(1) ***MERCURIUS OXYDULATUS NIGER (M. sol. Hahn.) Mercurius solubilis Hahnemanni. Di mercurous ammonium nitrate. 2(NH Hg2) NO3H2O. (A mercurial preparation devised by Hahnemann as a substitute for the corrosive mercurial salts in use at the time, and at once adopted in all countries on account of its much milder and more efficacious anti-syphilitic qualities. It was prepared by precipitating Mercury from its solution in nitric acid by means of caustic ammonia. This is the preparation Hahnemann used in his proving.) Trituration. (2) ***MERCURIUS VIVUS Hydrargyrum. Argentum vivum. Chameleon minerale, etc. Metallic Mercury. Quicksilver. Hg (A. W. 199.8). (Although Hahnemann proved Mercurius solubilis, he recommended the use of triturations of the pure metal in practice as being the simplest mercurial preparation, and more easily obtained and equally available with Mercurius sol. for prescribing on the symptoms of the latter.) Trituration. (Decoction: water in which quicksilver has been boiled for half an hour.).
Clinical
(The letters s and v indicate the preparation _ Solubilis or Vivus _ mentioned in the Prescriber in connection with the malady the name of which they follow, they are not intended to indicate a preference of one over the other.) Abscess (s). Anaemia. Aphthae. Appendicitis. *Balanitis (s). *Bone, disease of (s). *Brain, inflammation of. *Breath, offensive (s). *Bronchitis (s). *Bubo (s). *Cancrum oris. *Catarrh (s). *Chancre. *Chicken-pox (s). *Cold (s). *Condylomata. *Cough (s). *Dentition, abnormal (s). *Diarrhoea (s). Dysentery. *Dyspepsia (s). *Ecthyma (s). Eczema. Emaciation. *Excoriation (s). *Eyes, affections of (s), gouty inflammation of Fainting. Fevers. Fissures. *Glandular swellings (s). *Gout (s). *Gum-boil (s). *Gums, unhealthy (s). *Heart, affections of (s). *Herpes (s). Hydrophobia. *Jaundice (s). *Joints, affections of (s). Leucorrhoea, in little girls. *Liver, affections of (s). *Lumbago (s). Mania. *Measles (s). *Melancholia (s). Meningitis. Mollities ossium. Mucous patches. Mumps. *Noises in the head (s). *Odour, of body, offensive (s). Ovaries, affections of. *Pancreatitis (s). *Parametritis (s). Parotitis. Peritonitis. *Perspiration, abnormal (s). *Phimosis (s). *Pregnancy, affections of (s). *Prostate, disease of (s). *Purpura (s) (v). *Pyaemia (s). *Ranula (s). *Rheumatism (s) (v). Rickets. Rigg’s disease. *Salivation (s). *Scurvy (s). *Small-pox (s). Stomatitis. *Suppuration (s). Surgical fever. *Syphilis (s). *Taste, disordered (s). *Teeth, affections of (v). *Throat-deafness (s). *Throat, soreness of (v). *Tongue, affections of (s) (v), mapped (v). *Toothache (s). *Tremors (s). *Typhus fever (v). *Ulcers (s). *Vaccination (s). Vomiting (s).
Characteristics
No pains have been taken to keep distinct *Mercurius sol. and *Mercurius viv., and I do not find it practicable to attempt to separate them. Though *Mercurius sol. was the preparation Hahnemann proved, he recommended *Mercurius viv. as a superior preparation for homoeopathic prescribing in his preface to the proving. *Mercurius solubilis Hahnemann was invented by him in his pre-homoeopathic days in response to a general desire for a mercurial preparation which should be at once soluble and non-corrosive, and it at once took its place in pharmacy, a place it has never lost. The method of developing the medicinal power of metallic mercury by graduated trituration was a later discovery, through there was a suggestion of it in the well-known *Hydrargyrum cum creta. To the symptoms of Hahnemann’s pathogenesis of *Mercurius sol. are added observed effects of *Mercury in those engaged in working with the metal, in patients taking *Mercury, and effects on those applying mercurial inunctions to patients _ many having been severely affected by absorbing it through their hands. There is no difference between these effects and the symptoms of the proving so far as the general characteristics are concerned. In the finer characteristics there must be differences. The symptoms of the proving are in general more particularly characterized than the effects of *Mercurius viv. For instance, “At night severe toothache, and when that went off great chilliness through the whole body,” belongs to the Mercurius sol. proving, and so do these: “Vertigo: when sitting at his desk there was whirling in the head, as if he were drunk, he rises up and walks about the room staggering, then anxious heat breaks out over him, with nausea but not to the length of vomiting, at the same time some headache.” “From occiput a strong, tearing, continued pain, which went into the forehead and there pressed.” The symptoms of nose-bleed and the more finely characterized throat symptoms (“stitches on tonsils”, “stitches into ear on swallowing,” “something hot rises into throat”), were produced by *Mercurius sol., so were the majority of the symptoms in the male and female sexual organs. But this is not to say that *Mercurius viv. will not answer equally well, or even better, for curing them. The only bit of comparative experience I have in the action of the two is this: in a case of cold in which *Mercurius seemed indicated, *Mercurius sol. 30 was given and failed, and *Mercurius viv. 30 promptly cured. We of the present generation can hardly form a conception of the havoc wrought by *Mercury in the days when it was considered necessary to “touch the gums” in all cases for which *Mercury was prescribed before any good could be hoped for. The motto, “Salivation is