Antimonium crudum Anhang 2
[Frans
Vermeulen]
Antimony is a brittle, silvery, bluish-white metalloid
in group 15 of the periodic table. It has a flaky texture. It doesn't often
form in its elemental state and is far more common in sulphides and sulphosalts
such as stibnite, tetrahedrite, and jamesonite. The chief ore stibnite occurs
in massive forms in gneiss and granite. It is also found in limestone,
presumably deposited by hot springs. This steel-greyish mineral has a brilliant
metallic lustre.
In units of ppb [= parts per billion] in terms of
weight antimony is found in cristal rocks [200 ppb], in carbonaceous meteorites
[120 ppb], in water streams [2 ppb] and in the sun [1 ppb]. It occurs in large
amounts in the Black Forest and Harz Mountains of Germany. It is rare in N.
America. The biggest producing countries are China, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico,
Italy, and France.
Group 15 consists of nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic,
antimony, and bismuth. The range in chemical properties is wide within this
group: nitrogen and phosphorus are nonmetals, arsenic and antimony are
metalloids [displaying both metallic and non-metallic characteristics], and
bismuth is a metal. Though sulphur is its main associate, antimony is also
found in compounds containing small amounts of arsenic, iron, lead, copper, and
silver. In terms of form, it is mostly found mammilary, stalactitic, massive,
radiating, and as crusts. Stibnite consists of 71.38 antimony and 28.62%
sulphur. Stibnite may have fine crystal clusters and long curved crystals. The
slender curved metallic blades resemble Arabian swords. The curving of the long
bladed crystals is due to twinning where one twin plane bends the crystal one
direction and another twin plane bends it in the other direction. These
crystals possess the remarkable property of bending without breaking.
Because it is a poor conductor of heat and
electricity, antimony tarnishes only slightly in dry air, but it is gradually
converted to an oxide if the air is moist. When it is heated in air, it burns
with a brilliant blue flame and gives off white fumes of the trioxide Sb2O3.
Antimony dissolves poorly in water.
It melting point 630.5° C. The melting point is
considerably lowered by the presence of even small amounts of other substances.
Under ordinary conditions antimony is stable and not affected by air or
moisture, but when it is heated it can be oxidized easily by oxygen, sulphur,
and the halogens.
"Antimony is inclined toward sulphur not only
because it occurs mainly as a sulphide, but by its very nature. It is only half
a metal, the other half being sulphurous. ... It is seldom found as a pure
metal. ... To be sure, the metal is fairly dense, but it is easy to melt, easy
to vaporize, even easy to burn. ...
A drop of the melted metal falling on parchment
scatters quicksilver-like into droplets, which, while still burning, scorch all
sorts of curves into the surface. The white oxide smoke of its combustion
precipitates upon cool surfaces like hoar frost or ice flowers on a window. ...
Like quicksilver, it alloys readily with almost any metal, lending hardness and
brittleness to the mixture. Unlike iron, antimony is aloof to magnetism; placed
between the two poles of a horseshoe magnet, it does not lie in a straight line
between the two poles, but diagonally. It is diamagnetic, in contrast to such
paramagnetic metals as iron, nickel, and cobalt. But it is not only passive
toward magnetism; it also rejects electrical forces in a curious way. When
electrolytically refined from a solution of chloride of antimony, it
precipitates on the cathode as a metal in the form of a blackish powder. When
scratched, rubbed, or heated, this powder changes with 'thunder and lightning',
i.e. with radiations of heat and light and small explosive noises, back into
the normal antimony form.
This explosive antimony is less formed and also
lighter than the normal metal. It has retained certain forces of heat, light,
and levity by which it defends itself against the gravity of the world of
matter as well as against the sub-material world of electricity."
"In its pure state antimony has no important
uses, but, when combined physically or chemically with other substances, it is
an extremely useful metal. Because some antimony alloys expand on solidifying
[a rare characteristic that they share with water], they are particularly
valuable as castings and type metal; the expansion of the alloy forces the
metal to fill the small crevices of casting moulds. Moreover, the presence of
antimony in type metal, which also includes lead and small amounts of tin,
increases the hardness of the type and gives it a sharp definition. Even when
added in minor quantities, antimony imparts strength and hardness to other
metals, particularly lead, with which it forms alloys used in plates of
automobile storage batteries, in bullets, and in coverings for cables. Combined
with tin and lead, antimony forms antifriction alloys called babbitt metals
that are used as components
of machine bearings. Antimony compounds [trioxide] are
widely used as flame retardants in paints, plastics, rubber, and textiles.
