Petroleum

The Petrol. proved by Hahnemann is made by agitating the liquid commercial

Petroleum with Sulphuric Acid and then rectifying the portion which this acid does not act upon.

It is "a light oily fluid, colourless or of a pale straw colour, and strong characteristic naphthalic

smell. Dropped on white paper it evaporates completely, leaving no greasy stain." Under

• ▸PARAFFIN I have described the relation between Petrol.
• ▸, Naph.
• ▸, and Paraff.
• ▸Commercial

"Petroleum" and commercial "Paraffin oil" are one and the same. The Petro/. of homceopathy is

this substance purified and rectified. But in the pathogenesis are included effects observed on

those engaged in petroleum works, and those who use "Paraffin oil" in various trades; it would

therefore be well to have also a preparation of the crude, non-rectified liquid. Petrolatum

(Vaseline) consists of hydrocarbons of the Paraffin series, obtained from residues after

distillation of lighter oils from crude petroleum; or deposited from crude petroleum on standing.

The affections met with in petroleum extractors and refiners are—(/) Diseases of the skin and

subcutaneous tissue; depressed nutrition, anzemia, dyspepsia, nerve troubles, irritability,

insomnia, respiratory affections. In addition to these is a species of intoxication. A man, a patient

of mine who suffered from inveterate eczema, and who had formerly been employed in a factory

where much petroleum was used, noticed that his eczema was much better whilst working with

petroleum. He told me that the vapour had the singular effect of making some of the workmen

insane, causing: Desire to kill; hallucinations, they will see things not actually visible; for

instance, "they will see the rails in a station when a train is on them." Boys (who are much

affected) will jump at a straight wall and try to scramble up it. A rickety boy, zt. 2 1/2, who had

an unconquerable desire to drink anything liquid within his reach I took one day e good draught

of paraffin oil. An Ipecacuanha emetic and a Castor Oil purge got rid of a good deal of it, and a

month after he was brought to me with these symptoms: Appetite had. Pale, dark rings round

eyes. Every now and then seems to collapse; goes into a corner and will not play; after tea quite

bright. Cold sweat in bed; complains of burning heat; then goes cold and clammy. I prescribed

• ▸Phos.
• ▸2.
• ▸In three weeks he was brought back much better.
• ▸He had lost the pallor and dark rings

round the eyes, and had ceased to mope; but he had come out, all over small boils which

discharged, the discharge having the odour of paraffin. There was A slight recurrence of the old

symptoms a fortnight later, and after that I did not see the boy again till a year later, when he was

brought to me for diphtheritic paralysis. Two years after this he was brought to me again. He was

now well grown and had no sign of rickets, but some of the old symptoms came back: Languid;

• ▸inclined to be quiet; averse to play.
• ▸At times clammy all over body.
• ▸This time Petro/.
• ▸30 soon put

him right. In the case of a woman who drank paraffin oil when intoxicated, there was epigastric

pain so severe that she thought she would go out of her mind, > lying with knees drawn up;

tenderness of ileo-czecal region and of epigastrium; swollen feeling of abdomen, without actual

swelling; blood and albumen in urine; pain in back and slight return of menses, which had ceased

• ▸a week before.
• ▸These cases show the profound action of Petrol.
• ▸on the organism.
• ▸It is one of

Hahnemann's leading antipsorics, and is especially closely related to Graph. It is suited to long-

lasting, deep-seated, wasting diseases; lingering gastric and intestinal troubles with or without

ulceration. In my experience no remedy corresponds to more cases of chlorosis in young girls,

with or without ulceration of the stomach. Petrol. (says Kent) corresponds to low conditions in

which there is inability to throw out eruptions on the skin; or conditions in which an eruption has

disappeared without improvement in health: to reflexions of disease on mucous membranes

setting up catarrh. Ozeena; intestinal catarrh. Soreness and cracks about muco-cutaneous orifices.

Irritability of skin and irritability of mind are both found in Perrol., as in many other remedies:

Excitable; angry at trifles. Anxiety with fear. Mental weakness and forgetfulness are also very

characteristic, and are generally met with in connection with deep-seated disease. An illusion

that there is another person, or another baby in bed, is very characteristic of the remedy, and has

led to cures with Petrol. of cases of typhoid and puerperal fever. "Falling out of the hair" is a

characteristic symptom of Petrol., and accounts for the popularity of Petroleum hair-restorers.

[Petrol. "probably acts on the sebaceous rather than the sudoriferous secretions of the skin, and

• ▸its local action is on parts where the sebum is abundant.
• ▸"—R.
• ▸T.
• ▸C.
• ▸].
• ▸The use of these hair-

restorers has caused many violent headaches. So has the use of "Coal Oil" (a tablespoonful to a

• ▸bucketful of water) by washerwomen to improve the colour of linen.
• ▸M.
• ▸T.
• ▸Bleim (quoted H.
• ▸W.
• ▸,

xxvi. 318) thus describes the result in one case: Severe occipital headache, loss of strength,

emaciation, diarrhoea, dyspepsia with fulness on eating very little; accumulation of gas; very

severe attacks of suffocation, > by eructations of gas. The headaches of Petrol. may be in any

part, but they are most marked in occiput. Heaviness like lead; pressure, sticking; pulsating; < on

shaking head or any jar. Pain travels from occiput to eyes, and is associated with temporary loss

of sight and fainting. The vertigo and heaviness of Pezro/. are often associated with nausea and

bilious vomiting. This (nausea with or without vomiting) is one of the grand characteristics of the

remedy. It is < by motion in a carriage or on the sea; hence Petrol. is one of the first remedies in

train-sickness or sea-sickness. The other side of this nausea is another grand characteristic:

