Fluoricum Acidum

Fluoric acid acts on the lower tissues of the body much like Silica, which it

follows and precedes well. It is useful after the abuse of Silica. The modalities of the two are

• ▸different; Fluor.
• ▸ac.
• ▸having > from cold applications.
• ▸It acts on the bones, especially the long

bones, causing caries and necrosis, and favours the expulsion of the necrosed part. Fistulze,

rectal, dental, and lachrymal come within its sphere. Old cicatrices become redder and itch.

Small red spots here and there, < by warmth, > in cool place. Red blotches on body which tend

to desquamate. Nails grow rapidly. Teeth are deficient in enamel; black, rough, unsightly-

• ▸looking.
• ▸Increased sensitiveness of vision and hearing.
• ▸According to Guernsey Fluor.
• ▸ac.
• ▸affects

the right ear; left teeth; left hypochondrium; left side of abdomen; right side and nape of neck;

• ▸right side of back.
• ▸T.
• ▸F.
• ▸Allen has recorded an experience (N.
• ▸A.
• ▸J.
• ▸H.
• ▸, 1886, p.
• ▸288) showing the

• ▸applicability of F/.
• ▸ac.
• ▸in whitlow.
• ▸A lady spilled some of the acid on her hand and though

treated at once with turpentine a few spots escaped on one hand, and these soon gave her great

pain, intensely pulsating. The pulsations involved the tip of the thumb especially, though this had

not been touched by the acid. It was not red like the spots touched by the acid but was sore to

touch, and when pressed there was a sensation as of a splinter under the nail and in the cellular

• ▸tissue.
• ▸This lasted some days.
• ▸The whole hand was swollen and hot, > in cool, open air.
• ▸In a

workman whose hand was exposed to the fumes of the acid there was intense throbbing pains

especially in the thumb; suppuration occurred later and was very slow to heal. According to

McLachlan, the left hand is affected rather than the right and the pus tends to point on the

• ▸dorsum of the finger.
• ▸> From cold washing distinguishes it from Silic.
• ▸Fl.
• ▸ac.
• ▸is also

distinguished from Si/. by the general > from walking in the open air. "A constant, irresistible

desire to walk in the open air; it does not fatigue," is characteristics of F/. ac. Hunger

predominates. There is < from wine like Zinc.; but also < from red wine, which is peculiar to

• ▸Fluor.
• ▸ac.
• ▸Abdominal symptoms > by tightening clothes (Nat.
• ▸mur.
• ▸—opp.
• ▸Lach.
• ▸, Hep.
• ▸).
• ▸Peculiar

symptoms are: Increased ability to exercise his muscles without fatigue. Is less affected by

excessive heat in summer or cold in winter. Sensation as of a cold wind blowing under lids, even

in warm room; as of air passing down from shoulder-joint to fingers. Numbness of limbs even

• ▸when not lain on.
• ▸Motion <.
• ▸Bending backward, and bending head back >.
• ▸Cold drinks <

toothache; washing with cold water >. Warm drink < diarrhoea. Symptoms seem to go from

below upward. Suited to complaints of old age, and premature old age; weakly constitutions,

sallow skin, emaciation.

Indifference towards those loved best; inability to realize responsibility; buoyancy. Mentally elated and gay.

Uncommon buoyancy of mind; fears nothing and is self-satisfied.—Disposition to be

exceedingly anxious, causing perspiration.—Aversion to his own family.—Sensation as if danger

menaced him.—Forgetfulness of dates and of his common employment.

Lassitude.—Loss of strength—Limbs go to sleep, although he does not lie on

them.—Increased ability to exercise his muscles without fatigue, regardless of the most excessive

heat in summer or cold in winter —Violent jerking, burning pains, confined to a small spot.

• ▸Alopecia.
• ▸Caries of skin.
• ▸Pressure on sides of head from within outward.
• ▸Caries of ossicles and mastoid, with copious discharge; worse warmth (Silica; worse cold).
• ▸Exostosis.

Vertigo with sickness of the stomach.—Congestion of blood to the head

• ▸(forehead).
• ▸—Dulness (towards night) in the occiput.
• ▸—Dulness and pressure in occiput.
• ▸—Sensation

of numbness in the forehead.—Heaviness above the eyes, with nausea, < on

motion.—Compressing pain in the temples ——Headache > by profuse flow of urine.—Severe

pressing pain in temples, from within outward.—Pain along the sutures.—Caries of the temporal

bones.—Sensation of weakness, like numbness in the head (and hands).—Itching of the

head.—Falling off of the hair; the new hair is dry and breaks off.—Baldness.

