Hydrobromicum acidum

Volume I — Appendix

Squibb's Preparation. — By weight— Sulphuric acid, sp. gr. 1.838, at 15.6° C, parts 7, add to water part 1, and allow to cool. Potassium bromide, parts 6 ; water, parts 6 ; dissolve the salt in the water and heat. Add the acid to the Pot. Bromide solution slowly and with constant stirring. Set aside for twenty-four hours and allow the resulting salt to crystallize out (KBr + H2S()4 = HKS04 + HBr). Pour the liquid off' into a retort, break up the crystalline mass and wash with water, parts 2; add the washings to the liquid in the retort, and distil to dryness. The residue is assayed with a solution of normal soda and diluted.

Preparation. — In aqueous dilutions.

Head and Nervous Sphere. ° Sleeplessness from mental or emotional irritation. ° Cerebral irritation from overwork and business worry. ° Cerebral congestion. ° Nervousness from reflex irritation.

0 Hebetude of mind, tendency to sleep. Semi-stupor, with restlessness. Red tongue and great weakness.

° Nervous fretfulness of children, when teething or from heat, even when feverish, when Aconite and Coffea are not efficient.

° Hysterical erethism of nervous women, who suffer from the effects of social dissipation.

° Tinnitus aurium. " Surring " and throbbing in the ears. Flushed face. Heat and heaviness in the heads of plethoric people.

0 Prevents and antidotes the cerebral effects of quinine.

Sexual Organs. . ° Headache of women with scanty menses. ° Plethora from celibacy, with repressed sexual functions.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

Twenty to thirty drops of the pure acid may be given in cases of sleeplessness from mental or emotional irritation ; cerebral irritation from overwork and business worry ; and even cerebral congestion. It has many advantages over the bromides. It rarely disagrees with the stomach; it causes no eruptions, acne, etc. ; the taste is pleasant when diluted with water and sweetened, or not, as the patient likes.

Its use can be continued longer without causing pathogenetic symptoms. It can be given in fever and inflammations when the bromides are not well borne. Besides, in common with all acids, it possesses tonic properties, increasing the appetite and “ cooling the blood.”

One indication guides me in the selection of the acid instead of the bromides, namely, a red tongue, inclined to be dry. The bromides are better indicated in a white, pale, flabby tongue.

I have found it useful in the nervous fretfulness of children when teething, or from heat, even when feverish, when Aconite or Coffea did not seem efficient. My method of administration is to put 15 or 20 drops of the acid into as many teaspoonfuls of sweetened water, and prescribe a teaspoonful every half hour or hour.

In the hysterical erethism of nervous women who suffer from the effects of social dissipation, this acid acts admirably; a teaspoonful of the j’q- dilution (always made with water), repeated every hour or two, exercises a soothing effect which we cannot always get from other remedies.

Its power over reflex action is probably inferior to the salts of Bromine, but in mild cases of reflex irritation I should expect good results from it.

This acid was and is still used by some practitioners to modify the effects of Quinine on the brain. Added to a solution of Quinine^ in the proportion of 10 drops to each two grains, it prevents the ringing in the ears, the headache, and the cerebral congestion of that drug. It does this by contracting the cerebral bloodvessels and thus prevents the abnormal intracranial blood pressure.

It has also been used successfully for tinnitis annum, “ surring ” and throbbing in the ears, flushed face, heat and heaviness in the head of plethoric persons. I have used it for these symptoms in women with scanty menses with good results. (Dose 5 to 10 drops 3 or 4 times a day.)

I believe it would be superior to the bromides in that form of plethora from celibacy with repressed sexual functions.

The above curative powers belong to the secondary action of the acid.

There is another condition of the system, characterized by hebetude of mind, tendency to sleep, semi-stupor, with restlessness, red tongue, great weakness, etc. I have used this acid in these conditions, and find it equal to phosphoric, but the latter is secondarily homoeopathic to that state. The former should be given in the 3d or 6th aqueous dilution, repeated every few hours.