Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

This remedy is an antipsoric and antisyphilitic. It has been used very extensively by the old school as an antisyphilitic, but in the very large doses which they used it became to a great extent allopathic to the disease, because of the tremendous effect it produced upon the economy, and implanted its own miasm, and thereby in a measure it suppressed many cases of syphilis.

The medicines that are the most powerful substances are really those that sustain in homoeopathic relation to the disease in general, and of these the very smallest dose often cure when similar. When the remedy is not similar enough to cure in such a form the increasing of the dose does not make it homoeopathic. There is an idea in vogue that increasing the dose makes the remedy similar. That is going away from principle. If the remedy is not similar there is no form of dose that can make it similar.

It affects the glandular structures and the periosteum after the manner of syphilis. It produces catarrhal inflammations. It is a deep-acting medicine and closely related to Mercurius. It has ulcerations and catarrhal states and glandular affections like Mercurius. It is similar in its action to Mercurius and is an antidote to it.

The old subjects who have always been taking Calomel or Blue Mass for their bilious complaints will in time become subject to frequent coryzas, constipation, pains and aches, and disturbance of the liver, and disordered stomach, and must have another dose of Mercury. Some of these cases need this remedy. If you practice medicine in a neighborhood where there is a very poor homeopath you will find that he is giving the Biniodide, or some other preparation of Mercury, for almost all of the colds or sore throats.

This establishes upon all of these patients an over-susceptibility to the weather changes, and they keep taking these red mercurial powders. Some of them carry them around in their pockets. But the more they take of these red powders the more frequently they have sore throats and colds. Many times they will not get over these troubles without Kali iod. in potentized form, or Hepar.

Hepar and Kali iod. are the two principal medicines that such patients need. Individuals with this susceptibility to colds and sore throats and weather changes, that is, from the effects of Mercury, who have been led into a Mercurial state, run two ways,

Those who are invariably shivering and cold, and want to hover around the fire, and cannot keep warm, will need Hepar, and those that are always too warm, that want the covers off, and want to be in constant motion, extreme restlessness, very tired when keeping still, will have their Mercury antidoted by Kali iod.

The Mercurial state will be antidoted, but it sometimes takes several prescriptions and sometimes a series of carefully selected remedies. The psora, that is, his chronic state, will not manifest itself until you have lifted off this miasmatic state, which has been caused by Mercurius. It is astonishing what a great number of men, women and children are bowed down by the miasm that Mercury produces, and yet those prescribers go on, giving this form of Mercury and say it is practicing Homoeopathy. I am led to remark that there is yet much to be learned about the art of prescribing.

Mind: This remedy has a peculiar mental state.

There is a very strong degree of irritability, cruelty, and harshness of temper. He is harsh with his family and with his children; abusive. It will take all the sense of refinement out of his mind and then he will become sad and tearful.

Extremely nervous, and must walk and be on the go. If he remains in a warm room he becomes weak and tired, and feels as if he could not stir, does not want to move, and does not know what is the matter with him.

He is worse in the warmth of the house, but as soon as he goes into the open air he feels better, and as soon as be begins to walk he feels still better and can walk long distances without fatigue; goes into the house again and becomes weak and tired and exhausted.

A nervous and mental exhaustion comes on from resting.

The head: manifests some peculiar things, such as we sometimes see in syphilis, which the remedy controls when the other symptoms agree.

Bi-parietal head pains of nerve syphilis, old, long standing cases. Pains through the parietal bones, through the side of the head, as if crushed in a vise; awful crushing, pulsating, pressing, rending pains on both sides of the head.

These are worse in the house, and better from warmth and from motion, better walking in the open air. All through the head there are pains like knife stabs, like nails driven in; lancinating pains, cutting pains in the scalp, in the temples, over the eyes through the eyes. The pericranium becomes sensitive and filled with nodules. The scalp breaks out with nodular eruptions, tuberculous eruptions, syphilitic eruptions.

"Scalp painful on scratching as if ulcerated."

"Great disposition for hair to change color and fall out."

Coldness of the painful parts.

Eyes: In watching a syphilitic case, there is often noticed disturbance of vision, and finally iritis. They can be treated homeopathically. I have seen syphilitic iritis of the most severe character cured with Staphisagria, Hepar, Nitric acid, Mercurius, Kali iod, and many other remedies. The inflammatory process stops at once, there are no adhesions, no deformity, and no troubles remaining behind.

If you consider that a case of inflammation must run its course, and will be associated with fibrinous exudations, and adhesions most probably follow, of course you must adopt the plan of dilating with Atropine, and hold the iris so until the disease has run its course. But the disease does not run its course after a proper remedy, and as that is the last symptom to appear, it will be the first to go, and you may expect the eye symptoms to disappear within twenty-four hours after the administration of the homeopathic remedy.

This remedy has marked conjunctival trouble, with green catarrhal discharges from the eyes. This green character applies whenever you can find discharges. There is copious, thick, green expectoration, green discharges of muco-pus from the nose, from the eyes, from the ear, thick, greenish leucorrhoea, green discharge from ulcers. These thick green or yellowish-green discharges are sometimes very foetid.

At times when you examine the conjunctiva it seems to puff out as though water were behind it, a chemosis.

Iodide of potash, produces that state.

"Chemosis, purulent secretion."

In olden times when I used to give Iodide of potash to rheumatic patients, according to the prevailing craze, I would notice, after a day or two, chemosis coming into the eyes and the patient beginning to ache in his bones all over, while the rheumatism of the joints would disappear. An allopathic effect was taking root upon that patient which would last for years. I have noticed that a large dose of Kali iod. in syphilitics would make the patient get up the next morning with difficulty in opening the lids, and upon opening the eyes the conjunctiva would form water bags, as though water were behind them and they were bagged out.

Kali iod. also produces oedema of the lids and injection and tumefaction of the conjunctiva. The mucous membrane becomes red, raw and bleeding. The vessels are enlarged and the surface is very sore, inflamed and smarting. He is compelled to hold the eyelids during winking; the winking is painful and causes scratching, as from sand. Acute conjunctivitis, especially when it occurs in patients who have rheumatism, who have been abused with Mercury, or those afflicted with syphilis. Syphilitic and rheumatic affections of the eye.

Old gouty subjects who must keep in motion, and must keep in the open air, who are always too warm, and cannot endure any degree of warmth in the room, who suffer more from their gouty pains when keeping quiet, those who are fatigued when keeping quiet and can walk and move without fatigue in the open air, especially when it is cold, with enlarged joints, with restlessness, anxiety, nervousness, harshness of the temper and great irritability, alternating with weeping.

This relief from motion will make the routinist give Rhus in many instances, but Rhus would have no relation to the case whatever. Remember, Rhus is a cold patient, who is always shivering and wants to be by the fire, whose complaints are > by the heat, he is > in a warm room and becomes fatigued from motion, whereas Kali iod. does not become fatigued from continued motion.

The nose: comes in for much trouble.

In old syphilitic catarrhs they blow out great crusts and pieces of bone; syphilitic ozoena; the bones of the nose are very sensitive to touch and become necrosed, and the nose flattens down and becomes soft. It is deprived of the bony framework that holds it in shape and settles down flat, leaving only the red tip. Extreme pain at the root of the nose like Hepar.

