Caladium appears in 11 of the 13 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.
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Caladium seguinum, Very. (Arum seguinum, Linn.). Nat. order , Araceæ. Preparation , Tincture of the root. Authorities. Emotional. Extreme excitement, 3. Loud cries about an vexation, like a child, with inconsiderate prattlings, after many days, 1. He is very apprehensive about his health, and about everything…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“American Arum This remedy has a marked action on the genital organs, and pruritus of this region. Coldness of single parts and inclination to lie down, with aggravation on lying on left side. Slightest noise startles from sleep. Dread from motion . Modifies craving for tobacco. Tobacco heart. Asthmatic complaints…”
- Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“COITION, Agg. ITCHING, tickling, etc., internal LYING, on side, Agg. PRESSURE, Agg., lying on painful or affected side, etc., Agg. TURNING OVER in bed., Agg. 12 Night”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“GENITALS. NERVES. Skin. Mucous membranes. Sexual excesses. Motion. Sudden noises. On falling to sleep. Tobacco. Cool air. Short sleep. Sweating. DRYNESS; food eaten seems too dry; must drink to swallow. Red, dry stripe down center of tongue, widening toward tip. Inclines to lie down. Dreads to move…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“seguinum. Arum seguinum. Dumb Cane. (South America.) N. O. Araceæ. Tincture of whole fresh plant. Asthma / Dropsical swellings / Gleet / Impotence / Irritation / Nymphomania / Pruritus vaginæ / Spermatorrhœa / Typhoid / Typhus / Worms Like the other Arums, Caladium has an intensely irritating effect on the mucous…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Caladium seguinum. Araceæ. Proved in Surinam, where it is a common poison, in 1830, and published in Stapf's Archives, in 1832. Another proving by Schreter, one of our best men, followed in 1842. The last and best proving of all is by E. W. Berridge. Unconsciousness or coma. θ Typhus. Stupefying pressure in right…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Caladium is a wonderful remedy; perhaps some of you have read It endeavoring to understand it; it is a difficult medicine to understand, because it is quite evident from the provings that the prover did not understand how to describe and report symptoms; did not know how to tell his sensations because they were so…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Inclination to rest, and aversion to move. Burning in the stomach and skin. Perspiration, which is very much attracts the flied. After a short sleep and after perspiring many symptoms are relieved.”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Low spirits and gloomy thoughts, (with impotence). Forgetfulness. Swelling of the tongue with excessive ptyalism; the saliva resembling the white of an egg; the eyes are violently inflamed, the chest is oppressed, pulse small and accelerated, cold perspiration all over. Dryness in the fauces and pharynx, with aversion…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: american arum. Very sensitive to noise; slightest noise startles him from sleep (Asar., Bell., Hyos., Kali-C., Nux V., Stram., Tarant.) (A.). Red, dry stripe down centre of the tongue widening toward tip (B.). Hard cough with asthma, relieved from expectoration (Caust., Guai., Hep., Iod., Ipec., Lach…”
