Alumen

The well-known astringent action of A/um. gives a leading indication for its

use in practice. Sensations of dryness and contraction are prominent in various parts. I have

frequently removed with it constipation of the most aggravated kind, as in cases of cancer of

uterus and rectum. Stools as hard as stones is the leading indication. No desire for stool for days.

Contractive sensation in abdomen and pelvis, and retraction of abdomen as in lead colic.

Paralytic states with the sensation as if bound with a tight band. On the other hand, it is equally

available for the states of relaxation, which corresponds with its secondary action: sluggish

action of muscles; heemorrhages of various kinds; large clots in typhoid; relaxed mucous

membranes; relaxed uvula; hoarseness and bronchial affections; diarrhoea. Catarrhal conditions

prevail throughout the remedy. The A/um. patient is very sensitive to cold; exposure to air

• ▸roughens and chaps the skin.
• ▸Slight scratches bleed.
• ▸Bleeding after tooth extraction.
• ▸There is a

tendency to indurations whenever inflammations occur, hence: scirrhous indurations; indurated

• ▸glands.
• ▸Pains are insupportable.
• ▸Attacks come and go suddenly; periodic.
• ▸Many complaints come

• ▸on during sleep.
• ▸There is nightmare.
• ▸Turning on r.
• ▸side > vertigo.
• ▸Lying on r.
• ▸side brings on

• ▸palpitation.
• ▸There is sensitiveness to all sorts of weather changes, and especially to cold.
• ▸W.
• ▸P.

Wesselhceft has cured bronchitis characterised by scraping from upper sternum to throat, with

free expectoration of thick, yellow mucus, paroxysmal cough, morning cough with gagging,

aching in chest and in the lower part of the back in region of lower ribs. A peculiarity was the

profuse expectoration with the scraping, for scraping coughs are usually dry. Cepa had helped

the preliminary sneezing and coryza.

Burning pain as of weight on top of lead better by pressure of hand. Vertigo, with weakness in pit of stomach. Alopecia.

Vertigo, lying on his back, with weakness in pit of stomach, > opening eyes, > turning

on r. side.—Headache > drinking cold water—Burning pain and weight on vertex > ice-cold

cloths pressed on the part.

R. eye squints towards nose.—Prolapse of iris after cataract operation —Sees double by

candle-light.

Nasal polypus 1. side with rough skin all over the face and body and neuralgic

headache.—Lupus or cancer on rose.

Teeth loose.—Gums swollen, inflamed, spongy.—Teeth and gums rather

scorbutic.—Profuse hemorrhage after extraction of tooth.—Tongue dry (black); burning in

evening; sour feeling; stitches < at tip (scirrhus of tongue).—Spreading ulcers in mouth;

noma.—Profuse ptyalism.

Tonsils inflamed.—Uvula elongated, relaxed—Spasm of cesophagus, liquids can

scarcely be swallowed.—Prickly sensation both sides of throat and great dryness with constant

desire to drink.—Scraping in throat with cough.—Throat covered with mucus, causing

cough.—Spitting up of a coagulated lump of blood morning after rising.—Enlarged indurated

tonsils from frequent colds.

• ▸Throat relaxed.
• ▸Mucous membrane red and swollen.
• ▸Cough.
• ▸Tickling in throat.
• ▸Tendency to throat colds.
• ▸Enlarged and indurated tonsils.
• ▸Burning pain down the oesophagus.
• ▸Complete aphonia.
• ▸Every cold settles in throat.
• ▸Constriction of oesophagus.

Vomits large quantities of glairy mucus or tough, colourless slime, and often

everything he eats; blood; habitual heematemesis in hard drinkers.—Sinking sensation > by

eating.—Burning heat > by drinking cold water —The pain is > by pressing on stomach.

Colic < by walking, with fulness and heaviness. (Potter's colic, lead

colic.).—Abdomen retracted, > from pressure.

