Rumex Crispus

The "Yellow Dock" or "Curled Dock" is a common British weed, introduced

and growing wild in North America, where the provings were made. The common Dock of our

fields and roadsides, Rumex obtusifolia, has a reputation among children as the best antidote to

the nettle's sting; a reputation which is very well deserved, as I can testify. Rumex crispus,

according to Joslin, quoted by Hale, was used by allopaths internally and externally for the cure

• ▸of itch.
• ▸This points to one of the leading actions of Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸as developed in the provings.
• ▸Among

• ▸the constituents and salts of Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸are Sulphur and Calc.
• ▸Ph.
• ▸(Hale); and Sul.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, and Pho.
• ▸are

• ▸strongly represented in its action.
• ▸Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸, again, is a close ally of Rheum, and has analogous

• ▸purgative and other properties.
• ▸The provings were made by Houghton, Joslin, H.
• ▸M.
• ▸Paine,

Bayard, Rhees, &c., both with the tincture and with attenuations, and its characteristics were well

• ▸defined.
• ▸A keynote of many Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸cases is sensitiveness to cold air.
• ▸The cough and skin

• ▸symptoms are < by uncovering or exposure to air.
• ▸Guernsey thus describes the cough of Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸:

"Cough caused by an incessant tickling in throat-pit, which tickling runs down to the bifurcation

of the bronchial tubes; touching the throat brings on the cough; by covering up all the body and

head with the bed-clothes there is no cough." Correspondingly this symptom of Paine's has led to

many cures of skin cases: "While undressing, and for some time after, considerable itching of

surface of lower limbs "—where exposure to air is again the exciting cause. The characteristic

diarrhoea of Rx. c. occurs in the early morning, driving the patient out of bed; it comes on after

• ▸catarrh, and is often associated with the characteristic cough of the remedy.
• ▸The Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸cough

causes expulsion of urine; and it may even cause expulsion of the foetus in pregnant women. P. P.

Wells relates this case (Hale): Mrs. X. had had eight miscarriages in the early months, each

miscarriage being attended with a dry, shaking, spasmodic cough in paroxysms of great violence,

which was regarded as the cause of the abortions. At the beginning of the ninth pregnancy she

came under homeceopathic treatment. The cough came on—very dry, harsh, loud, shaking, < at

• ▸night, preventing sleep, excited instantly by pressure on the trachea.
• ▸Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸30 promptly relieved.

Wells also cured with Rx. c. 200 (Lehrman's preparation) the following in a man: Cough

beginning with tickling behind top of sternum, sometimes in paroxysms lasting for five to ten

minutes. Trachea sore to external pressure; feels excoriated through its whole extent, as also do

the fauces. Cough is excited by pressure on throat-pit; violent with scanty difficult expectoration;

shakes head as if it would fly to pieces and chest so that he feels he might raise blood any

minute. Paroxysms exhaust him; headache during cough. Joslin pointed out the /eft chest had

• ▸more verified symptoms than any other region.
• ▸Further Conditions of Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸are < lying on left

• ▸side; > lying on right side, < At 11 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸and 4 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸Another Condition of the cough is that it is

induced or < by any irregularity of respiration, such as a little deeper breath than usual or a little

more rapid. Cough when eating. Joslin reports a number of cases of gastric derangement cured

with Rx. c. (1) A young lady had shootings from pit of stomach into chest in various directions;

sharp pains in left chest; dull aching in forehead and slight nausea. One dose of 30th removed all

her symptoms and restored her appetite. (2) A lady, 50, had had for three weeks pain in pit of

stomach, aching in left chest, flatulence, eructations, pains and distension in stomach after meals.

