Carbo Animalis

Carb. an. is suited to old persons, greatly debilitated, especially when there is

venous plethora, and blueness of skin. Complaints occurring in scrofulous or venous

constitutions. Ulceration, gangrene, and decomposition are marked, and may be looked upon as

the counterpart of the antiseptic properties of the crude substance. Copper-coloured eruptions

show the appropriateness of the drug to many cases of constitutional syphilis. Glands of stony

• ▸hardness.
• ▸Buboes.
• ▸It is often indicated in the last stage of pneumonias, bronchitis, phthisis.
• ▸Right

chest is most affected. Cancer of breast with burning, drawing pains through breast. Cancer of

uterus, burning pains down thigh. Affections from loss of animal fluids, especially nursing

women. Weakness of nursing women; can hardly walk across the room. "Gone" feeling from

• ▸loss of fluids.
• ▸Too weak to eat.
• ▸Weeps when she eats.
• ▸Nausea at night.
• ▸Hunger in early morning.

• ▸The goneness of Carb.
• ▸a.
• ▸is not > by eating (Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸> eating).
• ▸Constipation where patient thinks

bowels will be moved but only wind passes. There is a smothering feeling on closing eyes.

Aversion to dark. A peculiar symptom is: A feeling of looseness—of eyes in sockets; of brain on

• ▸motion or coughing.
• ▸Far-sighted (Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸is near-sighted).
• ▸Objects seem farther apart and

• ▸brighter.
• ▸Aversion to cold (Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸to heat).
• ▸There are many sensations of coldness: in chest;

• ▸about stomach.
• ▸Discharges are ichorous; but the discharge from piles is inodorous.
• ▸Carb.
• ▸an.
• ▸3x

• ▸trit.
• ▸has been used for insufflation in aural polypi.
• ▸The leucorrheea stains linen yellow.
• ▸Sweat

• ▸stains yellow.
• ▸Expectoration is greenish, purulent, offensive (Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸yellow, more fetid).

• ▸Gnawing pains in tibize (during the night), such as usually followed cold feet.
• ▸A.
• ▸W.
• ▸K.

Choudhury reports a case of cough of two years' duration, in an unhealthy boy of twelve, cured

by Carb. a. The symptoms were: "Cough evening and morning, or after lying down, especially at

night, thick or frothy whitish or yellowish sputa, sweetish when thick; < lying on r. side; < from

exposure to air, to which he is very sensitive. Great tendency to catch cold." The pains in the

coccyx are peculiar; a dragging, bruised pain, when touched it becomes burning. It has cured

• ▸many cases of injured coccyx and of neuralgia of the bone.
• ▸The lumbago of Carb.
• ▸an.
• ▸occurs

when walking, standing, and lying; feels as if the back were broken. The mental state is one of

low spirits, sadness; weeps when she eats; easily frightened, afraid in the dark; home-sick; wants

to be alone. Fear of the dark and < on closing eyes is very marked. Hearing is confused; cannot

tell the direction from which sounds come. There is an ichorous otorrhoea; and swelling of the

periosteum over the mastoid bone is very characteristic. Tip of nose red; or blue. Disagreeable

smoothness of the teeth. There is a hoarse, suffocating cough producing a shaking of the brain as

if it were loose. Green, purulent, horribly offensive expectoration. Axillary glands inflamed

buboes in groins. Pressure with hand > coldness of stomach. Symptoms are < in cold air; > in

• ▸warm room.
• ▸< From sprains from touch.
• ▸< After shaving.
• ▸Rest < head symptoms.
• ▸< Lying on r.

side (cough). After menses, throbbing headache, < in open air. Weakness < during menses.

• ▸Loss of fluids.
• ▸Lifting.
• ▸Strain.
• ▸Eating.
• ▸Eating spoiled fish.
• ▸Eating decayed

vegetables. Quinine.

Desire to be alone, sad and reflective, avoids conversation. Anxiety at night, with orgasm of blood.

