====== SOME KEY-NOTES ======

{{anchor:s2}}C. CARLETON SMITH, M. D., PHILADELPHIA.

{{anchor:s3}}EVER since Dr. Guernsey called the attention of the profession to his system of Key-notes, it has been badly abused.

{{anchor:s4}}In making prescriptions in homoeopathic practice, there is no short cut by which we can jump at once to the proper remedy in a given case. {{anchor:s5}}We only become sharp-shooters through hard study, and the more we thumb our materia medica, the greater will be our success and our glory.

{{anchor:s6}}If the Key-notes are looked upon by us in the light of guide-posts, pointing us to the //group// of remedies, among which we are to find, by close comparisons, //the remedy// in each particular case of illness, then are they indispensable, and become at once, if thus rightly used, of incalculable value. {{anchor:s7}}But if, on the other hand, we attempt to base our prescriptions simply upon these Key-notes as such, we will most assuredly find them stumbling-blocks instead of helps. {{anchor:s8}}Let us be careful, therefore, that we do not misinterpret the true meaning and intent of this system.

{{anchor:s9}}It is my purpose to call attention to some Key-notes which I have been collecting for some years, and many of which I think are not familiarly known.

{{anchor:s10}}ACONITE.{{anchor:s11}}—Everything tastes bitter except //water.//

{{anchor:s12}}ACTAEA RAC.—Children wake suddenly at night //terrified// and //trembling//, covered with //cool, clammy sweat.//

{{anchor:s13}}AESCULUS HIP.—Pains //shoot up the rectum// (Ign.) from the haemorrhoidal tumors, with lameness of the back and aching.

{{anchor:s14}}ALOE SOCOT.{{anchor:s15}}—Hard stools drop out without causing the least sensation.

{{anchor:s16}}ALUMINA.{{anchor:s17}}—Disposition to //grasp// the seat of the water-closet tightly while at stool. {{anchor:s18}}Perspiration breaks out, and the patient despairs of having a stool.

{{anchor:s19}}ANTIMON. {{anchor:s20}}CRUD.{{anchor:s21}}—Child cannot bear to be washed in //cold// water; while under //Sulphur//, the child cannot bear to be washed at all.

{{anchor:s22}}ANTIM. {{anchor:s23}}TART.{{anchor:s24}}—//Deathly nausea// relieved by gaseous eructations.

{{anchor:s25}}NOTE.{{anchor:s26}}—Children who are not rapidly impressed with this drug in coughs, are by //Hepar S.// In the latter drug we have //purring// and //wheezing.//

{{anchor:s27}}APIS MEL.—Can scarcely retain the urine a moment, and, when //passed, scalds// severely. {{anchor:s28}}Feels as if he could not take another breath.

{{anchor:s29}}ARNICA RAD.—Child wants //water// right after nursing, which it always throws up. {{anchor:s30}}Eructations bitter, and like rotten eggs. {{anchor:s31}}In constipation, when there is violent burning down the back, when the rectum becomes loaded and faeces won’t come away. {{anchor:s32}}Haemorrhage from the womb in facial erysipelas, relieving the latter. {{anchor:s33}}In pregnancy, foetus feels as if it laid crossways. //{{anchor:s34}}Deathly// coldness in //forearms// of children in //Hydrocephalus.//

{{anchor:s35}}ARSENIC.{{anchor:s36}}—Pain in half of head like a partition from //left forehead// to left occiput: worse at midnight. {{anchor:s37}}The pulse of //Ars//. is //more// rapid in the morning than in the evening. {{anchor:s38}}(See //Sulphur.//)

{{anchor:s39}}BAPTISIA.{{anchor:s40}}—In tuberculosis, chill every //morning// at 11 o’clock and //fever// each afternoon.

{{anchor:s41}}BARYTA C.—Suffocating breathing from enlarged tonsils on lying down.

{{anchor:s42}}BELLAD.{{anchor:s43}}—Flicking before the eyes, with nausea, worse on stooping. //{{anchor:s44}}Wets// the //bed// after eating sugar or sweet things. {{anchor:s45}}Cough causes acute pain in //left// hypochondria, shooting upwards, worse //lying// on either side or //walking// much. {{anchor:s46}}Throbbing in sacrum; has to have pillow stuffed in small of back in order to sit in chair.