• ▸Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸200, one dose, cured in two or three hours.
• ▸(3) Young lady had sensation of fulness and

pressure in pit of stomach extending up towards throat, carried down on swallowing and rising

• ▸again to throat.
• ▸Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸200 cured.
• ▸(4) A gentleman not used to tea took a cup, very weak, of the

black kind; then followed aching in pit of stomach and aching above it in chest, and especially on

• ▸each side of lower end of sternum.
• ▸Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸30 cured in a few minutes.
• ▸The flatulence and rumbling

of Rx. c. are well marked, and I have found it the best general remedy for the painless but

annoying borborygmi frequently complained of by women. The left side is more markedly

affected than the right. The circulation is much disturbed, violent palpitations of the heart and

• ▸throbbing throughout the whole body being noted.
• ▸Carleton Smith points out (17.
• ▸P.
• ▸, x.
• ▸275) that

in a case of cough cured by Cardoza with Rx. c. the characteristic was "cough only during the

• ▸day, not at all at night.
• ▸" This gives Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸a place beside Fer.
• ▸and Mang.
• ▸Smith has cured with Rx.

c. many cases of indigestion in which this symptom was present: "Lump in throat, not > by

hawking or swallowing; it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns." Peculiar

Sensations are: Eyes pain as if from dryness. Tongue as if burned. Lump in throat; it descends on

deglutition, but immediately returns. Hard substance in pit of stomach. Bunch in throat or behind

• ▸sternum.
• ▸Pressure of a stick in rectum.
• ▸As if urine could not long be retained.
• ▸As if she could not

get another breath. As if air did not penetrate chest. As if a feather swaying to and fro in bronchi.

As if head would fly to pieces (with cough). As if he might raise blood any minute. As if cough

did not reach low enough to raise phlegm. As if heart suddenly stopped. Sternum feels sprained.

Raw feeling under clavicles. Hands cold when coughing. The symptoms are < by touch;

pressure; riding. < By cold; > by warmth. < Change: warm to cold or cold to warm; changing

rooms. < Lying down (pain in pit of stomach > lying perfectly quiet). < Lying on left side;

• ▸burning in left side.
• ▸> Lying right side.
• ▸< Talking.
• ▸< Deep inspiration; or irregularity of

• ▸breathing.
• ▸< Walking.
• ▸< Evening and night; and morning on waking, 3.
• ▸30 and 11 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸, 2 to 5

• ▸a.
• ▸m.
• ▸< When eating and after meals.
• ▸> Discharge of offensive flatus.

Unconsciousness.—Muscular spasms, deathly anxiety, dyspnoea.—Hallucinations

constant for three days after spasms ceased.

Constant trembling of muscles, at times interrupted by tonic contractions,

increasing to general clonic spasms with complete loss of consciousness.—Patient recovered after

two or three weeks.

Headache after waking in morning, preceded by a disagreeable dream.—Dull (and

bruised) pains: on r. side; in occiput; in forehead with bruised feeling, < on motion.—Darting

pain or sharp piercing in 1. side of head.—Catarrhal headache with great irritation of larynx and

trachea, clavicular pain and soreness behind sternum.—Bruised sensation on waking, continued

till noon, disappeared suddenly after dinner—Headache < in open air.—Pungent drawing in I.

occiput with a similar pain in |. nostril and feeling as if coryza would ensue.

Pupils at one time normal, at another: dilated, at another contracted—Consciousness

returned on third day, patient could hear but was completely blind.

Ringing in ears.—Itching deep in ears.—Pain, throbbing, stopped sensation in ears.

Great desire to pick nose.—Nose obstructed; dry sensation, even in posterior

nares.—Sudden, sharp, tingling sensation in Schneiderian membrane, followed by violent and

rapid sneezing five or six times in succession, with watery discharge.—Violent sneezing with

watery coryza and headache), < evening and night.—Accumulation of mucus about posterior

nares.—Y ellow mucus discharged through posterior nares.—Epistaxis, violent sneezing, and

painful irritation of nostrils—Influenza with violent catarrh, followed by bronchitis.

Cyanosis.

11, 12, 13. Stomach, Abdomen, and Stool.—Nausea, colic, vomiting, diarrhoea, cold

extremities.

Pain in teeth of both sides, morning.—Toothache: entirely > after eating dinner; > by

rinsing mouth with cold water—Grumbling stinging toothache in r. upper molars, while riding in

a cold wind; with pain in forehead.—Tongue coated: white; yellow; yellowish-brown, or reddish-

brown.—Dryness of anterior part of tongue, with sense of repletion in stomach and as if one had

eaten spice.—Sensation of excoriation at edges of tongue.—Front of tongue dry and

• ▸hot.
• ▸—Soreness of r.
• ▸edge of tongue.
• ▸—Sensation as if tongue and mouth burnt.
• ▸—Ulceration of

mouth and throat.—Taste: bitter (mornings); nasty; flat (on rising).—Flow of saliva.

