Antimonium tartaricum 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.
“Tartar Emetic. Adapted to torpid, phelgmatic persons; the hydrogenoid constitution (of Grauvogl). Diseases originating from exposure in damp basements or cellars (Ars., Aran., Tereb.). Through the pneumogastric nerve it depresses the respiration and circulation, thus producing the keynote of the remedy, viz., when the…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Tartar emetic, 2 [K(SbO)C4H4O6 Preparation , Triturations. Authorities. [Symptoms in Stapf (Archive, 3, 2, 146), from Shæfer, Hufel. J., 1810, are omitted , being observed after tartar emetic given in canelle water; also Schœnfelder, do; observed from a solution of antimony glance (crudum) in acetic acid; also…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Tartar Emetic. Tartrate of Antimony and Potash Has many symptoms in common with Antimonium Crudum but also many peculiar to itself. Clinically, its therapeutic application has been confined largely to the treatment of respiratory diseases, rattling of mucus with little expectoration has been a guiding symptom. There…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“MUCOUS MEMBRANES. Pneumogastric nerve: Bronchi. Lungs. Heart. CIRCULATION. Respiration. Stomach. Bowels. Sleep. Lumbar region. Skin. WARM: Room. Wraps. Weather. Anger. Lying. Morning. Overeating. Cold. Dampness. Expectoration. Sitting erect. Motion. Vomiting. Depression . LACKS REACTION. INCREASINGLY WEAK. DROWSY…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Tartar Emetic. Tartrate of Antimony and Potash 2 [K (Sb O) C 4 H 4 O 6 ] H 2 O. Trituration and solutions. Alcoholism / Aphthæ / Asphyxia neonatorium / Asthma / Bilious affections / Bronchitis / Catarrh / Chicken-pox / Cholera / Cholera morbus / Coccygodynia / Cough / Group / Delirium-Tremens / Dyspepsia / Ecthyma /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Tartar Emetic. 2[K(SbO)C 4 H 4 O 6 ]H 2 O. An invention of the alchemists, very popular with them, forbidden by the French Academy, finally introduced and much used and abused by the Old School. Proved by Hahnemann and some of his students. Published by Stapf, in 1844, and proved since by many others. We have made use…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“About the first thing we see in the study of an Antimonium tart. patient is expressed in the face . The face is pale and sickly; the nose is drawn and shrunken; the eyes are sunken and there are dark rings around the eyes. The lips are pale and shriveled. The nostrils are dilated and flapping, and there is a dark…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Great debility and weakness. Attacks of fainting and syncope. Internal trembling. The child wants to be carried and does not wish to be touched. One-sided complaints (rheumatic pains in the left chest), pulsation in one side of the forehead and one-sided headache. Nausea with frequent vomiting of bitter, sour…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“During the day hilarity, in the evening anxious and timid. Despair and hopelessness, with lethargy. Numbness of the head, with stupefaction and somnolency. Pressing headache, as if the brain were compressed, with stupefaction and lethargy; worse in the evening, at night, and while at rest; better when exercising and…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: tartar emetic. Through the pneumo-gastric nerve it depresses the respiration and circulation (A.). Diseases originating from exposure in damp basements or cellars (Aran., Ars., Dulc., Nat-S., Tereb.) (A.). GREAT DEBILITY AND WEAKNESS (Apis, Ars., Bism., Chin., Dig., Ferr., Gels., Kali-P., Lach., Mosch…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Great accumulation of mucus in the air passages, with coarse rattling with inability to expectorate; impending paralysis of lungs. Face very pale or cyanotic from unoxidized blood. Great coma or sleepiness in most complaints. Vomiting, intense nausea, with prostration; general coldness, cold sweat and sleepiness…”