{{anchor:s47}}BENZOIC ACID.{{anchor:s48}}— //Watery// stools, running //right through// the diaper.

{{anchor:s49}}BERBERIS.{{anchor:s50}}—//Cutting// pain in //left side// of region of bladder, extending into urethra. {{anchor:s51}}Bubbling sensation in //kidneys.//

{{anchor:s52}}BORAX.{{anchor:s53}}—Sensation of //distension// and //stitching// in clitoris at night.

{{anchor:s54}}BOVISTA.{{anchor:s55}}—Metrorrhagia in //evening// on //lying// down. {{anchor:s56}}Menses only at //night// (also //Magn. carb.//)//.//

{{anchor:s57}}BROMIUM.{{anchor:s58}}—Feeling as if breathing through a //sponge// in the throat. {{anchor:s59}}Sharp pain extending into //right// ear from throat in swallowing. {{anchor:s60}}( //Kali. {{anchor:s61}}B//., left side.)

{{anchor:s62}}BRYONIA.{{anchor:s63}}—Neuralgic pain, left side of head and face, relieved by //hard// pressure and cold applications. {{anchor:s64}}Water tastes //bitter// (opp. of //Acon.)// Swallowing liquids or saliva more painful than solids. {{anchor:s65}}Hiccough //after eating.// {{anchor:s66}}(//Nux. V.// from eating //too much// or from //cold drinks.//) //Tightness// above mid-sternum. {{anchor:s67}}Swellings of a pale-red blush, with //heaviness// and //hardness.//

{{anchor:s68}}CACTUS GRAND.{{anchor:s69}}—Discharge of //pure blood// from rectum. {{anchor:s70}}Cactus heart-pains come on slowly, increase up to a certain point, and then as gradually subside. {{anchor:s71}}(See, also, //Platina.//)

{{anchor:s72}}NOTE.{{anchor:s73}}—Constriction is the key-note of //Cactus. {{anchor:s74}}Arn//., //Bufo//, //Iod//., //Lil. T.// and //Nux mos//., all have constriction in or about the heart; but //Cactus// is the only drug that has the feeling of a //hand// of //iron grasping the heart.//

{{anchor:s75}}CALADIUM.{{anchor:s76}}—Pruritis vulvae during //pregnancy// and after //miscarriage.//

{{anchor:s77}}CALCAREA C.—Flashes of light shoot up from the eyes, then break and fall down in a shower of sparks. {{anchor:s78}}She feels better in every way when she is constipated. {{anchor:s79}}Strangury brought on by standing on cold damp pavement.

{{anchor:s80}}CARBO ANIMAL.{{anchor:s81}}—Headache at night; has to sit and hold head with both hands to prevent it from falling to pieces. {{anchor:s82}}Deafness; she can hear human voices in the room with her, but cannot tell from whence the sound comes.

{{anchor:s83}}CARBO VEG.—Insatiable thirst for cold water; gazing longingly at the empty tumbler, when it is removed from her lips, and asks for more. {{anchor:s84}}After-pains felt only in the shin-bones.

{{anchor:s85}}CAUSTICUM.{{anchor:s86}}—//Peevish// just before the menses (//Cham.//)//.// {{anchor:s87}}Larynx feels very //stiff.// {{anchor:s88}}Inveterate constipation; stools thin and long-drawn out.

{{anchor:s89}}CEPA.{{anchor:s90}}—Tickling in larynx is temporarily relieved by eating a piece of apple.

{{anchor:s91}}CHAM.{{anchor:s92}}—Pressure in the head from within; outward as if top of head would //fly off or// be //blown// off.

{{anchor:s93}}CHELIDONIUM.{{anchor:s94}}—Excessive lachrymation in orbital neuralgia; the tears fairly gush out, and eyes cannot bear the least light. {{anchor:s95}}Flying out of detached lumps of mucus on coughing; the cough reechoes in the stomach.

{{anchor:s96}}CINA.{{anchor:s97}}—//Enuresis//, with profuse discharge of strong ammoniacal urine. {{anchor:s98}}The child is afraid to speak or move for fear she will bring on a paroxysm of cough.

