Castoreum. (Castoreum Canadense.)
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Castor Fiber. Rodentia.
Tincture of secretion in preputial sacs of the beaver.
Mentioned by Galen, Hippocrates and Pliny, and in use among the Arabians, who gave it in hepatic and uterine troubles, and in epilepsy and convulsions. Recommended later for hysterical complaints by Pomet and Hill ; for deafness, by Lemery.
The only provings are by Caspari and Nenning ; the former proved the Russian, the latter the Austrian variety. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 3, p. 24 . The original in Hartlaub and Trink's Annalen, vol. iii, p. 314.
Clinical symptoms are from Gosewisch, Siegrist, Neidhard, Trousseau and Pidoux, and H. M., 1879.
MIND [1]
Very peevish humor, indisposed to talk.
Very sensitive to all kinds of impressions.
Irritable in morning : cheerful abandon in evening.
Melancholic and full of anxious longing. θ Hysteria.
Angry exclamations during sleep.
SENSORIUM [2]
Giddiness and fainting.
INNER HEAD [3]
Headache, with giddiness and fainting.
Heaviness, with drawing pain in head.
Transitory pressure in forehead.
Dull headache from in outward in right forehead.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Dimness of vision, and lachrymation. θ Catarrh.
Appearance before eyes, as though he had not slept enough.
Eyes are agglutinated nearly all night.
HEARING AND EARS [6]
Earache and buzzing in ears.
Pain behind left ear.
Otorrhœa.
TEETH AND GUMS [10]
Pain in left lower row of molar teeth.
Swelling of gums.
TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE [11]
Swelling of tongue.
A rounded elevation in centre of tongue, size of a pea, surrounded by an angry suspicious-looking base, size of a nickel five-cent piece, extremely sensitive to touch or food, with a drawing sensation as if a string was pulling centre of tongue towards hyoid bone, with burning in tongue.
INNER MOUTH [12]
Bad smell from mouth.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Dryness of œsophagus.
APPETITE, THIRST. DESIRES, AVERSIONS [14]
Want of appetite.
Thirst is so violent that she could not drink enough water, after dinner.
HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING [16]
Belching, with stitches in chest.
Nausea after urinating.
SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH [17]
Weight at stomach.
Griping in stomach.
Tenesmus in stomach, with constrictive pain under sternum.
Tension and heaviness in stomach.
Emptiness in stomach.
Sensation in stomach as though it would go to sleep.
HYPOCHONDRIA [18]
Pressure in region of liver from in outward.
ABDOMEN AND LOINS [19]
Pain in left side of abdomen.
Colic from flatulency.
Yawning, in abdominal complaints.
Abdomen distended, in afternoon.
Umbilical hernia, with colic, in a screaming infant.
Abdomen feels as though full and distended.
Above feels as though full and distended.
Above left ilium in flanks, sensation of soreness as though from an internal wound.
On taking a deep breath stitching pains on both sides in abdomen, above hips to spinal column, extending to region of liver, as though he was being stuck ; in various places above ilium, with needles.
STOOLS AND RECTUM [20]
Stools : whitish, watery ; bloody mucus ; greenish mucus ; frequent.
Stools contain pus ; patient is compelled to sit bent double ; feels gagged when lying down.
Before stool : cutting or pinching colic ; painful rumbling ; dragging in groin.
During stool : fetid flatus ; burning at anus .
After stool : burning at anus.
Accompaniments of bowel complaints : yawning ; chilliness ; bad smell from mouth ; violent thirst.
URINARY ORGANS [21]
Scanty urine ; heat and burning when urinating.
After urinating : nausea.
MALE SEXUAL ORGANS [22]
Seminal emissions, with great excitability of sexual parts.
FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS [23]
During menses : pain commences in middle of thighs, extending over limbs, and more or less over entire body.
Dysmenorrhœa ; abdomen distended ; blood leaves uterus in drops, with tenesmus-like pain.
PREGNANCY. PARTURITION. LACTATION [24]
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
VOICE AND LARYNX. TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA [25]
Hoarseness with disposition to clear throat.
RESPIRATION [26]
Shortness of breathing, in forenoon ; when walking fast.
Short, difficult breathing, with frequent, long inspirations.
Very deep inspirations, with heat in breast and in face.
Frequent, slow, deep inspirations, with short expirations.
INNER CHEST AND LUNGS [28]
Stitches in chest, with belching.
Heat in breast, as though a fire was burning there, in evening.
HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION [29]
Feeling of oppression about heart.
OUTER CHEST [30]
Cramplike pains extending across breast.
Pain under sternum, when touching it.
On taking a deep breath, sensation as though something heavy lay under sternum.
Pressure on sides of sternum, especially on expiration.
Sensation of internal heat under sternum.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Pain in right shoulder when at rest and in motion, as though he has carried something heavy.
Hot hands, with distended veins.
LOWER LIMBS [33]
Great feeling of lassitude in lower limbs.
Pressure in left flank downward through inguinal gland, when walking.
Feet are weary, cannot walk any farther.
LIMBS IN GENERAL [34]
Spasms of hands and feet.
REST. POSITION. MOTION [35]
During rest and motion : pain in shoulder.
Lying down : feels gagged.
NERVES [36]
Jerking of small groups of muscular fibres.
Sensation of heaviness in whole body.
Trembling of limbs.
(OBS :) Chorea, epilepsy, whooping cough, nervous palpitation, cramp in various parts of body, and tetanus.
Paralysis.
SLEEP [37]
Sleepiness.
Constant yawning, though never sleeping in daytime.
In sleep, angry exclamations.
Cannot sleep after eating.
TIME [38]
Morning : irritable.
Night : eyes agglutinated.
Afternoon : abdomen distended.
FEVER [40]
Shuddering of single parts, back, vertex, forehead, elbow, feet.
(OBS :) Typhus.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Left : behind, ear, pain ; lower row of molars pain ; abdomen, pain ; ilium, soreness ; flank, pressure.
Right : forehead, dull headache ; shoulder, pain.
Within out : dull headache ; pressure in region of liver.
As if a string was pulling centre of tongue towards hyoid bone ; as though stomach would go to sleep ; as though something heavy lay under sternum.
Tearing drawing pains in various parts of body.
Burning : in tongue ; at anus ; in breast ; as of fire.
Stitching : pains on both sides of abdomen ; in chest.
Griping : in stomach.
Pain : behind left ear ; in molar teeth ; under sternum ; in r. shoulder.
Weight : at stomach.
Heat : in breast and face ; under sternum.
Drawing pain : in head.
Pressure : on sides of sternum ; in left flank ; in forehead ; in region of liver.
Heaviness : in whole body ; under sternum ; in stomach.
Cramplike pains : across breast.
Tension : in stomach.
Emptiness : in stomach.
Dryness : of œsophagus.
TISSUES [44]
(OBS :) Enteralgia, having its seat in small intestines, no evacuations ; appearing suddenly after mental emotions, or getting cold feet ; accompanied by pallor, cold sweat and fainting.
Inflammatory and spasmodic affections of digestive and sexual organs.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Hysterical individuals.
RELATIONS [48]
Antidotes : Camphor., Opium and vegetable acids.
Compare : Ambra gris., Ignat., Moschus, Valer ., especially in nervous women with pains, cramps and weakness after severe illness.