Nostalgia and mournful feeling of isolation, with tears.—Weeps during a meal.—Fear

• ▸and apprehension, esp.
• ▸in the evening.
• ▸—Discouragement and despair.
• ▸—Disposition to be

frightened.—Fright in the dark.—Alternate feeling of gaiety and gloom, or of irascibility and ill-

humoured taciturnity.—Confusion of ideas and dulness, esp. in the morning.

Pressive pains in the joints, and the muscles of the limbs.—Burning

pains.—Nocturnal pains in the joints —Pain as from a bruise, want of strength, and cracking in the

joints, which yield easily.—Arthritic stiffness and gouty nodosities in the joints.—Tension in

some limbs, as if from contraction of the tendons.—Spasmodic contraction of several

• ▸parts.
• ▸—Tendency to strain the loins.
• ▸—Numbness of all the limbs.
• ▸—Torpor of all the members,

• ▸esp.
• ▸of the head.
• ▸—Great fatigue and weakness, produced esp.
• ▸by walking, with easily produced

perspiration, chiefly on eating and on walking in the open air.—Excessive sensibility to the open

air, and especially to the cold air of winter —Ebullition of the blood, and tendency to become

easily overheated.

• ▸Headache, as if head had been blown to pieces.
• ▸Rush of blood with confusion.
• ▸Sensation as if something lay above eyes so that she could not look up.
• ▸Bluish cheeks and lips.
• ▸Vertigo followed by nose-bleed.
• ▸Nose swollen, tip bluish small tumor on it.
• ▸Hearing confused; cannot tell direction of sound.

Vertigo, esp. in the evening or in the morning, and sometimes with nausea in the act of

rising, after remaining long in a recumbent posture, or with obscuration of the eyes, on moving

the head.—Headache in the morning, as after a debauch.—Headache at vertex as if skull torn

• ▸open.
• ▸—Headache in the open air, and aggravated by damp weather.
• ▸—Heaviness, esp.
• ▸in the

occiput, with bewilderment.—Pressive headache, even after a meal, forces the closing of the

eyelids —Congestion and internal heat of the head —Sensation of wavering of the brain, at every

movement.—Sensation of torpor in the head.—Acute, drawing pains in the teguments of the right

side of the head.—Tension of the skin of the forehead, and of the crown of the head.—Sensibility

of the scalp to the pressure of the hat.—Scabs and eruption on the head.

Sensation as if the ball of the eye were detached from the socket, with weakness of

sight.—Presbyopia with dilatation of the pupils—A net seems to swim before the eyes.

Running from the ears.—Discharge of pus from the ears—Confusion of hearing; sounds

reach the ears indistinctly, does not know from what direction they come.—Buzzing in the

ears.—Swelling of the periosteum behind the ear —Swelling of the parotids.

End of the nose red and cracked, with burning pain.—Nose swollen, with scabby

• ▸pimples (as at the commencement of a cancer?
• ▸).
• ▸—Desquamation of the skin of the nose.
• ▸—Painful

sensibility of the bones of the nose.—Epistaxis, preceded by vertigo, or pressive

• ▸headache.
• ▸—Stoppage of the nose.
• ▸—Dry coryza.
• ▸—Fluent coryza, with loss of smell, sneezing and

frequent yawning.

Spots in the face, which are smooth, palpable to the touch, and rose-

coloured.—Shootings in the cheek-bones, in the teeth and jaws.—Painless copper-coloured

eruption in the face.—Erysipelas in the face —Swelling of the mouth and of the lips, with burning

• ▸pain.
• ▸—Heat of the face and head in the afternoon.
• ▸—Blisters on the lips.
• ▸—Lips cracked and

bleeding.

Fetid smell from the mouth.—Burning vesicles in the mouth and on the

tongue.—Dryness of the tongue and of the palate.

Pulling odontalgia on eating bread, or with dull pulsation after drinking anything

• ▸cold.
• ▸—Excessive looseness of the teeth.
• ▸—Tractive pains in the gums.
• ▸—Red and painful swelling

and bleeding of the gums.—Purulent vesicles in the gums.

Sore throat, as from excoriation, with scraping and shooting from the throat to the

stomach.—Accumulation of mucus in the throat, with coughing and rattling.

