Mercurius Cyanide appears in 10 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.
“Cyanide of mercury, Hg(Cn)2. Preparation for use , Solutions. Authorities. Excitement, at night (second day), 2. Night sleepless; great excitement and incessant talking; is angry with the attendant, and raved furiously (first and third day), 2. Vertigo. Vertigo, 3. Vertigo, on sitting up, with loud ringing in the…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Cyanide of Mercury Acute infections, pneumonia, nephritis. Its action is similar to that of the toxines of infections diseases. Great and rapid prostration, tendency toward hæmorrhages, from the different orifices, of dark fluid blood, cyanosis, rapid respiration and heart action, albuminuria and twitching and jerking…”
- Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“COLLAPSE, sudden prostration, etc. MOUTH and THROAT RELAXATION (Comp. Inactive.)”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“MOUTH. THROAT. Larynx. Glands. Capillaries. Nerves. Swallowing. Speaking. Early , rapid and extreme prostration; with tremor, coldness and cyanosis. Putridity. Rapid, local destruction. .................... Cutting pains in throat or larynx. Much thick, or grayish membrane in throat. Septic diphtheria; of soft parts…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Bicyanide of Mercury. Mercuric Cyanide. Hg (CN) 2 . Solution. Trituration. Diphtheria / Dysentery / Enteric fever / Hæmorrhages / Kerato-iritis syphilitica / Phlebitis / Throat, sore / Varicosis The history of this remedy is a romantic one. When Dr. Alexander Villers was an infant he had diphtheria. Known remedies had…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Cyanide of Mercury. Hg (CN 2 ). Of this form of Mercury no regular proving has been made ; the symptoms are toxicological and clinical. CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Keratoiritis syphilitica , Nunez, Norton's Ophth. Therap. ; Ulceration of tonsils , Richards, Raue's Rec., 1872, p. 100 ; Follicular tonsillitis , (2 cases)…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Given a Merc. base and diphtheria, when the membrane is greenish and inclined to spread through the nose and involve a large surface, the Cyanide of Mercury is needed. It has exudation more marked than any other form of Mercury . Malignant forms of diphtheria, rapidly forming, and with phagedenic ulceration.”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: cyanide of mercury. It seems to spread its action all over the buccal cavity (N.). Is of great value in that much dreaded disease-diphtheria (N.). MALIGNANT DIPHTHERIA, WITH INTENSE REDNESS OF FAUCES AND GREAT DIFFICULTY OF SWALLOWING (A.). Diphtheria of the larynx and nose (Br.). Pseudo-membranous…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Dr. Beck, of Monthey, in Switzerland (I think it was), first brought this remedy to notice as of great value in that much-dreaded disease, diphtheria. Von Villiers claimed to have had astonishing success with it in Germany, losing only two per cent. (if I remember correctly) of the cases treated with it. He…”