Awful ravenous hunger, the "sinking" of the chief antipsorics. It is particularly noticed

immediately after a stool, in diarrhoea, nervous affections, spinal disease, &c. (Kent). In

pulmonary affections Petrol. has gained much repute of late in the form of an emulsion. A

leading indication for it is "Oppression of the chest; < in cold air." Petrol. has a peculiar cough,

not infrequently met with in young girls and boys, coming from deep down in the chest, and

frequently waking the patient up at night. A student who had a deep, hollow-sounding, hacking

cough, excited by laughing, waking him up in the middle of the night, I cured with Petrol. 30

• ▸after Arg.
• ▸n.
• ▸and Arg.
• ▸met.
• ▸had failed to do anything.
• ▸The cough had persisted some time and

caused his family no little anxiety. The discharges of Petrol. are thick, purulent, and yellowish

green. For the cracked nostrils accompanying and following cold in the head I find the

application of vaseline more often useful than other forms of unguent. The /ocalities of Petrol.

are very like those of Graph.: Scalp, behind ears, scrotum, genitals. The modality "< in winter"

has given Nash the key to several cases of eczema, chapped hands, chilblains, and one case of

chronic diarrhoea, as soon as he discovered that the patient had eczema of the hands in winter.

Petrol. 200 was given. The skin is extremely sensitive; all clothing is painful; slight injuries

suppurate. Allen's Appendix quotes an important case reported by O. Lassar in Virchow's Archiv.

A man used for four days extensive inunctions with Petrol. to relieve himself from scabies. A

week later his feet began to swell, and the dropsy, increasing rapidly, spread over abdomen and

thorax. In a fortnight it disappeared, but eight days later returned and persisted till death, four

months after the inunction. The urine was highly albuminous, and contained hyaline and granular

cylinders; but the necropsy revealed no lesion of any organ to account for the dropsy. The, body

was extremely oedematous; there was cedema of the lungs and dropsy of the cavities, and whilst

in hospital the wrist pulse was small, empty, and of low tension; the blood corpuscles were few,

but their relative proportions were normal. Temperature normal, and the skin showed localised

areas of inflammation. Along the veins and lymphatics a small-celled growth existed, and in all

the layers of the cutis there was a widely distributed nuclear proliferation. Peculiar symptoms

are: Brain as if wrapped in a fog. As if everything in head were alive. As if head made of wood,

• ▸or as if bruised.
• ▸As if a cold breeze were blowing on head.
• ▸As if head would burst.
• ▸Veil before

• ▸eyes.
• ▸Sand in eyes.
• ▸As if skin over bridge of nose drawn stiff and tight.
• ▸As if something were

• ▸tearing off from pit of stomach.
• ▸As if a cold stone at heart.
• ▸Splinter in heel.
• ▸Upper and lower

limbs as if stiff without joints. Jaw as if distended. There is great weakness; fainting; tremor;

twitching of limbs; catalepsy; tonic spasms; left-sided paralysis. The notes of the skin affections

are: Itching; burning; rawness; bleeding. Burning sensations are very marked; and as Petrol. is

accountable for so many burning accidents it is fitting that it should make a very good

application for burns in the form of vaseline, cosmoline, or Petrol. mixed with equal parts of

• ▸olive oil.
• ▸Petrol.
• ▸is suited to: Persons with light hair and skin.
• ▸Especially for lean, slender

persons. The symptoms are < by touch; by contact of clothing; by scratching; by riding in

• ▸carriage or ship.
• ▸Pinching the parts > hemorrhoids.
• ▸< From mental exertion.
• ▸Headache < on

shaking head; > by epistaxis; < from light and noise. After stool: hunger immediately. Ravenous

hunger; frequently awakened by it at night; easily satisfied, with aversion to meat, fats, cooked or

hot food; desire only for dainties, which are eaten with avidity. Eating > gastralgia. Gastralgia

comes on whenever the stomach is empty. Empty, weak sensation in stomach. < After eating or

drinking. After eating: giddiness; heat in face; cutting in abdomen; eructations; drowsiness;

• ▸uneasiness.
• ▸Cabbages, saurkraut = diarrhoea.
• ▸Colic > by bending double.
• ▸Exertion, motion,

• ▸riding, sitting <.
• ▸Lying down < cough, and distension of abdomen.
• ▸Vertigo when head lies low.
• ▸<

• ▸Cold air.
• ▸< Winter.
• ▸< Open air.
• ▸< Before and during thunderstorm.
• ▸< Bathing.
• ▸> Warmth and

• ▸warm air.
• ▸< Warmth of bed (itching).
• ▸Cough is < at night and 2, 4, and 6 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸Smoking befogs

• ▸him; = cough.
• ▸< After coitus (nervous irritability).
• ▸Cough < by laughing (cured).
• ▸< During day

(diarrhoea and dysentery). Throat affections go right to left. Headache back to front.

• ▸Vexation.
• ▸Riding in carriage or ship.
• ▸Nitric acid (deafness from).
• ▸Cabbage.

Suppressed eruptions. Sprains.

• ▸Marked aggravation from mental emotions.
• ▸Loses his way in streets.
• ▸Thinks he is double, or some one else lying alongside.
• ▸Feels that death is near, and must hurry to settle affairs.
• ▸Irritable, easily offended, vexed at everything.
• ▸Low-spirited, with dimness of sight.

Anxious and timorous disposition.—Sadness and mental dejection.—Great

irresolution.—Uneasiness respecting the future—Hypochondriacal humour.—Inclination to anger

and to scold.—Violent, irascible, insolent temper.—Frequent tears; on slightest

• ▸provocation.
• ▸—Loss of memory.
• ▸—Does not know where she is in the street.
• ▸—Unfitness for

reflection —Weakness of Apprehension.—Delirium; thinks another person is lying with him in

bed (or that he is double, or one limb is double); or always and continuously delirious talk of the

same distressing subject.—Imagines he has a third leg which will not keep quiet.—Desire to

kill.—Hallucinations of vision.

