Graphites

Nauseous feeling in abdomen. Fullness and hardness in abdomen, as from incarcerated flatulence; must loosen clothing; presses painfully at abdominal ring. Croaking in abdomen. Inguinal region sensitive, swollen. Pain of gas opposite the side on which he lies. Chronic diarrhœa, stools brownish, liquid, undigested, offensive. Very fetid gas preceded by colic.

Sadness, itoith thoughts of nothing hut death. Despondent. Feels miserable, unhappy. Apprehensiveness, with inclination to weep. Music makes her weep. Pain as if head were numb and pithy. Pain as if constricted, esp. occiput. Falling of hair of scalp. Itching on scalp. Much scaliness of head, which causes distressing itching and becomes a scurf, which disappears on washing and then is humid. Eruptions on ^vertex, painful to touch and humid. Eczema capitis of entire scalp, forming massive dirty crusts which m<d the hair. Painful and sore to touch. Falling out of hair of scalp. Eyes : Very inflamed margins of lids. Inflammation of the external canthi. Sore and fissured : bleed easily. Edges of lids much inflamed. Dry mucus on lashes. Deafness : hears better in a noise, or riding in carriage. Moist and sore places behind both ears. Soreness in nose on blowing it. Nose painful internally. Dryness of nose. Nose stopped with badly smelling mucus. Dry scabs in nose, with sore, cracked and ulcerated nostrils. Smell abnormally acute : cannot tolerate flowers. Constant sensation of cobweb on face. Soreness and cracking of lips and nostrils, as from cold. Burning blisters on lower side and tip of to n gu e. Taste of rotten eggs which nauseates. Constrictive pains in stomach ; better eating. Aversion to animal food : to fish : to cooked food. Sweet things are disgusting and nauseous. Burning pains radiate through abdomen . Heaviness in abdomen. Great distension of abdomen. Full abdomen as from accumulation and incarceration of flatus. Pain in upper abdomen. Hardness in region of liver. Smarting sore pain in anus on wiping it. Itching in anus. Stools brown, fluid, with undigested substances : of intolerable odour. Stool dark-coloured, half digested, of an intolerable odour. Stool lumpy, conjoined with threads of mucus. Sticking in anus (with hard stool and much urging). Discharge of mucus from rectum. Hæmorrhoids with burning rhagades at anus. UteittE becomes turbid and deposits white sediment. Profuse leucorrhcea of very white mucus : acrid : excoriating. Itching of pudenda before menstruation. Menstruation delayed. Hard cicatrices remaining after mammary abscess, retarding flow of milk. Cancer of mammae, from old cicatrices, which had remained after repeated abscesses. Constriction of chest as if too narrow. Painful swollen glands at sides of neck. Soreness high up between the thighs. Smarting soreness between the nates. The skin of hands is hard and cracked in several places. Finger nails become thick : become black. Eruptions in the comer of the mouth. Itching pimples on the face, become moist after scratching. Itching eruptions full of corrosive waietLin many parts of the body. Itching and moist eruptions on scrotum. Cracks and fissures ends of fingers, nipples, labial commissures, of anus, between toes, etc. Eruptions behind ears, oozes a sticky fluid. Eczema, with profuse serous exudations ; in blondes inclined to obesity. Numbness and deadness, with coldness of fingers, extending as far as middle of upper arm. Weak exhaustion of whole body. Cataleptic conditions : conscious but without power to move or speak. Emaciation of suffering parts. {Plumb.) Hepar is a medicine that has its place in even the smallest of homoeopathic domestic medicine cases : it is one of the nursery medicines for colds—coughs—croup—glands, etc. Hahnemann’s Hepar Sulphuris Calcareum is prepared accord­ ing to his directions : " a mixture of equal parts of finely powdered oyster shells and quite pure flowers of sulphur, kept for ten minutes at a white heat.” From this our potencies are prepared. Hepar is a powerful medicine, affecting both mind and body : a first-class irritant of temper—nerves and tissues : till the prover is distraught by a word—a touch—a breath of air—so hypersensitive is he to environment physical and mental. And, of course, it is just this touchiness and hypersensitiveness that provide a valuable clue to the employment of Hepar in many diseases. Until the inwardness of the two drugs is grasped, there is a great tendency to *’.se Hepar for Silica, and Silica for Hepar : they have so many points of resemblance. They both affect skin, glands, suppurations, till, in treating an abscess one is apt to think, “ H'm ? Silica ? Hepar ? ”—as if it were a mere toss- up between them. They both have unhealthy skin, which festers instead of healing. One sees this so often in the childrén that come to the Out-Patient Department of our Hospital, where one or other according to symptoms, cures. They both have sticking pains— as the fish-bone or splinter sensation in throat, more especially Hepar. {Arg. nit., Kali carb., Nit.-ac. have this also.) In both, with the unhealthy skin every little injury suppurates. Both are chilly : but here they part company : because Hepar is better in wet weather—better in warm wet weather : while Silica suffers in wet weather—from wet feet, from cold wet weather ; and is better when it is warm and dry. Both perspire profusely : Silica (with Calcarea) has profuse Head sw’eats at night, and its foot sweats are apt to be very offensive : the intolerable ” smelly feet ” that one comes across : also offensive axillary sweat : while Hepar has sour, profuse general sweats night and day which do not relieve. So alike are these two remedies. Silica and Hepar, that the one may be used to antidote the other, as when a blunder in prescribing has been made, and Silica has been given after Mercury 4 0 2