• ▸Eating tires patient.
• ▸Weak, empty feeling in stomach.
• ▸Burning and griping.
• ▸Weak digestion. Flatulence.
• ▸Ptomaine poisoning.
• ▸Repugnance to fat food.
• ▸Sour water from mouth.
• ▸Pyrosis.

Bitterness in the mouth, esp. in the morning.—Acid and mucous

taste.—Repugnance to fat and tobacco smoke, which cause nausea.—Great weakness of digestion,

to such an extent that almost all food occasions suffering.

Risings with taste of food, or else acid.—Empty risings with pain.—Pyrosis, with

scraping in the throat.—Hiccough after a meal —Considerable inflation after a meal.—Flow of

sour water from the mouth.—Nausea, also at night.—Faint, gone feeling; also from suckling child,

not > by eating.—Water-brash.—Pressure at the stomach, as if from a weight, when fasting, and in

the evening, after lying down.—Cramp-like or contractive pains in the stomach.—Burning pain in

the stomach.—Squeezing in the stomach, as if by claws.—Noisy grumbling in the stomach.

Pain in the liver, as if from excoriation, when the region is touched.—Pressure

and cuttings in the hepatic region—Abdomen inflated and extended.—Constriction and

squeezing, as if by claws, in the abdomen.—Cuttings and shootings in the groins.—Inguinal

• ▸hernia.
• ▸—Loud rumbling in the abdomen.
• ▸—Incarceration of flatus.
• ▸—Fetid flatulency.

Ineffectual efforts to evacuate; discharge of wind only.—During stool, pain

in the small of the back, with inflation of the abdomen.—Feces hard and knotty.—Frequent

evacuations during the day.—Before the evacuation, traction from the anus to the vulva.—Sacral

pains during the evacuation.—Burning hemorrhoidal tumours in the anus.—Burning pains and

shooting in the anus, and in the rectum.—Excoriation and oozing (inodorous) at the

• ▸anus.
• ▸—Discharge of tenia.
• ▸—Viscid oozing at the perineum.
• ▸—Tendency to galling at the anus

from riding on horseback.

Urgent desire to make water, with abundant emission.—Emission of urine

• ▸at night.
• ▸—Involuntary emission of urine.
• ▸—Fetid urine.
• ▸—Burning urine.
• ▸—Burning soreness in the

urethra when urinating.

• ▸Nausea of pregnancy; worse at night.
• ▸Lochia offensive (Kreos; Rhus; Secale).
• ▸Menses too early, frequent long lasting, followed by great exhaustion, so weak, can hardly speak (Cocc), flow only in morning (Bor; Sep).
• ▸Burning in vagina and labia.
• ▸Darting in breast; painful indurations in breast, especially right.
• ▸Cancer of uterus, burning pain down thighs.

Premature catamenia.—Leucorrhcea burning, smarting, or which

imparts a yellow tinge to the linen.—Serous and fetid lochia—Painful nodosities and indurations

in the mamme.—Erysipelatous inflammation of the breasts.—Nausea of pregnant females,

coming on principally at night; faint and empty sensation in the pit of the stomach is produced by

nursing.—Menses are followed by great exhaustion.—Uterine heemorrhages where there is much

affection of the glands.

Absence of sexual desire.—Frequent pollutions, followed by

weakness and anxious inquietude.

Pleurisy, typhoid character, and remaining stitch. Ulceration of lung, with feeling of coldness of chest. Cough, with discharge of greenish pus.

Oppression of the chest, esp. in the evening and at night—Aphonia at

night—Matutinal hoarseness.—Hoarse cough, with pain as of excoriation in the throat; in the

morning, after rising.—Dry cough at night —Suffocating cough, esp. in the evening, after having

slept.—Matutinal cough with expectoration, excited by a sensation of dryness in the

throat —Cough, with purulent expectoration, and shootings in the r. side of the chest.—Cough,

with discharge of greenish pus (suppuration of the lungs).—Cough < lying on r. side.