{{anchor:s99}}NOTE.{{anchor:s100}}—//Silicea// follows well in vermiculous subjects when //Cina// fails.

{{anchor:s101}}CHINA.{{anchor:s102}}—In icterus, when there is great //depression//, feebleness and //breathlessness.//

{{anchor:s103}}QUININE.{{anchor:s104}}—Can only see objects by looking sideways.

{{anchor:s105}}COCCULUS.{{anchor:s106}}—Umbilical hernia if //Nux// fails and there is stubborn constipation.

{{anchor:s107}}COLCHICUM.{{anchor:s108}}—Nose, color of bleached wood-ashes. {{anchor:s109}}Tongue covered with a //downy// white fur. {{anchor:s110}}Nausea in the sick from odor of cooking food.

{{anchor:s111}}COLOCYNTH.{{anchor:s112}}—Aggravation from //cheese.//

{{anchor:s113}}CROCUS.{{anchor:s114}}—Thumping and knocking throughout the brain.

{{anchor:s115}}CUPRUM MET.—Cough sounds as if water was being poured from a bottle.

{{anchor:s116}}CUPRUM ACET.{{anchor:s117}}—Constant protrusion and retraction of the tongue like a snake. {{anchor:s118}}In epilepsy, aura begins at knees, ascending until it reaches the hypogastric region, when unconsciousness occurs, foam at the mouth, and falling down convulsed. {{anchor:s119}}Soon as patient goes into a high ceiling room, the head reels and she loses her senses.

{{anchor:s120}}CYCLAMEN EUROP.{{anchor:s121}}—After confinement, patient has colicky bearing-down pains, each pain accompanied by a gush of blood, which relieves the pain momentarily.

{{anchor:s122}}ARANEA DIADEMA.{{anchor:s123}}—She awakens at night with hands feeling twice their natural size, so that she cannot make any use of them.

{{anchor:s124}}DIGITALIS.{{anchor:s125}}—Shuddering in the mammae; feels as if heart would stop beating if she dared to move. {{anchor:s126}}(//Gels.// just the opposite.)

{{anchor:s127}}DULCAMARA.{{anchor:s128}}—Catarrhal ischuria in grown-up children from wading with bare feet in water, with discharge of mucus and milky urine.

{{anchor:s129}}EUPHRASIA.{{anchor:s130}}—Cough always excited if exposed to //south wind.//

{{anchor:s131}}GELSEMIUM.{{anchor:s132}}—In “ague,” patient wants to be //held// during the shakes; sleeps throughout the heat; thirst //during sweat//; muttering delirium when half awake.

{{anchor:s133}}GRAPHITES.{{anchor:s134}}—Feeling of cobweb on right forehead; tries hard to brush it off. {{anchor:s135}}Hearing is improved in deaf people while riding in a carriage; hears better when in a //noise.//

{{anchor:s136}}HEPAR SULPH.{{anchor:s137}}—Feels as if eye-balls were //drawn back into head.// {{anchor:s138}}(Also, //Asterias//, //Bovista//, //Cham//., //Plumb//., //Rhod//., //Sil//., //Strychnia//, //Sulph//., //Paris Quad.//) Looking at an object steadily makes eyes water.

{{anchor:s139}}IGNATIA.{{anchor:s140}}—Trembling of hands; worse right side when writing, and when being watched; worse, also, from extending the fingers.

{{anchor:s141}}Iodium.{{anchor:s142}}—Child very cross, cannot bear to be looked at or touched (See //Ant. Tart.//). //{{anchor:s143}}Itching// in the lungs low down, and extending upward through trachea to nasal cavity. {{anchor:s144}}The itching in end of nose is the signal for the cough to begin. {{anchor:s145}}Sensation as if heart were //squeezed// ( //Cactus//).

{{anchor:s146}}JATROPHA.{{anchor:s147}}—Great dizziness, with constant nausea; better in open air.

{{anchor:s148}}KALI BROM.{{anchor:s149}}—He imagines he is especially singled out as an object of Divine vengeance. {{anchor:s150}}Thinks all her friends have deserted her. {{anchor:s151}}Extreme //drowsiness//; constant hacking cough proceeding from the //chest//, during pregnancy. {{anchor:s152}}Irresistible desire to urinate, but no flow except after great urging, and then with difficulty.