Scraping in throat; excoriated feeling with secretion of mucus in upper

part.—Sensation of a lump in throat, not > by hawking or swallowing; it descends on swallowing,

but immediately returns. —Sensation of a lump in cesophagus.—Aching in pharynx with collection

of tough mucus in fauces.—Catarrhal affections of throat and fauces.—Throat dry, swallowing

difficult; pain in 1. side on swallowing.

• ▸Tongue sore at edges; coated; sensation of hard substance in pit of stomach; hiccough, pyrosis, nausea; cannot eat meat; it causes eructations, pruritus.
• ▸Jaundice after excessive use of alcoholics.
• ▸Chronic gastritis; aching pain in pit of stomach and shooting in the chest; extends towards the throat-pit, worse any motion or talking.
• ▸Pain in left breast after meals; flatulence.

Appetite: much increased lost—Thirst.—A fter meals: flatulency; heaviness in

stomach or epigastrium aching in 1. breast; pressure and distension in stomach.—Nausea in night

before diarrhoea Sensation of hard substance in pit of stomach.—Fulness and pressure in pit of

stomach extending toward throat-pit; descends with every empty deglutition but immediately

returns.—Tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back; clothes seem too tight;

weak feeling in epigastrium, all < when talking; frequently takes a long breath.—Shooting from

pit of stomach to chest; sharp in |. chest; slight nausea; dull aching in forehead —Aching and

shooting in pit of stomach and above it on each side of sternum.—Eructations; empty;

• ▸tasteless.
• ▸—Hiccough.
• ▸—Pyrosis.
• ▸—Nausea; > by eructations.
• ▸—Nausea and vertigo while dressing in

morning, compelling him to lie down again.—Sensation of undigested food and upward pressure

in throat-pit.—Severe pain in digestive organs on waking.—Pain in stomach with the pain in the

lungs.—Burning and cutting in stomach.

Pain in hypochondrium from walking or deep inspiration.—Griping near navel

partially > by discharge of offensive flatus; flatulent colic soon after a meal —Pain occurring or <

during inspiration.—Sensation of heaviness and fulness in abdomen with

• ▸rumbling.
• ▸—Borborygmus.
• ▸—Pain in abdomen in morning, followed by a stool.
• ▸—Colic from a cold,

with cough.

• ▸Brown, watery, diarrhoea early in morning, with cough, driving him out of bed.
• ▸Valuable in advanced phthisis (Seneg; Puls; Lycop; Ars).
• ▸Itching of anus, with sensation as of a stick in rectum.
• ▸Piles.

Stools: painless, offensive, profuse; brown or black, thin or watery;

preceded by pain in abdomen.—Before stool: sudden urging, driving him out of bed in

morning.—Morning diarrhoea, with cough from tickling in throat-pit.—Diarrhcea 6 to 10

a.m.—Copious diarrheeic stool with colic pain just above hypogastrium, and a very disagreeable

rumbling in bowels together with nausea and loss of appetite; these sensations continued

throughout the day with four or five evacuations which passed away in a stream as if a large

quantity would be discharged; nevertheless each discharge was suddenly arrested, and the

inclination passed away entirely for a short time; but on rising the urgency returned, and on

returning to the closet a new stream poured forth as before.—Feces black; scanty.—Constipation

for several days, followed by a dry, hard stool.—Itching at anus with discharge of offensive

flatus.—Sensation as from pressure of a rough stick forced up rectum, painful on

walking.—Heemorrhoids protrude; much heat and itching at anus, and sensation as if a foreign

body there.

Tendency to phimosis.—During evening feeling of soreness and

excoriation, with redness of end of prepuce.—Itching of prepuce.—Sexual desire diminished; lost.

• ▸Nose dry.
• ▸Tickling in throat-pit causes cough. Copious mucous discharge from nose and trachea.
• ▸Dry, teasing cough, preventing sleep. Aggravated by pressure, talking, and especially by inspiring cool air and at night.
• ▸Thin, watery, frothy expectoration by the mouthful: later, stringy and tough.
• ▸Rawness of larynx and trachea.
• ▸Soreness behind sternum, especially left side, in region of left shoulder.
• ▸Raw pain under clavicle.
• ▸Lump in throat.

