Cantharis
as H.C. Allen recorded it in Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica, 1899
Cantharis
This is one author on one remedy. The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours. Read Cantharis in every book at once →
Keynotes
Cantharides
Spanish Flies. Cantharidece.
Oversensitiveness of all parts.
Haemorrhages from nose, mouth, intestines, genital and urinary organs.
Pain; raw, sore, burning in every part of body, internally and externally ; with extreme weakness.
Disgust for everything; drink, food, tobacco.
Drinking even small quantities of water increases pain in the bladder.
Constant urging to urinate, passing but a few drops at a time, which is mixed with blood (sudden desire to urinate and intense itching in urethra, Petros.).
Intolerable urging, before, during, and after urination; violent pains in bladder.
Burning, cutting pains in urethra during micturition ; violent tenesmus and strangury.
Stool : passage of white or pale, red, tough mucus, like scrapings from the intestines, with streaks of blood (Carb. an., Colch.).,
Bloody, nocturnal emissions (Led., Men, Petr.).
Sexual desire : increased both sexes ; preventing sleep; violent priapism, with excessive pain (Pic. ac.).
Tenacious mucus in the air passages (Bov., Kali bi.) ; compare Cantharisif vesical symptoms correspond.
8o
(CANTH .
Skin : vesicular erysipelas ; vesicles all over body which are sore and suppurating.
Erythema from exposure to sun’s rays (sunburn).
The burning pain and intolerable urging to urinate, is the red strand of Cantharis in all inflammatory affections.
Relations.— Similar : to, Apis, Ars., Ecpiis., Mer.
Burns before blisters form and when they have formed. If the skin be unbroken, apply an alcoholic solution of any potency and cover with cotton ; this will promptly relieve pain and often prevent vesication. If skin be broken, use in boiled or distilled water, and in each case give potency internally.
What the other books say about Cantharis
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Cantharis in Boericke — The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full.
- Cantharis in Farrington — Lectures that teach remedies in families, by comparing them with each other.
- Cantharis in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
- Cantharis in Boger — A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative.
Search every book at once, take rubrics from Kent and Bönninghausen, and practise on a patient who answers back — free account.
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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. Cantharis — Keynotes, p. 79. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/allen/cantharis. 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.