• ▸Constipation of the most aggravated kind.
• ▸No desire for stool for days.
• ▸Violent ineffectual urging to stool.
• ▸No ability to expel stool.
• ▸Marble-like masses pass, but rectum still feels full.
• ▸Itching after stool.
• ▸Itching in anus.
• ▸Long lasting pain and smarting in rectum after stool; also haemorrhoids.
• ▸Yellow, like an infant's.
• ▸Haemorrhage from bowels.

No desire for stool for days.—Violent, ineffectual urging to stool.—Stool

hard as stones.—Difficult stool, with some blood and subsequent beating in anus.—Diarrhoea

ichorous, mixed with blood of an offensive odour, great exhaustion.—Very exhausting

diarrhoea—Masses of coagulated blood in typhus.—Putrid dysentery.—Pains from rectum going

down thighs.—After stool: scarcely endurable pain with scirrhous induration in rectum.—Itching

in anus all evening.

• ▸Urine voided with difficulty.
• ▸—(Diabetes mellitus.
• ▸).
• ▸—Oily iridescent film

on urine.

• ▸Tendency to induration of neck of uterus and mammary glands (Carb an; Con).
• ▸Chronic yellow vaginal discharge.
• ▸Chronic gonorrhoea, yellow, with little lumps along urethra.
• ▸Aphthous patches in vagina (Caul).
• ▸Menses watery.

Affections of 1. ovary (with constipation), insupportable

pain.—Weight and prolapse of uterus.—Indurations, ulcerations, of uterus, even

• ▸scirrhus.
• ▸—Copious leucorrhcea.
• ▸—Leucorrhcea and emaciation, with yellow complexion.
• ▸—Menses

scanty, watery.—During menses hands weak.—Vagina very sensitive, and narrowed by swellings

of various size (vaginismus).—Pruritus.—Flooding after childbirth; sore, inflamed nipples; cancer

of the breasts.

Erections while at dinner.—Frequent emissions.—Gonorrheea;

gleet.—Shooting pain from middle line of belly, as along a thread, down into penis.—Cutting pain

in |. side of penis.

Haemoptysis, great weakness of chest; difficult to expel mucus. Copious, ropy morning expectoration in old people. Asthma.

Hoarseness < from talking.—Aphonia.—Croup and

bronchitis.—Cough from tickling in larynx caused by talking —Scraping from upper sternum to

larynx, thick, yellow sputa, paroxysmal cough.—Ropy sputa.—Atonic hemoptysis.

Palpitation, from lying down on right side.

Weakness of all muscles, especially arms and legs. Constricted feeling around limbs.

• ▸Ulcers, with indurated base.
• ▸To be thought of in indurated glands, epithelioma, etc; veins become varicose and bleed.
• ▸Indurations resulting from long-continued inflammatory irritations.
• ▸Glands inflame and harden.
• ▸Alopecia, Scrotal eczema and on back of penis.

Proud flesh; chilblains; indolent ulcers —(This remedy is particularly applicable to old

people.)

• ▸Alcohol, effects of.
• ▸Anus, affections of.
• ▸Bronchitis.
• ▸Catarrh.
• ▸Cancer.
• ▸Chilblains.
• ▸Colic.

• ▸Constipation.
• ▸Cough.
• ▸Diabetes.
• ▸Diarrhoea.
• ▸Dysentery.
• ▸Eczema.
• ▸Eves, affections of.
• ▸Eyes,

• ▸operations on.
• ▸Gleet.
• ▸Gonorrhoea.
• ▸Heemorrhages.
• ▸Hoarseness.
• ▸Lead colic.
• ▸Leucorrheea.

• ▸Locomotor ataxy.
• ▸Noma.
• ▸Esophagus, stricture of.
• ▸Paralysis.
• ▸Polypus.
• ▸Pruritus.
• ▸Scurvy.
• ▸Skin,

• ▸rough.
• ▸Strabismus.
• ▸Teeth, operations on.
• ▸Throat, affections of.
• ▸Typhoid, hemorrhage in.
• ▸Ulcers.