{{anchor:s153}}KALI CARB.{{anchor:s154}}—Sensation as if a stick extended from throat to left side of abdomen with a ball on each end of stick. {{anchor:s155}}Belching of putrid gas like rotten eggs. {{anchor:s156}}Stomach feels as if it would surely burst. {{anchor:s157}}Hard, white, round masses fly from mouth when coughing or hawking. {{anchor:s158}}(//Chelidon.//) Heart feels as if suspended from left rib.

{{anchor:s159}}LACHESIS.{{anchor:s160}}—The least movement causes feeling of suffocation around the heart. {{anchor:s161}}Intolerable pinching and itching in spots on lower extremities relieved only by plunging in //cold// water; worse after sleep. {{anchor:s162}}The tenesmus caused by this drug is relieved by //Sepia.//

{{anchor:s163}}LYCOPODIUM.{{anchor:s164}}—Sensation as if //hot// balls dropped from each breast through to back, running down back, along each leg to heels and dropping off at heels. {{anchor:s165}}This sensation alternating with feeling as if balls of ice followed the same course. {{anchor:s166}}The foetus seems to be constantly turning somersaults within the womb.

{{anchor:s167}}NOTE.{{anchor:s168}}—Especially useful in dry cough, day and night, in feeble, emaciated boys. {{anchor:s169}}Chill every seventh day.

{{anchor:s170}}MAG. MUR.—Stools knotty like sheep’s dung, crumbling at the verge of the anus and covered with mucus and blood. {{anchor:s171}}Urine scanty, can only be passed by bearing down hard with the abdominal muscles.

{{anchor:s172}}NOTE.{{anchor:s173}}—Always to be studied in uterine diseases connected with //hysterical// complaints. {{anchor:s174}}Tendency of head to sweat (like //Calc//)//.// {{anchor:s175}}Has headache (like //Silicea//)//.// {{anchor:s176}}Better from wrapping up the head, but unlike //Silicea// worse in open air. {{anchor:s177}}Inability in children to digest milk, it always causes pain in stomach and passes undigested.

{{anchor:s178}}Metrorrhagia, always worse at night in bed, accompanied with spasms of uterus, causing hysteria. {{anchor:s179}}Tendency of feet to sweat (//Silicea//).

{{anchor:s180}}MANGAN. {{anchor:s181}}ACET.{{anchor:s182}}—Pain in right ear proceeding from //sound// teeth. {{anchor:s183}}Ear so sore cannot lie on that side. {{anchor:s184}}Burning of ears as if from very hot stove.

{{anchor:s185}}MERCURIUS SOL.—Greenish painless //gonorrhoea//, especially at night. {{anchor:s186}}Agg. from cold air coming in contact with exposed parts; for instance, exposure in out-door water-closets.

{{anchor:s187}}MERC. {{anchor:s188}}COR. SUB.—Gonorrhoea at first thin, afterward thick, and at last with //biting// pain on urinating, and stitches extending //back// through the //urethra.//

{{anchor:s189}}MURIAT. {{anchor:s190}}ACID.{{anchor:s191}}—All the time keeps pushing his finger down his throat, or keeps //clawing// at his mouth.

{{anchor:s192}}NUX VOM.—Child cries and squirms for an hour after eating. {{anchor:s193}}Sweats only on right side.

{{anchor:s194}}OLEANDER.{{anchor:s195}}—Headache improved by looking either sideways or cross-eyed.

{{anchor:s196}}OPIUM.{{anchor:s197}}—Violent movements of the foetus, especially toward night, preventing sleep.

{{anchor:s198}}OXALIC ACID.{{anchor:s199}}—//Burning// in throat accompanying abdominal pains.

{{anchor:s200}}PETROLEUM.{{anchor:s201}}—Vertigo in //back// of head. {{anchor:s202}}Gastralgia when the stomach becomes empty.

{{anchor:s203}}PHOSPHORUS.{{anchor:s204}}—Vertigo as if a veil obstructed the sight, with inability to //think.// {{anchor:s205}}Feels that he will surely fall. {{anchor:s206}}Don’t know where he is; worse at noon. {{anchor:s207}}During pregnancy she cannot drink water; the sight of it causes her to vomit, and she must close her eyes while bathing. {{anchor:s208}}Anus remains open all the time; the childstrains at stool. {{anchor:s209}}Small ulcers clustering around large ones, some healing, and others healed.

