Cuprum arsenicosum

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Cupric Arsenite. Scheele's Green.)

Pharmacology. — This salt may be prepared by boiling three parts of pulverized white arsenic, with eight parts caustic potassa, in sixteen parts of water until the arsenic is deposited in the shape of a powder; pour this liquid into a hot solution composed of eight parts of the sulphate of copper and forty-eight parts of distilled water, stirring the mixture all the time; wash the precipitate well, and dry at a moderate temperature.

It is a bright green insoluble powder.

Officinal Preparation. — Triturations to the 6th X ; then dilutions. Analogues. — Arsenic, Agaricus, Belladonna, Cuprum, Aethusa, (Enanthe, etc.

Mental Sphere.

Confusion of ideas, vertigo, and headache between the temples. Dullness and fullness of the head. Intense anguish of mind and body. A kind of intoxication.

Head.

Severe headache, with dull pain in the forehead, and soreness

of the orbital bones. Throbbing pain in the right temple.

Headache between the temples; the pam seems to meet in the centre of the forehead, and thence to pass down the nose.

Eyes.

Persistent boring pain in a small spot above the left superior

orbital arch, with soreness when touched. Di mness of the eyes, with profuse lachrymation. Dark specks before the eyes; eyes are very sensitive. Sparks before the eyes.

Ears.

Boring pain in the right ear.

Nose.

Soreness of the nose, with watery discharge from the nose.

Face.

Soreness of the bones of the face. (Edema of the face. Paleness of the face.

Violent twitching and jerking of the facial muscles of the left side, between the eye and the corner of the mouth. Mouth and Throat. Heavy white coating of the tongue.

Shooting pains in the upper jaw; the pains are intermittent and throbbing.

Burning sensation in the throat; soreness of the glands of the neck, with stiffness of the neck; moving the head aggravates the pain in the neck.

Stomach.

Nausea, with headache between the eyes, and metallic taste in the mouth.

• Vomiting and purging, with cramps and collapse. Vomiting of mucus tinged with bile.

Great sensitiveness of the epigastric region to the least touch.

0 Cramps in stomach and bowels, followed by tonsillitis.

0 .Nausea, with burning pain in the stomach and bowels; palpitation of the heart, with trembling of the limbs; headache, particularly in the forehead; jerking in the limbs. Abdomen and Stool.

• Violent colic; frequent vomiting, with purging; cold sweats;

intense thirst. Great distension of the abdomen.

Pains in the abdomen, sharp and cutting. Diarrhoea,' slimy stool.

° Asiatic cholera, with cramps in hands and feet.

Urinary Organs.

Strong-smelling urine.

Dark-red urine; burning pain during and after urination.

Generative Organs. Male. — White, purulent discharge from the urethra; soreness

of the penis, with pain in the prostate gland; tingling

and burning in the urethra. Perspiration of the scrotum, which is constantly moist and

damp.

Boils frequently forming on the scrotum.

Chest.

Dull, stitching pain in left chest, between the sixth and seventh ribs, with a weak, numb feeling in the left chest, left side of the back, left shoulder and arm.

Constricted feeling of the chest.

Sudden debility, with dull pain in the heart, and sensation of

oppression around that organ. Palpitation of the heart, with trembling of the limbs. 0 Angina pectoris. {Hale.)

Back.

Lameness of the back.

Severe pain under the scapula; worse when moving or breathing.

Upper Extremities.

Numb, weak feeling in left shoulder and arm. Left arm feels numb and powerless, and a similar sensation soon afterward appeared in the left leg.

Skin.

Aggravation of a chronic irritation; itching of the arms and legs.

Pustular tumors) on the wrists and ankles. Eruptions of the skin; oedema of the face; boils on scrotum.

Sleep.

Persistent sleeplessness.

Fever.

Chilliness all over the body; creeping sensation produced by

the contact of the clothing. Intense thirst; cold sweats. Pulse frequent, skin cold, with great depression. Small, quick, irritated, or else spasmodically contracted, pulse.

Generalities. Cerebro-spinal irritation; staggering gait. ° Chorea; syncope; spasms; severe convulsions. ° Epilepsy; death-like syncope.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

This heroic remedy has always been a favorite one with me. Many years before it was proven by Dr. Blakey I had used it in many cases, and with uniformly good results. I selected it according to the indications afforded by the well-known provings of both drugs, and from the recorded cases of poisoning found in the standard works on toxicology. The reports of poisoning by sleeping in rooms which had paper colored with Scheele’s green upon the walls afforded me many excellent indications.

I first used it in some severe cases of cholera which occurred in the years 1866 and 1867. These cases were marked by the usual intestinal disorder, to which was added severe and painful cramps in the abdomen and extremities. The alternation of Arsenicum and Cuprum did not prove as satisfactory as I expected, but the use of Cupric arsenite, in the 6X trituration, in water for children, and dry on the tongue in adults, generally acted promptly. I can recommend it in cholera infantum, spasmodic and neuralgic pains in the bowels, accompanied by screams, and cramps in the fingers and toes, attended with great debility and threatened collapse. I have also used it with good effect in chorea, dependent on a profound affection of the nervous centres, and presenting the well-known characteristic symptoms of Cuprum, united to the dyscrasia which always indicates Arsenic.

In the treatment of some anomalous disorders of the heart, which may be designated as cardiac chorea, it is eminently successful. These cardiac disorders have not until lately been sufficiently understood. They are marked by singular aberrations in the rhythm of the heart’s action ; at one time the beats are very irregular and feeble , at another violent and irregular. The attacks appear in paroxysms, with intermissions, during which neither auscultation or percussion reveals anything abnormal in the action of that organ. In some cases the irregular cardiac action is changed to choreic movements in other parts of the body.

In several cases of this character which have come under my care, the 3X trituration several times a day for weeks has succeeded in permanently curing a malady which is very distressing, if not serious.