Antimony is also used in the manufacture of enamels;
in the manufacture of matches, fireworks, and percussion caps; and as a dye to
colour glass, pottery and ceramics.
A major use of antimony is for the safety match. The
head of this match consists of a mixture of antimony trisulphide and an
oxidizing agent such as potassium chlorate. The tip of the match, above the
head, contains red phosphorus.
In its sulphide compound antimony had been known since
ancient times. Middle Eastern women used it to darken their eyes and eyebrows,
in order to increase their seductiveness. There are several references to this
practice in the Bible, the best known involving the notorious Jezebel, who
'painted her eyes and adorned her hair, and stood looking down from a window'.
Antimony poisoning resembles arsenic poisoning. It has
resulted from drinking acidic fruit juices containing antimony oxide dissolved
from the glaze of cheap enamelware containers. Antimony has similar properties
as arsenic, the main difference being that antimony has less affinity with
oxygen than arsenic. Exposure to antimony can cause metallic taste, nausea,
sore throat and irritation of the air passages. Skin contact causes an itchy
rash. Repeated exposure may cause headaches, poor appetite, dry throat, loss of
sleep, as well as damage to the liver and the heart muscle. Use of antimony
near acid or acid mist can cause release of a deadly gas, stibine. "In
poisoning by antimony vapours stupefaction and frontal headache appears, then
chest symptoms, severe painful cough, partly dry, partly with tenacious sputum
difficult to evacuate, and piping and rales in the chest. Then the
gastrointestinal symptoms, pustules on the genitals were observed, finally
great prostration, decrease of sexual potency and swelling of the testes. ...
Soon after an intravenous injection, there are muscle pains, particularly
drawing pains between the shoulders, in the upper arms, in the back muscles,
with a feeling of stiffness in the entire musculature, even in the muscles of
the jaw. This sensation may persist 1-2 days and impair movement."
The alchemists felt antimony to be strongly present in
the sulphurous, less so in the mercurial, and having lost its power in the
realm of salt. The famous English alchemist Roger Bacon [1220-1292] considered
Antimony to be "a heavenly medicine to prevent and to cure all kinds of
disease and ailments
of the human body." He recommended it in the
treatment of gout, leprosy, apoplexy, dropsy, epilepsy, catalepsy and analepsy,
hectic, pest, and fever.
His description of its effects in leprosy reminds of
Hahnemann's concept of psora. "To begin with the patient is given six
drops on an empty stomach.
And arrange it so that the unclean person is alone
without the company of any healthy people, in a separate and convenient place.
For his whole body will soon begin to smoke and steam with a stinking mist or
vapour. And on the second day his skin will start to flake and much uncleanness
will detach itself from his body. He should then have three more drops of the
medicine ready, which he should take and use in solitude on the fourth day.
Then on the eight or ninth day, by means of this medicine and through the
bestowal of Divine mercy and blessing, he will be completely cleansed and his
health restored."
Possibly because of its low melting temperature [it
fuses easily even in the flame of a match], antimony was a favourite material
of the alchemists. It had its own symbol: a circle topped by a cross,
representing the intellectual soul alive with all its virtues and faculties.*
The medieval alchemists occupied themselves extensively with its mysteries.
Its name is derived from Gr. anti, against, and monos,
alone, in reference to it being an element rarely found alone. Another
possibility is that the name comes from Gr. anthemion, the diminutive of
anthos, a flower, after the form of the crystals.
PROVINGS Hahnemann - 4 provers; method: unknown.
* A cross inscribed within a circle, was the sign for
"green" and denoted the vegetative soul or the physiological world. A
cross placed below a circle was the sign for Venus and corresponded to
instinctive behaviour or the base urges.
Affinity
STOMACH. DIGESTIVE TRACT. MIND. SKIN. Soles. Changing
sides. * Left side.
Modalities:
<: COLD [BATHING; dampness; WATER - on head].
OVEREATING. Acids. Sweets. HEAT [SUMMER; of sun; overheating; radiated]. After
eating. Extremes of cold and heat. Ascending stairs. Sour wine.
Better: Open air. Rest. Warm bath. Prolonged vomiting.