Sensation as of wind blowing through eyes. Lachrymal fistula. Violent itching of inner canthus.

Violent itching in the canthi—Burning in the eyes.—Pressure, as if it were behind r.

eyeball.—Fistula lachrymalis.—Sensation of sand in the eyes, or as if a fresh wind was blowing

on them.

Intolerable itching in both ears.—Singing in ears.—Hardness of hearing > bending head

back.

Chronic nasal catarrh with ulceration of the septum; nose obstructed and dull heavy pain in forehead.

Heat in the face; desire to wash it with cold water.—Perspiration, esp. in the

face.—Crusta lactea, dry, scaly, itches very much.—Tubercles in skin of forehead and face,

suppurating; syphilis infantum.

• ▸Dental fistula, with persistent bloody, salty discharge.
• ▸Syphilitic ulceration of throat, which is very sensitive to cold.
• ▸Teeth feel warm.
• ▸Affects teeth and bones of upper jaw.

• ▸The teeth feel warm (1.
• ▸upper jaw).
• ▸—Fistula (near the r.
• ▸eye-tooth) with great

sensitiveness of the upper jaw to the touch.—Sensation of roughness (lower incisor

teeth).—Toothache < from cold drink; or > until water becomes warm in mouth.—Rapid caries of

teeth—Acrid, foul taste from the roots of the teeth —Increased flow of saliva.—Increased flow of

saliva (with sneezing; with pricking of the tongue.).—In the morning the mouth and teeth are full

of mucus.—The posterior nares feel expanded during a walk.—Tongue deeply and widely fissured

in all directions, with a large, deep phagedenic-looking ulcer in the centre.

Throat peculiarly sensitive to cold, slightest exposure resulting in inflammation,

with increase of pain and impeded deglutition.—Constriction in the throat with difficult

deglutition; in the morning hawking up of much phlegm which is mixed with blood.

• ▸Heaviness and weight in stomach heat in stomach before meals.
• ▸Sour eructations.
• ▸Averse to coffee, wants fancy dishes.
• ▸Stomach symptoms relieved by tight clothes.
• ▸Desire for highly seasoned food.
• ▸Craves cold water, hungry.
• ▸Warm drinks produce diarrhoea.

Hunger predominates.—Thirst, craves refreshing drinks.—Aversion to

coffee —Eructation and discharge of flatulency.—Frequent eructations.—Nausea, eructations, and

lassitude.—Sickness of the stomach, with general heat.—Fulness and pressure in

epigastrium.—Pressure from weight in the stomach, between meals.—Heat in the stomach before

the meal.—Bilious vomiting after slight errors in diet, with increased alvine discharges, preceded

by tormina.

Soreness over liver. Flatus and eructations.

Frequent passages of flatus and belchings, which relieve—Great tension and

dropsical swelling of the abdomen.—Pinching in the region of the spleen (extending to the hips),

• ▸11 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸—Pressing pain in the region of the spleen and |.
• ▸arm.
• ▸—Sensation of emptiness in the

region of the navel, with desire to draw a deep breath; > by bandaging and eating.

Bilious diarrhoea, with aversion to coffee.

Soft small stools in the morning after drinking coffee, and again in the

evening, with protrusion of the hamorrhoids.—Watery stools in the morning after

rising.—Frequent passages of flatus and eructations (with constriction of the anus).—Stool pappy,

yellowish-brown, fetid, with tenesmus and prolapsus ani.—Protrusion of the anus during an

evacuation.—Constipation; stools infrequent and hard.—Itching within and around the anus, in the

perineum (evening).

Free discharge of light-coloured urine, affording relief—Very frequent

discharge of light-coloured urine (thirst increased).—Whitish purple-coloured sediment in the

urine.—Intolerable burning in the urethra during and after urination.

Scanty, dark. In dropsy, produces frequent and free discharge, with great relief.

• ▸Menses copious, frequent, too long.
• ▸Ulceration of uterus and os.
• ▸Copious and excoriating leucorrhoea.
• ▸Nymphomania.