Affections in general of any kind, appearing on the r. eye; internal or external

occiput; behind ears; inner surface of thighs; ball or under part of toes; knee-joint.—Drawing

pains in limbs.—Stiffness and tendency to numbness of limbs.—Cracking of joints, with arthritic

rigidity and drawing, tearing pains —Swelling and induration of glands, also after a

contusion.—Jerking of limbs by day and during sleep —Catalepsy; tonic spasms.—Epileptic

fits.—Fainting fits, with ebullition of blood, heat, palpitation, and pressure at heart—Great

weakness after least exertion, sometimes with confused sight, trembling of body, buzzing in ears,

and nausea.—Weakness, nausea, and other sufferings, from motion of a carriage.-—Weakness in

morning in bed.—Many of the symptoms appear, or are <, during stormy weather.—Transient

heat, ebullition of blood, and perspiration after a walk, or after a fit of anger.—Emaciation; also

in children.—Sensation of insupportable and general-uneasiness, with trembling and

• ▸dejection.
• ▸—Heaviness and lassitude in all limbs.
• ▸—Great lassitude morning and evening.
• ▸—Great

tendency to take cold.—Repugnance to open air, with shivering when exposed to it.—Several

symptoms manifest themselves in morning.

• ▸Sensitive, as of a cold breeze blowing on it.
• ▸Feels numb, as if made of wood; occiput heavy, as of lead (Opium).
• ▸Vertigo on rising, felt in occiput, as if intoxicated, or like sea-sickness.
• ▸Moist eruption on scalp; worse, back and ears.
• ▸Scalp sore to touch, followed by numbness.
• ▸Headache, must hold temples to relieve; provoked by shaking while coughing.
• ▸Use thirtieth.

• ▸Head bewildered.
• ▸—Feeling as if brain wrapped in fog.
• ▸—Frequent vertigo, esp.
• ▸on

raising eyes.—Vertigo, like that produced by a swinging motion.—Vertigo on stooping, or on

rising from bed, or from a seat.—Headache after a fit of anger, or when fasting in morning, as

also after a walk in evening.—Attacks of semi-lateral headache, which compel patient to lie

down.—Heaviness and fulness in head in morning, and when stooping.—Pressive or lancinating

pressive pains in head, esp. in occiput.—Headache < by all kinds of intellectual labour, to the

extent of complete stupefaction.—Tension in head, as if dura mater were tightened.—Cramp-like,

drawing, pinching pains in head.—Neuralgic headache, beginning in occiput and extending

forward.—Occipital headache, extending to vertex, with vertigo.—Occipital headache, with

• ▸nausea, esp.
• ▸in sea-sickness.
• ▸—Pulsative headache, esp.
• ▸in occiput (cerebellum).
• ▸—Pressing

stinging in the cerebellum.—Sensation as if all were alive in head.—Scalp painful to touch, as if

bruised or ulcerated (followed by numbness and very sore on scratching, < in morning and on

becoming heated).—Headache in forehead; every mental exertion causes him to become quite

stupid.—Drawing pains in head, forehead, and temples, extending into teeth—Seborrheea of

• ▸scalp.
• ▸—Eruption on head and nape of neck.
• ▸—(Edematous swelling and scabs on scalp.
• ▸—Hair falls

off.

• ▸Loss of eyelashes.
• ▸Dim sight; far-sighted; cannot read fine print without glasses; blenorrhoea of lachrymal sac; marginal blepharitis.
• ▸Canthi fissured.
• ▸Skin around eyes dry and scurfy.

• ▸Itching in eyes.
• ▸—Itching of lids; obliged to rub them.
• ▸—(Lids everted.
• ▸).
• ▸—Aching,

smarting, shooting, and burning pain in eyes.—Conjunctivitis and blepharadenitis.—Inflammation

of eyes (with itching and stitches in eyes).—Lachrymal fistula (with dryness of r. side of

• ▸nose).
• ▸—Lachrymation.
• ▸—Jerking and quivering of eyes and lids.
• ▸—Convulsion of eyes —Myopia or

presbyopia.—Diplopia.—Scintillation and appearance as of a veil before sight; or sparks and

black spots.

• ▸Noise unbearable, especially from several people talking together.
• ▸Eczema, intertrigo, etc, in and behind ears, with intense itching.
• ▸Parts sore to touch.
• ▸Fissures in meatus.
• ▸Dry catarrh, with deafness and noises.
• ▸Ringing and cracking in ears.
• ▸Chronic Eustachian catarrh.
• ▸Diminished hearing.

Inflammation and painful swelling of meatus auditorius.—Otalgia, with cramp-like and

jerking pain.—Dryness, and distressing sensation of dryness, in interior of ear.—Discharge of

blood and pus from ears.—Eruption of ears.—Redness, excoriation, and oozing behind

ears.—Deafness.—Tinkling, rolling, roaring, ringing, rumbling, cracking, and buzzing in

ears.—Excessive secretion of cerumen.

Nostrils ulcerated, cracked, burn; tip of nose itches. Epistaxis. Ozaena, with scabs and muco-purulent discharge.

• ▸Epistaxis.
• ▸—Slight epistaxis > headache.
• ▸—Purulent blisters on nose.
• ▸—Ulcerated nostrils

(and stopped catarrh).—Ozeena, scabs, purulent mucus, cracked nostrils —Swelling of nose, with

discharge of pus, and pair, above root of nose.—Stoppage of nose.—Dryness, and distressing

• ▸sensation of dryness, in nose.
• ▸—Much mucus in nose.
• ▸—Itching on tip of nose.
• ▸—Coryza with

hoarseness.