Thick, yellowish-green, copious discharge from the nose. Every change of the weather brings on catarrhal states. He is constantly taking cold, sneezing continuously. Copious, watery discharge from the nose, excoriating the passage, and causing burning in the nose. This coryza is < in the open air, but all the rest of the patient is > in the open air.

Consequently, when a patient has two such conditions that operate against each other he suffers much, because he cannot find quarters for relief. In a warm room his nasal catarrh, or his coryza, is >, but in the open air he feels > as to the rest of his complaints.

"Repeated attacks of violent, acrid coryza from the least cold."

With the coryza the frontal sinuses become involved, and there is great pain through the forehead; pain in the eyes, pains through the cheek-bones.

Throat: In the throat, as you might suppose from its relations to syphilis and Mercury, there is much trouble.

Deep ulcers in the throat, old syphilitic ulcers; perforating ulcers, eating away and destroying all the soft tissues, the uvula and the soft palate. Ulceration upon the tonsils; enlarged tonsils; very painful sore throat. Knots and knobs in the throat upon the mucous membranes.

"Dryness of throat and enlarged tonsils."

"Terrible pain at the root of the tongue at night."

The whole pharynx, larynx, trachea and bronchial tubes suffer from catarrhal conditions. Inflammatory conditions with greenish discharge.

While all the external symptoms and the rest of the body symptoms are relieved in the cold air and by the contact of external cold, internally cold things aggravate. Cold milk, ice cream, ice water, cold drinks and cold food, cold things in the stomach < all the symptoms. Though he has an excessive thirst and will drink large quantities of water, if very cold it will make him sick.

Kali iod. has all the flatulence and belching of Carbo veg. and Lycopodium.

The glands all over the body become tumid, enlarged and hard. It has cured enlargement of the thyroid gland; it may take this from Iodine.

Very characteristic is the chronic inflammation of the urethra, following gonorrhoea, where the discharge is thick and green, or greenish yellow, without pain. Inflammation of the testicles, syphilitic in character.

Pain and rawness in the larynx, with hoarseness; awakens from constriction of the larynx. It is very useful in phthisis of the larynx. Cough from constant irritation in the larynx. Dry, hacking cough, hoarse cough with copious greenish expectoration. Catarrhal phthisis with thick, copious, greenish expectoration. Pleuritic effusion. Fluttering of the heart. Palpitation on slight exertion or when walking. Rapid pulse.

Not only in old gouty troubles, but in patients threatening phthisis, and in old malarial troubles this medicine will be of great service.

It cures sciatica when the pain is sharp from the hip down, worse lying, sitting or standing and better walking.

You may go to the bedside of a patient who is suffering from what she calls "hives;" you will find she is covered from head to foot with an eruption that forms great nodules; she is fairly burning up from head to foot. She cannot endure any covering; the heat of her body is intense, yet she has no rise of temperature.

Rough nodular manifestations all over the skin; a condition that will go away in a few hours, but in a few days, weeks or months come back again. A single dose of a very high potency of Kali iod. will turn things into order in persons subject to these hives and they will not come again.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Potassium Iodide. Kali hydriodicum. KI. Solution. Trituration.

Clinical.─Actinomycosis. Aneurism. Anhidrosis. Bright's disease. Bubo. Bunions. Cancer. Caries. Cold. Condylomata. Consumption. Cough. Croup. Debility. Dropsy. Ears, otalgia; tinnitus. Emaciation. Erythema nodosum. Eyes, affections of; cysts on lids of. Fibroma. Glandular swellings. Gonorrhoea. Gout. Gumma. Haemorrhages. Hay fever. Housemaid's knee. Influenza. Intra-menstrual haemorrhage. Joints, affections of. Laryngitis. Liver, diseases of. Locomotor ataxy. Lumbago. Lungs, hepatisation of; oedema of. Menstruation, disorders of. Neuralgia. Nodes. Noises in ears. Nystagmus. Odour of body, abnormal. Oedema glottidis. Pancreatitis. Paralysis. Pleurisy. Prostate, affections of. Rheumatism. Rickets. Rupia. Sciatica. Scrofula. Small-pox. Spine, Pott's curvature of. Spleen. Syphilis. Tic-douloureux. Tongue, neuralgia of. Tumours. Ulcers. Wens.