Menstruation too early and too copious; the discharge is thick and

coagulated.—Acrid leucorrhcea; itching.

Burning in urethra. Sexual passion and desire increased with erections at night, during sleep. Swollen scrotum.

Increased sexual desire (in old men) with violent erections all

night.—Sensation of fulness in both spermatic cords.—Highly excessive enjoyment and pleasure

during coition—Seminal discharge tardy but free, and without bad after-feeling.

Oppression of chest, difficult breathing, great dyspnoea. Hydrothorax.

Itching in the larynx, which causes him to hawk and to

swallow.—Short frequent cough, mostly dry, white, frothy sputa—Itching under the ribs

• ▸(1.
• ▸).
• ▸—Difficult respiration (afternoon and evening).
• ▸—During respiration wheezing (hydrothorax).

Oppression of chest, > bending backwards.—Nipples itching, sore, cracked.—Itching,

• ▸redness, swelling of (r.
• ▸) nipple.
• ▸—Itching on 1.
• ▸breast and r.
• ▸side of nose.

Rigidity in the nape of the neck.—Pain (headache) from the nape of the

neck extending through the centre of the head to the forehead.—Bruised pain in the os sacrum

and loins, > by stretching, bending backwards, and by pressure.

Pain in r. shoulder-joint—Pain in r. shoulder-joint, extending toward fingers,

with sensation as if air were passing down.—Trembling in the biceps and triceps of r.

• ▸arm.
• ▸—Slight lameness in r.
• ▸arm (has some difficulty in writing).
• ▸—Rheumatic pains in 1.
• ▸arm from

• ▸shoulder to elbow, with lameness.
• ▸—The |.
• ▸forearm and hand asleep (in the morning).
• ▸—Numbness

• ▸and lameness in |.
• ▸forearm and hand (morning).
• ▸—Pain in |.
• ▸index finger; the whole finger is

painful internally.—Weakness and numbness of the hands and head.—Constant redness of the

hands, esp. the palms of the hands.—Acute prickings, as with needles, in the fingers —Thumbs

and fingers inflamed, with acute throbbing pains.—Sensation of a splinter under nail.—The nails

grow more rapidly.—Brittleness of the nails ——Panaritium; also simple onychia.

Edematous swelling up to the abdomen.—Varicose veins.—Acute stitches in

• ▸r.
• ▸hip-bone.
• ▸—Lameness in |.
• ▸hip.
• ▸—Pain in r.
• ▸knee-joint—The 1.
• ▸leg falls easily asleep.
• ▸—Burning

stitches under the soles of the feet (in the morning).—Feet hot and burn.—Soreness between the

toes.—Soreness of all his corns.

• ▸Inflammation of joints of fingers.
• ▸Feeling as of a splinter under nail.
• ▸Nails crumble.
• ▸Caries and necrosis, especially of long bones.
• ▸Coccygodynia.
• ▸Ulcer over tibia.

• ▸Varicose veins.
• ▸Naevi.
• ▸Ulcers; red edges and vesicles.
• ▸Decubitus; worse, warmth.
• ▸Syphilitic rupia.
• ▸Itching of cicatrices.
• ▸Feels as if burning vapor were emitted from pores.
• ▸Itching especially of the orifices, and in spots, worse warmth.
• ▸Nails grow rapidly.
• ▸Periosteal abscess.
• ▸Profuse, sour, offensive perspiration.
• ▸Syphilitic tubercles.
• ▸Dropsy of limbs in old, feeble constitutions.
• ▸Atony of capillary and venous system.
• ▸Tissues bloated.

Old cicatrices become red around the edges, covered or surrounded by itching

vesicles, or they itch violently —Burning pains on small spots of the skin.—Itching of the skin (in

the month of March).—Elevated red blotches.—Red, round, elevated blood vesicles, resembling

• ▸little flesh-warts.
• ▸—Varicose veins on the (1.
• ▸) leg —Caries and necrosis.
• ▸—Ulcerations, esp.
• ▸after the

abuse of Silica.

Sleeplessness without inclination to sleep; a short sleep suffices and refreshes

him.—Drowsy and sleepy in the early evening.—Dreams toward morning.