Dry; feels constricted, as if covered with albumin.

Heat in face, sometimes after a meal, and with thirst—Dryness and constriction of skin

of face and eyelids as though covered with a thin layer of albumen; cheeks look glazed and

contracted.—Pale, yellowish complexion.—Facial paralysis (from inflammatory products in

• ▸Fallopian canal).
• ▸—Eruption of pimples on face.
• ▸—Scurfs around mouth.
• ▸—Scabby pimples, with

shooting pain on lips, and commissures.—Furuncles on lower lip.—Swelling of sub-maxillary

glands.—Easy dislocation of maxillary joint in bed in morning with sharp pains.

Fetid breath, sometimes like garlic.—Ulcers on inner surface of cheeks (painful when

closing teeth).—Much mucus in mouth and throat—Tongue coated white.—Painful soreness on

chewing.—Great dryness of mouth (and throat in morning) with violent thirst (for beer).

Toothache from contact with open air, < at night, with swelling of cheek.—Numbness

of teeth, with pain on clenching them.—Pustule above a hollow tooth like a fistula —Fistulous

vesicles in gums.—Swelling of gums, with shooting pain on being touched.

Sore throat, with shooting pain during deglutition.—Swelling and great dryness of

throat —Swelling of the submaxillary glands ——Rawness (stitching and burning) in pharynx, < on

swallowing.—Tickling on swallowing, extending to ear.—Dryness and burning in

pharynx.—When swallowing the aliment rises towards nasal fossee.—Hawking up of mucus in

morning.

• ▸Heartburn; hot, sharp, sour eructation.
• ▸Distention.
• ▸Feeling of great emptiness.
• ▸Strong aversion to fat food, meat; worse, eating cabbage.
• ▸Hunger, immediately after stool.
• ▸Nausea, with accumulation of water in mouth.
• ▸Gastralgia when stomach is empty; relieved by constant eating (Anac; Sep).
• ▸Ravenous hunger.
• ▸Must rise at night and eat (Psorin).
• ▸Odor of garlic.

Putrid, mawkish, mucous, or else bitter or acid taste —Excessive thirst for

• ▸beer.
• ▸—Bulimy.
• ▸—Hunger with speedy satiety —Voracity.
• ▸—Daintiness—Anorexia.
• ▸—Repugnance to

meat and fat, also to hot and cooked aliments; < by eating cabbage.—Uneasiness during

digestion, after almost every kind of food, however little may have been eaten —After a meal:

obscuration and vertigo; nausea; heaviness and pressure at stomach; sleep; or colic, with

eructations; or sour risings, congestion in head, cramp in chest, &c.

Noisy eructations.—Sour (or bitter eructations or) risings and

• ▸regurgitations.
• ▸—Pyrosis.
• ▸—Frequent nausea, esp.
• ▸in morning, often with accumulation of water in

mouth, obstructed respiration, sour risings, tongue dry and white, stitches in hepatic region, heat

in face, vertigo, &c.—After eating, vertigo and giddiness.—Nausea from motion of a

• ▸carriage.
• ▸—Nausea and vomiting of pregnant women.
• ▸—Water-brash.
• ▸—Heartburn toward

• ▸evening.
• ▸—Inclination to vomit.
• ▸—Greenish, bitter vomiting —Aching of stomach.
• ▸—Cramps in

stomach.—Pressure on the stomach; colic (at night)—Sensation of emptiness and weakness in

• ▸stomach.
• ▸—Weak digestion.
• ▸—Diarrhoea from suppressed eruptions.
• ▸—Pain in epigastrium, as if

something were being torn away.—Swelling of epigastrium, with pain when touched.—Sensation

of fulness in epigastrium.

Diarrhoea only in the daytime; watery, gushing and Itching of anus. After cabbage; with empty feeling of stomach.

Pain (cutting) in abdomen, shortly after a meal.—Sensation of great emptiness in

abdomen.—Distension and tension in abdomen, with cramp.—Pinchings and cuttings in abdomen,

sometimes, with pressing want to evacuate.—Colic, with diarrhoea, at night, towards

morning.—Colic > from bending double.—Borborygmi in abdomen, with sensation as if abdomen

• ▸were entirely empty.
• ▸—Inguinal hernia.
• ▸—Fetid flatus.
• ▸—Sensation of coldness in abdomen.

Difficult, hard, knotty, and insufficient evacuations.—Frequent diurnal

stools, sometimes with evacuation of serous, yellowish matter.—Diarrhcea, often preceded by

cuttings (colic only during the day).—Mucous stools, often mixed with blood.—Burning pain in

• ▸rectum after evacuation.
• ▸—Itching tetters in perineum.
• ▸—Diarrhcea < from riding in carriage.
• ▸—In

anus burning itching; pressure-—Weakness of rectum.—Piles with great itching, < at night from

heat of bed; < from rubbing or scratching.—Fissure with great rawness.

Constant dribbling of urine after micturition —Discharge of mucus with

the urine —Frequent emission of urine, with scanty stream of a red or brown and fetid

urine.—Urine bloody and turbid; it deposits a red, slimy sand, that adheres tightly to vessel; urine

contains albumen, hyalin, and granulated casts; covered with a glistening film and with a red

• ▸sediment.
• ▸—Involuntary discharge of urine.
• ▸—Emission of urine at night.
• ▸—Wetting the

• ▸bed.
• ▸—Burning in urethra.
• ▸—Stricture of urethra.
• ▸—(Chronic urethritis.
• ▸)

• ▸Before menses, throbbing in head (Kreos).
• ▸Leucorrhoea, profuse, albuminous (Alum; Bor; Bov; Calc p).
• ▸Genitals sore and moist.
• ▸Sensation of moisture (Eup purp).
• ▸Itching and mealy coating of nipple.