Characteristics.─Kali iod. is one of the few medicines on whose definite action reliance can be placed in ordinary practice. In active secondary syphilis, in ulcers of the constitutional type, and in cases of subacute rheumatism, Iodide of Potassium will generally do what is expected of it. That its action is specific is generally admitted; and specific is the same thing as homoeopathic. I rarely find occasion to use it in lower attenuations than the 30th. The history of the drug in relation to syphilis is both interesting and important. As we should naturally expect, K. iod., being anti-syphilitic, is also antidotal to mercury. Experience seems to show that it is those patients who are charged with the disease or with mercury, or both together, who can support the massive doses of K. iod. which are sometimes given. But the salt is often given as a diagnostic, and then, if care is not taken, there is great danger to the patient. I have seen patients irretrievably reduced in strength by K. iod. given on the supposition that they were syphilitic. I have recorded in my Diseases of the Heart (p. 165) the case of a gentleman, 74, who had a psoriasis-like skin affection for which he consulted a homoeopath. His health remained excellent, but his skin did not get well, and he consulted a well-known skin and syphilis specialist, who at once pronounced it to be syphilitic, though the patient denied that he had ever had the disease. Massive doses of K. iod. were given, and the skin disease disappeared in a fortnight. But the patient was practically killed. He cried like a child without knowing why. He lost over a stone in weight. He could eat very little, and everything Caused distress and a full sensation. Palpitation came on at all times, and kept him awake at night. The pulse was a mere flicker in the attacks, and was irregular, intermittent, or very frequent in the intervals between. It was in this state that he came to me, but the powers of reaction were destroyed, and nothing that I gave made any impression. He left London, and died very shortly afterwards. Here is another case of K. iod. poisoning, when unbalanced by antidotal drugs or disease. It is related by Jonathan Hutchinson. The patient, a man of 26, had been treated with 5-grain doses of K. iod. at a hospital for a swelling in the groin which was diagnosed as syphilis. There was no skin eruption at that time, but shortly one did appear, and was thought to confirm the diagnosis. The dose was increased to 10 grains at the end of the week, ten days later to 15 grains, and still later to 20 grains. This was kept up from July 23rd to October 9th. Mercury was then substituted, but this made no change, and the patient, who was getting worse the whole time, died of exhaustion in a fortnight. The last part of the time he was in the London Hospital, to which he had been removed, and it was there found, on careful inquiry, that no evidence of syphilis existed. This was his condition when he arrived in the London Hospital a few days before his death: There was a generalised skin eruption, consisting of swellings varying in size from small papules to enormous tuberous masses, some of the latter being ulcerated. The swellings attained the greatest size on face, legs, and upper chest. A coloured plate illustrating the case was published, showing the tumours to be dark purplish red in colour. The antidotal action of syphilis to K. iod. is further borne out by the observation of Fournier (Allen's Encyclop., Appendix), who noted the occurrence of purpura in patients under its influence. But it only occurred in an intense form in persons who had no signs of syphilis, and to whom it was given "only as a preventive." But the anti-syphilitic relation of K. iod. only takes in a small part of its power as it is known to homoeopaths. Though it has not been extensively proved, the recorded and attested effects of over-dosing are numerous enough. P. Jousset (L'Art Médical, October, 1899, 241) has referred to Rilliet's experiments with the drug on the healthy. He experimented on twenty-eight persons, mixing their table-salt with one ten-thousandth part of K. iod., so that in two years each would have taken 40 centigrammes. Here is one of the cases: A man, 45, of very strong constitution, never had any illness. At the end of seven months he began to waste; had palpitation; became sad and melancholy; had fixed ideas, weakness, indefinable malaise in the lower abdomen with constipation. The iodised salt was accidentally suspended during January and February, and he completely recovered. Returning home in the month of August, he commenced the salt again, and the same symptoms returned with much more intensity than before: notable and progressive wasting with voracious appetite; trembling; palpitations; fixed look; yellow complexion; above all the moral disturbances were very pronounced agitated even to tears; irritability; disgust and discouragement agitated sleep. It took two months for him to recover this time. The record says that the man's health was again "completely restored"; but this is not quite correct. After the first poisoning, although complete health was apparently regained, there was left an extreme susceptibility to the drug's action, so that a much shorter period of poisoning was required to reproduce the symptoms in a greatly aggravated degree. And two years after this, although health was apparently perfectly restored, a visit of twenty-one days to the seaside nearly cost the man his life. The same symptoms reappeared. He was reduced to a skeleton, the appetite being all the time exaggerated. In walking he was almost bent double, trembling and out of breath at the slightest movement. Pulse weak and very frequent. Finally he was compelled to keep his bed, and had great difficulty in reaching his home in Geneva. There he promptly got better. But in spite of the apparent recovery a very profound change in the organism had occurred; and from this experience "< at the seaside" must be numbered among the conditions of K. iod. Two others, both women of sixty, had the same symptoms as this man, one at the end of two months, the other at the end of four. On the rest of the twenty-eight experimented upon no symptoms were observed. Joussett quotes from the same authority experiences with the same salt in the treatment of goitre. A man of fifty had a round, indolent, non-fluctuating goitre on the right side of the neck, the size of an orange, of very slow growth. He took every morning, fasting, a spoonful of water containing one gramme (15 1/2 grains) of K. iod. From the first day of the treatment he felt an indefinable anguish. The sixteenth day there was increased malaise and considerable wasting, and the patient threw his potion into the lake. Two days later his doctor found all the grave symptoms of the poisoning; but the goitre was three parts gone. The patient was sent to the country and was ill all the summer, but completely recovered in the winter, the goitre having returned to its original size. This experience was repeated on three other patients; but a goitrous dog was more fortunate. Two centigrammes (gr. 1/6) was sufficient to produce all the symptoms in him, and his goitre disappeared and did not return when he recovered from the poisoning. In this connection may be mentioned the power of the salt over tumours of other kinds. Enlarged lymphatic glands, syphilitic nodes, condylomata, and tumours of the breast and uterus have been removed by it. This has occurred under the action of the crude salt for the most part; and the general explanation is that the solvent action of the drug is most powerfully excited on the more lowly organised new tissues. But this would not apply to all cases. We have seen in Hutchinson's case that K. iod. can produce tumours as well as remove them; but Jules Gaudy has put on record another experience (Journ. Belge d'Homoeop., vi. 57). Several cases of abdominal tumour were successfully treated by him with K. iod. in 3x, 10 and 15 centesimal triturations. Two of these had been unsuccessfully treated with the crude salt before coming under his care. This they could not tolerate on account of loss of appetite and irritation of the mucous membrane of mouth and throat. One of these patients had a large tumour on the level of the great curvature of the stomach extending on both sides, plunging into the abdominal cavity and extending into the pelvis; it was adherent and difficult to define. She had a jaundiced, dirty-looking skin, and loss of appetite, and mostly vomited her food. A suspicion of latent syphilis led Gaudy to the remedy, which was perfectly tolerated in attenuation, though not in the crude. Health rapidly improved, and in three months there was hardly any tumour to be discovered. The remains of it evidently depended from the epiploon. The second case was very similar in nature to this. Cooper reports this case: "Womb packed with fibroids, pain in right inguinal region on exertion, spirits depressed, tinnitus like buzzing of flies, constant tired, sleepy feeling down the limbs, hot burning feet, though sometimes intense shivering all over, pains in the breasts, which are tender, unable to go long without food, constant distension as from flatus, sinking at scrobiculus cordis at 11 a.m., sleep dreamy; all these symptoms moved away under K. iod. 30, leaving the patient in absolute comfort." Cooper adds this note: "There is much resemblance between the actions of K. iod. and of Sul. in their 30th dilutions. After bronchitis, pneumonia, erysipelas, and other inflammatory affections, K. iod., in 30th and also in cruder forms, acts like magic, apparently from the removal of the effete products left in the tissues.".─K. iod. has also been proved in the regular way, but not so extensively as some other Kali salts. It acts on the tissues much in the same way as syphilis does─dissolving them─glands atrophy, tissues, especially connective tissues and ligaments, inflame and ulcerate. The periosteum and bones are attacked and nodes appear. But K. iod. is perhaps more anti-scrofulous than anti-syphilitic. It acts best in scrofulous patients, especially if syphilis or mercurialisation or both are superadded. It also causes infiltration, oedema and dropsy of various kinds. The blood is acted upon, haemorrhage occurs, and purpura haemorrhagica. A grand indication for K. iod., as pointed out by Cooper, is a "diffused sensitiveness" over parts affected. This appears in the provings: "The scalp is painful on scratching, as if ulcerated (after eleven days)." This is from Hartlaub and Trinks. "Swelling of the whole thyroid gland, increasing very rapidly, with some sensitiveness to touch and pressure." It has removed sensitive syphilitic nodes. I have often verified this indication. In all neuralgic or inflammatory conditions where there is heightened and diffused sensitiveness of the affected part, K. iod. must be considered. I cured with K. iod. 30, in a middle-aged man, neuralgia occurring daily over the left eye; in addition to this he complained that his head was very sore. He had also Sore gums and a cough, and was > lying down. There was no syphilis in this case. Farrington mentions "Headache of the external head, hard lumps like nodes on the scalp which pain excessively." This may be either syphilitic, mercurial, or rheumatic. Cooper cured with K. iod. 30 a case of rheumatic gout in a lady; every joint affected; unable to sleep for weeks on account of the pain. The keynote indication was: "After fatigue, hepatic region becomes tender." He commends it in affections of the spleen with diffused sensitiveness of spleen region and dropsy. K. iod. also corresponds to serous effusion on the brain secondary to hepatisation of the lungs. The action of K. iod. in the respiratory sphere is very important. The coryza of K. iod. is well known, and constitutes for the old school the only generally recognised indication of "Iodism," as it is called, with supreme disregard of the Kali element. The discharge is acrid, watery; the eyes smart and are puffed, there is lachrymation. (This action on the eyes may develop into iritis, keratitis, and chemosis.) The coryza recurs repeatedly from every little cold, and makes the nose red and swollen. The discharge may become thick, green, offensive; ozaena and perforation of the bones may occur. The voice becomes nasal, hoarse, or is lost. "Awakened especially 5 a.m., with dry throat, oppression, loss of voice, glands swollen," as in croup and oedema glottidis. K. iod. corresponds to many cases of phthisis, laryngeal and pulmonary. A characteristic is: Stitches through the lungs; in middle of sternum; through sternum to back or deep in chest while walking. "Deep, hollow, hoarse cough with pain through breast." The characteristic expectoration is greenish, copious, and looks like soapsuds. Hering speaks of K. iod. as having been curative in pneumonia and Bright's disease. Lutz (quoted H. W., xxviii. 175) remarks on the frequency (from atmospheric causes) of bronchial asthma among both whites and natives in the Sandwich Islands, the symptoms being those of a suffocating capillary bronchitis with defective expiration, K. iod. (crude) giving speedy relief. "The initial, pronounced, and unmistakable symptoms of K. iod. are: coryza, sneezing and bronchitis; and from these spread out an expanse of symptoms such as might be expected from so usual a starting-point of disease" (Cooper). K. iod. has been commended as a protective against foot-and-mouth disease in cattle (B. M. J., June 26, 1895). The heart is profoundly affected, as we have seen above. "Fluttering on awaking; must get up, fearing otherwise he will smother." It is a favourite remedy for aneurism among old-school practitioners, but there is no need to imitate their massive doses; its action is evidently specific. Walking greatly < all heart symptoms. It is suited to many cases of rheumatic heart, as well as other rheumatic conditions. The digestive tract is no less disordered than other mucous membranes. There is a terrible pain at the root of the tongue which is characteristic. There is loss of appetite and indigestion with flatulence and bloating almost as intense as that in Lycopod. Cold much < all these symptoms. The rectum and genito-urinary tract have many symptoms. I cured with it a case of spasm of the rectum with a little pain in the urethra coming on after coitus. Psorinum and Sulphur had given partial relief before. This < after coitus relates K. iod. to the other Kalis─Caust., K. bich., and K. carb. Eruptions of many kinds appear, scrofulous and syphilitic in appearance. There is a papular and pustular eruption, especially on scalp and down back, the pustules leaving scars when they heal. Among the peculiar sensations of K. iod. are: As though head was enlarged; as if it were screwed in; as if a large quantity of water were forced into brain; as if it would be forced asunder; as if a leaflet were at root of nose. As if a worm was crawling at root of nose. Back as if in a vice. As of a tumour in ovaries. In chest as if cut to pieces. In coccyx as if bruised. Cooper has cured with it many cases of noises in the ears, giving a single dose of 30 or higher and allowing it to work. The chief time Condition of K. iod. is in the main the same as those of the other great anti-syphilitics─Syph., Aur., Merc., and of the disease itself, < at night, from sunset to sunrise. This applies to its rheumatic and other affections. The sciatica of K. iod. is < at night, < lying on painful side, > in open air. The chest symptoms, like those of K. ca., may be < in early morning 2 to 5 a.m. Headache < 5 a.m. (also headache < after a night's rest). Loose stools also occur at that time (K. bi.). Like Merc., K. iod. has great sensitiveness to atmospheric changes: Every little exposure every damp day will set up the symptoms. At the same time there is the > in open air of Iod., etc.: "Irresistible desire for the open air; walking in open air does not fatigue." The chill of intermittent fever is not > by warmth; but warmth > many symptoms of teeth and scalp. In general, however, there is aversion to heat. Heat < headache. Motion <, especially walking; after the first movement, in the lower limbs it is more bearable. Sitting hurts, and flexing limbs > some of the pains. < From touch is a very marked feature of K. iod.; this is part of the "diffused sensitiveness" noted by Cooper. All symptoms < by drinking cold milk. "K. iod. is a remedy that has a great number of keynotes. It seems to meet all temperaments, and while suitable for pale, delicate subjects, is also required for those who flush easily and are manifestly plethoric. A diffused arterial vasculosis is met by it, but it is also called for in venous states. Its characteristic tinnitus aurium is certainly the sharp, shrill, hissing and piercing noises, but it also relieves the throbbing, pulsative noises, especially when the heart is hypertrophied and inclined to fatty degeneration. Diversity of lesion, diversity of aggravation, and prolixity of symptoms without any one feature being in prominence, calls for it: a moderate amount of catarrh of one or more of the orifices of the body, with tendency to flatulent distensions, depression, used up feelings, inability to think, are characteristic. But perhaps the most satisfactory action of K. iod., in the 30th, is in rickets (and rickety conditions) along with its many attendant symptoms. When children cannot bear to be touched, cannot ride in jolting conveyances, have big heads and emaciated limbs, big teeth and small jaws, and when they incline to frequency of urination and of defaecation, K. iod. 30 will work wonders. In child-life K. iod. acts at once if indicated and completely clears away the symptoms: in adult-life it may often have to be reverted to during the treatment of very obstinate forms of disease. While this is true in a broad sense, it is also true that there is no known prescription that gives a better chance of removal of that very obstinate symptom tinnitus aurium than a single dose of K. iod. 30 allowed to act. This must not be taken as justification for careless selection of the remedy in cases marked by contra-indicating features" (Cooper).