General heat with nausea.—General heat with nausea from the least movement, with

inclination to uncover oneself and to wash oneself with cold water.—Perspiration, clammy, acid,

disagreeably smelling, principally on the upper part of the body, esp. on moving in the afternoon

and evening, with itching.—The perspiration favours soreness of the skin and decubitus.—Less

susceptible to the summer heat.

• ▸Abscess.
• ▸Alcoholism.
• ▸Alopecia.
• ▸Apoplexy.
• ▸Bone, affections of.
• ▸Brain, atrophy of.

• ▸Cicatrix.
• ▸Coccygodynia.
• ▸Decubitus.
• ▸Dropsies.
• ▸Eyes, affections of.
• ▸Fistula.
• ▸Gleet.
• ▸Goitre.

• ▸Gonorrheea.
• ▸Hemorrhoids.
• ▸Hair, falling out.
• ▸Hands, perspiring.
• ▸Headache.
• ▸Hydrocele.
• ▸Liver,

• ▸induration of.
• ▸Locomotor ataxy.
• ▸Nevus.
• ▸Nose, inflammation of.
• ▸Nymphomania.
• ▸Otorrhcea.

• ▸Peritonitis.
• ▸Perspiration.
• ▸Pityriasis.
• ▸Satyriasis.
• ▸Splenalgia.
• ▸Suppuration.
• ▸Syphilis.
• ▸Teeth,

• ▸defective.
• ▸Toothache.
• ▸Tongue, ulceration of.
• ▸Varicosis.
• ▸Veins, diseased.
• ▸Whitlow.

Compatible: after Arsen. in ascites from gin-drinker's liver after Kali c. in hip

• ▸disease; after Phos.
• ▸ac.
• ▸in diabetes.
• ▸Compare: Coca (fatigue); Coffea (toothache); Citr.
• ▸ac.
• ▸and

• ▸Sep.
• ▸(aversion to one's family); Oxal.
• ▸ac.
• ▸(diarrhoea < from coffee); Rhus t.
• ▸and Ruta

• ▸(coccygodynia); Silic.
• ▸(fistula, onychia, bone diseases, coccygodynia); Brom.
• ▸, Iod.
• ▸, Spongia and

• ▸Kali c.
• ▸(goitre); Staph.
• ▸(teeth).
• ▸Followed well by: Sulph.
• ▸, Nit.
• ▸ac.

Compare: Thiosinaminum (action on cicatricial tissues; adhesions, strictures, tumors); Calc fluor; Silica.

Complementary: Silica.

Sixth to thirtieth potency.

It takes a long time for this remedy, in the proving, to develop its

symptoms. It is a very deep-acting medicine, and an antipsoric, antisyphilitic and anti-sycotic. It is insidious in its action and its symptoms are slow in approach ; it is Ukc the deepest and slowest and most

tedious diseases, the miasms, and hence it is suitable in the very

slowest and lowest forms of disease. While it has in its nature some

febrile action, it is not for this purpose that it is oftenest called for :

its most typical febrile action is very slow and insidious. It corresponds to overheated states of the 'system, old cases of nightly fevers,

coming on week after week and yelir after year.

It is an unusually hot-blooded remedy at times, and again it has

conditions of coldness. In the evening and night great heat seems to

evolve from the body without increase of temperature. The skin

becomes very hot. That patient is often < from warm things, < from

covering, < from warm air ; suffocates somewhat like Puls, in a

warm room. He wants to bathe the face and head in cold water ;

such bathing is grateful. The feet burn and are put out of bed in

the night ; he hunts around in bed for a cool place for the feet and

hands. The soles perspire, and the palms perspire, and the sweat is

acrid, making the parts sore ; excoriation from the sweat between the

toes. The perspiration is offensive; offensive, acrid sweat between

the toes. Burning, unusual heat and acridity are words that modify

a great many symptoms; an acrid lachrymation or other discharge

from the eye ; acrid discharge from the nose, acrid sweat, etc. Sensation of burning and burning pains in parts ; heat evolved from the

body as a chronic state. Aggravation from heat, from outward heat

and from inward heat, belongs to this remedy. It is a strong feature

of this remedy to be worse from drinking tea and coffee. Warm

drinks bring on a diarrhoea, or flatulence, or disturbance in the stomach, and cause indigestion to manifest itself in various ways. The

symptoms arc worse standing and sitting and better in the open air.

