Berberis vulgaris
as H.C. Allen recorded it in Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica, 1899
Barberry
This is one author on one remedy. The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours. Read Berberis vulgaris in every book at once →
Keynotes
Berberis vulgaris
Barberry. Berberidaceae.
The renal or vesical symptoms predominate.
Pain in small of back; very sensitive to touch in
6o renal region; < when sitting and lying, from jar, from fatigue.
Burning and soreness in region of kidneys.
Numbness, stiffness, lameness with painful pressure in renal and lumbar regions.
Pale, earthy complexion, with sunken cheeks and hollow, blue encircled-eyes.
Rheumatic and gouty complaints, with diseases of the urinary organs.
Colic from gall-stones.
Bilious colic, followed by jaundice; clay-colored stools ; fistula in ano, with bilious symptoms and itching of the parts ; short cough and chest complaints, especially after operations for fistulse (Cal. p.. Sib).
Stitching, cutting pain from left kidney following course of ureter into bladder and urethra (Tab. — r. kidney, Lyc.).
Renal colic, < left side (Tab. — either side, with urging and strangury, Canth.).
Bubbling sensation in kidneys (Med.).
Urine : greenish, blood-red, with thick, slimy mucus ; transparent, reddish or jelly-like sediment.
Movement brings on or increases urinary complaints.
Relation. — Similar: to, Canth., Lyc., Sars., Tab., in renal colic.
Acts well: after, Arn., Bry., Kali bi., Rhus, Sulph., in rheumatic affections.
Aggravation. — Motion, walking or carriage-riding ; any sudden jarring movement.
6i
What the other books say about Berberis vulgaris
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Berberis vulgaris in Boericke — The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full.
- Berberis vulgaris in Farrington — Lectures that teach remedies in families, by comparing them with each other.
- Berberis vulgaris in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
- Berberis vulgaris in Boger — A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative.
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Cite this page. H.C. Allen. Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica. 3rd edition (1910). Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. Berberis vulgaris — Keynotes, p. 59. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/allen/berberis-vulgaris. Published 1910: public domain in the US (before 1931) and in India (author died 1909). Replaces B. Jain's 2005 "rearranged and classified" edition (© the publisher), per the owner's decision of 13 Sep 2026. Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.