Itching, soreness, and moisture on external parts.—Repugnance to

coition.—Catamenia too early, with a menstrual flux which excites itching.—Leucorrheea like

white of egg.—Leucorrheea with lascivious dreams.—During pregnancy diarrhoea and

vomiting.—Itching and furfur on the mamme; the nipples itch, and have a mealy coating.

Herpetic eruption on perineum. Prostate inflamed and swollen. Itching in urethra.

Burning pain, itching, redness, excoriation, and oozing, or itching

pimples and tetters, on scrotum and between scrotum and thigh.—Diminished sexual

• ▸desire.
• ▸—Frequent pollutions.
• ▸—Discharge of prostatic fluid —(Prostatitis.
• ▸)—Weakness and

nervous irritability after coition—Reddish eruption on glans, with itching.

Hoarseness (Carbo; Caust; Phos) dry cough and oppression of chest; worse, cold air. Dry cough at night, coming deep from chest. Croup and laryngeal diphtheria.

Hoarseness, with or without coryza.—Cough, with dryness in

throat —Vexatious cough that takes away the breath; cannot cough it out.—Suffocating cough at

night—Dry cough at night, or in evening, after lying down.—At night dry cough, coming deep

from chest, caused by a scratching in throat—Cough from low down in chest.—Hollow, hacking

cough, coming on when laughing, waking him in middle of night (cured).—Dry cough, with

shootings under sternum.

Sensation of coldness (Carb an; Nat mur). Fainting, with ebullitions, heat and palpitation.

Respiration obstructed in cold air.—Rattling and snoring in trachea.—Sensation of

heaviness, anxiety, and uneasiness in chest.—Oppression of chest at night.—Shootings in sides of

chest.—Herpes on chest.

Palpitation of heart.—Feeling of coldness about heart; as if there was a cold stone in

heart.—Fainting, with ebullitions, heat, pressing on heart, palpitation.

Pain in nape of neck, stiff and painful. Weakness in small of back. Coccyx painful.

Herpes on nape of neck.—Heaviness and pain in nape of neck.—Painful

drawing extending from nape to occiput.—Swelling of glands and eruption on nape of

neck.—Sacral pains, which do not permit standing upright—Coccyx painful on sitting. —Stiffness

in coccyx.—Pain in back, which obstructs every movement.—Weakness and stiffness in back and

loins.—Suppuration of the axillary glands.

Fetid sweat of axillee.—Drawing pains in arms and fingers.—Great weakness

• ▸of arms.
• ▸—Stiffness of arms and fingers.
• ▸—Erysipelatous inflammation in arms.
• ▸—Brown or yellow

• ▸spots on arms.
• ▸—Furunculi on forearm.
• ▸—Tearings in hands.
• ▸—Burning sensation in palms of

• ▸hands.
• ▸—Sweating of hands.
• ▸—Pain in wrist-joint as if sprained.
• ▸—Brown spots on wrist.
• ▸—Bleeding

fissures in hands and lingers, esp. in winter.—Salt-rheum, red, raw, burning; moist or covered

with thick crusts—Chilblains and warts on lingers.—Pricking and pain in waits on fingers,

evening in bed.—Arthritic stiffness in joints of fingers —Finger-nails painful when touched as if

bruised. —Finger-tips rough, cracked, fissured, with sticking, cutting pain.

Cracking in joints of legs.—Cramps in thighs, calves, and feet (all day; in

• ▸soles at night).
• ▸—Furunculi in thighs and calves.
• ▸—Tension in the ham.
• ▸—Lancinations in

• ▸knee.
• ▸—Weakness of knee.
• ▸—Herpes on knee.
• ▸—Tuberous, itching eruption on calves of

• ▸legs.
• ▸—Herpes on ankle bones.
• ▸—Burning sensation in soles.
• ▸—Profuse perspiration on feet.
• ▸—Feetid

perspiration of feet with tenderness.—Coldness of feet—Swelling of feet —Hot swelling of

soles.—Swelling and redness of heel with burning pain and shootings, < by walking.—Heels

• ▸blistered.
• ▸—Sensation of splinter in heel.
• ▸—Chilblains on toes, esp.
• ▸when they itch and are moist;

itch and burn; inflamed in cold weather.—Ulcers on the toes, originating in blisters on the

toes.—Corns on feet —Burning and stitching in corns.—Obstinate superficial ulcers on toes, with

elevated margins and red bases, with oozings.—Eruption between toes.

• ▸Chronic sprains.
• ▸Fetid sweat in axillae.
• ▸Knees stiff.
• ▸Tips of fingers rough, cracked, fissured every winter.
• ▸Scalding sensation in knee.
• ▸Cracking in joints.

• ▸Itching at night.
• ▸Chilblains, moist, itch and burn.
• ▸Bed-sores.
• ▸Skin dry, constricted, very sensitive, rough and cracked, leathery.
• ▸Herpes.
• ▸Slightest scratch makes skin suppurate (Hepar).
• ▸Intertrigo; psoriasis of hands.
• ▸Thick, greenish crusts, burning and itching; redness, raw; cracks bleed easily.
• ▸Eczema.
• ▸Rhagades worse in winter.

