Category: Materia Medica

Cantharis Vesicatoria Cantharis vesicator, Lytta vesicatory. Blister-beetle, ‘Spanish fly’. N.O. Insecta, Coleoptera. Tincture or trituration of live insects.   The essential features As is well known from our materia medica, remedies generally prefer a specific system, organ or area of the body and express their action there, although their action is by no means restricted to this location. Cantharis’ preference is definitely the urogenital system, and it usually involves in its action both the urinary and the sexual spheres simultaneously. In Cantharis cases, when we have an inflammation of the urinary system, especially of the urethra and bladder, we see, …

Camphora Officinalis   Camphor. C10H16O. A gum obtained from Laurus camphora. N.O. Lauraceae. Solution in rectified spirit.   The essential features Camphora is so powerful that it antidotes most of our remedies. It should not be kept in the home where you are stocking homeopathic remedies or during homeopathic treatment. This disruptive quality is not accidental as Camphora so deeply affects the vital processes of the body. It prevents the blood from reaching the periphery: the head, the extremities, or the penis. It will cause collapse (due to the shortage of blood to the brain), Raynaud phenomenon (ischemia of hands …

Calendula Officinalis   The essential features Calendula is to lacerated wounds what Arnica is to bruises. Both are considered specifics for injuries (as are Ledum, Bellis perennis and some other remedies). When the skin or an organ is not torn and the external trauma only produces an extravasation of blood, then Arn. will be indicated. However, when there is laceration of the skin or of an organ and inflammation sets in, then the correct choice is Calendula; yet this is not always the case, as the injuries have to have additional Calendula characteristics if we want our remedies to be …

Calcarea Sulphurica   Calcium Sulphate, CaSO4. Gypsum. Plaster of Paris. Trituration.   The essential features   The general idea that runs through this remedy is of an organism which tends to produce tumours and abscesses that not only do not heal easily, but that suppurate profusely and for long periods of time. The characteristic trait of the remedy is not its tendency to the formation of abscesses themselves, rather the fact that an abscess opened is very slow to heal and has a continuous discharge of yellow pus. In cases of inflammation, this organism quickly reaches a state of suppuration, …

Calcarea Carbonica Impure Calcium Carbonate. CaCO3. Includes symptoms of Calcarea acetica and Calcarea ostrearum, for which Hahnemann also made provings. Koch’s provings were made from carbonate of lime precipitated from a solution of chalk in hydrochloric acid. Trituration of the middle layer of oyster shells.   The essential features The remedy picture of this great polychrest needs to be introduced with a few preliminary remarks. Calcarea carbonica is a remedy which covers all stages of life, from infancy to old age, and all stages of pathology: on the physical level from the common cold to malignant tumours, and on the …

Caladium Seguinum Caladium seguinum. Arum seguinum. Dumb Cane. (South America.) N.O. Araceae. Compare: Bov.; Nux-m.; Asaf.; Ign.; Bapt.   The essential features Caladium has come down to us as a remedy mainly for disorders of the sexual sphere and, more specifically, for impotence and the problems that arise from it. This is described very graphically by Kent who states: ‘It is indicated in old debauches who are unable to perform the marital act. He has the most tantalising craving for the opposite sex with no ability to perform coitus. Lascivious ideas. Such men stand on the street corner and feast …

  Cadmium Sulphuratum Cadmium sulphide, CdS Trituration     The essential features   The physical picture This remedy is indicated mostly in cases that present symptoms of severe gastritis or gastro-enteritis. Primarily, it is the mucus membranes of the stomach that are irritated and they react with forceful vomiting. The vomit may be brownish and even black in colour, and may look like coffee grounds. This is because there is a slow oozing of blood from the mucosae of the stomach and the blood stays there for some time before it is ejected. The intensity of the nausea, which is …

Cactus Grandiflorus Cereus grandiflorus. Night-blooming Cereus. (Mexico and the West Indies.) N.O. Cactaceae. Tincture of youngest and tenderest stems and flowers collected in summer.   The essential features Cactus grandiflorus is a remedy that has a special relationship to heart conditions, whether functional or severely pathological, and in particular to cardiac infarction and angina pectoris. The reason for this is that Cactus possesses in its pathogenesis the main characteristics of cardiac pathology. I have seen beneficial effects from the use of Cactus in cases of pulmonary oedema, myocardial infarction, and pericarditis, though additional remedies were necessary to complete the cure. …

  Bryonia Alba Vitis nigra; Bryonia nigram; Chironiam vitam; Bryonia dioica; Bryonia vera; Vitis alba. English: White bryony; Black-berried white bryony; White hops. French: Bryone; Bryone blanche; Coulevre. German: Weisse Zaunrube; Stichwurz Polish: Pryestepbiaty. Dutch: Welde wyngaar; Witte Bryon Portuguese: Norca branca. Italian: Brionia, Vita bianca. Spanish: Neuza alba Swedish: Hundrosva. Natural order: Cucurbitaceae – Monoecia, Monodelphia. Family: Jussieu [vegetable substance] Dioecia gynandria, L. Tincture of root procured before flowering.   The essential features The pathology which every remedy represents and cures in the human organism can be conceived of as an “idea” rather than as a heap of meaningless …

  BISMUTH Bi2O3OH2. Hydrated oxide of Bismuth and the precipitated subnitrate of Bismuth are not differentiated.   THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES Bismuth is a remedy which should be thought of in cases where the focus of the problem lies in the stomach region. Severe stomach pains of whatever origin are a strong indicator for this remedy, particularly in cases of pure gastritis, and inflammation of the mucous lining of the stomach. The Bismuth patient’s face is earthy, pale, with blue rings around eyes; there is great thirst for cold drinks in evening, nausea and pressure in stomach after eating with great …