It is a remedy of great depth of action. It so disturbs the functions that there are peculiar outward signs in the nails, in the hair, in

the skin ; they are all imperfectly developed. Whenever such is the

case, we know that a remedy has great depth of action and that it is

very long acting. It forms like incrustations here and there upon

the skin that seem to have no tendency to heal. A crust forms, but

there seems to be no healing beneath the crust. The hair loses its

lustre ; it falls out, and if examined closely under the microscope it is

seen to be necrosed ; little ragged ulcers will be found along the course

of the hair. The ends of the hair are dry, the hair mats and splits

and breaks, becomes ragged in masses and lustreless. The nails arecrippled, likewise corrugations in the nails ; the nails grow too fast

and grow awkwardly : that is, they arc deformed and crippled, too

thick in some places, and too thin in others ; break easily, brittle.

There is a tendency to breaking down of a slow character, where the

circulation is very feeble, and the skin is near bone or cartilage, as in

the cartilages in the ears, and in the cartilages of joints. Ulcers

develop over the tibia. There is feeble circulation in the hands and

feet and they become cold. In the evening the extremities burn and

are feverish, because that is the time of the feverish state ; but in the

morning and in the daytime there is coldness of the extremities. The

patient is pallid and sickly, and at times becomes waxy and dropsical ;

oedema of the extremities, and particularly of the lower extremities ;

oedema of certain parts ; anlema of the prepuce. When a debilitated

subject, one suffering from bone and cartilaginous troubles, contracts

gonorrhoea, witli it he will have enormous swelling of the prepuce,

and nothing seems to act upon it. Fluoric acid will cure oedema of

the prepuce with gonorrhoea in such a subject. Cannabis saliva has

the same symptom, but it is especially useful in robust cases. Fluoric

acid will prevent the manifestation of disease in sycotic subjects, will

prevent formation of fig warts. It cures fig warts. It produces

hardened, dry warts, and dry crusts upon the skin, and crusts not

unlike riipia. It is useful in syphilitic rupia.

Bone affections stand out prominently. Necrosis, especially of the

long bones, but also of the bones of the ear. It creates an offensive!

acrid discharge from the car. It establishes an offensive ozaena, an

acrid discharge, with necrosis of the nasal bones. It is very analogous to Sihy and it is one of the natural followers of Si7. where SiL

has been too frequently repeated by persons who do not know that

Silkea does its best in a single dose and that it is a long acting

and slow medicine. It not only antidotes the abuse of SiU, but also follows Sih After practicing a while you will be surprised to observe the

47 *

pendulum-like action between heat and cold in various complementary

remedies. To make that clear I will illustrate it by using the series

in which this remedy is set and to which it naturally belongs. You

take a patient who is hoi-bloodcd, wlio is always suffering from the

heat, from too much clothing and too warm a room especially in the

evenings, a patient that is tearful and sad, and may be a blonde. Why

you say, I am trying to describe a Pulsatilla patient. Well, yes ; anyone can see that. Puls, is a hot-blooded patient, but after using that

remedy a while you notice that the patient goes to the other extreme

and becomes chilly, and wants much clothing ; the heat is taken out

of the case. SiL is the natural follow^er of Puls.^ and you would be

astonished to know how often a patient leaving Puls, runs toward

SiL SiL goes deeper into the case, it does more cutting, and it is the

natural chronic of Puls. Other remedies of course follow Puls., but

SiL more frequently than any other medicine. Now, that is the second

step ; the patient has gone from a warm to a cool state ; the overheated

state has been lost and he has gone into SiL, but when Sil, has been

administered for a while it cures the cold state, and removes the chilliness of the patient (remember, however, that Sil. has at times something of Puls, in it ; in some of its complaints it is < from being overheated) and the patient under SiL goes back to the warm state again,

becomes hot-blooded, wants the warm covers thrown off, wants to be

lightly covered. Then it is that this medicine comes in the series.

