Mercurius Corrosivus

Mercurius Corrosivus.

Mercurius corrosivus sublimatus. Corrosive sublimate. Mercuric chloride. HgCl2. Trituration. Solution.

Antrum of Highmore, affections of. Aphthae. Appendicitis. Bones, affections of.

Bright's disease. Cancrum oris. Chancre. Diarrhoea.

Dysentery. Eczema. Enteric fever. Eyes, affections of.

Gums, affections of. Intestines, ulcerated. Intussusception. Iritis.

Jaundice. Kidneys, inflammation of. Labour, puerperal fever. Measles.

Miscarriage. Mouth, affections of. Mumps. Oesophagus, stricture of.

Paralysis. Paraphimosis. Pemphigus. Perimetritis, Peritonitis.

Prosopalgia. Rigg's disease. Supra-orbital neuralgia. Syphilis.

Tabes mesenterica. Taste, disordered. Tenesmus. Throat, inflamed.

Tongue, affections of. Uvula, elongated.

The chief effect of the Chlorine element in this salt appears to be to intensify the mercurial action. Merc. cor. is Merc. viv. with a much greater rapidity of action. Phagedena is the type of Merc. cor. ulceration. Chancres spread with great rapidity.

The burning of Merc. cor. is more intense. The dysenteric straining is more excessive. For this reason Merc. cor. is more generally prescribed In dysentery than Merc. viv., and it has even become a recognised remedy in the old school. As with other ulcerating remedies, Merc. cor. is a powerful disinfectant.

Being much less irritating than Carbolic acid, it has taken the place of the latter as the leading antiseptic. Before the proper degree of dilution had been ascertained many patients were poisoned by its external use. Merc. cor. has some of its most characteristic symptoms in the urinary sphere. The urine is albuminous, scanty, hot, bloody; may be retained or suppressed.

There is intense vesical tenesmus. In some of the poisoning cases the bladder was found after death firmly contracted into a small hard lump. "Tenesmus vesicae, with intense burning in urethra and discharge of mucus and blood with the urine or after it," is a keynote for Merc. cor. When this accompanies dysentery Merc. cor. is the remedy.

In such cases the rectal and vesical tenesmus will go together. A patient of mine who had had under allopathic treatment an injection of a solution of Merc. cor. (gr. vi to two ounces) injected into his urethra for gonorrhoea, not only suffered intensely in the urethra at the time, but for years afterwards had a painful spasm of the rectum every time he had coitus. The tenesmus is < (or at any rate not >) after stool.

This is the note of Merc. cor. In the diarrhoea calling for Merc. cor. there is the "never-get-done feeling" long after all has passed that there is to come. This is also the indication in intussusception. Membranous threads in stool; much pure blood; weakness, faintness, shuddering.

Merc. cor. is a true gonorrhoea remedy, but local injections of it are not the right form of administration. The indications are: Greenish-yellow, or bloody, watery discharge, with violent burning, urging, and painful erections; dark purplish swelling; glans has a dark red or gangrenous appearance; phimosis or paraphimosis. The chancres of Merc. cor. spread with great rapidity. Serpigenous ulcers; ulcers with ragged edges which will eat away half the penis in a few days.

The sore throat of Merc. cor. is also characterised by the rapid spread of the affection and by the intensity of the burning pains. The mouth is specifically affected. There is one useful bit of practice in this connection which I learned from Dr. McKechnie.

Long uvulas sometimes give rise to irritating coughs. If to the uvula is applied on a brush a little of a low trituration of Merc. cor. it will in many cases immediately, and often permanently, relieve the trouble. In syphilitic eye affections Merc. cor. is a leading remedy. The inflammatory symptoms are of the most violent character.

Burning, agonising pains with excessive photophobia causing excoriation of cheeks. Tearing pains in bones and around eyes. Scrofulous no less than syphilitic ophthalmias with these characters yield to Merc. cor. Near to the eyes are the superior maxillary bones and their antra.

These are affected by Merc. cor. The nasal catarrh is thick and glue-like; acrid excoriating. The gullet is very markedly affected. Constriction is a leading note of the remedy.

Any attempt to swallow (solid or liquid) causes violent spasm and immediate ejection. Cutting as from a knife in throat. There is raging thirst for cold things. Desire for cold food and intolerance of hot things.

Skin affections of many kinds are met by Merc. cor., including syphilitic roseola and small-pox and condylomata. In addition to the upper jaw and cranium, the sternum, ribs, and tibiae are prominently affected. When present in cases of enteric fever, pains in the tibiae may form an indication for Merc. cor. along with the symptoms of intestinal ulceration; also affections of the tibiae occurring as sequelae of enteric. Like Merc. viv., Merc. cor. has a distinct place in rheumatism and rheumatic fever

A case of poisoning by Merc. cor. is quoted from Eisenhardt in Brit. Med. Jour., July 18, 189l. A woman, 37, drank a tumblerful of tepid water in which a 5 per cent. sublimate pastille had been dissolved.

