Aceticum Acidum
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Acetic Acid. C 4 H 3 O 3 .
Should be procured from trustworthy chemists ; vinegar from the shops is generally adulterated.
Introduced by C. Hg. See Jahr's Manual , p. 19, published in Allentown, 1838. Toxicological symptoms have been collected from several authors ; really proved only by Berridge.
Inflammation of bowels in dentition, Guernsey, MSS.
MIND [1]
Intellect clouded, can hardly express herself.
Confusion of ideas. θ Headache.
Fancies he has an ulcer in his stomach.
Does not recollect what has happened ; knows no one, not even her own children.
Horrible attacks of anxiety with difficult breathing. θ Liver complaint.
Anxiety ; grieves about his sickness and his children.
Apparently alarmed at everybody and everything about her (poisoning).
Irritable, with abdominal complaints.
Greatest irritability. θ Headache. θ Liver complaint.
Worse from any nervous excitement. θ Headache.
Dull and low-spirited.
Delirium : with distended belly and obstinate constipation, or with rumbling in bowels, bellyache and diarrhœa ; alternately with stupor. θ Typhus.
SENSORIUM [2]
Vertigo, with feebleness and fainting.
Giddy, dull aching in forehead and top of head.
Giddiness, symptoms of cerebral congestion. θ Headache.
Blood rushes to head, with delirium.
Appears as if drunk, with heavy head.
Stupor only interrupted by delirious talking. θ Typhus.
Falls to ground insensible ; foaming at mouth.
Faints.
INNER HEAD [3]
Dull pains in forehead and vertex ; giddiness.
Heaviness of head, with sense of drunkenness.
Confused dull aching over frontal region. θ Nervous cephalalgia.
Shooting through temples.
Nervous headache, caused by abuse of narcotic stimulants or by chronic gastric irritation.
Headache from abuse of tobacco, opium, coffee or alcohol.
OUTER HEAD [4]
Dull aching on frontal protuberance ; later on left.
Distension of temporal blood-vessels, increased heat of head.
Blood-vessels on temples distended.
Red patches on scalp, crusts between hair.
Hair bristles.
Child does not want its head touched. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Weak sight. θ Liver complaint.
Dilated pupils.
Protruding eyeballs.
Conjunctiva inflamed, accompanied by sour stomach.
Flow of tears.
SMELL AND NOSE [7]
Nosebleed, especially from a fall or blow.
Liable to frequent catarrhal attacks.
UPPER FACE [8]
Expression wild, pupils dilated.
Face pale, waxen, emaciated. θ Dropsy.
One cheek red, the other pale. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Eyes sunken and surrounded by dark rings.
Left cheek bright red with fever. θ Croup.
Sweat on forehead in spots.
LOWER FACE [9]
Lips : become of a deep purple tint ; peel off in flakes.
Aching in upper part of joint of jaw ; < from pressure and motion.
TEETH AND GUMS [10]
Scorbutic ulcers ; toothache.
TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE [11]
Taste sour.
Pain across root of tongue impedes speech and motion of jaw.
Tongue : pale and flabby, with diminished appetite and no thirst ; dry and cold ; red, sore and burning ; livid, swollen, protruding.
Glands under tongue and lower jaw swollen, sore to touch.
INNER MOUTH [12]
Foul breath.
Buccal membrane whitish, like aptha.
Salivation.
White gums.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Children thirsty, but swallow with some difficulty, even a teaspoonful of water. θ Croup.
Has to eat very slowly, difficult swallowing.
Throat inflamed, ulcerated.
A white film low down in fauces. θ Croup.
False membranes in throat.
APPETITE, THIRST. DESIRES, AVERSIONS [14]
Loss of appetite.
Greatest burning thirst, insatiable even by taking large quantities.
Intense thirst. θ Diabetes. θ Dropsy. θ Chronic
diarrhœa.
Thirsty with dry lips, which peel off in flakes. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
No thirst with fever. θ Croup.
Disgust for salted things and cold victuals.
EATING AND DRINKING [15]
After a meal : vomiting.
Bread and butter disagree.
Vomits after every kind of food. θ Liver complaint.
Cannot drink anything cold, it lies like a load in stomach.
HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING [16]
Hiccough and fetid belching.
Belching > pain in abdomen. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Hot eructations, heat in stomach.
Nausea and sweat ; retching with anxiety ; sour risings.
Towards 12 P. M. very sick ; vomits a thick gruelly substance with great relief.
Vomiting : after every meal ; of blood ; like yeast.
SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH [17]
Great pain in scrobiculum ; cannot bear slightest pressure.
Contents of stomach feel as if in a ferment.
Violent burning pain in stomach and chest, followed by coldness of skin and cold sweat on forehead.
Heat with colicky uneasiness, as if diarrhœa would follow.