Swelling and induration of the glands; also after contusions.—Great sensibility of the

• ▸surface of skin.
• ▸—Miliary urticaria.
• ▸—Itching tetters.
• ▸—Itching, excoriated, and running spots on

• ▸skin.
• ▸—Brown and yellow spots on skin.
• ▸—Eruption of itching and burning pustules.
• ▸—Pruritus of

the aged.—Dreadful irritation all over body, very intense in vagina, anus and perineum,

• ▸preventing sleep (cured—R.
• ▸T.
• ▸C.
• ▸).
• ▸—Papular eruptions, esp.
• ▸on face and lips.
• ▸—Skin sore, crawling

• ▸sensations.
• ▸—Rhagades.
• ▸—The skin is hard to heal.
• ▸—Skin unhealthy every injury tends to

• ▸ulceration.
• ▸—Furunculi.
• ▸—Ulcers with shooting pains often deep ulcers, with raised edges.
• ▸—Proud

flesh in ulcers—When a person complains of eruption or itching at night (affecting scrotum

particularly), the eruption being either dry or moist.—Chilblains particularly where they itch a

good deal and are moist.—Exanthema corroding and spreading; very difficult to heal—Sensibility

• ▸of the skin in general.
• ▸—Sores produced by lying in bed.
• ▸—Warts.
• ▸—Corns on feet.
• ▸—Chilblains,

sometimes painful.

Disposition to sleep by day and in evening when sitting quietly (yawning).—Broken

and agitated sleep at night, with many vivid, anxious, and frightful dreams (as if somebody were

lying alongside of him in bed), frequent awakening with a start, and heat with

anxiety.—Sensation in morning as of having slept too short a time.

Chilliness, followed by sweat. Flushes of heat, particularly of the face and head; worse at night. Perspiration on feet and axillae.

Shivering with headache, and coldness in hands and face.—Chilliness in open

air.—Frequent shivering over whole body, and, on becoming warm, excessive itching of

skin.—Shivering or coldness, generally in evening (with heat at the same time), and sometimes

with blueness of nails.—Sweat immediately after shivering.—Intermittent fever: Violent chilliness

• ▸and coldness of hands and face at 10 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸; half all hour later heat in the face, esp.
• ▸in the eyes,

• ▸with thirst.
• ▸—Shaking fits, 7 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸, followed by perspiration, first in face, later all over, except in

legs, which are quite cold.—Fever in evening, with hot face and cold feet, after

• ▸shivering.
• ▸—Frequent flushes of heat.
• ▸—Heat after midnight and in morning in bed.
• ▸—Fever, with

full pulse and burning sensation in skin.—Pulse accelerated from every exertion; as soon as

reposing, pulse becomes again slow.—Nocturnal heat—Nocturnal sweat.

• ▸Addison's disease.
• ▸Albuminuria.
• ▸Ancemia.
• ▸Angina pectoris.
• ▸Anus, fissure of.
• ▸Bed-

• ▸sores.
• ▸Breath, offensive.
• ▸Burns.
• ▸Chilblains.
• ▸Chlorosis.
• ▸Constipation.
• ▸Cracks in skin.
• ▸Deafness.

• ▸Diarrhea.
• ▸Dysmenia.
• ▸Dyspepsia.
• ▸Ear, affections of.
• ▸Eczema.
• ▸Face, rough.
• ▸Facial paralysis.
• ▸Feet,

• ▸soles painful.
• ▸Fester, tendency to.
• ▸Fistula.
• ▸Frost-bite.
• ▸Gastric ulcer.
• ▸Gonorrhcea.
• ▸Heemorrhoids.

• ▸Hands, chapped.
• ▸Headache; occipital.
• ▸Herpes.
• ▸Herpes preputialis.
• ▸/rritation.
• ▸Jaw, easily

• ▸dislocated.
• ▸Myopia.
• ▸Nose, sore.
• ▸Otorrhoea.
• ▸Perspiration, offensive.
• ▸Pregnancy, sickness of.

• ▸Presbyopia.
• ▸Prostatitis.
• ▸Psoriasis.
• ▸Rheumatism.
• ▸Sea-sickness.
• ▸Skin, affections of.
• ▸Sprains.

• ▸Syphilis.
• ▸Tabes mesenterica.
• ▸Toothache.
• ▸Urethra, stricture of; chronic inflammation of.
• ▸Varices.

Vomiting. Warts.

Antidoted by: Coccul., Nux, Phos. (in my case), Antidote to: Lead poisoning (one of

• ▸the best remedies), Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸Complementary: Before Sep.
• ▸Compatible: Bry.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸, Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸,

• ▸Nux, Puls.
• ▸, Sep.
• ▸, Sil.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸Compare: Graph.
• ▸, Naph.
• ▸, Paraf.
• ▸, Eupn.
• ▸, Kreas.
• ▸, and other Carbons.
• ▸In

• ▸sea-sickness, Arn.
• ▸, Coccul.
• ▸, Tab.
• ▸Nausea of pregnancy, Coccul.
• ▸, Sep.
• ▸Cracking of joints, Caust.

• ▸Gastralgia > by eating, Chel.
• ▸, Anac.
• ▸, Graph.
• ▸, Lach.
• ▸Imagines he has a limb double; illusions of

• ▸shape, Bap.
• ▸, Stram.
• ▸Epistaxis > headache (Borax <).
• ▸Aversion to hot food, Pho.
• ▸(opp.
• ▸Lyc.
• ▸).
• ▸<

• ▸From thunderstorms, Pho.
• ▸, Merc.
• ▸, Sil.
• ▸, Rho.
• ▸, Pso.
• ▸Head as if made of wood; eruptions behind

• ▸ears and on genitals, Graph.
• ▸Cold feeling about heart, Nat.
• ▸m.
• ▸(< when exerting mind), K.
• ▸chlo.
• ▸,

• ▸Graph.
• ▸, K.
• ▸nit.
• ▸, Ruta.
• ▸Diarrhoea in early morning, Sul.
• ▸(Petro.
• ▸also during day).
• ▸Loses his way in

• ▸well-known streets, Glo.
• ▸(from heat or sun).
• ▸Moist eruptions about genitals, Thuj.
• ▸Hot, burning

• ▸eructations, K.
• ▸ca.
• ▸, Sep.
• ▸Faintness during or connected with evacuations, Crot.
• ▸t.
• ▸, Dulc.
• ▸, Ox.
• ▸ac.
• ▸,

• ▸Sul.
• ▸(these have it with scanty, stools; the rest with copious stools:) Apis, Nux m.
• ▸, Pul.
• ▸, Spi.
• ▸, Ver.