Relations.─Antidoted by: Hepar. [Also Nit. ac. I have found in many instances Nit. ac. 12 or 30 give vast relief to syphilitics who had been saturated with K. iod. under old-school treatment, and were getting worse under it. This includes cases of iritis. Burnett mentioned to me a case of actinomycosis affecting the anal region cured by him with Nit. ac. 3x. The patient had been under leading old-school doctors, among whom massive doses of K. iod. is the general treatment of this disease.] Arg. n. relieved "fulness and indigestion after each dose" caused by K. iod. in a patient to whom I had given it. Antidote to: Merc., Lead-poisoning. Follows well: Merc. Followed well by: Nit. ac. Compare: Iod. (goitre; heart affections; < from warmth; phthisis); Caust. (< by touch; syphilis); K. carb. (< from coitus; < 2-4 a.m.; extreme sensitiveness); Lach. (smothering sensation on waking; extreme sensitiveness;─the K. iod. headache is much more violent than that of Lach. and has hard lumps on scalp; K. iod. = Infiltration of bones as well as soft tissues, Lach. only of the latter); Merc. (syphilis, catarrh, sensitiveness to weather; stitching pains through lungs─Merc. in different directions; K. iod. through sternum to back); Pso. and Gels. (hay fever; Gels. has more sneezing); Eriodict.─"Yerba Santa "-(catarrhal phthisis) Ant. t. (threatened paralysis of lungs); Arsen. (catarrhal symptoms wasting; restlessness); Bell. (brain congestion); Apis (dropsy; < by heat); Lyc. (flatulent distension); Mez., Pul., Sil., Sul.; Act. r., Chi., Nat. sul., and Carb. sul. (noises in the ears).