{{anchor:s210}}PHOS. {{anchor:s211}}ACID.{{anchor:s212}}—Can’t get up after sitting, from pain in left hip.

{{anchor:s213}}PHYTOLACCA.{{anchor:s214}}—The tumefied breast neither heals nor suppurates, is of a purple hue and as hard as old cheese. {{anchor:s215}}This drug stands between //Bry.// and //Rhus//., and cures when these fail, when apparently indicated.

{{anchor:s216}}PLUMBUM ACET.{{anchor:s217}}—Sensation of a body rising up to the throat and extending to both ears pressing up into them, causing swallowing which makes it descend, soon to return; worse from 9 A. M. to noon.

{{anchor:s218}}PSORINUM.{{anchor:s219}}—Pain in occiput from right to left as if a piece of wood was laid on back of head. {{anchor:s220}}Eructations like //rotten eggs.// {{anchor:s221}}Also, //Arn//., //Tart. Em.// and //Graph. {{anchor:s222}}Arnica// has taste of rotten eggs, especially in A. M. //Tart. Em.// at night, and //Graph//, only in A. M., after rising, disappearing on rinsing the mouth.

//{{anchor:s223}}Psor.// {{anchor:s224}}—Has stools smelling like rotten eggs. //{{anchor:s225}}Cham.// has stools smelling like //spoiled eggs//, but //not// the //spoiled egg// flatulence or eructations. {{anchor:s226}}Under //Psorinum// the soft stool is voided with difficulty, //from weakness.// {{anchor:s227}}Normal stool, but passed in a great hurry, can hardly reach the water-closet, with quantities of flatus. {{anchor:s228}}Prolapsus recti with //burning// and //sticking.// {{anchor:s229}}Must keep the arms spread wide apart in order to breathe freely. {{anchor:s230}}Want of breath in the open air, has to hurry home and lie down in order to breathe freely. {{anchor:s231}}Weakness in all the joints of the body as if they would not hold together.

{{anchor:s232}}RANUNC. BULB.—{{anchor:s233}}Superficial pains upon the external chest of a //sharp//, //shooting//, //tearing//, //stitching// character, coming in paroxysms.

{{anchor:s234}}RHEUM.{{anchor:s235}}—Hunger, but a //mouthful// satisfies.

{{anchor:s236}}RHODODENDRON,—Has improvement from wrapping head up warmly, like //Silicea.// {{anchor:s237}}Speechless and breathless from violent pleuritic pain, running downward in left anterior chest after standing on cold ground. {{anchor:s238}}Paroxysmal chorea, //left arm//, //leg and face// on approach of a storm. {{anchor:s239}}Cannot get to sleep or remain asleep, unless legs are crossed.

{{anchor:s240}}SABADILLA.{{anchor:s241}}—Headache better from looking //fixedly// at some object.

{{anchor:s242}}SAMBUCUS.{{anchor:s243}}—Child //inspires//, but cannot //expire//; face livid.

{{anchor:s244}}SARSAPARILLA.{{anchor:s245}}—Urine only dribbles while sitting, but when //standing// it passes freely. {{anchor:s246}}Feels as if bound down to the bed by a powerful //suction//, with sharp pains in back and shoulders.

{{anchor:s247}}SEPIA.{{anchor:s248}}—Child coughs till breath is gone, and then gags and vomits mucus. {{anchor:s249}}Cough constant when the child is laid down.

{{anchor:s250}}STANNUM.{{anchor:s251}}—Has colic better from leaning over something hard (like //Coloc.//) In worm fever child lies on abdomen during the pains.

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====== DOCUMENT DESCRIPTOR ======

^ Source: | The Homoeopathic Physician Vol. 01 No. 09, 1881, pages 431-437 |
^ Description: | SOME KEY-NOTES. |
^ Author: | Carleton Smith, C. |
^ Year: | 1881 |
^ Editing: | errors only; interlinks; formatting |
^ Attribution: | Legatum Homeopathicum |