Panting respiration.—Rattling in the throat, in bed in the evening —Oppressed

• ▸respiration, esp.
• ▸in the morning and after a meal.
• ▸—Suffocating constriction of the chest, esp.
• ▸in

the morning, in bed.—Sharp burning stitches Shootings in the chest, as from an abscess, esp. on

breathing.—Pleurisy assuming a typhoid character, sickly bluish colour of skin, expectoration

puriform, often putrid in character—Far gone pleurisy.—In pleurisy where everything is cured

• ▸but the stitch, and that remains.
• ▸—Green pus from chest.
• ▸—R.
• ▸side most affected, stitches in r.

side.—Sensation of cold in the chest.

Palpitation of the heart, in the morning, in the evening, and on singing in a public

place.—(Atheroma and aneurism.)

Painful swelling and induration of the glands of the neck, and of the

parotid glands, with shooting pain.—Tetters under the arm-pit.—Moisture in the arm-

• ▸pit.
• ▸—Induration of the axillary glands.
• ▸—Nocturnal pains in the back.
• ▸—Pressure and shooting in

the loins, esp. on breathing deeply —Burning pain in the sacrum.—Contusive pain, with straining

in the coccyx, or aching pain which increases towards evening, so violent as to force the patient

to curve his body; with pain as of an ulcer when the part is pressed.—Burning in the coccyx,

when it is touched.—Burning pain in the back.

Aching in the bones, digging pains in the arms.—Pressure on the

shoulders.—Pain as of dislocation in the wrist—Torpor and numbness of the hands and of the

fingers.—Painful tension and arthritic stiffness of the joints of the fingers—Shootings in the

fingers.

Shooting pain in the (1.) hip when seated (the pain causes limping).—Tension

and contraction in the groins, which do not permit the legs to be extended.—Tension in the hams

and the instep, with contraction of the parts.—Drawing and sensation of contraction under the

knee.—Pain as from excoriation in the knees——Cramps in the calves of the legs the legs and the

toes —Pullings and shootings in the legs —Loss of strength in the joints of the feet, which give

way readily when walking.—Pain as of dislocation when walking or moving the limbs.—Coldness

of the feet.—Inflammatory swelling of the feet and of the toes, as if they had been frozen with

heat and burning.—Burning pain in the toes.

• ▸Pain in coccyx; burns when touched.
• ▸Ankles turn easily.
• ▸Straining and over-lifting produce great debility.
• ▸Joints weak.
• ▸Easy discoloration.
• ▸Pain in hip joints at night.
• ▸Night sweat fetid and profuse.
• ▸Wrist pain.

• ▸Spongy ulcers, copper-colored eruption.
• ▸Acne rosacea.
• ▸Chilblains, worse in evening, in bed and from cold.
• ▸Verruca on hands and face of old people, with bluish color of extremities.
• ▸Glands indurated, swollen, painful, in neck, axillae, groin, mammae; pains lancinating, cutting, burning (Con; Merc iod flav).
• ▸Burning, rawness and fissures; moisture.
• ▸Bubo.

Itching over the skin of the whole body, esp. in the evening in bed.—Erysipelatous

• ▸inflammations.
• ▸—Chilblains.
• ▸—Hard and painful swelling of the glands.
• ▸—Swelling of the external

parts, with burning pain.

Sleep deferred, and nocturnal sleeplessness, caused, by inquietude, anguish,

ebullition of the blood, and fear of being stifled —Frightful visions before going to sleep.—Sleep,

with unquiet dreams, tears, talking, and hollow groans.

• ▸Pulse accelerated, esp.
• ▸in the evening.
• ▸—Chill, esp.
• ▸in the afternoon, in the evening,

and after eating.—Shiverings, esp. in the evening, in bed, with perspiration during

• ▸sleep.
• ▸—Excessive cold in the feet and in the hands in the evening.
• ▸—Nocturnal heat.
• ▸—Easily

produced perspiration during the day, esp. at a meal, or when walking.—Debilitating, and fetid

sweat, esp. at night and in the morning, principally on the thighs.—Sweat, which stains the linen

a yellow colour.

• ▸Acne rosacea.
• ▸Aneurism.
• ▸Appetite, disordered.
• ▸Breast, cancer of.
• ▸Bubo.
• ▸Cancer.

• ▸Cataract.
• ▸Constipation.
• ▸Coccygodynia.
• ▸Cough.
• ▸Empyema.
• ▸Eructations.
• ▸Face, eruption on.