• ▸Fluor, ac.
• ▸folows Sil.
• ▸as naturally as Sil.
• ▸follows Puls.
• ▸They exist

in threes. There are other remediqs that exist in threes, but the most

• ▸common ones you will think of wiH be Sulph.
• ▸Calc, and Lyc.
• ▸, Sulph.
• ▸,

• ▸Sars.
• ▸and Se^p,, and Coloc.
• ▸and Caust.
• ▸and Staph.
• ▸, which often follow

each other and rotate in this way. Do not let these facts make you

give a routine remedy unless the symptoms agree, but it does help to

remember that remedies are somewhat similar. It is true that Puls.,

Sil. and Fluor, ac. are similar all along the line as to the nature of

their symptoms. Puls, corresponds to more acute disturbances, or to

the earlier stages of chronic disease, the more active or violent operations of chronic disease. It will take off the wire edge of the disease,

and it will be followed by some medicine that is complementary to

It, always to be determined by the symptoms that arise. There are

cases that would be greatly injured by so deeply acting a remedy as

Sil. if given in the beginning, that is, the suffering would be unnecessary ; but if you commence with Puls, you can mitigate the case and

prepare it to receive SiL, providing the two would appear to be on a

plane of agreement, A very serious case had better first receive Puts.,

and the way being paved by that remedy follow it up with Sil.

Think of the remedy, then, in vicious bone diseases, in necrosis and

caries, in fistulous openings, fistula leading to the teeth, fistula lachrymalis and fistula in ano; in calcareous degenerations ; in deformity of

the nails, hair and tec A; in affections of the thigh bones and leg bones,

with chronic fistulous openings leading to bone discharging pus which

excoriates the parts all around.

The patient is over-sensitive ; is made worse if the bowels do not

move regularly ; is distressed if the menstrual flow is slightly delayed ;

suffers if the call to urinate cannot be immediately attended to, hence,

as in the text, ‘'headaches > by micturition.” That symptom is all

that is given in the text ; but remember something that is analogous

to it, viz, ; If the call lo urinate be not attended to the headache will

continue to grow <! until the urine is avoided. That is a peculiar

symptom, and it sometimes leads to the study of Fluor, ac. Violent

congestive headache with heat and fullness. Violent occipital headaches,

worse from motion.

Now, if we take into consideration its great depth of action, wc

will see furthermore that it is suitable in some brain diseases. In

persons who have overw'orked, w^ho have been w^orking day and night

to establish a business, or to keep it up, and when there has been constant use of the brain it is suitable. In mental depression and melancholy, with great sadness, in young men who have destroyed the

nervous system by vicious practices, by secret vice. It is particularly

suitable for that disorder of the human economy where men have

continuously changed their mistresses. There is a state in which a

man is never satisfied with one woman, but continually changes and

goes from mad to worse until be is a debauchee. If a young man

cannot keep away from women, he is not so bad off if he will only

keep to one, but he goes from one to many, until he stands upon the

street corners and, in his lust, craves the innocent women that go

along the street. Fluoric acid is suitable in that state, like Pienc acid

and Sepia, and these medicines are particularly suited to that condition of enfeeblement of the mind and that disorder of the human

economy that makes man so low, that we have the state described as

“low mindedness.” It takes that form in one who is a sort of debauchee, running after all sorts of things to tickle his fancy, but it

takes another form in a man who stays at home with his good wife.

He takes an aversion to his children and to his dearest friends and his

wife, that is, he has lost that true and noble and orderly affection and

friendship and companionship which ought to exist, and he fights

against it. An orderly man considers his wife his best friend and he

would rather stay with her than go anywhere else. To him there is

no place like home. Now, when man arrives at the state when he

wants to go somewhere else, that he wants to go away from home,

that he is disturbed at home, that everything annoys him at home, that

he no longer loves his children as he once did, he needs Fluoric acid.

“Feeling of indifference towards those he loves best.” The Sepia

state is like this, but Sep, is more frecjucntly indicated in women. The

woman will say, ‘'Doctor, there is one thing that I regret very much,

and that is, I do not seem to enjoy my children, my home, my companions, my hustand and my friends. There is a sort of alienation.'’

Such is the way it is told where it is Sepia, In the man it is more

commonly Fluoric acid, in the woman more commonly Sep,, but this

need not necessarily be so. Sepia corresponds more closely to the condition of the uterus and ovaries, and such conditions, as the woman

alone can have. (Compare Calcarea.)

Fluoric acid has with this state an overwhelming sexual erethism.

