by Henry N. Guernsey — Key-Notes to the Materia Medica
Whooping, or any kind of cough, which is very violent, coming on spasmodically and seeming as though each spell would terminate life.
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Mephitis putorius appears in 8 of the 21 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.
“Mephitis putorius; M. chinga, Tied. Class , Mammalia. Order , Carnivora. Family , Mustelidæ. Common names , Skunk, stinkthier. Authorities. Hering, Corresp. Blatt., symptoms obtained from 30th dilution, and several from inhaling the substance while preparing the dilutions. (Dr. Neidhard's report of the effect of the…”
“Skunk (MEPHITIS) A great medicine for whooping-cough . In order to insure its full success, it should be given in the lower dilutions from 1x to 3x. Suffocative feeling, asthmatic paroxysms, spasmodic cough; cough so violent, seems as if each spell would terminate life. Child must be raised up, gets blue in face…”
“EXHALATION. Agg.”
“Nerves. Lying. Night. After menses. Cold bath or weather. Spasmodic effects. Foul breath and expectoration. Debility after severe illness. Trembling and twitching of exophthalmos. .................... Excitable. Loquacious. Vivid fancies. Violent vertigo. As of a finger pressing on occiput. Food goes the wrong way…”
“putorius. Skunk. N. O. Mustelidæ. Alcoholic dilution of the liquid contained in the anal glands. Asthma / Blindness / Choking, easy / Cold, sensitiveness to / Eyes, affections of / Laryngismus / Sight, weak / Whooping-cough Mephitis was proved by Hering in the 30th. Among the symptoms he developed was "choking while…”
“Skunk. Mustelidæ. The alcoholic dilution is prepared from the liquid contained in the glands of the animal. Introduced by Hering ; symptoms obtained from the 30th dilution, and from inhaling the substance while preparing the dilutions. Also proved, in 1853, by Cowley, through Neidhard, MSS. (Not contained in Allen's…”
“Great talkativeness as if he were intoxicated. Excited, with heat of the head. Angry about trifles or about imaginary things. The fancies are so vivid that he is unfitted, for mental labor. Numb and dull, with the sensation as if the head became enlarged, with ill-humor and, nausea. Vertigo when stooping; sudden…”
Kent's Repertory lists Mephitis putorius in 342 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (50), COUGH (28), HEAD (26), RESPIRATION (24), EYE (22).