Immediately she felt nausea, faintness; knees so weak she could not crawl into bed. Directly she was put to bed violent choking sensation set in, and she vomited bile-stained mucus. In an hour and a half, when Eisenhardt saw her, the symptoms were intensified, and in addition there were: General trembling movements, especially in upper part of body. Unable to speak; she indicated by signs pain in stomach, pharynx, and head.

Pulse rapid, soft. Temperature subnormal. Pupils contracted. She had taken (with great difficulty) a quart of milk.

Whites of eggs were also given, and later oil of Camphor and hypodermic injections of Morphine. There was temporary suppression of urine, but the kidneys acted in twenty-four hours. Tea and black coffee favoured diuresis but were quickly vomited. The vomiting gradually ceased.

On the third day profuse salivation set in, and ulcerating stomatitis with bloody and slimy stools and scanty and occasionally albuminous urine. Emaciation; falling out of hair; failure of sight. In a fortnight she could stand, and was convalescent in a month. Unna reports two cases, in elderly women, of poisoning by sublimate lotion, lint, and gauze after ablation of the breast.

The dressings were removed the second day in each case. The first symptoms were intense irritation of the skin and diffused redness of the part. The wounds failed to heal by first intention. Widespread dermatitis followed, and in the course of a few days a diffuse erythema spread over the whole body, creeping onwards like "water on blotting paper." Some fever, general malaise, nausea, restlessness.

In one case the eruption lasted three weeks and changed its type; "scattered urticarial and erythematous itching spots on all parts of the body suggested that there was at that period a poisoning of the more central nervous system" (Calcott Fox quoted in Brit. Med. Jour., December 13, 1890).

R. C. Markham (Med. Adv., xxi. 524) records a cure with Merc. cor. after the failure of Merc. viv. in a case of dysentery.

The symptoms were: (1) Stool: bloody mucus. (2) Tenesmus after stool. (3) Cutting colic below umbilicus. (4) Nausea.

(5) Perspiration before and after stool, most pronounced on lower part of body and thigh. Symptoms 3 and 5 were not found under Merc. viv., but were under Merc. cor. The patient felt better within ten minutes of receiving a dose of Merc. cor. 1m. (I give the case, as it is a striking one, but I am unable to find the indications he names under Merc. cor. in Bell's work on Diarrhoea, from which Markham says he obtained them.

My editions are third and fourth.) The Conditions of Merc. cor. are in the main those of Merc. Motion > pain in hip-joints. < By coitus. Dysentery and summer complaints from May to November.

Notable Concomitants are: Vesical tenesmus and tibial pains. According to Teste, Merc. cor. is suited to males, and Merc. sol. to females. Merc. cor. will act in men on indications for Merc. sol. He lays this down as a positive law, and without going into the details of experience on which it is based, he mentions this as a "curious fact": Both Merc. cor. and Merc. sol. antidote Sepia, which antidotes them in turn but imperfectly.

But "this neutralisation of Merc. cor. by Sepia, and vice versâ, does not take place thoroughly except in the case of males, nor does the neutralisation of Merc. sol. by Sepia, and vice versâ, take place thoroughly except in females."

Antidoted by: (Poisonous doses) White of egg. Dynamic antidotes: Silic. (Hering), Merc. sol., Sep., Lobel. i. (Teste).

Also antidotes to the Mercuries generally (see Merc.). Compatible after: Aco., Arg. n. (which follows Puls.). Compare: Throat, Caust.

Iritis, Aur., K. iod. Typhoid, peritonitis, pain in tibia, Lach. Uvula, Hyo. Strawberry tongue, Fragar vesc., Bacil.

Desire for cold water, Ars., Pho.; for cold food, Pho. (Lyc. > hot drinks.) Antrum of Highmore, Mag. c., Merc. bin. < After coitus, K. ca.

Dysentery, Nux (but Nux has > after stool). Intussusception, Thuj. Burning in throat, Ars., Ars. iod., Caps. Spasm of throat, Bell.

(Bell. has full, strong pulse, and no burning pains; Merc. cor. quick, weak, irregular pulse).

Painful drawings in periosteum (like those which precede an intermittent fever) with heat in head Periostitis (upper and lower jaws) Inflammation of lymphatic vessels Twitches, convulsive contractions

Convulsive twitchings of muscles of face, arms, and legs, and convulsions of limbs Violent starts, with shaking of whole body, on going to sleep Trembling Paralysis of upper and lower extremities

Glandular swellings Lies on back with knees bent up Great debility General anasarca

Feeling of coldness, esp. of head Shivering, provoked by slightest exercise, and also by open air (even when weather is warm), sometimes with cutting pains and tenesmus Heat on stooping, and feeling of relief on raising the body again.