He is kept awake niglits by erections. This state of desire forces

itself upon him, not only when he Is with the opposite sex, but at all

times. At times, in the beginning of a gonorrhoea, this condition of

priapism ,and intense uncontrollable sexual desire, with swelling of

the foreskin, is overcome by Fluoric acid. There are times when this

priapism demands Canih., hut that remedy differs wholly in its nature

from this.

Reticence and silence: sitting and saying nothing. This reticence

is like Puls,, and often belongs to the insane who will sit in the corner

and say nothing all day, never uttering one single word, and hardly

answering when spoken to. A patient sits in the corner and says

nothing and does nothing, eats when food is offered, is led to her

room when the time comes, resists nobody, answers nothing; such a

stale is found in Pulsatilla, and is clo$e!y allied to this remedy. There

is some insanity in it, but especially the fatigue and mildness of a

tired biain. Mental exhaustion from overwork or from vices.

It is suitable after SiL in the spinal affeciions that are attended with

paralysis ircm])ling and numbness in the soles of the feet. It will

often stop the progrcvss of structural nervous diseases and prevent the

case from getting worse.

An excellent and very useful feature of this remedy is its ability

to produce varicose veins and varicose ulcers. The veins become

varicosed anywhere, but particularly upon the lower limbs, especially

following pregnancy. Haemorrhoids protrude after a stool; the anus

and rectum protrude, and there is some bleeding, because of the

haemorrhoidal condition. Varicose conditions with very old ulcers

upon the lower extremities; the varicose veins ulcerate. You might

predict what kind of ulcer and what kind of a margin Fluoric acid

would produce. We sec the feebleness of its circulation, wc see its

tendency to create hard crusts, and hardened, horny skin and eruptions. We might now easily assume that the inflamed borders of an

ulcer would become indurated, bard and glassy. The margins of

ulcers are indurated and the ulcer is an old, indolent ulcer. Parts

once l)rokcn will not close up. Union will not take place between the

broken ends of bones, there is no repair. From bones and from ulcers,

wc have the foetid, acrid, thin, watery discharges, or at times very

scanty discharges, but acrid, burning the parts all around, raising eruptions and scurfs around the ulcers.

From the feebleness of the circulation one might suppose that

numbness would naturally be present, and it is true. The ears become

numb, the scalp becomes numb, there is a sensation as if the back of

the head were made of wood. The scalp loses its sensation, the hair

falls out and crusts form. The extremities become numb and there

is numbness of the feet and hands extending upwards; mimhness,

with or without dropsy; numbness in spinal affections; numbness in

brain diseases. Numbness of the limb not laid on.

‘‘Crusta lactea : dry scales : itches very much, bald places. Caries

of the temporal bone; discharges olfensivc smelling pus periodically.”

‘Whole left side of the head retarded in growth, left eye seems

smaller.’^ That is a clinical state, but it is significant.

Its use in syphilis must not be overlooked. In old cases with

exostoses, caries and necrosis, cases that have been mercurialized, and

treated by other drugs until ulcers have developed or those affections

of the nose that wc have often observed in syphilitic states. He blows

small pieces of bone out of the nose: great pain in the nose; nasal

bones all destroyed, and the nose becomes flat as though only a soft

piece of flesh with perforations. The vulva is eaten off and the

tonsils become honeycombed by syphilitic ulcers. Lingering, low

forms of ulcers and eruptions. The teeth decay or break off or

ulcerate at the roots; fistulous openings from the root of the tooth,

continuing to discharge. Many a lime has this remedy taken away

that ulcer of the root, closed up that fistulous opening, cured the pain,

saved the tooth.

“Craves cold water and is continually hungry.” Often that “all

gone” sensation in the stomach. Is ahvays eating and is relieved from

eating, but like Iodine it docs not last long, for soon he becomes

hungry again. Such medicines arc very deep. Wc sec that they go

to the very root of assimilation and nutrition.

Chronic ulcers of the throat not necessarily syphilitic, but it is particularly useful in the old forms of syphilis; not generally so suitable

in the earlier ulcers as in those that are associated with the tertiary

forms, with debilitated states, with brain disease, with nervous symptoms that go on for years when the patient is supposed to be cured.

Very often the trouble will come back in the throat, and the ulcers

consist of little gummatous growths. SiL especially covers such a

condition, and SiL is also one of the most useful medicines for rooting

out Mercury. In potentized form sil. and Merc, are inimical, yet the