Uterus, affections of. Uvula, relaxed. Vaginismus.

• ▸Antidoted by: Cham.
• ▸(cramps in abdomen); Nux v.
• ▸, Ipec.
• ▸(nausea and vomiting);

Sul. Antidote to: Lead poisoning; calomel and other mercurials; Aloe (vomiting blood). Similar

• ▸to: Alumina, Aluminium; Alo.
• ▸(rectum); Caps.
• ▸(long uvula); Fer.
• ▸(relaxed abdominal walls,

prolapsed uterus); Kali bi. (stringy discharges); Merc. (prolapsed uterus, vagina, rectum;

• ▸tenesmus); Merc.
• ▸cor.
• ▸, Mur.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, Op.
• ▸, Plat.
• ▸(lead poisoning); Plumb.
• ▸, Rhatan.
• ▸,

• ▸Stan.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸ac.
• ▸, Zinc (eyes).

First to thirtieth potency. The very highest potencies have proved efficacious. Powdered alum, 10 grains, placed on tongue, said to arrest an attack of asthma.

• ▸Another peculiar condition running through the remedy is the tendency to induration wherever there is an inflamed surface.
• ▸All remedies that have this in their nature relate more or less to cancerous affections, because in cancer wc have as the most natural feature a tendency to induration.
• ▸Ulcers are common in Alumen, and this induration underlies the ulcer ; ulcers with indurated base.
• ▸Or little scales

may appear upon the skin where the circulation is feeble, over cartilaginous portions for instance, and a great thick indurated mass forms.

Infiltration takes place under this crust, the crust keeps coming off, and

a lack of healing follows because of the weakness of the tissues from

a vaso-motor paralysis. Epithelioma is scarcely more than that, and

so we have in this remedy features like epithelioma and other cancerous affections. What is the scirrhus but a peculiar form of induration ? When the economy takes on a low type of life, a low form of

tissue making, and the tissues inflame and upon the slightest provocation indurate we can see that this is a kind of constitution that is predisposed to deep-seated troubles, to phthisis, Bright’s disease, diabetes,

cancer, etc. We are on the border line of ultimates and something is

going to happen. This remedy leads the economy into such a state

of disorder, a low type of tissue making is found, and many of these

indurations will have cancer as an ultimate. This is a long acting

antipsoric remedy.

There is also in this medicine a tendency to induration of the neck

of the uterus and the mammary glands. Glands become slowly inflamed, and do not stop with ordinary congestion and hardness, but

become as hard as bullets. This induration extends to the various

glands of the body, but is especially noticeable in the tonsils. For

those who have a tendency to colds which settle in the throat, especially

singling out the tonsils and indurating these ; those who keep on taking

cold and the tonsils keep on growing and indurating, we have in Alumen a medicine that fits the whole process, the hardening and infiltration, and it cures these cases accorcUng to the law of similars — when

the symptoms agree. It cures young children growing up with enormously enlarged and very l^ard tonsils, in whom every cold settles in

the throat. Alumen is one of the cognates of Baryta curb,, which has

ihe same tendency. In one patient there will be one kind of constitution, and, after thoroughly examining it, looks like Baryta carb. You

may have a different constitution in another patient, and, after carefully examining it, see that it looks like Alumen ; another you will see

is Sulphur ; another, if you look into it carefully, you find is Calcarea

carb.y and another, Calcarea iod,, and so on among those remedies

capable of bringing about the conditions described. If we can find

symptoms which picture the constitutional state we have no trouble.

When the symptoms have been well gathered the case is as good as

cured ; it is easy then to find a remedy.

This remedy is imperfect from the fact that it is only partially

proved. I do not care to dwell upon partially proved remedies, but

when they have a number of striking features that fit into everyday

life it is important to know them. The mental symptoms of this remedy are very few. The remedy should be proved in the higher potencies upon sensitive persons in order that the mental state may be

brought out.

