Camphora 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.
“Camphor (Lauraccae) Pain better while thinking of it (Hell. - worse, Cal. p., Helon., Ox. ac.). Persons physically and mentally weak and irritable. Exceedingly sensitive to cold air (Hep., Kali m., Psor.). Bad effects of shock from injury; surface of body cold, face pale, blue lips livid; profound prostration. Surface…”
- Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Cinnamomum Camphor, Fr. Nees; Laurus Camphora, Linn. Natural order , Lauraceæ. Preparation , Tincture of the gum. Authorities.”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Camphor Hahnemann says: "The action of this substance is very puzzling and difficult of investigation, even in the healthy organism because its primary action , more frequently than with any other remedy, alternates and becomes intermixed with the vital reactions (after effects) of the organism. On this account it is…”
- Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“BLUISH, purple, livid, etc. CALF CHILLY, cold COLLAPSE, sudden prostration, etc. CRACKING JOINTS DISCHARGES, eruption appearing etc., Amel. DRUGS, abuse of., Agg. EXPRESSION, changed. FEARSOME, anxious, etc. MEASLY WIND, DRAFT OR AIR, blowing on part, thro' a hole, etc., as of”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Camphor. C 10 H 16 O. - N. O. Lauraceæ. A gum obtained from Laurus camphora. Solution in rectified spirit. Angina pectoris / Bed-sores / Cholera Asiatica / Chordee / Cold / Convulsions / Epilepsy / Eruptions, suppressed / Erysipelas / Gonorrhœa / Heart affections / Hyperpyrexia / Influenza / Measles / Memory, loss of…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Camphor. Lauraceæ. All our progress as a school depends on the right view of the symptoms obtained by proving with camphor or with opium. --C. Hg. Unconsciousness. Grew dizzy while studying in school. 12.30 p. m., book seemed to go round, could hardly keep his seat ; felt as if falling towards right side and as if…”
- Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Camphor The camphor bottle is, a great mischief in the house, as camphor antidotes most of our remedies. Camphor in potentized form will cure many complaints. It is suitable in some acute complaints attended with nervous excitement, even to frenzy, with spasms and convulsions and finally exhaustion. The Camphor state…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Dimished circulation of the blood to parts most distant from the heart (coldness of the external body). Color of the face bluish. Sudden sinking of strength. Pains, as if bruised in inner parts. Great sensitiveness to cold and cold air. Loss of sensation. Cracking of the the joints. Rheumatic stitches in the muscles…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Great anguish and discouragement. Mania to dispute. Confusion of ideas; delirium. Giddiness, with heaviness of the head and vanishing of the senses. Sensation of constriction in the brain, especially in the cerebellum; the pain ceases when he thinks of it. Inflammation of the brain, (after sun-stroke), with pulsation…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: camphor. Great faintness and prostration (Ant-T., Kali-P., Laur., Sep., Verat.) (Ra.). Diminished circulation of the blood to parts most distant from the heart (coldness of the external body). Throbbing pains in the cerebellum, like the pounding of a hammer (Bell., Glon., Nat-M., Psor.), synchronous with…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Great coldness of the external surface, with sudden and complete prostration of the vital force; collapse. The patient objects to being covered, notwithstanding the objective coldness; throws off all the covering. Pains disappear when thinking of them; exceedingly sensitive to cold air. The great characteristic around…”