Causation.─Drinking cold milk.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Half mad all night.─Talkative and full of jokes.─Sadness.─Anxiety.─Fright at every trifle; every little noise starting.─Apprehensive and lachrymose in evening.─Irritable; irascible, esp. towards his children; and excited, quarrelsome.─Weeping from slightest cause.─Sadness.─Anxiety.─Dreads the return of dawn, and the trivial details of life seem insupportable.─Always troubled.─Troublesome and unreasonable impressions easily strengthened into fixed ideas.─Loss of memory; cannot find words at the moment wanted; cannot write his reports; cannot play music; formication in hands, marked weakness of lower limbs.─Intellectual weakness and paroxysms of dementia, accompanied by headache.

2. Head.─Intoxicated feeling.─Vertigo.─Vertigo in the dark, < railway travelling.─Headache; at 5 a.m.; inability to find a resting-place for head, > rising, with heaviness of it.─Heaviness; on stooping; after dinner, making her fretful; and dulness.─Congestion.─Feeling as if much water were being forced into brain; as if head being distended.─Violent, compressive or expansive headaches, with sensation of coldness in part affected, which is hot notwithstanding.─Forehead: stitches on stooping; tearing or jerking stitches in l. sinus; tearing in r. side in evening, transiently > by pressure, with sticking; digging in l. side; aching; aching in sinuses and r. ethmoid cells.─Digging or throbbing in one side of forehead only.─Heaviness in sinciput and vertex, evening and night, with sensitiveness to touch.─Temples: sticking in l. at 6 p.m., with tearing; heaviness in r.; painful throbbing in l. in evening.─Vertex: stitches in front of in evening; pinching here and there; pain as if it would be forced asunder, > external warmth but often returning, with external heat in vertex, but general chilliness; tension, with sticking in it and with tearing in l. temple extending into nape.─Screwing together from both sides in morning, > open air.─Occiput: pain, heaviness towards evening; tension in bones, with stitches.─Pain in scalp on scratching, as if ulcerated.─Hard lumps on skull with headache.─Hair changes colour and falls out.

3. Eyes.─Eyes surrounded by dark rings; and sunken; ferrety in morning.─Cellular tissue about eyes oedematous.─Protruding eyes.─Discharge of purulent mucus in morning.─Constant oscillation, inability to fix them, pupils dilated.─Tearings beneath l. eye.─Pain waking him, with lachrymation and burning in nose and throat.─Biting in r. eye, > scratching recurring in evening.─Burning in afternoon; in evening, with purulent mucus; with redness of lids and with lachrymation of r. eye.─Uneasy feeling in l. eye in morning and on waking, external edge of periosteum of orbit tender on pressure, l. eye similarly affected, next day a peculiar pain in a direct line from external border of one orbit to that of the other.─Lachrymation; (of r. eye).─Balls painful on movement.─Balls felt as if in a rubber covering, which kept up a constant contraction.─Lids: swelling of; swelling of upper and tarsal regions, which were bluish red; tarsal cysts.─Cutting in r. external canthus in evening; burning, with photophobia, evening.─Conjunctivae injected; chemosis.─Orbital margins: gnawing on r. lower; painful drawing in r. upper.─Sensitiveness to light and vision obscured by undulations.─Vision: dim; double; disturbed; dim with ringing in both ears.

4. Ears.─Sticking: in r. ear during day; in l. in evening in bed, extending into head; extending into l. ear.─Tearing: now in r., now in. l.; deep in r. in forenoon; in r. in evening, making it sensitive; in front of l., extending into temple, in bones; in front of r., extending into temple making whole side painful.─Otalgia, with great sensitiveness of ear.─Piercing pain, < r.─Gnawing within and behind l.─Boring pain in r. ear.─Indescribable pain extending outward from l. ear in evening, and if she moves hand towards ear, even without touching it, it creeps over side of face, as if mesmerised.─Feeling as if something had fallen in front of ears; with tearing.─Itching in l. ear.─Cracking in r. on attempting to swallow.─Ringing; and buzzing.─Sounds as of a river sweeping by; as of rain on roof; like cutting stones; grating, cracking noise, membrane sensitive.─Hearing almost gone.

5. Nose.─Tearing in upper part of l. nostril.─Burning: in nostrils; in upper part, with feeling as if a leaf were in front of it; and in throat.─Stoppage (in morning), with running of clear water; corrosive, burning.─Tingling prickling, with violent paroxysmal sneezing, alternately r. and l. nostril occluded, heat in nasal sinuses, acrid discharge from anterior nares.─Sneezing and running of clear water.─Ineffectual efforts at sneezing.─Coryza: with redness of eyes, nose, throat, and palate, with lachrymation, violent sneezing, running of water, frequent irritation to cough and swelling of upper lids; laryngitis.─Running from nose; of burning water, making the skin sore; a stream of hot fluid, waking at 3 a.m., with salivation at 7 a.m.─Discharge of thick yellow mucus.─Violent bleeding.─Loss of smell.─Great sensibility of nostrils.─From the least cold, redness of nose; ears; face; white-coated tongue, nasal voice, violent thirst, alternate heat and chilliness, dark hot urine, headache, and great soreness and tenderness of nose (in persons who have previously taken much mercury).─Fulness in nose.

6. Face.─Face yellow; more yellowish green than dead white.─Swelling of l. cheek.─Distension of cheeks and submaxillary spaces, with stiffness.─Look earnest, wild, uncertain; excited, sometimes depressed; sad.─Sticking in l. cheek, with jerking, then sensitiveness.─Tearing in l. zygoma in morning when lying on it, with sticking.─Malar bones sensitive to touch.─Lost the power of moving cheeks and lips and unable to masticate.─Jaws: stitches from l. upper to parietal bone in morning in bed; tearing in l. lower and in corresponding teeth; tearing in both sides of lower as if it would be torn out; gnawing in both sides of lower; excruciating pain in shocks like neuralgia, and in teeth; stiffness; stiffness and uneasiness; immobility.─Lips dry, cracked, and coated; full of glutinous mucus in morning after waking.─Painful drawing in r. side of upper lips and in gum.─Sensitiveness of upper lip and of nostril, even when not touched.

7. Teeth.─Jerking or shooting in r. eye-tooth, < lying down till midnight and from 4 to 5 a.m., < cold, > warmth, at one time pain as if the tooth would break, or as if a worm were digging in it.─Tearing in l. upper teeth.─Tearing in r. upper molars and in margin of r. orbit.─Tearing in lower teeth in evening and feeling as if a weight hung from lower jaw.─Throbbing in a hollow tooth when walking in open air.─Grumbling in a hollow l. lower molar.─Teeth feel too long in evening and are painful.─Gum swollen and painful.─Swelling about a hollow tooth.─Ulcerative (shooting) pain in r. lower gums.─Pain as from ulceration in teeth at night.