Comparisons
GROUP 15 [NIT-AC.; PHOS.; ARS.; ANT-C.; BISM.] -
COMMON SYMPTOMS
Headache < motion. - Epistaxis. - Sour taste in
mouth. - Empty or foul eructations. Sensation of fulness [stomach] after eating.
- Heaviness stomach. - Pain stomach after eating. - Extreme thirst. - Vomiting
after drinking. - Vomiting of bile or food. - Sleep position on back. -
Starting from sleep. - Sleepiness after eating. - Left side. Main symptoms M
Idealism [romantic love and artistic beauty; sensitivity]. [The regulus of
antimony: a silvery radiating star.] versus Rejection of contact/connection,
insensitivity, and hardening [comp. skin] - arranging oneself across the lines
of force, defending oneself against the gravity of the world of matter. Or:
Refusal to share one's own capacities with others.
< Being LOOKED AT, touched or washed. [Aversion to
being looked at; = crying].
"Sulky children who do not wish to speak or be
spoken to; angry at every little attention." [Mathur] And Hot and red
face; chapped cheeks. And Indigestion. [Vomiting occurs as soon as the child
eats or drinks.] And Chronic blepharitis; red inflamed lids, itching in the
canthi causing rubbing of the eyes.
SENTIMENTAL and ECSTATIC.
"Continuous state of enthusiastic love and
ecstatic longing for an ideal woman, which quite filled his fantasy; more while
walking in the pure, open air than in the room; disappeared after several days
with a seeming diminution of the sexual impulse." [Hahnemann]
"In some cases, there is a slightly erotic
condition of mind, connected with sexual erethism. The patient becomes ecstatic
and fancies that some beautiful female is the object of his sentimental
love." [Farrington]
"It is suited to the mental condition of some
young person passing through the critical pubescent period, whose growing
interest in the opposite sex tends to centre unhealthily in some bright Prince
Charming, or in some idealized, and perhaps self-created maiden. Has amorous
longings, not for any living creature, but for some unseen seraph."
[Talcott]
"Hysterical girls who suffer from unrequited
affections; dreamers." [Mathur]
"Nervous, excitable hysterical girls that are
overcome by mellow lights, and as a result there is an outburst of affection,
as is observed in the sick, and those who are suffering from the effects of
disappointed affection." [Blackwood]
"We see the Antimonium feeling of being let
down and disappointed by others, and therefore the need to narrow one's circle,
to isolate oneself. Also present are the Sulphur symptoms of theorizing and
fantasizing. These combine to make Ant-c. a person who has narrowed himself
down, and who starts fantasizing. The patient finds the world around him so
disappointing that he simply shuts it out, and conjures up an illusionary world
that he starts living in." [Sankaran]
Sentimental and romantic. Emotions make her sick to
her stomach. Anorexia / bulimia from disappointed love. Suicidal disposition
from disappointed love by drowning or shooting. Anxious dreams.
"As if he would be wounded; he jumps up from
sleep and struggles with hands and feet."
"Horrible dreams of mutilations of men."
"Dreams of his own family at home, with whom he
quarrelled; disturbs his night's rest."
"Vexatious dreams, full of quarrels with
relatives, rouse him at night from sleep." [Hahnemann]
Hydrogenoid constitution; young people that grow fat,
and can't bear cold water.
Changeable symptoms: gouty symptoms on extremities
suddenly stop, followed by gastric symptoms; symptoms go from one side to the
other; they change locality. Gouty affections # DIGESTIVE DISTURBANCES.
Ailments from sunburn; overheating; warm weather.
EXHAUSTION during WARM WEATHER. And Tendency to gastrointestinal troubles.
Aphonia from overheating. < Heat and cold. CANNOT
TOLERATE RADIANT HEAT. < from radiant heat analog to aggravation from being
looked at
or spoken to; both are direct. > from moonlight has
its analogue in the fact that moonlight is indirect [reflected light.]
GROSS FEEDERS [desire to eat LARGE quantities of
food]. And Gastric, mental and skin symptoms. [Boger]
"When an individual presents certain animal
characteristics, Antimonium crudum is not infrequently the gross, scrofulous
[scrofa, a sow] rough and thick-skinned swine. This is broad generalization,
but sometimes useful in a prescription." [Shedd] Or: Chronic loss of
appetite. And Constant sensation as if the stomach were overloaded. Strong
DESIRE FOR ACIDS, cucumbers and pickles. Yet acids <. < Sour or
sulphuretted wine. [headache; gastrointestinal disturbances] < Sweets [=
disordered stomach, in children].