• ▸Gangrene.
• ▸Glandular indurations.
• ▸Hemorrhoids.
• ▸Headache.
• ▸Home-sickness.
• ▸Hypertrophy.

• ▸Lactation, effects of.
• ▸Legs, pains in.
• ▸Leucorrhcea.
• ▸Lumbago.
• ▸Nose, affections of: Otorrhcea.

• ▸Pancreas, indurated.
• ▸Perspiration, altered.
• ▸Pleurisy.
• ▸Polypus.
• ▸Scrofula.
• ▸Strabismus.
• ▸Syphilis.

• ▸Tongue, affections of.
• ▸Trachea, affections of.
• ▸Ulceration.
• ▸Uterus, cancer of.
• ▸Vision, disorders of.

• ▸Compare: Calc.
• ▸phos.
• ▸(nearest analogue; Carb.
• ▸an.
• ▸contains Calc.
• ▸ph.
• ▸); in

• ▸indurations, suppurations, &c.
• ▸, Bad.
• ▸, Bro.
• ▸; loss of fluids, Chi.
• ▸; Graph.
• ▸; nostrils adhere to septum,

Pho.; gone feeling, loss of fluids, induration of cervix, pressure an back, groins, and thighs

during menses, Sep. (Sep. has not the venosity, the copper-coloured face, flatulent gastric

disturbances, or offensive ichorous discharges, or throbbing headache after menses of Carb. an.;

• ▸Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸has not the indurations of Carb.
• ▸an.
• ▸or Sep.
• ▸); Coccul.
• ▸has the same weakness and

prostration as Carbo an., but in the case of the latter the weakness is in consequence of the loss of

• ▸fluid, whilst with Coccul.
• ▸it is part of the general effect of the remedy.
• ▸Puls.
• ▸; Sil.
• ▸; in vertigo with

• ▸epistaxis, Sul.
• ▸; aversion to darkness, Am.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Bar.
• ▸c.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Stro.
• ▸, Stram.
• ▸; hunger in early

• ▸morning, Ant.
• ▸c.
• ▸, Asar.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Sabad.
• ▸; swelling behind ear, Caps.
• ▸, Aur.
• ▸; burning pains, Caps.
• ▸;

• ▸weakness of nursing women, Oleand.
• ▸Antidoted by: Ars.
• ▸, Camph.
• ▸, Nux, Vinegar.
• ▸Antidote to:

Effects of Quinine. Complementary: Calc. phos.

The Carbon group all have putrid discharges and exhalations. All act on the skin, causing interrigo and excoriations. Glandular enlargements and catarrhal states, flatulency and asphyxiation.

• ▸Carbon Tetrachlorid is said to cause fatty liver (Phosph; Ars; Chlorof).
• ▸Paralysis of interosseus muscles of feet and hands.
• ▸Wonderful clinical results in the treatment of Hook worm disease.
• ▸See Thymol (Relationship).

Complementary: Calc phos.

Antidotes: Ars; Nux.

Compare: Badiaga; Sepia; Sulph; Plumb iod.

Third to thirtieth potency. The third trituration for insufflation in aural polypi.

Carbo animalis is one of the deep-acting, long-acting medicines.

Suitable in complaints that come on insidiously, that develop slowly,

that become chronic and often malignant in character. Complaints

in anaemic, broken down constitutions. Vascular conditions. The

Carbons affect the veins more or less, relaxing, paralyzing. This one

has its own peculiar feature of infiltrating little veins. Just as sure

as an organ in the Carbo animalis patient becomes congested it

becomes hard and purple from infiltration, and has a tendency to remain so. In an inflammation of a gland the veins become weak and

infiltrated, the gland itself becomes hard and sore, the tissues around

it indurate, and the skin over it becomes purple. The glands of the

throat and axilla^ grow purple and indurated with no tendency to

soften. Some of these medicines, after infiltrating a gland, will hurry

up the inflammatory action, produce sloughing, rapid breaking down,

with pus — ^like Hepar Mercurius and Sulphur, But this medicine paralyzes and infiltrates the little veins in the inflamed part, and there

seems to be no tendency to suppuration.