Clavicular pain; raw pain just under each clavicle while hawking mucus from

throat—Pain in chest: in both sides; dull aching in anterior part, with headache and

• ▸belching.
• ▸—Sharp stitching or stinging through |.
• ▸lung.
• ▸—Acute stitch along 1.
• ▸margin of

• ▸sternum.
• ▸—Burning stinging: in |.
• ▸side near heart; in whole 1.
• ▸chest suddenly when taking a deep

• ▸inspiration while in act of lying down in bed at night—At 3.
• ▸30 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸, while writing, at desk,

• ▸stitches in substance of |.
• ▸lung.
• ▸—Burning, shooting pain in r.
• ▸chest.
• ▸—Sharp pain near I.

• ▸axilla.
• ▸—Pain in centre of |.
• ▸lung.
• ▸—Sternum feels sprained.
• ▸—Great pressure and sense of

depression in upper part of breast—Very sharp pain in breast running r. to 1—Sharp cutting pain

in |. breast at noon lasting an hour.

Sensation as if a thread were tightly tied round neck just below ears, with a

slight roaring in the ears.—Pain: in back of neck; running down back.—Aching between

scapule.—Stinging burning just below inferior angle of |. scapula; followed and accompanied by

• ▸stinging, almost itching pain |.
• ▸chest just below nipple.
• ▸—Pain under r.
• ▸scapula.
• ▸—Pain in 1.

• ▸scapula.
• ▸—Burning pain in small of back near tip of r.
• ▸sacro-iliac joint —Sore pain in |.
• ▸sacro-iliac

joint, lame as from over-lifting; < by sudden motion; followed by pulsation in nates.—Aching

and sense of great fatigue in loins.

Pains in shoulder down to elbow, arms feel strained.—Hands cold when

coughing.—Bruised aching and stinging pain in arms, hands, elbows, and r. wrist.

• ▸Stitching in back of r.
• ▸hip; limping walk.
• ▸—Legs ache.
• ▸—Stitch-like pain in

• ▸knee-joint when standing.
• ▸—Legs covered with small red pimples.
• ▸—Feet cold.
• ▸—Feet sensitive,

stinging in corns.—Tender feet.

Intense itching of skin, especially of lower extremities; worse, exposure to cold air when undressing. Urticaria; contagious prurigo.

The attack was followed by pseudo-erysipelas on elbows and painless furuncles over

whole body, esp. on scapulze and small of back.

Sleep: disturbed; wakeful, restless; short naps and unpleasant fancies, even when

awake.—Unpleasant dreams; of danger and trouble; early in the morning; of being naked in the

street; of murders; of autopsies.—Wakes early with headache.

Chilly, < on back; colic, nausea, stitches near middle of chest.—Increased frequency

of pulse and afternoon fever.—Sensation of heat, followed by that of cold, without

shivering.—Flushes of heat, < on cheeks.—Sweat on waking from a sound sleep.

Russula.

• ▸Russula foetens.
• ▸N.
• ▸O.
• ▸Fungi.
• ▸Tincture of the fresh mushrooms.

• ▸Blindness.
• ▸Chorea.
• ▸Convulsions.
• ▸Enuresis.

Characteristics—Some species of Russula are edible, and are much esteemed as a food on the

Continent. Alphonse Barrelet observed the effects of eating cooked Russula faetens, which

produced a very severe poisoning. Hallucinations, muscular tremors, and clonic spasms recall the

effects of Agaric. The eye symptoms were even more pronounced, complete blindness lasting

many days occurred, with this peculiarity of the pupil, that it was sometimes normal, sometimes

dilated, and sometimes contracted.

• ▸Antidoted by: Camph.
• ▸, Bell.
• ▸, Hyo.
• ▸, Con.
• ▸, Lach.
• ▸, Pho.
• ▸Compare: Hard, dry, tickling

• ▸cough, < reading, < touching larynx, Cin.
• ▸Asthma of consumptives < 2 a.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Meph.
• ▸, Sticta.
• ▸Pains

in left lung < moving; cough from change of temperature, Bry. (Bry. more when change is to

• ▸warm air; Rx.
• ▸c.
• ▸more when to cold).
• ▸Tickling cough from suprasternal fossa excited by

speaking, Sil. Morning diarrhoea hurrying patient out of bed, Sul. Annoying, tickling cough on

• ▸lying down, Hyo.
• ▸, Con.
• ▸Urticaria, morning diarrhoea, Apis (opposite Conditions).
• ▸Dry cough

from tickling in suprasternal fossa < least cool air or deep inspiration, Bell. Effects of tea, Thuy.

