Camphora officinalis

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.

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The great characteristic around which the whole action of Camphor seems to revolve is: “Great coldness of the external surface, with sudden and complete prostration of the vital forces.” It is no wonder Hahnemann headed his trio (Camphor, Cuprum and Hellebore) of cholera remedies with Camphor. If we were to sum up the same condition in one word it would be collapse. No remedy comes nearer to Camphor than the last of the trio, viz., Veratrum album, but Camphor has the collapse with painless stool or even no stool at all, while Veratrum has the collapse seemingly as a consequence of the very profuse evacuations of stomach and bowels. Both have great external coldness, but Veratrum has a very marked appearance of cold sweat upon the hippocratic face, especially forehead. Cuprum leads the trio, when the cramp in stomach and extremities is the most prominent symptom. These remedies are indicated when these characteristic symptoms appear, not only in cholera, but in any disease. There is one peculiarity in the coldness of Camphor, viz., the patient will not be covered, or objects to it, no matter how objectively cold he is. Secale coldness or collapse is exactly like this, and even in gangrena senilis it proves a great remedy on the same indications. The signal success of Dr. Rubini, of Naples, in treating five hundred and ninety-two cases of cholera with Camphor verified the prediction of Hahnemann beyond question.

Collapse with cold surface and aversion to heat may come on in retrocedent exanthema, or in the later stage of so-called cholera infantum, in pneumonia, or capillary bronchitis, from exposure to intense cold or traumatic shock. Indeed it does not matter from what cause except death. Camphor is the first remedy to be thought of, and according to susceptibility or strength of the patient the dose must be varied from tincture to highest potency.