We see that the economy of this patient is in a sluggish stale ; there

are no rapid changes ; but everything is slowed down. Even the inflammatory process is a passive onCf Very often a slow qiiasi-eiysipelatous inflammation comes on, the part becomes purple and will pit

• ▸upon pressure.
• ▸Just think what a <^ntrast this to Bellado?
• ▸ina.
• ▸Bella-donna will inflame all the glands, they will swell, become hot and so

sensitive that they can hardly be touched ; at first bright red, then purple, with a tendency to resolution if let alone. But the Carbo animalis

inflammation comes on slowly, its progress is slow, and there is no

tendency to repair. Enlargement of veins here and there over the

body, vericose veins. There is intense burning in the part inflamed,

• ▸which is indurated and purple.
• ▸The glands of the throat burn.
• ▸Sluggish buboes in old broken down constitutions, in early stages of syphilis, inflame, become enlarged, purple, hard and burn.
• ▸Lumps in the

mammary glands. A purple lump the size of a hen's egg will formi

in the mammary gland. It does not go on to suppuration, as you

would expect it to, it just stays there. It does not enlarge much, but

it is hard.

The woman has so much burning in the vagina that she persuades

the physician to make a more careful examination than he has done.

He will probobly find the whole cervix inflamed, purple and somewhat

enlarged. She says it burns like coals of fire.

Carbo animalis eventually produces ulceration of the tissues in various parts, especially in glands. After a while — but not early in the

case — an ulcer forms, and perhaps after ulcerating for a time it comes

3^8

GARBO AKIMAUS

to a standstill ; it has become a sluggish ulcer. ludurated ulcers. A

bubo breaks down and forms an ulcer. All at once it stops suppurating and around about the tissues become hard and purple. The laudable discharge ceases, a bloody, ichorous discharge takes its place, and

the surrounding parts burn. Now in ulcers and fistulous openings,

where the walls become hard and burn, and the discharge becomes

acrid, Carbo animalis is frequently the remedy.

It is not surprising that this remedy has been one of the most suitable for old, stubborn cancerous affections ; for cancerous ulcers. They

all burn, they are all surrounded by infiltrated, hardened, dark-colored

tissue, and they all ooze an acrid ichorous fluid. It has cured these

troubles in old feeble constitutions with night-sweats and much bleeding. It has relieved in incurable cases, and has apparently removed

the cancerous condition for years, even though it comes back afterward and kills. This remedy is often a great palliative for the pains

that occur in cancer, the indurations and the stinging, burning pains.

Of course we do not want to teach, nor do wc wish to have you

infer, that a patient with a well-advanced cancerous affection, such as

scirrhus, may be restored to perfect health and the cancerous affection

removed. We may comfort that patient, and restore order at least

temporarily, so that there is freedom from suffering in these malignant

affections. Most patients that have cancer are really in such a state

of disorder that only a temporary cessation of “hostilities’" can be expected ; and anyone who goes around boasting of the cancer cases he

has cured ought to be regarded with suspicion. Do not dwell upon the

cancer, for it is not the cancer but the patient that you are treating.

It is the patient that is sick, and whenever a patient is sick enough to

have a cancer his state of order is too much disturbed to be cured.

The proving of Carbo animalis presents the appearance of a broken

down constitution. It brought out in the provers just such symptoms

as occur in old, feeble constitutions, with poor repair and lack of reaction. Hence the medicine has been a great palliative for patients

suffering from malignant infiltrations and indurations ; suspicious indurations round about and under the bases of ulcers ; suspicious indurations in glands. A gland becomes inflamed, hard and remains so.

Carbo animalis stands at the head of the list of remedies that have

that condition.

All through the remedy there is hypertrophy. Tissues pile up here

and there into hard nodules ; tissues pile up in glands and in organs.

The economy has lost its balance, and the result is a disorderly distribution of material. Great prostration, want of energy, associated with

palpitation, anxiety and disorders of the pulse. Weak pulse, rapid

pulse, irregular pulse. Beating in blood vessels. There is turmoil

in the economy, sometimes described as heat. A rushing of heat as