Violent thirst. [Also at night or only at night.] But
water, even in small amounts, will be vomited. Vomiting doesn't relieve but
only exhausts the patient.
Perspiration from slightest exertion. Lumpy stools,
leucorrhoea, skin, nails, etc. < Room full of people. P Headache from taking
cold, or from alcoholic drinks. And Deranged digestion. Headache from
suppressed eruptions. > Discharges [vomiting, diarrhoea, coryza].
Nose:
Stoppage of the nose especially in the evening; with
dryness when walking in the open air, scarcely permitting him to talk.
Coryza, with sore, cracked crusty nostrils; dry or
fluent, especially in the morning.
The nose stuffs up at night, particularly in an
overheated room, can hardly breathe.
THICKLY COATED, WHITE TONGUE; like whitewash or milk.
Ailments and milky WHITE coating on tongue.
Gastric and intestinal disturbances from bread,
pastry, acids, vinegar, cold bathing; overheating; hot weather.
Extreme sensitiveness of soles of feet [due to
callosities].
Walking difficult and painful.
Horny or SPLIT NAILS.
Illustrative case in Homoeopathic Links 1/95: The Case
of Princess Daisy.
"The theme of the novel [Princess Daisy,
by Judith Krantz] is about an unfortunate child who was not loved by her
parents. She is a handicapped and princess Daisy has to look after her.
Princess Daisy is very blond and beautiful and takes a lot of care for her
sister. Daisy falls in love, gets disappointed and her life is shattered. She
wanted to shoot herself as she can't fulfil her fantasies. The boyfriend leaves
her, she goes to America and finds a job in a cosmetic firm, where she has to
draw and paint landscapes, which she is very good at. She also writes romantic
poems and love-letters to her boyfriend whom she still loves very much. She
comes back to England very rich and gets married to the same guy. She looks
after her sister in the best possible way she can." [Sudhir Baldota]
Rubrics
Mind: Anger when touched. Answers snappishly.
Delusion someone calls. Ecstasy when walking in moonlight. Grief causing
stomach trouble. Love, lovesick. Sentimental during diarrhoea; before menses;
in moonlight. Suicidal thoughts, drive him out of bed. Aversion to being
touched. Makes verses.
Vertigo: On ascending stairs, and pain in forehead,
and pain in vertex.
Head: Pain, after candy; from becoming heated; from
exposure to sun. Shaking sensation during menses.
Eye: Lachrymation when looking at the fire.
Photophobia from snow.
Face: Eruptions, acne, with stomach complaints;
itching pimples when warm. Twitching of corners of mouth.
Teeth: Grinding of teeth in morning as soon as
awake. Pain, before menses, > walking in open air. Sensitive, cannot bear
dental operation.
Stomach: Ravenous appetite in morning. Disordered
after acids. Nausea from amorous caresses, after being overheated.
Male organs: Attacks of
increased sexual desire in the moonlight.
Female organs: Menses absent,
molimen only; copious from cold baths.
Larynx: Voice, hoarseness after a cold bath, from
being overheated; lost, from being heated, in a warm room; > using voice.
Back: Tension dorsal region, between scapulae, on
stooping.
Limbs: Bubbling sensation in nates, while standing.
Nails do not grow; split nails.
Sleep: Sleepy during hot weather. Waking from
hunger.
Dreams: Native country. Feasting. Solemnities. Being
wounded.
Skin: Eruptions, Urticaria = Nesselsucht. after meat. Warts,
horny; smooth.
Generals: Faintness from summer heat. Exertion in sun
<. Weakness during headache; < warm weather.
Food and Drinks:
Aversion to: Drinks/vinegar/bread/fat/mother's
milk/pork/smell of food/wine;
Desires:
Cucumbers/drinks/pickles/sour/vinegar/beer/bread/fat/indigestible/pickled meat/pork/raw
food/spicy/vegetables;
<: Bitter/sour/vinegar/bread/cold drinks/cold
food/fruit
(sour)/milk/pork/pungent/sweets/water/alcohol/butter/cider/drinks/fat/food,
sight of/food, thought of/juicy fruit/pancakes/pastry/rich
food/stimulants/strawberries/wine;
>:
Vinegar/hot food/milk;