Kalium Nitricum appears in 10 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 TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Potassium nitrate. (Saltpetre), KNO3 (Nitrum, or Nitre). Preparation for use , Triturations. Authorities. ( 1 to 11, from Jorg's "Materielen" ).”
- Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Nitrate of Potassium-Saltpeter (KALI NITRICUM - NITRUM) Often indicated in asthma, also valuable in cardiac asthma; of great value in sudden dropsical swellings over the whole body . Gastro-intestinal inflammation, with much debility, and relapse in phthisis, call for this remedy. Suppurative nephritis. Scalp very…”
- Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“EPIGASTRIUM LYING, on back, Agg. LYING, with head low, Agg. PULSE, slow 3 A.M.”
- Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Nitrum. Nitre. Saltpetre. Nitrate of Potassium. Potassic Nitrate. KNO 3 . Trituration. Solution. Asthma / Chest, pain in / Colic / Diabetes insipidus / Dysentery / Dysmenorrhœa / Enuresis / Gastritis / Headache / Heart, affections of / Herpes preputialis / Menière's disease / Menorrhagia / Nose, bleeding of /…”
- Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Nitre. KNO 3 . Proved by Hahnemann and his provers, also by Engler, Hecker, Heisterbergkh, Kneschke, Kummer, Richter, Siebenhaar, Jörg, Assman, Alexander, Rummell, Schroeder, Lier, Frienzelberger, Nicol, Traub, Frank, Muhlenbein, and others See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 5, p. 355 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Polypus of…”
- Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“In the morning, sensation of debility with sensation of heat in the face and hot forehead. Greater debility when sitting than when moderately exercising. Tearing and stinging in the limbs and joints. Bad effects from veal. Inflammation of internal organs. Useful in bronchitis. Abundant pale urine. Of very great value…”
- Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Despondency, out of humor, uneasy. Timidity and apprehension (of death). Headache, causing the eyelids to close; worse when the head is allowed to hang down (stooping). Stupefying heaviness of the head in the morning, as after free indulgence in intoxicating drink. Pain, as from constriction in the back part of the…”
- Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: nitrate of potash. In the morning sensation of debility with sensation of heat in the face and hot forehead. Greater debility when sitting than when moderately exercising. Tearing and stinging in the limbs and joints. Tingling in the ears (Am-C., Bell., Calc., Carb-V., Chin-S., Colch., Graph., Ign…”
- Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Great difficulty in drinking on account of short breathing; drinks in sips.”