Salvation,” tells its own tale. “It was quite an event,” says Teste, “when in the sixteenth century the discovery was made that *Mercury will cure syphilis without the patient being salivated. One error, however, being substituted in place of another, it was supposed that the sweat, the diuresis, or the diarrhoea which followed the exhibition of *Mercury, replaced the absent salivation, the gross humoralism which prevailed at that period did not allow of another explanation. For a graphic picture of a practice which was part of the ordinary routine until recent times, I quote the following from Bransby Cooper’s *First Lines of Surgery, 6th edition., p. 348: *”Mercury acts upon some individuals like a poison (!): they are seized with palpitations of the heart, tremblings of the limbs, oppression of the breathing, and irregular pulse. When such indisposition takes place in a person employing *Mercury we conclude that this mineral is actually producing a deleterious impression on the system (!). It was noticed by the late Mr. Pearson that every year, when it was the custom to salivate freely, a certain number of individuals thus treated died suddenly in the Lock Hospital. They were first affected as I have described, and, on attempting to make the slightest effort they dropped down dead. Mr. Pearson learned from experience [!) that these deaths arose from the deleterious action of *Mercury on the constitution, and the derangement of the system thus excited he proposed to call the *Mercurial erethismus.” Homoeopathy has filled out this picture in full detail, and turned this deadly blundering to curative account. There was a fitness in naming this metal after the volatile deity. It provides us with weather- glasses and thermometers, and it turns those who are under its influence into weather-glasses and thermometers likewise. (An electrician, who at one time was required to work with his hands frequently in a trough filled with quicksilver, thereafter could not bear the slightest shock of electricity, though before he could stand very strong ones.) And herein lies one of the grand characteristics of the remedy: as the thermometer is sensitive to *changes either to hot or cold, so is the *Mercurius patient. Other remedies are predominantly one or the other: *Mercurius is both _ worse by heat and worse by cold. This is keynote No. 1. No. 2 is ” worse at night.” This is a strong point of correspondence with syphilis. Especially is this noticeable in the bone pains. No. 3 is: Profuse sweat accompanying nearly all complaints and which *does not relieve, it may even aggravate. Guided chiefly by these two indications: “Profuse sweat with no relief” and ” worse at night.” I have cured many cases of rheumatic fever with *Mercurius viv. 12, without any other remedy. Keynote No. 4 is: The mercurial odour. The mercurial patient is offensive, breath excessively fetid, sweat offensive, mawkish, sweetish. Keynote No. 5 is *tremor. This symptom is so pronounced and universal that it renders *Mercurius The best general remedy in paralysis agitans. There is tremor of head, of hands, of tongue. Tremors commencing in the finger. It is the tremor of weakness and paralysis, and as described by ***B. Cooper it may attack the heart and cause sudden death on the smallest effort. Short of this there is great tendency to fainting, extreme exhaustion after a stool. The tremors may become jerkings and even convulsions. Extreme restlessness. The mind is as weak and tremulous as the body, everything is done hastily. Hurried and rapid talking. On the other hand: slow in answering questions, loss of memory, of will power. Embarrassment. Absent-minded. Imbecility. Time seems to pass slowly. Desire to flee. Homesick. Suicidal. Murderous. *Mercurius is Hahnemann’s typical antisyphilitic remedy, as Sul. Is the typical antipsoric, and *Thuja the typical anti sycotic. In selecting *Mercurius as the remedy for syphilis the old practitioners were so far right, but they did not know how to give it. *Mercurius so far corresponds to syphilis that many undoubted cases of mercurial poisoning have been diagnosed by experts as syphilis. Bones, glands, and skin are affected. Inflammation leads to induration, induration to ulceration. *Mercurius corresponds accurately to the true Hunterian chancre. *Mercurius ulcers have a grey, lardy, ashy, or cheesy base. There are burning or stinging pains in them. Another great feature of *Mercurius, almost constituting a keynote, is the tendency to the formation of pus. In the suppurative stage of small-pox it is specific. Flow of pus, and particularly bloody pus, from any orifice calls for *Mercurius Pus forms in cavities in abscesses, which burn and sting. Discharges are yellow-green in colour. Gonorrhoea. Fetid ear discharge. *Mercurius is a great solvent: it dissolves metals out of their ores and it dissolves living tissues, inducing excessive emaciation. Lowly organized tissues as indurations, exostoses, and some tumours are melted first. Oedema and dropsies are absorbed, rheumatic swellings. If the doses of *Mercurius are large and dropsies disappear rapidly under them, the tissues themselves may disappear also in offensive rapidly decomposing ulcers. The bones soften so that they will bend. While *Mercurius intensifies the action of the absorbents, it may also paralyse them, hence enlargement of glands, with pricking pains, inflammation, suppuration. Next to syphilis, the liver has been the chief excuse for mercurialism in the