Anthracinum

Anthracinum.

An alcoholic extract of the anthrax poison prepared from the spleens of affected sheep.

Acne. Boils. Carbuncles. Cynanche cellularis. Erysipelas. Gangrene. Malignant pustule. Parotitis gangrenosa. Phlegmonous inflammation and ulceration. Small-pox. Splenic fever. Ulcers. Whitlow.

Anthracinum is indicated in all conditions of boils and boil-like eruptions (as acne in some forms, and in carbuncles). It was introduced into homoeopathic practice by Lux the veterinarian long before the experiments of Pasteur. The keynote for its employment is "succession of boils" or carbuncles, but it is also of the greatest use in other cases. "Terrible burning" with carbuncle.

The potentised virus is the best remedy for the disease from which it is obtained—"Splenic fever" in animals, and "Malignant pustule" in human beings. Erysipelas of a foul kind, and gangrenous erysipelas; cellulitis. "Hard, stony" swelling in region of right lower jaw and submaxillary gland. Anthrax-quinsy.

Whitlow and sloughing. Glands painfully swollen. Induration of cellular tissue. Black or blue blisters.

Horribly offensive gangrenous ulcers. A number of symptoms have been recorded from human patients affected with the anthrax disease.

Compare: Anthracinum bovum, Anthracinum suum, Laches., Tarent. c., Arsen., Carb. v. It follows well: Arsen. (burning and ulceration), Phos. ac. Is followed well by: Aur. mur. nat. (periosteal swelling of lower jaw), Silic. (cellulitis). Antidoted by: Camph., Ars., Rhus, Silic., Laches., Carb. v., Puls., Kreos., Carbol. ac., Salicyl. ac., Apis.

Restlessness.—Clonic and tetanic spasms (marked rigor mortis after death).—Exhaustion and collapse.—Terrible burning pains.