Ulcerative gnawing at a single spot in stomach. θ Cancer.
Hypertrophy of walls of stomach.
Local indurations in stomach.
Scirrhus of pylorus.
HYPOCHONDRIA [18]
Violent local pains. θ Liver complaint.
ABDOMEN AND LOINS [19]
Pain in abdomen and rumbling in gastric region.
Bellyache, rumbling, diarrhœa, delirium. θ Typhus.
Severe burning in intestines ; plethora abdominalis.
Abdomen distended and sensitive to touch. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Abdomen distended, with costiveness. θ Typhus.
Tympany, with difficult breathing.
Ascites, with violent orthopnea. Compare dropsy, 44 .
Incarcerated hernia (clysmata).
Abdomen sore to touch.
Abdomen feels as if sunken in when lying on back.
STOOLS AND RECTUM [20]
Liquid stools with pain.
Passages green and slimy come with an explosion of odorless wind. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Diarrhœa : with swelling of legs and feet (phthisis) ; in later stages of abdominal typhus ; chronic with thirst (ascites) ; more in morning ; profuse, very weakening (fifteen passages) on seventeenth day (typhus).
Costiveness, with tympanitis and stupor ; chronic constipation.
Profuse hemorrhoidal bleeding.
Hemorrhage from bowels, after checked metrorrhagia.
Ascarides.
URINARY ORGANS [21]
Urine : increased and light-colored ; acid, with increased sweat ; cloudy, with phosphatic deposits.
Diabetes.
MALE SEXUAL ORGANS [22]
Very weakening nightly emissions.
Semen passes at stool.
Male parts flush and sweat.
FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS [23]
Metrorrhagia.
PREGNANCY. PARTURITION. LACTATION [24]
During pregnancy, sour belching and vomiting, with profuse water-brash and salivation, day and night.
After labor, hemorrhages (outward application of vinegar).
Breasts greatly and painfully distended with milk.
Mammary abscesses threatening.
Milk impoverished, bluish, transparent, strong sour taste and odor ; deficient in caseine and butter.
Sucklings droop, loose flesh. θ Marasmus.
VOICE AND LARYNX. TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA [25]
Hoarse, with laryngeal irritation.
Hissing respiration, with rattling in throat. θ Membranous croup (10 drops to a tumbler of sweetened water, a teaspoonful every hour or two).
RESPIRATION [26]
Breathing : difficult from laryngeal obstruction ; hissing in croup ; hurried and laborious ; loses breath on going up stairs ; labored when lying on back.
Difficult breathing, with attacks of anxiety. θ Liver complaint.
Must often take a deep breath, which relieves.
Heaviness, with sense of oppression.
COUGH [27]
Cough : croupy ; a hollow sound with inhalation ; dry, with oppression, later moist with fever, greater dyspnœa, emaciation, diarrhœa, night sweats, œdema of feet and legs ; titillating, with much purulent sputum ; hectic fever ; attacks in
evening with coldness ; at night, heat, dry skin and delirium.
Hæmoptysis ; coughs blood.
INNER CHEST AND LUNGS [28]
Violent pain and sensation of burning in region of chest and stomach.
Lungs beginning to fill with tubercles.
Chronic bronchitis ; phthisis.
Hydrothorax.
Rattling of phlegm in chest. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Many complaints, apparently overcome by Borax, reappear after use of Acet. ac., especially shooting in chest.
HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION [29]
Angina pectoris.
Heart beats : more frequent ; cannot be felt by hand.
Pulse : 96 and full (poisoning) ; accelerated and small, contracted ; weak and small.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Sensation of lameness in wrists and hands.
Coldness and pricking of hands.
Skin on hands dry. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Restlessness of hands in sleep. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
LOWER LIMBS [33]
Weak and weary.
Lessened sensibility.
Œdematous swelling, with diarrhœa.
REST. POSITION. MOTION [35]
Cannot remain long in same position. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Child wants to be carried. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Springs from bed ; crawls on ground from pain.
Lying on back : cannot sleep ; labored breathing ; abdomen feels sunken.
Lying on belly : rests > during sleep.
Ascending stairs : loses breath.
Motion : aching in jaw < ; of jaw impeded by pain across root of tongue.
NERVES [36]
Great prostration after injuries ; shock.
Great debility. θ Chronic diarrhœa, diabetes, etc.
Prostration and lameness.
Paralyzed and giddy.
Trembling from head to foot (poisoning).
Apparent death.
Spasms : with insensibility ; with great debility ; hysterical.
Springs out of bed, crawls on ground howling with pain.
(OBS :) Hydrophobia.
SLEEP [37]
Cannot sleep lying on his back ; feels as if abdomen was sinking in, causing labored breathing ; rests > lying on belly.
Sleep broken without known cause.
Cannot fall asleep because of distress and agony.
