- Allen HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Black Lead. (Amorphous Carbon.) Suited to women, inclined to obesity, who suffer from habitual constipation; with a history of delayed menstruation. "What Pulsatilla is at puberty, Graphites is at the climacteric.". Excessive cautiousness; timid; hesitates; unable to decide about anything (Puls.). Fidgety while…”
- Allen TF — A compiled symptom record drawing on proving reports and other named observations.
“Carbon, amorphous. (The finest specimens contain traces of iron, .04 to .09 per cent.; poor qualities contain as much as 4 per cent.) Common names , Plumbago, Black Lead; (Germ.), Reissblei. Preparation , Trituration of the prepared black lead from finest English drawing-pencils. Authorities. Emotional. Very easily…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Black Lead-Plumbago Like all the carbons, this remedy is an anti-psoric of great power, but especially active in patients who are rather stout, of fair complexion, with tendency to skin affections and constipation, fat, chilly, and costive , with delayed menstrual history, take cold easily. Children impudent, teasing…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“NUTRITION. Circulation. SKIN: Folds. Behind ears. Angles. Flexures. Orifices. Nails. Mind. Mucous membranes. Glands. Eyes. COLD. Drafts. Light. During menses. Suppressions of eruptions. Empty swallowing. Fats. Hot drinks. Warmth of bed. Scratching. Night. Wet feet. Open air; after walking in. Eating. Touch. LUMPY…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Plumbago. Black Lead. An allotropic modification of carbon. (The finest specimens contain traces of iron, 0.04 to 0.6 per cent.; poor qualities as much as 4 per cent.) Trituration of prepared Black Lead from finest English drawing-pencils. Acne / Amenorrhœa / Anus, affections of / Blepharitis / Breasts, indurated…”
- Farrington — The differential diagnosis — remedy families narrowed through direct clinical comparison.
“Graphites: Sepia, Pulsatilla; Kali carb., Phosphorus, Calcarea ostr.; Sulphur, Lycopodium, Silicea, Hepar; Phytolacca; Mezereum, Petroleum, Iris, Rhus; Mercurius, Antimon. crudum; Staphisagria; Ratanhia, Paeonia, Nitric acid. Graphites ↓ Arsenicum. Graphites ↓ Ferrum. Sphere: Slight erethism; then weak, relaxed…”
- Guernsey — The leading characteristics — a compact bridge from repertory result to remedy study.
“Ears.--Affections of left ear particularly--if the right ear is affected, it is generally from spreading from the left ear to the right. Noise in the ears in general, with hardness of hearing; can scarcely hear in the house at all, as the noises in the ear seem so loud; but when rolling along in the cars or carriage…”
- Hahnemann (CD) — The antipsoric proving record — Hahnemann's later materia medica in its chronic-disease setting.
“PLUMBAGO. A grain of the purest plumbago from an English lead pencil of the best quality is pulverized, and according to the direction for preparing antipsoric medicines, as given at the end of the first volume, it is first triturated up to the one millionth powder-attenuation. Then, according to the direction there…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Plumbago ; black lead. Carbon, amorphous. The purified Graphite prepared by trituration and potentized. Introduced by Hahnemann. See Chronische Krankheiten. Proved by Hahnemann and his provers. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 4, p. 467 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Headache , Goullon, Raue's Rec., 1873, p. 197 ; Herpetic…”
- Hughes & Dake — The source evidence — provings and poisonings retained with their experimental context.
“Blacklead, plumbago. "A mineral carbon, containing a small indefinite quantity of iron. " (B. H. P.) I. Provings.-1 . HAHNEMANN, Chronic Diseases, part iii of original, vol . of translation . Contains 1144 symptoms from self and four others . 2. After I gr. slight pressure in stomach and eructation. After 2 gr. in h…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — how Kent organizes the remedy’s historical symptom portrait.
“The complaints of Graphites are worse morning, evening and during the NIGHT, especially before midnight. It is useful in people who are morbidly fat, or have been fat and are now emaciating; with constipation more commonly than diarrhoea; in women in these conditions whose menstrual habit is pale, late, short and…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Twitching and contortions of the limbs. Disposition to catch cold and aggravation from getting cold. Drawing through the whole body with disposition to stretch the limbs. Stiffness of the limbs. Sensation of trembling in the whole body with twitches in all the limbs. The limbs go to sleep. Pulsation in all the…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Melancholy with inclination to grief, anxiety about the future, and nightly restlessness driving one out of bed. Despairing grief with shedding of tears. Anxious fear of an approaching misfortune. Irresoluteness and excessive cautiousness. Easily vexed and wrathful. Want of disposition to work. Forgetfulness, chooses…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: black lead. Suited to women, inclined to obesity, who suffer from habitual constipation; with a history of delayed menstruation (A.). Sexual desire diminished (Agn., Bar-C., Caust., Ferr., Helon., Hep., Lyc., Mag-C., Nat-M., Phos-Ac., Rhod., Sep., Sulph.) (K.). "What Pulsatilla is at puberty, Graphites is…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Eruption on the skin, oozing out a thick, honey-like fluid. Mucous outlets; eyelids inflamed, with pustules; ears discharge, moist sore places behind ears; mouth cracked in corners; anus, eruptions, itching, fissured. Nails grow thick, cracked, out of shape. Constipation; stools knotty, large lumps, united by mucous…”
- Nash (Respiratory) — The respiratory picture — the cough, the breathing, and the expectoration that separate one remedy from another.
“Graphites. Chronic nasal catarrh; internal nose dry, with dry scabs with sore, cracked and crusty nostrils (Ant. crud.). Sore on blowing it.”
- Nash (Testimony) — The outcome — what the remedy did once the characteristic symptoms were matched.
“Eczema. (24) Case.—1876, May 1st. A young lady, daughter of a deceased homeopathic physician, discovered pediculi capitis three weeks ago, with itching of the head, which became sore, probably from scratching. Now there are scabs on lower occiput, gradually extending up the head; they discharge a yellow glutinous…”
- Roberts — Location, sensation, and modality — the three-fold basis Roberts used to separate remedies.
“Graphites is often overlooked in the treatment of rheumatic conditions. It is especially suited for plethoric women at the climacteric period when suffering from these complaints; also in gout with the large number of nodes deposited. The tearing pains are very prominent in whatever condition, the aggravations are…”
- Tyler — The whole picture — temperament and leading symptoms drawn as one portrait.
“(Black-lead) Hahnemann gives us this valuable remedy; in his Chronic Diseases, Vol. III. He says: “Pulverize one grain of the purest black-lead taken from a fine English pencil, and prepare the triturations and dilutions in the usual fashion. One or two pellets of the 30th potency are sufficient for a dose. “Pure…”
