Hydrocyanicum acidum
as Ernest Albert Farrington recorded it in Clinical Materia Medica, being a course of lectures delivered at the Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, 1908
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Lecture
Lecture LI — Nitric, Hydrocyanic and Picric acids
Hydrocyanic Acid.
f Spasms; epilepsy; tetanus.
Hydrocyanic acid. \ _.
f •.'
Scarlatina.
(^ Heart; cough.
Hydrocyanic acid acts upon the cerebro-spinal nervous system, and particularly upon the medulla and upper portion of the spinal cord. It produces convulsions which are very much like those of the fullydeveloped epileptic attack. Dr. Hughes, of Brighton, England, recommends it as a specific for epilepsy. This, of course, it is not. To cure any disease, you will have to take into consideration the symptoms of each case, and prescribe accordingly.
Hydrocyanic acid also produces a tetanus which resembles very much that produced by Nux vomica. The body is stiffened and thrown back, there is cramp in the nape of the neck like Cicuta; breathing comes in paroxysms, the jaws are set, there is foaming at the mouth, but the face is flushed.
It is also useful in convulsions during severe attacks of illness, when the face is blue, and the prostration is very great. There are gasping breathing, clutching at the heart, and livid color of the surface of the body.
You may also give Hydrocyanic acid for very severe cases of prostration, with approaching paralysis of the brain and lungs, and when there is gurgling from the throat to the stomach when swallowing. In cholera, Hydrocyanic acid is to be placed by the side of Camphor, being indicated in marked collapse with sudden cessation of all discharges, as vomiting and purging.
In scarlatina it is indicated in almost hopeless cases of a malignant type, in which the rash is livid from the very beginning. The feet are almost always cold.
Hydrocya?iic acid may be given for the cough of heart disease when it is reflex from organic changes in the heart. It may also be used for the dry tickling cough of consumptives.
You may prefer Laurocerasus for the dry, teasing cough of consumptives, worse at night, and indeed for heart cough. You may also give it for cough with expectoration which contains little specks of blood scattered through it.
What the other books say about Hydrocyanicum acidum
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Hydrocyanicum acidum in Boericke — The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full.
- Hydrocyanicum acidum in Boger — A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative.
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Create a free accountCite this page. Ernest Albert Farrington. Clinical Materia Medica, being a course of lectures delivered at the Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia. 4th edition, revised and enlarged by Harvey Farrington (1908). Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. Hydrocyanicum acidum — Lecture, pp. 537–538. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/farrington/hydrocyanicum-acidum. Published 1908: public domain in the US (before 1931) and in India (author died 1885). Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.