8. Mouth.─Tongue: blister on tip of tongue with burning pain; hypertrophied, tender, covered with nodes and fissured by deep cracks; coated white.─Spasmodic pain at root of tongue at night before sleep, extending to both sides of throat, causing fear of impending death, with sensation as if a spasm would close the pharynx.─Tongue dry in morning and stiff, coated dark brown.─Burning in a spot (also sore pain) on l. margin of tongue.─Speech thick and indistinct.─Hard and soft palate swollen, tender, and in many places excoriated, afterwards palate painful and felt as if the tissues were stretched laterally across posterior part of soft palate and root of tongue, pharynx and larynx dry, causing hoarseness, afterwards the secretions from mouth, nose, and eyes very acrid.─Mouth dry; during chill in evening, with thirst.─Mouth and throat dry and bitter.─Burning in mouth as after hot food.─Mouth numb in morning after waking.─Salivation; with nausea.─Flow of mucus and saliva from mouth.─Bloody saliva with disgusting taste. Offensive odour; in morning after rising, almost as after onions.─Taste: bitter, < throat, > breakfast; sweetish-bitter after waking; rancid after eating and drinking (after all kinds of food or drink); after taste of food; lost or like straw.

9. Throat.─Swelling of thyroid gland (goitre) with sensitiveness to touch and pressure.─Swelling and suppuration of submaxillary glands.─Choking as if something stuck in throat, > hawking up a piece of thick mucus.─Sticking in l. side only on swallowing, < evening, with ulcerative pain.─Constriction.─Rawness and scraping.─Dryness and itching with burning at epigastrium, salivation, and coryza.─Swallowing painful and difficult, with redness and swelling of soft palate and tonsils (< r.).─Burning and uneasiness in oesophagus and stomach.─Increased secretion of mucus in throat.

10. Appetite.─Great bitterness in mouth and throat going off after breakfast.─Bulimy.─Appetite increased, next day diminishing or disappearing; lost.─Aversion to all food to broth.─Thirst; evenings.

11. Stomach.─Eructations: of air in quantities; empty, hiccough-like.─Hiccough in evening.─Nausea: with pressure in stomach; with emptiness, not > eating.─Vomiting; and purging at same time.─Violent vomiting with salivation.─Pain in stomach; intermittent; like an emptiness and coldness in evening, not > by soup.─Painful beating in l. side of epigastric region in evening.─Burning pressure in stomach, which is not > by risings.─Burning in epigastrium; during digestion; > eructation, but immediately returning, with pressure; with acute pain.─Constant inclination to water-brash without its really occurring.─Heaviness; discomfort; faintness; indigestion.─Clucking, a kind of crying, and borborygmi in stomach.─Rumbling and shrill noises in stomach.─Inflammation of stomach and intestinal canal.

12. Abdomen.─Hypochondria: sticking in l. hypochondrium; in r. and in l. side of chest on talking; constriction in l. on a line with cardiac orifice of stomach; burning externally in l.; then in both groins.─Sudden distension as if abdomen would burst, > by emission of flatus, in morning after waking, then diarrhoea twice.─Movings and rumblings; rumbling as if something alive were moving in abdomen; then tension in groins.─Emission of flatus.─Tearing from both sides as if flesh would be torn off in afternoon, extending towards umbilicus.─Cutting and burning round the umbilicus.─Painful distension beneath umbilicus, > stool.─Sticking at I side.─Cutting in r. side; cutting in attacks in afternoon, with burning and nausea, inclination to eructations, which afterwards occur, itching externally about umbilicus and inclination to emission of flatus.─Griping and burning.─Griping, as by a claw, and in groins, with bearing down as if something would come out at pudenda.─Cutting burning pain, always > open air, always returning on entering house.─Pain; then hard, then soft stool; in abdomen and stomach, > evening after lying down, returning in morning on waking.─Indescribable uneasiness, < night.─Bruised pain in groins and small of back during menstruation.─Drawing in l. groin with feeling as if something living were in it.─Heat during menstruation; sudden heat in l. groin.

13. Stool.─Discharges of serous mucus from rectum.─Diarrhoea; with pain in lumbar region, as if broken, or as if menses would appear.─Constipation.─A few small faeces, hard, tenacious lumps, difficult to evacuate.

14. Urinary Organs.─Bladder irritable.─Painful urging.─Urgent want to make water, with copious emission day and night.─Frequent micturition of copious urine as clear as water; < night.─Nocturnal and diurnal enuresis of childhood.─Uric acid sediments disappeared gradually; while those of ammonio-phosphate of magnesia increased.─Urea decreased.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Atrophy of testicles; r. disappeared, the l. of the size of an almond.─Penis swollen and inflamed, with constant semi-erection and desire.─Extensive swelling of glans with paraphimosis.─Chancre-like ulcers with raised edges on penis, with burning in urethra.─Condylomata.─Excoriation by least friction.─Erection slow and long-lasting, coition painful, prolonged, and no emission.─Erections even after ejaculation.─Descent of testicles with effusion into scrotum.─Lancinations in scrotum frequently after coitus.─Compressive pains in testicles, as if returning into pelvis.─Sexual desire diminished.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Biting in pudenda, with leucorrhoea.─Pressure in uterus when walking, > sitting, with dragging pain.─Acrid leucorrhoea.─(Leucorrhoea became thinner and more watery.).─Menses returned in a week.─Menstruation that had been suppressed six months flowed profusely, with pain in abdomen and diarrhoea.─Menses two days late, but more increased.─Discharge of blood between the periods.─Sudden dragging in groins so that she must bend together, after the usual cold milk in morning, with frequent yawning, weariness in thighs, griping in abdomen, extending to thighs, restlessness, chilliness, gooseflesh, with anxiety and warmth in head, then eructations and rumbling in abdomen, menstruation which had just begun partly stopped, then nausea, pressure in stomach, < moving about, shivering in face and hands, with heat and Sweat in face.─Menstruation that had existed two days diminished.─Discharge of mucus from the vagina.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Spasmodic croup in morning.─Choking in trachea, with rawness obliging hawking, whereby she expectorated mucus.─Affection of bronchia.─Provocation in larynx to dry cough.─Voice: altered in sound; nasal catarrhal; short, like her answers; feeble, at times tremulous; lost; lost at night.─Inclination to cough.─Dry cough, mornings; and evenings in evening with soreness of larynx.─Short, hacking cough from rawness in throat.─Oedema glottidis.─Respiration difficult; on waking, in night, with loss of voice.─Dyspnoea on ascending stairs, with pain in region of heart.─Hoarseness with pain in chest, cough, oppression of breathing, and pain in both eyes.─Dry, hacking cough, afterwards copious, greenish expectoration.

18. Chest.─Pain as if cut to pieces in evening.─Pain in l. chest as if sore externally, < touch.─Oppression.─Uneasiness about chest.─Sticking: deep in middle of chest; in r. side; in r. costal region behind breast; in middle of sternum in afternoon, with pressure; in l. in evening; in r. lowest ribs at 8 p.m., with sore pain; in middle when walking; in upper part of l. when sitting bent over, > becoming erect; in middle > moving about; in middle of sternum extending to shoulders.─Breasts diminished in size, supply of milk was esp. diminished.

19. Heart.─Sticking in heart; when walking.─All the symptoms of endocarditis, oppression, faint-like exhaustion, tumultuous, violent, intermittent, and irregular action of heart and pulse, with tensive pain across chest, esp. affecting r. ventricle, which gradually became dilated.─Seemed unequal to the task of circulating the blood.─Palpitation; fluttering, causing faintness and sickness and preventing sitting up.─Pulse-rapid; and full; and irregular; and small; slow and weak; slow and irregular; hard and tense; small and soft.

