Sambucus nigra
as William Boericke recorded it in Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 1927
Elder
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Mind
Sees images when shutting eyes. Constant fretfulness. Very easily frightened. Fright followed by suffocative attacks.
General
Acts especially on the respiratory organs. Dry coryza of infants, snuffles, œdematous swellings. Profuse sweat accompanies many affections.
Modalities
Worse, sleep, during rest, after eating fruit. Better, sitting up in bed, motion.
Face
Turns blue with cough. Red, burning spots on cheeks. Heat and perspiration of face.
Abdomen
Colic, with nausea and flatulence; frequent watery, slimy stools.
Urinary
Profuse urine with dry heat of skin. Frequent micturition, with scanty urine. Acute nephritis; dropsical symptoms, with vomiting.
Respiratory
Chest oppressed with pressure in stomach, and nausea Hoarseness with tenacious mucus in larynx. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnœa. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire (Meph). Millar's asthma.
Extremities
Hands turn blue. Œdematous swelling in legs, insteps, and feet.
Feet icy cold. Debilitating night-sweats (Salvia; Acet ac).
Skin
Dry heat of skin during sleep. Bloated and swollen; general dropsy; profuse sweat on waking.
Fever
Dry heat while sleeping. Dreads uncovering. Profuse sweat over entire body during waking hours. Dry, deep cough precedes the fever paroxysm.
Relationships
Compare: Ipec; Meph; Opium; Sambucus Canadensis (great value in dropsies; large doses required-fluid extract, 1/4 to 1 teaspoonful three times daily). Antidotes: Ars; Camph.
Dose
Tincture, to sixth potency.
What the other books say about Sambucus nigra
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Sambucus nigra in Allen's Keynotes — The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours.
- Sambucus nigra 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). Sambucus nigra — Mind. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/boericke/sambucus-nigra. 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.