Apis mellifica
as William Boericke recorded it in Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 1927
This is one author on one remedy. The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full. Read Apis mellifica in every book at once →
Mind
Apathy, indifference, and unconsciousness. Awkward; drops things readily. Stupor, with sudden sharp cries and startings. Stupor alternating with erotic mania. Sensation of dying. Listless; cannot think clearly. Jealous, fidgety,
hard to please. Sudden shrill, piercing screams. Whining. Tearfulness. Jealously, fright, rage, vexation, grief. Cannot concentrate mind when attempting to read or study.
General
Honey-Bee Acts on cellular tissues causing œdema of skin and mucous membranes. The very characteristic effects of the sting of the bee furnish unerring indications for its employment in disease. Swelling or puffing up of various parts, œdema, red rosy hue, stinging pains, soreness, intolerance of heat, and slightest touch, and afternoon aggravation are some of the general guiding symptoms. Erysipelatous inflammations, dropsical effusions and anasarca, acute, inflammation of kidneys, and other perenchymatous tissues are characteristic pathological states corresponding to Apis. Apis acts especially on outer parts, skin, coatings of inner organs, serous membranes. It produces serous inflammation with effusion, membranes of brain, heart, pleuritic effusion, etc. Extreme sensitiveness to touch and general soreness is marked. Constricted sensations. Sensation of stiffness and as of something torn off in the interior of the body. Much prostration.
Modalities
Worse, heat in any form; touch; pressure; late in afternoon; after sleeping; in closed and heated rooms. Right side. Better, in open air, uncovering, and cold bathing.
Head
Whole brain feels very tired. Vertigo with sneezing, worse on lying or closing eyes. Heat, throbbing, distensive pains, better on pressure, and worse on motion. Sudden stabbing pains. Dull, heavy sensation in occiput, as from a blow, extending to neck (better on pressure), accompanied with sexual excitement. Bores head into pillow and screams out.
Face
Swollen, red, with piercing pain. Waxy, pale, œdematous. Erysipelas with stinging burning œdema. Extends from right to left.
Eyes
Lids swollen, red, œdematous, everted, inflamed; burn and sting. Conjunctiva bright red, puffy. Lachrymation hot. Photophobia. Sudden piercing pains. Pain around orbits. Serous exudation, œdema, and sharp pains. Suppurative inflammation of eyes. Keratitis with intense chemosis of ocular conjunctiva. Staphyloma of cornea following suppurative inflammation. Styes, also prevents their recurrence.
Ears
External ear red, inflamed, sore; stinging pains.
Nose
Coldness of tips of nose. Red, swollen, inflamed, with sharp pains.
Mouth
Tongue fiery red, swollen, sore, and raw, with vesicles. Scalding in mouth and throat. Tongue feels scalded, red hot, trembling. Gums swollen. Lips swollen, especially upper. Membrane of mouth and throat glossy, as if varnished. Red, shining, and puffy, like erysipelas. Cancer of the tongue.
Throat
Constricted, stinging pains. Uvula swollen, sac-like. Throat swollen, inside and out; tonsils swollen, puffy, fiery red. Ulcers on tonsils. Fiery red margin around leathery membrane. Sensation of fishbone in throat.
Stomach
Sore feeling. Thirstless. Vomiting of food. Craving for milk (Rhus).
Abdomen
Sore, bruised on pressure, when sneezing. Extremely tender. Dropsy of abdomen. Peritonitis. Swelling in right groin.
Stool
Involuntary on every motion; anus seems open. Bloody, painless. Anus feels raw. Hæmorrhoids, with stinging pain, after confinement. Diarrhœa watery, yellow; cholera infantum type. Cannot urinate without a stool. Dark, fetid, worse after eating. Constipation; feels as if something would break on straining.
Urinary
Burning and soreness when urinating. Suppressed, loaded with casts; frequent and involuntary; stinging pain and strangury; scanty, high colored. Incontinence. Last drops burn and smart.
Female
Œdema of labia; relieved by cold water. Soreness and stinging pains; ovaritis; worse in right ovary. Menses suppressed, with cerebral and head symptoms, especially in young girls. Dysmenorrhœa, with severe ovarian pains. Metrorrhagia profuse, with heavy abdomen, faintness, stinging pain. Sense of
tightness. Bearing-down, as if menses were to appear. Ovarian tumors, metritis with stinging pains. Great tenderness over abdomen and uterine region.
Respiratory
Hoarseness; dyspnœa, breathing hurried and difficult. Œdema of larynx. Feels as if he could not draw another breath. Suffocation; short, dry cough, suprasternal. Hydrothorax.
Extremities
Œdematous. Synovitis. Felon in beginning. Knee swollen, shiny, sensitive, sore, with stinging pain. Feet swollen and stiff. Feel too large. Rheumatic pain in back and limbs; Tired, bruised feeling. Numbness of hands and tips of fingers. Hives with intolerable itching. Œdematous swellings.
Skin
Swellings after bites; sore, sensitive. Stinging. Erysipelas, with sensitiveness and swelling, rosy hue. Carbuncles, with burning, stinging pain (Ars; Anthrac). Sudden puffing up of whole body.
Sleep
Very drowsy. Dreams full of care and toil. Screams and sudden starting during sleep.
Fever
Afternoon chill, with thirst; worse on motion and heat. External heat, with smothering feeling. Sweat slight, with sleepiness. Perspiration breaks out and dries up frequently. Sleeps after the fever paroxysm. After perspiration, nettle rash, also with shuddering.
Relationships
Complementary.: Nat mur. The "chronic", Apis; also Baryta carb, if lymphatics are involved. Inimical. Rhus. Compare: Apium virus (auto-toxæmia, with pus products); Zinc; Canth; Vespa; Lachesis.
Dose
Tincture to thirtieth potency. In œdematous conditions the lower potencies. Sometimes action is slow; so several days elapse before it is seen to act, and then urine is increased. Apium virus, sixth trituration.
What the other books say about Apis mellifica
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Apis mellifica in Allen's Keynotes — The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours.
- Apis mellifica in Farrington — Lectures that teach remedies in families, by comparing them with each other.
- Apis mellifica in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
- Apis mellifica 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.
Create a free accountCite this page. William Boericke. Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 9th edition (preface dated San Francisco, June 1927). Apis mellifica — Mind. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/boericke/apis-mellifica. Published 1927: public domain in the US (since 2023) and in India (author died 1929). Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.