20. Neck and Back.─Cervical glands enlarged.─Sticking in r. side of nape when lying.─Hard painless tumour like a wen on nape.─Cracking in nape when moving head (Cooper).─Throbbing between scapulae.─Small of back: sticking when sitting; pain as if screwed in; pain and soreness; pain as before menstruation, with diarrhoea twice; pain as if beaten, so that she does not know how she shall lie; < sitting bent.─Pullings in loins as if something alive there.─Pott's curvature.─Pain in coccyx as if she had fallen upon it.

21. Limbs.─Tremor.─Tearing above r. malleolus, in l. index and r. arm, but not in joints.

22. Upper Limbs.─Shoulders: tearing in l.; in r., then in r. ear; pain in tendons of r. on motion, touch, and rest, like a tension and as if swollen; bruised pain in l.; paralytic pain only on moving them.─Arm weak.─Tearing in l. elbow, now in shoulders, now in r. elbow.─Cramp in r. forearm above wrist on moving it.─Pain like a tension and sticking in articular end of radius on moving r. index.─Tearing in r. wrist, then itching on it, not > scratching, then an itching vesicle.─Hands tremble.─Bruised pain in margin of r. hand above little finger.─Tearing: in index from base to tip; on inner margin of r. thumb; on l. middle and ring-fingers in evening: in inner surface of r. ring-finger, which is thereby flexed and cannot be extended; in r. thumb as if it would be torn out; jerking tearing in a line on outer side of bone of l. thumb, with sticking.─Pinching on metacarpal joint of l. thumb.─Contraction of fingers.

23. Lower Limbs.─Gait disturbed; tottering.─Sticking: in upper part of l. thigh; now in thigh, now in tibia, in l. hip on every step, obliging her to limp.─Pain in hips, which produces lameness, with shootings at every step.─Tearing: above hollow of knee, then also below it; in l. femur; posteriorly in r. thigh, with sticking; in r. thigh on and after waking at 11 p.m., extending to below knee, > lying on sound side, lying upon r. side or back was intolerable; in a spot in middle of l. thigh, with paralysed pain as far as knee.─Gnawing in hip-bones; in middle of r. thigh in evening when sitting with r. thigh over l.─Upper part of thigh seems compressed during menstruation.─Tearing twitching in r. knee.─Housemaid's knee.─Tearing: in knees at night; in periosteum of l. knee at night, with a swollen feeling; in outside of l. knee when sitting; in r. tibia; l. calf, then weakness of whole leg; l. calf when standing, > walking, with tension; downward in tibiae in evening.─Gnawing in periosteum of l. leg.─Painful drawing in calves when sitting.─Legs give way.─Painful weakness of legs.─Tearing in back part of l. heel when sitting; in r. heel when standing, > walking.─Ulcerative pain in heels and toes.─Pain in l. instep in evening as if beaten.─Tearing in great toes; in r. second toe.

24. Generalities.─Emaciation.─Marasmus resembling the third stage of phthisis.─Nervous mobility; trembling; spasms.─Spasmodic contraction of the muscles.─Subsultus tendinum.─Attacks of jerking of limbs, < l. arm, and of face, < l. side, with anxiety, apprehension and palpitation, one attack ended with vomiting and headache, once violent rolling of l. eyeball, pupils contracted, facial muscles contracted, l. corner of mouth drawn downward, mouth opened and closed numberless times while uttering unintelligible words, short rapid respiration, pulse hard and full, forehead, neck, and chest covered with sweat, face red, unconsciousness, after the paroxysm trembling, weeping, complaints of heaviness of l. arm, abdomen small, soft, tongue white rather than yellow, efforts to vomit, > vomiting.─Haemorrhage from nose, lungs, rectum.─Paralysis.─Sticking in l. lower jaw, in tibia, l. thigh, l. forearm, in bones in forenoon, then in l. ear, at last in tendon of hollow of l. knee.─Nervous susceptibility exaggerated.─Sensation of turning around.─Malaise.─Irresistible desire to go into the open air.─Vague indescribable feelings in head, back, and limbs.─Restlessness.─Weakness.─Affects fibrous structures, as periosteum and capsular ligaments of joints.─Most symptoms arise during rest, and are > motion.─Consequences of rheumatic fever.

25. Skin.─Purpura; miliary, non-pruriginous, sanguineous spots like purpura, in one case on thorax, in all others on legs only, more confluent anteriorly, sometimes an intermixture of petechiae of different ages, the new being of a brighter colour than the old.─Multiple haemorrhage from skin and mucous membrane.─Erysipelatous swelling of cheeks extending towards temples, with redness, with a few spots on forehead.─Itching tetter on face; and dry, on cheek.─Pimples: on chin and nose; sticking burning, below corner of mouth; sensitive, on nostril; sensitive, on cheek, surrounded by redness and swelling; itching, on chin and exuding water.─Erythema.─Eczema impetiginoides.─Small boils (like furuncles) on the neck, face, head, back, and chest.─Ulceration and yellow colour of tip of l. thumb, but it does not break.─Vesicles of all sizes, becoming confluent and forming bullae, on hands, arms, groins, and feet; they contained a clear serous fluid, were on a hyperaemic base; in the early stages those on hands resemble dysidrosis, but became semi-opaque and shrivelled and dried without forming crusts.─Biting on nape and forehead, then burning after scratching.─Itching on r. natis, > scratching; on right instep in evening, < scratching; on inner side of r. upper arm, after scratching a dry red spot, which at first itches.─Great itching of pubes.─Unable to wash in cold water.

26. Sleep.─Frequent yawning without sleepiness; frequent excessive yawning.─Sleeplessness; almost all night, only sleepy towards morning.─Waking every hour.─Cried aloud in sleep towards morning.─Starting up in first sleep, but soon falling asleep again.─Restless confused sleep; and unrefreshing; from which he wakes with a start and distress as from some strong emotion or sense of calamity.─Weeping during sleep.─Dreams: wandering; joyous; of danger; anxious; that she would be killed; of falling and consequent violent starting up.─Nightmare.

27. Fever.─Chill: in afternoon from afternoon till next morning.; from 4 to 7 p.m., > in bed, with thirst from 6 to 10 p.m., < lying down; at night.─Shaking chill at to p.m.; at night on frequent waking.─All night with shaking and frequent waking.─Shivering; of whole body in morning, except head, which felt hot.─Shivering-creeping during menses, with coldness of hands and pressure and griping in hypogastrium.─Creeping in back in evening, then coldness of whole body; chilliness from 6 to 8 p.m., creeping up back and extending over whole body, with sleepiness.─At times chilly with dry skin, at other times with profuse perspiration.─Chilliness not easily removed by external warmth.─Heat in afternoon.─Heat (flushes of), with dulness of head and discomfort of body; then sweat, from 1 to 3 p.m.─Hot skin.─Heat of head; with burning and redness of face; in forehead, eyes, nose and mouth, with anxious burning in throat extending behind sternum to ensiform cartilage; in feet.─Sweat.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Cough with profuse, thick, green, salty expectoration, from deep down, as if from mid-sternum, with pain through to back; great weakness and night sweats.

