Alumina appears in 12 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 HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Pure Clay. (Al2O3.) Adapted to persons who suffer from chronic diseases; "the Aconite of chronic diseases.". Constitutions deficient in animal heat (Cal., Sil.). Spare, dry, thin subjects; dark complexion; mild, cheerful disposition; hypochondriacs; dry, tettery, itching eruption, worse in winter (Petr.); intolerable…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Chemically prepared pure Aluminium oxide [Al2O3 ]. Preparation , Triturate with sacch. lactis. Authorities. NOTE BY HAHNEMANN (footnote, page 206): "With merely these two letters, Doctors Hartlaub and Trinks designate a man (a true 'anonymity'), who has furnished the greatest number of symptoms for their 'Annals,'…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Oxide et Aluminum-Argilla A very general condition corresponding to this drug is dryness of mucous membranes and skin, and tendency to paretic muscular states . Old people, with lack of vital heat, or prematurely old, with debility. Sluggish functions, heaviness, numbness, and staggering, and the characteristic…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“SPINAL CORD, lumbar. Abdomen, left. RECTUM. Lower limbs. Mucus membranes. Skin. WARMTH; ROOM, bed. Foods: Artificial. Potatoes. Speaking. Dry weather. Early on awaking. Sitting. After menses. Evening. Open air. Moderate: Exertion. Temperature. Thin, inactive; inclines to lie down. Paretic effects. Talking is…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Argilla. Oxide of Aluminium. Pure Clay. AL 2 O 3 3 H 2 O. Trituration. Anus, affections of / Boils / Bubo / Catarrh / Chlorosis / Constipation / Constipation of nursing infants / Cough / Disappointments, effects of / Dysentery / Dyspepsia / Eczema / Eyes, affections of / Fissures / Fistula / Headache / Hernia /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Pure Clay. Aluminium Oxide. Al 2. O 3 . Used by the Old School, but only according to very poor indications. Hahnemann had proved the pure earth when Hartlaub edited a collection of 975 symptoms, obtained from four provers, in his Mat. Med ., in 1829. The year after, Hahnemann published his own observations in Stapf's…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Alumen and Alumina: This remedy comes in very nicely after Alumen , which has much Alumina in its nature and depends largely upon Alumina, which is its base, for its way of working. It occurs to me to throw out a little hint. When you have a good substantial proving of an oxide or a carbonate, and the mental symptoms…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Unpleasant want of animal heat. He feels as if some parts of the body were enlarged. Great debility from exercise, as in walking. There is present tearing pain in the limbs and a sensation of constriction of the internal organs (oesophagus). Involuntary motions (jerking of the head and other parts are associated in…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Easily offended. Disposition to shed tears. Anxious and full of fears. Alternate vivacity and thoughtfulness. Great weakness of memory and inability to think coherently. Reeling vertigo, as if he would fall over, with a faint feeling or nausea early in the morning, disappearing after breakfast. Vertigo, with white…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: pure clay. Spare, dry, thin subjects (A.). Dryness of membranes; the conjunctiva, the nose and the intestinal tract are all very dry (D.). Constant, dry, hacking cough; interrupts breathing (B.). Throat feels full of sticks or constricted (B.). Eyes: Agglutination in the morning on waking, with burning…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Inactivity of the rectum; even the soft stool requires great straining. Anæmia in women, who are hungry for starch, chalk, rags, charcoal, cloves and other ridiculous unnatural things; potatoes disagree; profuse leucorrhœa. Great heaviness in lower limbs, weak, has to sit down; numbness of heels; sense of hot iron…”
