Kalmia latifolia 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 HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Mountain Laurel. (Ericaceae.) Adapted to acute neuralgia, rheumatism, gouty complaints, especially when heart is involved as a sequel of rheumatism or gout. In heart diseases that have developed from rheumatism, or alternate with it. Pains sticking, darting, pressing, shooting in a downward direction (Cac. - upward…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Kalmia latifolia, Linn. Natural order , Ericaceæ. Common names , Mountain Laurel, Calico Bush. Preparation , Tincture of the mature leaves. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 5 , experiments of "W." with infusion of leaves, Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 1834, vol. x, p. 213 et seq .) 6 to 23, from Hering's Compilations , Trans…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Mountain Laurel A rheumatic remedy. Pains shift rapidly. Nausea and slow pulse frequently accompanying. Has also a prominent action on the heart. In small doses, it accelerates the heart's action; in larger it moderates it greatly. Neuralgia; pains shoot downwards, with numbness. Fulgurating pains of locomotor ataxia…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“NERVES: SPINAL. Eyes. Face (R). HEART. Circulation. Joints. Skin. Right; head; deltoid. Left; chest; arm. MOTION: Lying on L. side. Bending Forward. Looking down. Heat. Becoming cold. With the sun. Eating. Cloudy weather. Continued motion. Aching , bruised, stiff feeling. Tingling, numbness, trembling or paralytic…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Ledum floribus bullatis. Cistus chamærhododendros. Mountain Laurel. American Laurel. Calico Bush. (Rocky sterile hills, near water, in New England States. Flowers May and June.) N. O. Ericaceæ. Tincture of fresh leaves when the plant is in flower. Angina pectoris / Blindness / Bright's disease / Dropsy / Dysmenorrhœa…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Mountain Laurel. Ericaceæ. An evergreen shrub, found on rocky hills, flowering in May and June. The tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves. Introduced by Hering and proved by himself, Kummer, Behler, Bute, Clark, Hæseler, Williamson, Freitag, Reichelm and others. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 5, p. 388 . CLINICAL…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Kalmia Latifolia The symptoms that indicate this remedy show themselves especially in the muscles, in the tendons, in the joints, along the course of the nerves, in rheumatic complaints. Pains: The pains change about, wandering pains, and they axe aggravated from motion. The sharp pains spread from the centres to the…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Giddiness, with headache and nausea. Giddiness when stooping and looking downwards. Sensation of heat in the head in the morning. Pain in the forehead in the morning when waking, after rising and then increasing. Pulsating headache as if a pulse were beating in the forehead. Pressing pain on a small spot on the right…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: mountain laurel. Adapted to acute neuralgia, rheumatism and gouty complaints, especially when the heart is involved as a sequel of rheumatism and gout (A.). Maddening supra-orbital pain (Spig.) (B.). Severe stitching pain in the right eye and orbit (left eye- Spig.); stiffness in muscles, pain worse when…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Ought to be noticed just here, because it seems, at first sight, so much like Spigelia, and Hering says it follows Spigelia well in heart disease. Both remedies have severe neuralgia of the face, but Kalmia is oftenest right-sided, Spigelia left. Both have pains in eyes, worse on turning them, but Kalmia has a sense…”
