Category: Materia Medica

  Berberis Vulgaris Barberry. (Britain) N.O. Berberidaceae. Tincture of the bark of the root.   The essential features Berberis vulgaris is indicated for persons who are pallid and sickly looking. The Berberis patient is pale-faced and appears tired. He has a dirty grayish look, with sunken cheeks, deeply seated eyes surrounded by bluish or blackish-gray circles and a sickly expression. The mouth is dry and sticky, with painful white blisters on the tip of the tongue. He tends to be chilly, with a rheumatic and gouty disposition. Three grand characteristics may be identified in this remedy: firstly the pains which …

  Benzoicum Acidum C6 H5 CO. OH. Obtained, by sublimation, from Gum benzoin; or artificially from several aromatic hydrocarbons. Tincture or trituration.   The essential features Benzoic acid is one of the main sycotic remedies and particularly concerns cases with an inherited sycosis from the parents. The main seat of weakness seems to be located in the kidneys, although the joints and the heart are also sensitive areas. Benzoic acid is equally valuable in cases where the patient develops kidney problems or rheumatic, arthritic or gouty manifestations soon after suppressed gonorrhea. The great keynote for prescribing this remedy is strong …

  Bellis Perennis   The Daisy. N.O. Compositae. Tincture of whole fresh plant.   The essential features Bellis is an important remedy for deep traumas, whether they be of the physical body or of the psyche. It is a remedy that should be considered whenever a mistreatment or hurt has been suffered in deep parts: when the physical body has been cut up in an operation or hurt in an accident, or when the emotional body has been mistreated in an emotional conflict. It is important for the student of homeopathy to understand that different constitutions have different predispositions. In …

  Belladonna Atropa belladonna Deadly Nightshade Solanaceae Tincture of whole plant when beginning to flower     The essential features When one “clearly perceives what it is in medicines which heals,” as Hahnemann enjoins, then one no longer thinks of a medicine in narrow terms. That is to say, when one understands the essence of a remedy, one can envision the possible applications of that remedy in their broadest context. Many of our medicines are spoken of as “acute remedies” or “constitutional remedies”, but no such artificial boundaries exist in homeopathy. In the course of my personal experience I have …

  Baryta Sulphurica   The essential features Barium sulphuricum is the remedy to try in a Sulphur case that does not respond, where the patient looks timid, confused, and is closed in on himself, with an amelioration in the open air. This remedy should also be thought of in a case that looks like Baryta, where the patient is much more critical than you would expect a Baryta patient to be, though the criticism is internal – the patient is averse to discussing such matters, so does not voice her criticism. Barium sulphuricum derives very few of its symptoms from …

    Baryta Muriatica Chloride of Barium Ba Cl2 2H2O   The essential features This remedy, though presenting many similarities in its gross symptomatology with Baryta carbonica, yet has features of its own. It has all the main symptoms of Baryta carbonica including the difficulty in concentration, the dulness of mind, the confusion, the indecision and the immaturity. The Baryta muriatica patient is confused in her mind. She does not answer properly, as if she were thinking of something else at the moment. She has great difficulty in concentration while studying or reading, and difficulty in learning, comprehension, and memory. …

  Baryta Iodata Baric iodide Ba I2 Trituration   The essential features The main action of Baryta iodata is to retard development and to infiltrate, enlarge and indurate glands and organ tissues. You will need this remedy mostly with children, particularly in cases of cachetic, malnourished children. Baryta iodata suits a child who does not grow as he should, whose lymphatic glands are very swollen and hard, who catches cold easily and who exhibits opacity of the cornea. The opacity which is apparent in the eye parallels the induration and infiltration of internal organs and glands. There are other remedies …

Baryta Carbonica Carbonas baryta “Carbonate of Barium Ba CO3, with which are included symptoms of Baryta acetica – Barium acetate Ba(C2H3O2)2. (I follow Hering and Hahnemann in combining the two, as I agree with Hering that “there is hardly any difference between the two, and certainly none in the symptoms cured.”) Solution of acetate; trituration of carbonate.” Clarke. English: Carbonate of Barytes; Carbonate of Baryta French: Baryte carbonatée; sous-carbonate de baryte German: Baryt; Schwererde Mode of preparation: Crystallized chloride of Barium, well pulverized, is to be boiled for two minutes with six parts of alcohol, in order to free it …

  Baptisia Tinctoria   Wild Indigo N.O. Leguminosae Tincture of fresh root and its bark.   The essential features Baptisia has come down to us as a remedy for typhus, although it has been a subject for controversy over the years. Some practitioners, including Kent, have praised Baptisia highly in this condition, where others stated flatly that it was useless for the real typhus. Kent also states in his materia medica that this is an acute remedy for acute conditions only. I do not agree with either statement. In my experience Baptisia has worked well when prescribed on proper indications, …

Bacillinum Burnett A nosode of tuberculosis first described by D. Burnett, prepared from tuberculous sputum by Dr. Heath.   The essential features The constitutional type that needs this remedy is usually characterised by a flat, narrow or hollow chest, shoulders thrown forward, an undernourished appearance and a skin color going from a deep yellow to a greyish brown. In some cases you may notice that the front part of the head is narrow and pointed, while the back part is very large and rather square, unlike theCancerinum child whose very big head bulges out in the front. The Bacillinum individual …