• ▸Sinking immediately after meals, Ars.
• ▸, Cina, Lyc.
• ▸, Sil.
• ▸, Stp.
• ▸, Urt.
• ▸ur.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, lod.
• ▸Brownish

• ▸scattered spots on dark-haired people, Nit.
• ▸ac.
• ▸Loquacity, Lach.
• ▸(Petrol.
• ▸on one subject).
• ▸Hunger

• ▸after stool (Alo.
• ▸during stool).
• ▸Symptoms appear and disappear rapidly, Bell.
• ▸, Mag.
• ▸p.
• ▸,

• ▸Lyc.
• ▸—opp.
• ▸Plat.
• ▸, Stan.
• ▸Imagines two babies in bed, Val.
• ▸Vertigo on rising, Bry.
• ▸Skin sensitive to

clothing; every injury suppurates, Hep. Tender feet, which are bathed in foul-smelling sweat,

• ▸Graph.
• ▸, Sanic.
• ▸, Sil.
• ▸Heat and burning of soles and palms, Sang.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸Skin < in winter, > in

summer, Alm.

Compare: Carbo; Graph; Sulph; Phos.

Complementary: Sepia.

Antidotes: Nux; Coccul.

Third to thirtieth and higher potencies. Material doses often better.

It is one of the abused remedies. It is used externally in rheumatism, bruises and all sorts of troubles, and the amelioration that comes

is the result of establishing a disease on the surface, by counter-irritation, and not by homoeopathic action. Crude Petroleum is extensively used in the oil regions on botli man and beast as a ‘‘cure all.”

It is a counter-irritant and, on tiie skin, produces irritation, eruptions

and disturbances, like Turpentine. \ Among the early things that Petroleum does to a prover is that it puts him in a state of confusion of

mind and dizziness ; he is dazed so that he loses his way in the street.

She has strange imaginations that there are people near her who are

not present ; that the atmosphere is full of strange forms ; that her

limbs are double ; that another person is in the bed with her. Such

things are found in the fevers. A woman after childbirth imagines

there is another child in bed with her, and she wonders how she will

take care of the two. These ideas are found in many diseases, have

been often verified. In typhoids and low forms of sickness ; in diarrhoeas ; when just awakening he is in confusion ; in his dreams he had

the idea of being two or more and the impression remains with him

while he is in a semi-conscious state. He cannot reconcile the state,

but when aroused to consciousness he is able to reason it away, and

when semi-conscious again it returns. This annoys him day and

night.

Skin symptoms. The surface symptoms are striking. The tendency is to throw out vesicles, herpetic vesicles which are isolated, and

the tendency of the vesicles is to form thick yellow crusts, with considerable moisture. The vesicles break early. At times the vesicles

P£TROLEUM

*]%6

do not form crusts, but break early and ulcerate underneath, and this

changes into a phagedenic ulcer ; this condition occurs about the fingers, scrotum, face and scalp. There is a special tendency to produce

vesicular eruptions about the back of the neck. Papular, pustular,

vesicular, dry, mealy eruptions, but most commonly moist ; eruptions

which extend deeply. It builds up eruptions on the site of old eruptions, with an increasing hardness in the base of the old eruption.

When the crust dries down it indurates, and this induration takes place

at the margin and builds up little rings about the margin. The induration cracks, bleeds, looks purple. Apply this to salt rheum, and

eruptions about the hands. It is suitable when there are cracks about

the ends of the fingers and on the backs of the hands. The skin is

rough, ragged, exfoliates, cracks, bleeds ; the tissues are hardened ;

this occurs sometimes about the palms of the hands and nails. This

tissue ulcerates, and the ulcers eat and spread. All eruptions itch

violently. He can not rest until he scratches the skin off, when the

part becomes moist, bloody, raw and inflamed. There is also itching

with no visible eruption. He scratches the skin until moisture oozes

forth, and keeps on scratching until the skin bleeds and the part becomes cold, (This word makes me remark here that coldness in spots

is quite a feature of this remedy. Coldness in spots ; coldness in the

stomach, in the abdomen, in the uterus ; coldness in a spot between the

scapulse ; coldness in the heart — sensation as if the heart were cold.).

Various forms of eczema. Eczema of the scalp, especially of the

occiput. Herpetic eruptions about the mouth {Nat, m.), about the

genitals, lips, face, and the patches become crusty and ooze much.

