Selenium 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.
“Selenium. (The Element.) Adapted to light complexion; blondes; great emaciation of face, hands, legs and feet, or single parts. Very forgetful in business, but during sleep dreams of what he has forgotten. Headache: of drunkards; after debauchery; after lemonade, tea, wile; every afternoon. Hair falls off, on head…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“An element. Preparation , Triturations. Authorities. Great loquacity when excited, especially in the evening, 1. Very talkative, light-hearted, excited, 1. Fretful, peevish, sleepy, lazy, with frequent vomiting and stretching (second day), 2a. Dread of people and of his occupation, but overcoming this he is able to…”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“The Element Selenium (SELENIUM) Selenium is a constant constituent of bones and teeth. Marked effects on the genito-urinary organs, and often indicated in elderly men, especially for prostatitis and sexual atony. Great debility ; worse, heat. Easy exhaustion, mental and physical, in old age. Debility after exhausting…”
- Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“Nerves: GENITO-URINARY ORGANS. Supra-orbital (L). LARYNX. Liver. Debilitating causes:Hot days. Sexual excesses. Loss of sleep. Singing. Drafts. After sleep. Tea. Lemonade. After sunset. Inhaling cool air. Easily debilitated; by heat of sun; a little mental or physical exertion makes him sleepy. Senility. Emaciation…”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“An Element. Se. (A. W. 79.5). Trituration. Alcoholism / Ankle, itching eruption about / Comedo / Constipation / Debility / Enuresis / Hair, falling out / Headache / Hoarseness / Impotence / Laryngitis, scrofulous; tubercular / Liver, affections of; rash over region of / Priapism / Prostatitis / Prostatorrhœa /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Selenium. The Element. The trituration is prepared from the reddish-brown, somewhat translucent metal which resembles sulphur in its chemical relations. Introduced and proved by Hering, Archiv für Hom., vol. 12, p. 192 ; proving by Schreter, N. Archiv für Hom., vol. 3, p. 184 ; Berridge, N. Am. Jour. of Hom., 1873, p…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Marked mental and physical weakness following prolonged fevers, after sexual excesses, from secret vice, from exposure to the heat of the sun in summer. Generalities: Great fatigue from which he seems unable to recuperate from rest. Slight exertion brings great fatigue and weakness and especially in hot weather…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Great emaciation, especially hands, face and thighs. Great aversion to air draughts and from the same easily catching cold (tearing in the limbs). After sleep, especially on warm days when he is most inclined to it, an aggravation of the symptoms. Pruritus of the hands, with violent itching in the palms. Constipation…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Talkativeness and fond of conversing. Mental labor fatigues him much. Great forgetfulness when awake, with distinct recollection during half sleep. Vertigo, when rising from a seat, on raising himself in bed, on moving about. Paroxysms of vertigo, most violent an hour after breakfast and dinner. Headache from…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: selenium. Great aversion to air draughts, and from the same easily catching cold (also tearing in the limbs). Pruritus of the hands, with violent itching in the palms (Anac., Caust., Sulph.). Great emaciation, especially of hands, face and thighs (Abrot., Sars., Sil.). WEAKNESS FOLLOWING PROLONGED FEVER…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Here is another metal, that, like Stannum, has for its most characteristic condition, excessive weakness. But the weakness of Selenium does not, like Stannum, seem to centre in any particular locality. It is more general. He is so weak that he is easily exhausted from any kind of labor, either mental or physical. This…”