Some of the symptoms of the head are very striking and valuable.

Pain on the top of the head with burning. The pain is a sensation as

if a weight were pressing down into the skull. You will see a woman

in bed with her hand on top of the head and she will say : '^Doctor, it

burns right there like fire, and it presses as if my skull would be

crushed in, and the only relief 1 get is from pressing hard upon it and

from an ice cold cloth pressed upon it.’’ She wants the cloth changed

and made cold every few minutes. It is a queer thing that a pressing

pain is made better from pressing upon the part. This is like Cactus^

pressing pain on vertex relieved from pressure. The rubric of remedies with that symptom is very small, and hence this remedy fills a

place. There are some strange, lare and peculiar symptoms for which

we have a paucity of remedies, and we have to work in other channels

and along sidetracks in getting the constitutional state of the patient.

Alumen cured the pressing pain on the vertex in one patient in whom

it alternated with ihe most uoublesomc chronic, irritable bladder.

“Vertigo: lying on his hack, with weakness in pit of stomach :

> opening eyes ; > turning on right side.” There is another feature,

however, in this remedy, the palpitation is brought on from lying on

the right side. It would strike anyone as something very singular,

because palpitation is generally worse lying on the left side. A heart

that is lluttering, enlarged or disordered is generally worse while lyingon the left, as the heart has less room tlien, but it is strange, rare and

unique when these symptoms arc worse lying on the right side. When

this condition is present in a patient it is necessary to find a remedy

having just exactly that symptom, anti very often it will he seen that

the rest of the symptoms of the case fit into the remedy that has produced this peculiar state.

There is one more feature that you must add to these things, viz.:

slowness and sluggishness of the muscles throughout the body, a slowing down of all the muscles, a sense of weakness in the arms and legs.

In the constipation there may be some urging to stool without result

or he may go several days without desire. There is no ability to expel the stool. He will strain a long time with no success, and finally

after many days the stool is passed and is an agglomeration of hard

balls, large masses of little hard balls like marbles all fastened together.

This is a very strong feature in an Alumen constitution. “Stool: less

irequent, dryer and harder; large black, hard or in small pieces like

sheep’s dung ; no relief afterwards.” After stool there is a sensation

as if the rectum were yet full. This peculiar feature comes with the

weakness or paresis of the rectum, i, c., the rectum is not strong

enough to expel all of its contents, and hence the sensation of unfinished stool. In the rectum there is ulceration with bleeding from the

ulcers. The haemorrhoids ulcerate and they are very painful, so that

after every stool he has prolonged suffering, a dull aching pain in the

rectum.

SI

Catarrhal conditions prevail throughout the remedy In old scrofulous, psoric patients, who are subject to chronic yellow bland discharges

from the eyes, with enlarged veins ; chronic yellow discharges from

the vagina and from the urethra in the male ; chronic painless gonorrhoea. In addition to the catarrhal discharges there is a tendency to

ulceration, so that there are little ulcerative patches in the vagina, little

aphthous patches in the vagina and on the cervix of the uterus. When

a patient is suffering from a chronic gonorrhoea, instead of the discharge becoming white as in a gleet it remains yellow, and there are

little indurations along the urethra, which the patient will call the

physician's attention to as ‘‘lumps.'' Discharge with “little bunches"

along the urethra. These are little ulcers, and beneath the ulcers are

indurations. When this state is present you have an Alumen gonorrhoea. In a little while the patient will have two or three strictures

unless he gets this remedy, because these little ulcers will each end in

stricture narrowing the canal. Another strange feature in the catarrhal states and in the ulcers is its tendency to affect the vessels. The

veins become varicose and bleed, so that there may be bleeding from

any of the inflamed or catarrhal areas and bleeding from the ulcers.

There are many neuralgic pains about tlie head of a nondescript

character. These head pains come on in the morning on awaking.