• ▸Stitching pains in chest, pulsations, over whole body, K.
• ▸ca.
• ▸Tough mucus, K.
• ▸bi.
• ▸Cough when

• ▸eating, Calc.
• ▸Burnt sensation in tongue, Ran.
• ▸b.
• ▸Stick in rectum, Aésc.
• ▸h.
• ▸Cough < changing air,

• ▸Spo.
• ▸, Pho.
• ▸< Lying left side, Pho.
• ▸, Pul.
• ▸Raw sensation in larynx and trachea when coughing,

• ▸Caust.
• ▸Spurting of urine with cough, Caust.
• ▸, Pul.
• ▸, Scil.
• ▸Early morning diarrhoea, Alo.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸s.
• ▸,

• ▸Pod.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸Skin symptoms < uncovering, Hep.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸s.
• ▸, Oleand.
• ▸Cough starting in throat-pit (Bell.

• ▸more in fauces; Pho.
• ▸more in bronchi).
• ▸Incessant cough and botan.
• ▸, Rx.
• ▸ac.
• ▸Diarrhoea and botan.
• ▸,

• ▸Rhe.
• ▸Botan.
• ▸, Fago.
• ▸, Polyg.
• ▸, Lapath.
• ▸Cough only during day, Fer.
• ▸, Mang.

Compare: Caust; Sulph; Bell; Rumex contains chrysophanic acid to which the skin symptoms correspond. Rumex acetosa-Sheep sorrel--(Gathered in June and dried, used locally for Epithelioma of face (Cowperthwaite). Dry, unremitting short cough, and violent pains in the bowels; uvula elongated; inflammation of oesophagus; also cancer); Rumex obtusifolius-Lapathum-Broad-leaf dock--(nosebleed and headache following; pain in kidneys; leucorrhoea).

Third to sixth potency.

Rumex, the yellow dock, is a neglected remedy, and one that has

been only partially proved. The mental symptoms have not been brought

out, but the catarrhal symptoms have been well expressed by provers.

There is a state of sadness : low spirited ; aversion to work ; irritable ;

mental excitability. This includes about all the mental state we know

of this remedy, as the provings were made with the lower potencies

and tincture. The yellow dock has been used in domestic practice,

as a blood medicine, to cure eruptions and boils. When used in this

way it is a mild substance, and hence the provings are somewhat in

this form.

The catarrhal tendency is very striking. The nose, eyes, chest and.

trachea, the whole re.spiratory tract, gives forth a copious flow, copious

mucous discharge. I have seen it so copious from the nose that it

seemed as one continuous flow ; so copious from the trachea and

bronchial tubes that the patient continually hawked up, by the mouthful, thin frothy, white mucus, so that in a little while as much as half

a pint of thin mucus, as thin as water, w'ould be in the cuspidor. It

also has marked dryness of the Isu-ynx and trachea with hard, dry,

spasmodic cough.

At times it has taken the form' 4f grippe, with a copious mucous discharge ; thin, watery, frothy expectoration by the mouthful. This is

only the first stage. Following this the discharge becomes thick, yellow, tough or thick, white and tenacious ; so ropy and stringy and tough

that in spite of blowing the nose and coughing he fails to get it up.

Completely exhausted from his efforts to expectorate the tough,

stringy, tenacious even gluey mucus. This catarrhal state is commonly

accompanied by a morning diarrhoea, and these constitute the leading

features.

“Catarrhal headache with great irritation of the larynx and trachea,

clavicular pain and soreness behind sternum.” Catarrhal headaches

are headaches that come on during spells of dryness, alternating with

a copious flux. Extreme rawness in the larynx and trachea ; burning

and smarting; unable to endure pressure on the throat pit. Tickling

in the throat pit causing cough. Must sit without motion ; cannot

breathe deeply, hurriedly or irregularly because the burning is so much

increased by any change in breathing. If he steps into the open air

a paroxysmal cough ta^kes his breath away ; or if he passes from the

open air into a warm room the same paroxysmal cough comes on.

