide about anything (Puls.). Fidgety while sitting at work (Zinc.). Sad, despondent; music makes her weep; thinks of nothing but death (music is intolerable, Nat. c., Sab.). Eczema of lids; eruption moist and fissured; lids red and margins covered with scales or crusts. Sexual debility from sexual abuse. Menses: too scanty, pale, late with violent colic; irregular; delayed from getting feet wet (Puls.). Morning sickness during menstruation; very weak and prostrated (Alum., Carbo an., Coc.). Leucorrhoea: acrid, excoriating; occurs in gushes day and night; before and after menses (before Sep., after, Kreos.). Hard cicatrices remaining after mammary abscess, retarding the flow of milk; cancer of breast, from old scars and repeated abscesses. Unhealthy skin; every injury suppurates (Hep.); old cicatrices break open again; eruptions upon the ears, between fingers and toes and on various parts of body, from which oozes a watery, transparent sticky fluid. The nails brittle, crumbling, deformed (Ant. c.); painful, sore, as if ulcerated; thick and crippled. Cracks or fissures in ends of fingers, nipples, labial comminssures; of anus; between the toes. Burning round spot on vertex (Cal., Sulph. - cold spot, Sep., Ver.). Cataleptic condition; conscious, but without power to move or speak. Takes cold easily, sensitive to draught of air (Bor., Cal., Hep., Nux). Suffering parts emaciate. Hears better when in a noise; when riding in a carriage or car, when there is a rumbling sound (Nit. ac.). Diarrhoea: stools brown, fluid, mixed with undigested substances, and of an intolerable odor; often caused by suppressed eruptions (Psor.). Chronic constipation; stool difficult, large, hard, knotty, with lumps united by mucous threads; too large (Sulph.); smarting sore pain in anus after stool. Children: impudent, teasing, laugh at reprimands. Sensation of cobwebs on forehead, tries hard to brush it off (Bar., Bor., Brom., Ran. s.). Phlegmonus erysipelas: of face, with burning, stinging pain; commencing on right side, going to left; after application of iodine. Decided aversion to coition (both sexes).

Relations. - Complementary: Caust., Hep., Lyc. Graphites follows well: after Lyc., Puls., after Cal. in obesity of young women with large amount of unhealthy adipose tissue; follows Sulph. well in skin affections; after Sepia in gushing leucorrhoea. Similar: to, Lyc., Puls. in menstrual troubles.

Aggravation. - At night, during and after menstruation.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Eruption on the skin, oozing out of thick, honey-like fluid.

Mucous outlets; eyelids inflamed, with pustules; ears discharge, moist sore places behind ears; mouth cracked in corners; anus, eruptions, itching, fissured.

Nails grow thick, cracked, out of shape.

Constipation; stools knotty, large lumps, united by mucous threads.

Diarrhoea; stools, brown fluid, mixed with undigested substances, and of an intolerably foetid odor.

Sad and desponded; inclined to weep; thinks of nothing but death.

Especially adapted to persons inclined to obesity; particularly females who delay menstruation.

Hears better when in a noise; when riding in a carriage or car; when there is a rumbling sound.

Sensation of cobweb on forehead; tries hard to brush it off.

* * * * *

The chief leading characteristic of this remedy is found in its skin symptoms.

Hoyne had expressed it nearly right. "Eruptions oozing out a thick, honey-like fluid." It may be found on any part of the body, but is especially found on or behind the ears, on head, face, genitals, or eyelids. I once treated a case of eczema of the legs which was of twenty years' standing. It was in an old obese woman, and, by the way, that is the kind of subject in which this remedy is found most efficacious.

I gave her, on account of much burning of the feet, a dose of Suphur c. m. In two or three weeks an eruption was developed all over the body which exuded a glutinous, sticky fluid. One dose of Graphites c. m., dry on the tongue, cured this as well as the eczema of the legs and left her skin as smooth as that of a child. This was years ago. Erysipelas sometimes takes this form, and in such cases recurs again and again. It will naturally occur to the physician that, because of this recurrence, there is some psoric taint which must be met by Sulphur. But we must not make the too common mistake of thinking that Sulphur is the remedy on account of its great antipsoric powers, or on the often misleading indication "when seemingly indicated remedies don't act", because Sulphur is not the only anti-psoric and where Graphites is indicated is not at all the anti-psoric for the case in hand. In short, we must not prescribe for psora (which is only a name after all) without indications any more than we would prescribe for the name scarlatina or diphtheria. Graphites is a powerful anti-psoric, as are also Psorinum, Lycopodium, Causticum and many others. Symptoms must decide here, as elsewhere. In order to still further show the wonderful anti-psoric powers of this remedy I will give another case from practice.

A child three years of age had eczema capitis. Under allopathic local treatment the eczema disappeared; but soon entero-colitis of a very obstinate character set in. Then the regulars could not "do" that as they had the eczema, and after they had given up the case, pronouncing it consumption of the bowels, the homoeopath (myself) was called in on the ground that he could do no harm if he could do no good (so they said).

Case.–Child greatly emaciated, little or no appetite, very restless, and "stools brown fluid mixed with undigested substances, and of an intolerably foetid odor". Taking into the account the history of the suppressed eczema I prescribed Graphites 6m. (Jenichen) and in a short time a perfect cure was the result. Psorinum has a similar stool as was present in this case, but the eruptions of the two remedies are different and this one corresponded to Graphites, hence Psorinum was ruled out. If this case of so long standing had not had the eruption I might have thought of China on account of the extreme weakness from long-continued drain or loss of fluid, for China is another remedy that has brown, loose, foetid stools. So we must take into consideration all the case, psora and all. In chronic cases, in which Graphites is likely to be the remedy, we may look for affections of the eyelids, of the same eczematous character as that found on the head, behind the ears, etc.

Notice.–Eczema of lids, eruptions moist and fissured margins of lids covered with scales and crusts. In Sulphur lids the margins are very red. All the orifices under Sulphur are very red. Graphites leads all the remedies for eczematous affections of the lids, Staphisagria stands next, but of course special indications, local or general, or both, must decide.

Graphites is one of our best anal remedies. We have given the kind of loose stool characteristic of the drug. This is, however, exceptional, for it generally tends to constipation instead of diarrhoea. The stools are knotty and large, the lumps sometimes united by mucous threads and mucus often follow the stool. There is often eczema around the anus, and it is one of our best remedies for fissura ani. There is in these cases apt to be much pain after stool, and much soreness in anus on wiping it. Now if all this should occur in subjects of this tendency to sticky eruptions, we should not hesitate to give Graphites with expectations of success.

Another very characteristic calling for this remedy is found in the nails. Both finger and toe nails become thick, grow out of shape. Never forget Graphites when you find this state of nails present. Again, Graphites has cracks or fissures in the ends of the fingers (Sarsaparilla), nipples, labial commissures, of anus, and between toes (Petroleum). It is one of our best remedies for wens found in persons of herpetic dyscrasia. Old, hard cicatrices soften up and go away under its action, especially those left by abscesses of the mammae. Lumps in the breast of suspicious appearance also go away under the action of this remedy. In menstrual troubles it resembles Pulsatilla, but there are plenty of points to differentiate them. In temperament it resembles Calcarea ostrearum; but in Graphites the menses are mostly scanty and delayed, in Calcarea too soon and too profuse; Graphites cures complaints of many kinds when you have present two things:

1st. The peculiar tendency to obesity.

2d. The characteristic glutinous eruptions.