The eye symptoms are of an inflammatory or congestive character,

with tendency to ulceration. Purulent ophthalmia ; chronic sore eyes.

“Sees things double by candl^ light." “Nasal polypus left side. Lupus

or cancer on the nose, Faci pale as a corpse, lips blue. Scirrhus of

the tongue." See what a tendency it has to produce minute growths,

little indurations and infiltrations. Bleeding from the teeth ; the teeth

decay and the gums recede from the teeth ; the teeth become loose ;

scorbutic appearance of the gums. “Mouth burning, ulcerated ; grey,

dirty, spongy skin about a tooth, which is surrounded with proud flesh ;

offensive saliva." In the mouth we have the same general feature of

ulceration, with dryness of the mouth, dry tongue and throat, and great

thirst for ice cold water. “Uvula inflamed and enlarged. Predisposed

to tonsilitis." “Vomits everything he eats." After that you can put

the word “ulcer," because it especially refers to that state of congestion

where there is easy ulceration.

Under abdomen we find flatulence. The intestines do not perform

their work, they take on spasmodic action, and consequently the patient

suffers from cramps and colicky pains ; boring, rending, tearing pains.

Retraction of the abdomen and drawing in of the navel. If you will

compare Lead in its poisonous effects upon those who work in white

lead you will see quite a counterpart of this remedy, and you will not

be surprised to observe that Plumbum and this remedy antidote each

other. They do so because they arc so similar, they cannot live in the

same house. Alumen is a great remedy to overcome lead colic in those

who work in lead ; it removes the susceptibility. There are many

painters who have to give up their occupation on account of this susceptibility. Alumen will often overcome this tendency and enable them

to go back to their business.

In the female we note “weight of uterus presses down collum ; granulations of vagina ; leucorrhoea copious j emaciation yellow complexion j

indurations of uterus, even scirrhus ; ulcers of uterus.'" Sometimes you

get evidence of this vaginal state by the woman saying that coition

is so painful that it becomes impossible. It is not to be wondered at

that the natural act cannot be performed when so much trouble is

present.

“Voice entirely lost.’" Chronic loss of the voice from a low state of

the economy and from always taking fresh colds. Expectoration of

much yellow mucus ; scraping of the throat all the time to get rid of

a little accumulation of yellow mucus. “Dry cough in evening after

lying down.’’ “Chronic morning cough.” Cough is not a very important

thing in this remedy; it is the general state of the economy tliat is

to be looked at. The cough will not interpret tlie nature of the disease

to the physician, because when these little ulcers arc present they must

cause some kind of a cough. This patient may go into phthisis or be

affected with any of the ultimates of disease.

Alumen has been very useful in the treatment of old people who

suffer from copious, ropy, morning expectoration, catarrh of the chest,

haemoptysis and great weakness of the chest, so that it is difficult to

expel the mucus. In this it is similar to Antimonium tartaricum.

Because of its relation to Alumina further provings will undoubtedly develop the fact that it has many spinal symptoms. It is well

known that it has a weak spine, with coldness of the spine, a feeling

as if cold water were poured down the back. Pain in the dorsal spine

on a line with the inferior angle of the scapulae ; weakness in this region

and in the shoulders. Like Alumina it has the sensation of constriction, as of a cord or band around the limbs. Feeling as if a cord were

drawn tightly around the upper arm. The clumsiness of the fingers,

as seen in dropping things, the pain in the lower limbs at night, the

lassitude and numbness, are other manifestations of spinal symptoms.

Sensation as of a cord around the leg under the knee ; soles sensitive

to pressure on walking ; feet numb and cold, although warmly covered ;

legs cold to knees. These are all further evidences of the action of the

remedy on the spinal cord. Bruised pain in all the limbs. Crawling,

tingling paralysis of all the limbs.

He is kept awake at night by a sensation as if the blood rushed

• ▸through the body.
• ▸Many complaints come on during sleep.
• ▸Nightmare.
• ▸He is sensitive to weather changes and very sensitive to cold.