The paroxysm is so violent that in the morning, when he has a loose

Stool, he will pass it involuntarily with the cough. I'he urine also

passes away with the cough. The headache returns when the discharges slack up.

A striking feature is pain under the clavicle ; a sense of rawness

under the clavicle ; as if the parts inside were raw ; as if the air came

directly under the clavicle, producing rawness and burning. Rawness

and burning from the inhalation of air.

“Nose obstructed ; dry sensation, even in posterior nares.^’ Many

limes the coryza starts out by a marked dryness in the posterior nares,

so that he is constantly hawking ; the irritation is so great that he cannot let it alone. There is a sensation of thickening in the nasopharynx, and he produces a peculiar noise in trying to get rid of it.

“Sudden sharp tingling sensation in Schneiderian membrane.” This

is intense ; tingling, sometimes described as an itching extending from

the end of the nose to the pharynx ; sometimes forces sneezing, blowing the nose and this peculiar noise, and sometimes a hawking to get

the mucus when it isi a little lower in the pharynx ; hemming to get rid

of it when in the larynx. The inflammation passes to the smallest

bronchi, producing a capillary bronchitis and finally a pneumonia.

It suits acute and chronic catarrhal states. In old phthisical cases ;

every time he takes a cold, he is so sensitive to cold air and change of

air that he sleeps with the bed clothes over his mouth. Every breath

of air causes a spasmodic cough. The early expectoration is thin mucus, and then it becomes thicker and tenacious, and he cannot expectorate it ; be hears the rattle ; after many efforts which exhaust him

he expectorates a little with hardly any relief. This is a great remedy

to do patch work with in phthisis. Soreness, rawness and burning,

especially down the trachea and under the sternum.

“Violent sneezing, with fluent coryza, worse in the evening and at

night.” Many symptoms are worse in the evening. “Coryza, fluent,

with sneezing, with headache, worse evening and night.” Some symptoms are worse in the early morning. Certain kinds of cough are

worse at 1 1 p. m. Lachesis and Rumex furnish a puzzle in this cough

and each has to be understood. In Lachesis young children cough in

their early sleep, but if kept awake they will not cough. Therefore in

• ▸Lachesis the ii p.
• ▸m.
• ▸cough is an aggravation from sleep.
• ▸In Rumex

the cough will come on at 1 1 o’clock whether the child is asleep or not.

“‘Accumulation of mucus in posterior nares.” “Yellow mucous dis-«

charge through posterior nares.” “Epistaxis, violent sneezing and

• ▸painful irritation of nostrils.
• ▸” “Influenza with violent catarrh, followed by bronchitis.
• ▸” “Scraping in the throat whenever this catarrhal state goes into the larynx and trachea, there is this continual scraping in the throat.
• ▸Hoarse ; cannot speak because the vocal cords are

covered with tough mucus. Chronic cases have often been cured.

Phosphorus has this hoarseness, but especially aphonia relieved by hemming up a little mucus from the vocal cords. The Causticum hoarseness is due to a weakness of the vocal cords. Phosphorus has an inflammatory state and the continual accumulation of mucus impedes

speech. Rumex has the accumulation of tough, gelatinous, gluey mucus, and he continually scrapes the larynx.

“Sensation of a lump in the throat, not relieved by hawking or swaU

lowing, it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns ; this is also

a strong feature in Lachesis. “Aching in the pharynx, with collection

of tough mucus in the fauces.” “Catarrhal affections of throat and

fauces.” This remedy shows the various stages of severe colds, but

is especially indicated in constitutions that are constantly taking cold ;

worse from change of the weather ; always shivering about the fire ;

want much clothing, want even the head covered up.

Many complaints are worse in the evening, from a bath, from becoming cold, from inhaling cold air. Rheumatic complaints are common

and are aggravated by cold. Every cold seems to affect the joints.

This is a marked feature of Calcarea phos,; every change to cold is felt

in the joints ; from bathing and getting chilled afterwards.

“Tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back;

clothes seem too tight ; weak feeling in epigastrium, all aggravated

when talking ; frequently takes a long breath.” “Shooting from pit of

stomach to chest ; sharp pain in left chest ; slight nausea ; dull aching in

forehead.” “Aching and shooting ih pit of stomach and above it on

each side of sternum.” The stomach will not digest food, or only the

simplest food ; the mucous rnembmue of the stomach is affected by

this remedy like other mucous membranes. Various pains in the stomach ; aching, shooting pains in the pit of the stomach. “Aching pain

in the pit of stomach gradually becoming very severe ; sharp stitching

pains in stomach extending into chest, and below a sensation of pressure like a lump in pit of stomach, sometimes rising up under sternum,

greatly aggravated from motion and somewhat from taking a long

breath ; generally aggravated after eating, ameliorated by lying perfectly quiet.” It is strange how the stomach symptoms are aggravated by talking. The stomach feels sore, aggravated by talking,

walking, inhaling cold air ; wants warm things. Very flatulent ; full

of flatulent pains ; pains relieved {Carbo veg.) by belching and passing

flatus. Stomach and abdominal pains aggravated by talking, irregular

breathing ; must sit in a chair and breathe with perfect regularity. Irregular breathing will cause cough or suffocation.

In the morning hurried to stool like Sulphur, “Stools, painless, offensive, profuse ; brown or black, thin or watery ; preceded by pain in

abdomen ; before stool sudden urging, driving him out of bed in morning,” ''Morning diarrhoea with cough from tickling in throat pit.”

8 oo

It is common for phthisical cases to have a morning diarrhoea, and

many of them look like Sulphur. When the morning diarrhoea is

gushing, Rumex will palliate ; it will allay the extreme sensibility of the

lungs, will ward off the sensitiveness to cold and will patch him up.

Rumex is not so deep as Sulphur, but it is an antipsoric. It is limited,

however, to the early stages ; will carry a chronic case so far, but it

will require to be followed by another antipsoric. Calcara follows it

well.

Rumex is as sensitive to cold, to baths and chilly surroundings as

Rhus, but it is aggravated by motion. Bryonia may be confused with

it in this aggravation from motion and from talking, but Bryonia is not

so sensitive to cold air, is often relieved from cold air and worse in a

warm room ; the complaints subside if the room becomes cool. In

Rumex the nerves are sensitive to the open air ; a nervous sensitiveness

to open air as marked as Nux.

“Brown, watery diarrhoea, chiefly in morning, having stools from 5

to 9 A. M.'* “Serious attack of diarrhoea in an old man of seventy,

after failure of Sulphur.'* The Sulphur patient with a cough, especially in phthisis, commonly wants cool air, cooling things ; though the

stomach symptoms arc sometimes ameliorated from hot drinks, yet he

wants cool, refreshing air.

“Aphonia after exposufe to cold.’' “Tenacious mucus in throat or

larynx, constant desire to hawk." ^"Tickling in throat pit causing

cough/^ He fights off the cough as long as he can because of the

burning and rawness. In the most violent coryza there is a lack of the

febrile symptoms of Bryonia, Rhus and Aconite. It has not the constitutional symptoms, the aching of the limbs, the general soreness, the

high fever and thirst. The condition seems to have localized itself.

“Hoarse, barking cough, in attacks, every night at 1 1 p. m. and at

• ▸2 and 5 A.
• ▸M.
• ▸(children).
• ▸" “Cough, with pain behind midstemum.
• ▸"

“The most violent cough occurs a few moments after lying down, and

at night, in some cases, complete aphonia".

“In women, every fit of coughing produces the passage of a few

drops of urine."

Rumex is one of the most valuable palliatives in advanced phthisis ;

it will often carry a case through another winter. With Rumex, Pu/satilla, Senega, Arsenic and Nux vomica you can patch up the last years

of a phthisical patient. I would caution you also about the diarrhoea

that occurs in most cases of phthisis. You will sec 'Acetic acid recam-*

• ▸mended for the diarrhoea in phthisis.
• ▸You had better let such conditions alone, unless they are very marked.
• ▸If the diarrhoea is very exhausting use some simple medicine, like this one, to slack it up.
• ▸But

the phthisical patient is better off with a little diarrhoea, a loose morning stool. It is the same with night sweats ; if he docs not have them

Twitching of r. arm and leg.—Pain in upper and lower limbs of same or opposite

side.