Stitches through the lungs; in middle of sternum; through sternum to back or deep in chest; < walking.

Irresistible desire for open air; walking in open air does not fatigue; periosteal rheumatism.

Intolerable bone pain, especially at night; syphilitics.

Syphilitic affections, especially after the abuse of Mercury.

Glandular swellings; interstitial infiltration.

Hepar sulphur. antidotes its over-use.

* * * * *

This is one of the drugs so greatly abused by the old school that I confess to not having prescribed it much; in the first place, from my prejudice against it, and, in the second, because it never had so thorough a proving as did Kali carb. by Hahnemann.

There is one condition of the respiratory organs in which I have found it of great value. When after a hard cold a long-continued cough is the consequence, or it may be after an attack of pneumonia. The patient seems as if running into consumption. There is profuse expectoration from low down, deep in the chest, as if it came from mid sternum, with pain through to between the shoulders (Kali bichrom.) (Kali carb., lower right chest through to back), and there are exhausting night-sweats and great general weakness. I have repeatedly cured such cases where consumption seemed inevitable.

In the beginning of my practice I used to dissolve two to four grains of the crude salt in a four-ounce vial of water and direct to take a teaspoonful of this preparation three times a day, until it is half used, and then fill up with water and continue taking the same way until cured; filling up the vial every time it was half used. But several years ago, having a marked case of this description and feeling sure of my remedy, I gave it in the 200th potency as an experiment. This case also made fully as speedy a recovery as the others treated with the crude drug, so since then I often prescribe it in the potencies. There are two other remedies that may dispute the place with Kali hyd. in such cases, viz., Sanguinaria and Stannum. In all the expectoration is profuse and thick, but in Stannum the matter tastes sweet, in Sanguinaria the breath and sputa are very foetid, even to the patient (also Sepia and Psorinum), while in Kali hyd. it is salty to the taste (Sepia). With Kali hyd. and Stannum the expectoration is often thick, green; not so much so with Sanguinaria. Sometimes with the Kali hyd. there is a frothy or soap-suds-like appearance of the sputa, but the heavy, green, salty expectoration seems to me to be more characteristic. The frothy expectoration is found in oedema of the lungs and may occur in Bright's disease. I have more than once gotten the reputation of curing consumption in such cases as I have been describing, and I don't know but I deserved it, at least I was never known to deny it.

Kali hydroiodicum as used by the old school is given either as a sort of specific against syphilis, or more often syphilis complicated by their abuse of mercury, or again as an alterative in scrofulous affections, without much reason. Now, what is an alterative? Here is the definition: "A medicine which gradually induces a change in the habit or constitution, and restores healthy functions without sensible evacuation." Isn't that rather sweeping? How is that for a school of medicine that claims to be the custodian of all medical science? Isn't that about what we would like to do in every case – restore healthy function, without sensible evacuation? How would Kali hydroiodicum do then for a panacea? There are, however, many so-called alteratives according to this definition; which shall we give? It is just here that we homoeopaths believe that such vague general terms as alterative, tonic, narcotic, etc., are too unmeaning for purposes of close prescribing, and therefore misleading. They allow the doctor to prescribe too loosely a class of remedies, instead of the particular remedy of that class best adapted to the individual case.

We claim, therefore, great superiority for our system of prescribing, which is based upon a system of close drug proving, which brings out the closest, finest shades of difference between remedies belonging to a class of remedies. There must be no substitution of one for the other, if we would do the finest prescribing possible.

It requires but little comparison between the Materia Medicas of the two schools to show the wide difference in this respect.

There is said to be a place for the use of this remedy in pneumonia. I have not had experience with it here, but on account of its reputation I give it, and may use it if occasion requires.

I give you Farrington's words for it: "Pneumonia, in which disease it is an excellent remedy when hepatization has commenced, when the disease localizes itself, and infiltration begins. In such cases, in the absence of other symptoms calling distinctively for Bryonia, Phosphorus or Sulphur, I would advise you to select Iodine or Iodide of Potassa. It is also called for when the hepatization is so extensive that we have cerebral congestion, or even an effusion into the brain as a result of this congestion." The symptoms are as follows in these cases:

"First they begin with a very red face, the pupils are more or less dilated, and the patient is drowsy; in fact, showing a picture very much like that of Belladonna. You will probably give that remedy, but it does no good. The patient becomes worse, breathes more heavy, and the pupils more inactive to the light, and you know then that you have serous effusion into the brain, which must be checked or the patient dies." So far good. But now even Farrington dulls – as great men sometimes do. He says, "why did not Belladonna cure?" "He who prescribes by the symptoms alone in this case would fail, because he has not taken the totality of the case." What does Farrington mean? Does he mean that in his picture of Belladonna he had the totality of the case without the hepatization, or does he mean that the hepatization was the totality without the other symptoms? Here are the two horns of his dilemma – which would he take? I contend that all the other symptoms of the case, without the hepatization, was not the totality of the case. The hepatization was one, and only one, of the totality of symptoms. Now he says – "Put your ear to the patient's chest, and you will find one or both lungs consolidated." Well, I should call that a very important objective symptom, and one that could not be left out of the totality of the case. Remember that both subjective and objective symptoms must enter into every case in order to make the totality complete.

So after all, in true Hahnemannian fashion, I claim that he who prescribes, being guided by all the symptoms, will not and cannot fail where a cure is at all possible. These are and must be our infallible guides, or Similia Similibus Curantur is not true. (see Kafka's case, Hom. Clinic, page 73, 1870).

Guiding Symptoms, Vol. VI, page 441, records this – "Distends all the tissues by interstitial infiltration; oedema, enlarged glands, tophis exostoses; swelling of the bones." Then of course it cures such distentions of the tissues. Great mistakes and abuses of the remedy, and irreparable injury to the patient, often follow the use of remedies on such vague or single indications, that is of course if we prescribe on them alone. That would be like trying to prescribe for pneumonia from the single indication hepatization. This is only one symptom, and that one may occur under any remedies. If we say, or could say, interstitial distention of the tissues with certain other symptoms peculiar to that remedy, then could we differentiate between it and other remedies. But to use a remedy simply as an absorbent because it has secured absorption in some other case, is simply to fall back into the indiscriminate generalization and routinism of the old school. Kali iodatum is called an anti-syphilitic. So is mercury. Sulphur is called anti-psoric, and Thuja antisycotic. That is well to begin with, but the "end is not yet". There is a large class of remedies for each of these miasms and the one (indicated by all the symptoms or the characteristic symptoms) out of the class is the one to select for the cure of each individual patient.

The very fact that Kali iodatum has been too generally and indiscriminately used is the reason why it is a great question as to whether humanity has been most blessed or cursed by it. We homoeopaths have much to do in combating the evils produced by the abuse of both these drugs, and Hepar sulphur, is one of the best antidotes. Most of the reported cures with this remedy Kali iod. are made with the low or crude preparations of the drug. I think it can be used lower than most drugs without injury, and yet I believe we do not know half its remedial power as developed by our process of potentization.