Sleepless, with other sufferings.
Sleeplessness. θ Liver complaint.
TIME [38]
Night : heat, dry skin, delirium ; emissions ; sweating.
Day and night : stomach symptoms during pregnancy.
Morning : diarrhœa.
Evening : cough.
Toward midnight : vomiting.
FEVER [40]
Skin cold ; bodily warmth decreased.
Flushes of heat more in outer parts, increasing sweat.
Febrile heat, with a dry, hot skin : in bilious, putrid and typhoid fevers ; inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Profuse sweating ; night-sweats.
Typhus with delirium.
Hectic fevers, with cough, dyspnœa, diarrhœa, night-sweats, œdema and emaciation.
Inflammatory fever.
Slow fever, with night-sweats.
ATTACKS, PERIODICITY [41]
Severe paroxysmal headache.
Lethargic paroxysms.
Hysteric paroxysms.
Frequent catarrhal attacks.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Right then left : dull aching in frontal protuberances.
Left : cheek bright red in fever ; aching in upper joint of jaw.
In spots : sweat on forehead.
SENSATIONS [43]
As if drunk with heavy head ; like a load in stomach after cold drinks ; as if contents of stomach were in a ferment ; abdomen feels as if sunken in.
Shooting : through temples.
Pricking : of hands.
Burning : of tongue ; with thirst ; in stomach ; in chest ; in inner and outer parts ; of skin.
Gnawing : in stomach.
Aching : in forehead and top of head ; in upper part of joint of left jaw.
Pain : across root of tongue : in scrobiculum ; in liver ; in abdomen ; with liquid stools ; in chest.
Lameness : in wrists and hands.
Heat : in stomach.
Coldness : of skin ; of hands.
TISSUES [44]
Ebullitions.
Hemorrhages from nose, lungs, stomach, bowels, uterus ; also passive hemorrhages.
Blood coagulated in veins.
Blood-vessels contracted.
Varicose swellings.
Chlorosis ; anemia ; wasting away ; great emaciation.
Prevents corpulency, but may superinduce fatal marasmus.
Dissolves cancer cells.
Separates sequestrum from new bone.
Scurvy.
Dropsy of abdomen and legs ; anasarca ; great thirst ; pale, waxen skin.
Changes gangrenous ulcers ; hospital gangrene ; prevents decomposition of animal matter.
TOUCH. PASSIVE MOTION. INJURIES [45]
Touch : soreness of glands on lower jaw ; soreness of abdomen ; head sensitive.
Pressure : aching in jaw < ; pain in scrobiculum <.
Diminished sensibility over whole surface of body.
Burns and scalds.
Sting of wasps or other insects.
After bite of a mad cat, lacerated wound, upper and lower leg swollen (externally and internally).
Sugillations.
Bruises or sprains, if dry heat follows.
Fall or blow : nosebleed.
SKIN [46]
Burning dry skin. θ Inflammation of bowels in dentition.
Tetter-like eruptions.
Diseased cuticle separates in flakes.
Skin pale and waxen.
Broad, flat condylomata, dry or moist.
Nevi, warts, corns.
Dropsy after scarlet fever.
(OBS :) Scarlet fever and smallpox.
Morbus maculosus Werlhofii.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Injurious to children and the aged.
Lax, pale, lean persons.
A boy, æt. 14 mos. ; inflammation of bowels in dentition.
A boy, æt. 2 ; typhus.
RELATIONS [48]
Antidotes to Acet. ac . ; large doses are best counteracted by Magnesia or Calcarea , according to bodily peculiarities of sick ; fluid magnesia or lime-water, a
teaspoonful in a cup of water taken in sips. Higher preparations : for depressing, agonizing feeling : Tabac., if insufficient, Acon . ; for gastric, pulmonary and febrile symptoms : Natr. mur ., may be
followed by Sepia .
Acet. ac . is an antidote to all anesthetic vapors ; a finger dipped in vinegar, rubbed within the lips, antidotes fumes of charcoal ; further, to Acon., Asar., Coffea, Euphorb., Hepar , Ignat .,
Opium , Plumbum (colic), Sepia , Stramon ., Tabac., Tongo and Alcohol .
May be given in cases of sausage poisoning.
It follows well after Cinchon ., in hemorrhages.
The sick have an aversion to it in poisonings with Agar. emet .
Unpleasant symptoms of Bellad . are aggravated by it ; headache from Bellad . became unbearable.
It aggravates symptoms of Arnica., Laches . and Mercur .
Disagrees when given after Borax, Caustic., Nux vom., Ran. bulb , and Sarsap .
Scilla, Colchicum . and Sanguin . have had more effect in curing some diseases when prepared in Acet. ac . than with alcohol.
What had disappeared after Borax returned after its use.
Has been used after Digit . in dropsy.