, The mucous membrane^ or internal skin, has little patches of ulcers,

with induration about the patch, and hence Petr, is useful in syphilitic

ulcers. Ulcerous patches in the throat ; aphthous patches in the

mouth. There is inflammation of the mucous membranes everywhere,

producting watery and finally thick yellow discharges. The nose is

filled by tumefaction of the Schneiderian membrane. Old catarrhal

complaints of the nose, crusts, thick yellow discharge, foetid odor froms

the nose. The nose, posterior nares and pharynx become thickened

and there is an accumulation of thick mucus, especially in the morning. The larynx is involved and there is loss of voice, and the trouble!

extends to the chest, causing a catarrhal condition with cough. He

coughs especially at night, and there is emaciation of the body with

pain and soreness of the chest. Dry, hacking cough, alternating with

copious expectoration ; emaciation about the chest. A striking feature

of this drug is that the cough is worse at night, and the diarrhoea is

worse during the day. Catarrh of the stomach and bowels. Catarrh

of the rectum, much mucus wdth the stools. Diarrhoea during the day*

time, ameliorated at night, while the patient is quiet and at rest. He

cannot eat without pain, but he has a gnawing hunger which drives

him to eat. [Loch,, Graph,) There is an “all-gone/' hungry feeling

after stool, which drives him to eat. With the diarrhoea there is constant hunger, yet he cannot eat without pain : emaciation, skin eruptions, unhealthy ragged fingers which never look clean ; he cannot

wash them, as this causes them to chap.

Catarrh of the bladder and urethra ; chronic catarrhal discharge ;

chronic gonorrhoea. Itching is common to the internal skin, and a

striking feature in gonorrhoea is the itching in the posterior half of

the urethra wdth the discharge. It almost drives him wild, keeps him

awake at night. He rubs and manipulates the perinseum to relieve

• ▸this itching.
• ▸The gonorrhoeal discharge is white or yellow.
• ▸It is useful in that '‘last drop.
• ▸” Also in the early stages of gonorrhoea when

the itching is troublesome.

Sore bruised feeling all over the body, e.specially in the joints.

Rheumatic pain in the joints on motion ; sore to touch ; sensation as

ii bruised. It is analogous to Arnica in relation to bruises.

Petroleum is suitable in old stubborn occipital headaches, Silicea

is the routine remedy for offensive foot sweat and periodic occipital

headaches. Petroleum has also offensive foot sweat : offensive sweats

all over, and especially so in the axilla, where it is so pungent that it

can be observed on the patient entering the room. The pain often

remains in the occiput, but when yery severe it extends up over the

top of the head to the eyes and forehead {Silicea has that condition).

Petroleum is not so closely related to Silicea as it is to Graphites and

Garbo veg,, which are carbonaceous substances ; and all carbonaceous

products affect the back of the head. “Pain from occiput over head

to forehead and eyes, with transitory blindness ; he gets stiff ; loses

consciousness.” “Circumscribed pain in the occiput, aggravated on

shaking the head.” This remedy, unlike Garbo veg,, has oversensitiveness of the senses, hearing, touch and smell.

The Petroleum constitution produces a peculiar vertigo which comes

on under regular circumstances, when on ship-board, or riding in a

carriage, or on the cars. It suits occipital headache from riding on

the cars, or from such motions, with nausea like seasickness. Seasickness is a trouble we cannot always meet, yet most people, when constitutionally treated, can be directed into a better state, so that they

will not be troubled under ordinary conditions, such as riding on the

cars or in a carriage. To a great extent the above condition is due to

a lack of accommodation, a visual trouble ; coming on, for example,

from focusing the eyes on the waves as they retreat from the rear end

of the ship, or on passing objects, the patient being relieved while in

a dark state-room. Occipital headache, with the vertigo above mentioned, and an all gone hungry feeling or pain in the stomach, driving

728 PETROLEUTM

him to eat, will be mitigated by Petroleum. The most common form

of seasickness I have found to be the following: Awful deathly nausea, great pallor, cold body, profuse sweat and exhaustion, ameliorated by fanning, by the open air, by closing the eyes, by quiet and

darkness, and aggravated by warmth. Tabacum is generally the remedy for such cases.

In Petroleum there is much disturbance of vision, but the catarrhal

state of the eyes is striking. Vesicular formations, ulcerations, inflammation, redness and copious discharge : granular lids, thickening

of the raucous membranes, craks in the lids, fissures in the corners

• ▸of the eyes with great itching.
• ▸This itching is present in all congestions of the mucous membrane.
• ▸Eustachian tubes.
• ▸The muco ;s

membrane is thickened, and deafness results. It is a catarrhal state,

and is attended by great itching in the tube, which he cannot reach

by any method ; itching deep in the car. He rubs the ear and tries to

scratch it, but he cannot reach it. Itching in the pharynx ; also in the

external canal of the car. Ear discharges.

Induration and inflammation of the glands of the body. In ear

troubles the parotids enlarge ; in tioubles about the jaw the sub-maxillary and sub-lingual glands are involved ; they become hard and tend

• ▸to remain so.
• ▸Face pale or yellow ; sickly.
• ▸'‘Nausea and qualmishness all day.
• ▸"'

Stiffness in the back. Pain in the back on rising from a seat.

Heat and burning. Skin hot in places ; with sensation of coldness

in spots. Burning and itching of palms and soles ; face and scalp

burn. The itching and burning often go together ; parts that burn

itch much. Feet burn and have a sensation as if frozen. Chilblains

which itch, burn and become purple. Parts frozen will, years after,

itch, burn, sting and become red and hot. The patient can tell when

it will thaw because of the itching in the chilblains. Petroleum cures

the itching and burning in frozen parts, but not as prominently as

Agaricus. Agarictis leads all other remedies, especially when the condition affects parts where the tissues are thin over the bones, as over

the back of the toes.

Paretic conditions, especially left-sided.. Weakness of muscles,

weakness of the lower extremities, especially left-sided.

The eruptions on the surface and the state of induration are like

Graphites, but the oozing in Petrolleum is thin and watery, and in

Graphites it is gluey, honey like, sticky, viscid. You have indurations

and cracks of the fingers, and rhagadcs in both remedies, but the hornlike warty growths, lifting up the quick of the nails, you will find only

in Graphites.

It is of wonderful use and competes with Rhus in eczema of the

genitals of either male or female. Eruption on the scrotum, penis,