past, and *Mercurius certainly has a powerful liver action. The liver is congested, enlarged, inflamed, stitches in the liver, sensitiveness in the liver and *inability to lie on right side. This ” worse lying on right side” is a very characteristic condition of *Mercurius, and when present *Mercurius should always be considered. Along with the liver the stomach is disordered. Sweets disagree, aversion to meat, wine, brandy, beer, coffee, greasy food, butter. There is the characteristic flabby, coated, teeth-indented tongue, foul breath, and intense thirst. Throat dry and forepart of tongue moist. *Mercurius is rarely indicated when the tongue is dry. Sliminess is a general characteristic. Slimy stools, stools acrid, knotty, containing pus, viscid. Just before stool a sick, painful, faint feeling comes on. During stool there is tenesmus, or tenesmus and no stool. Dysentery with much straining, never- get-done feeling when there is no more to come. Diarrhoea with slime. *”Mercurius is rarely indicated in these troubles where there is no slime” (Guernsey). *Mercurius affects profoundly the generative organs of both sexes. It has stinging, cutting pains in ovaries, cutting pains from left to right in lower abdomen. “Stinging” is very frequent in mercurial pains, and “stinging pain in ovaries is just as likely to need *Mercurius as Apis” (Kent). Almost all kinds of eruptions are produced by *Mercurius Scurfy, syphilitic, pustular, moist, oozing, offensive eczema. Shingles. Small-pox. They are all worse by warmth and at night and worse by cold.In olden times it was recognized that a patient under a “course” of Mercury must be very careful not to catch cold. This gives one indication for *Mercurius in abnormal tendency to catch cold. But for this condition it must not be too frequently repeated, as it will aggravate it. The patient needing *Mercurius is sensitive to every draft and yet worse by warmth, the nasal secretion is acrid, and the nose red and excoriated, “dirty-nosed children” (Guernsey). Old catarrhal smell in the nose, inside nostrils smarting and burning. Aching, tearing, and out-pressing in the bones. “Kali-i. is better for the same bursting in the face, running coryza, and worse from heat and warmth of the bed” (Kent). (I find that a much larger percentage of cases of acute cold come under the indications of *Cepa and *Chlorum than under those of *Mercurius or any other related remedy. In chronic colds I thinks first of *Psorinum) The eyes are very markedly influenced by *Mercurius, also the bones round the eye: “Whenever cold settles in the eye is gouty and rheumatic patients ” (Kent). Every degree and kind of inflammation and ulceration is produced by *Mercurius and its salts. ***J. J. Hirsch, of Prague (*H. R., vii. 220), relates some striking experiences with a preparation of *Mercurius viv. which he learned from an old allopath. Quicksilver is boiled in water for half an hour, two teaspoonfuls being given every two hours. Hirsch’s cases were those of acute inflammation of the brain, in which *Belladonna Was indicated, and in one of which *Mercurius (in the ordinary homoeopathic preparation) had already been administered in vain. This is the case: A black- haired girl, 9, had malignant scarlatina, which commenced six days before Hirsch (who came as consultant) saw the case, signs of brain inflammation having set in on the third day. Hirsch found her unconscious, sharply defined redness of cheeks, pulse 120, hot skin. Piercing screams were emitted from time to time, boring head in pillows, chewing motion of jaws, gnashing teeth. Lips brown and dry, not much thirst, water not accepted readily, but milk seemed to be relished. Reddened patches here and there, especially along neck. Under the “decoction,” which was given to the girl on Hirsch’s suggestion, she slowly but steadily improved, and in a week was convalescent. Among the *Sensations of Mercurius are: Vibration in forehead. Head as if in a vice, as if growing large. As of sparks being emitted from eyes, as of a body underneath lids, as if feathers came from corners of eyes. As if a wedge driven in ear, as if ice in it, as if cold water running out of it. Crackling in head as from metal plates. As if weight on forehead, as if weight hanging on to nose.As if teeth were loose, were fixed in a mass of pap. As if hot vapours rising into throat, of worm rising into throat, must swallow it down, of apple core sticking in throat. As if mammae would ulcerate. As if everything in chest was dry. Stabbing pains and stitches, burning, boring, digging, stinging, and dragging pains. Soreness and sensitiveness. Itching, voluptuous itching. *Mercurius is more particularly *suited to: Light-haired persons with lax skin and muscle, women and children. Scrofulous children. (*Mercurius has relation to psora and sycosis as well as syphilis.) The symptoms are worse by touch or pressure. Worse At night, before falling asleep. Worse Blowing nose. Worse During a catarrh. Worse From cold air. Worse From taking cold. Worse From lamp light, firelight. Worse During perspiration, on getting warm in bed. Worse Before stool. Worse During urination and after. Worse Lying on right side. Worse Motion, walking, slightest exertion. Worse Evening. Rest better. Coitus better. Weeping better. Worse touching anything cold (causes pain in abdomen). Worse bending forward (digestion immediately disordered). Worse after eating (if he eats ever so little it causes a dragging down in stomach).
