PICRIC ACID.

The weakness of body and mind is the first impression wrought upon the mind of the reader who goes carefully over this proving. It is progressive, passing from weariness to paralysis. The evidences of softening of brain and cord are strong. He soon becomes sensitive to heat and desires the cool air which ameliorates his head and bodily condition. Cold air and cold bathing are grateful to him. He is sensitive to wet weather. Numbness of many parts, trembling, lassitude, heaviness, must lie down, worse from least exertion are marked features. Loss of sleep, mental worry, mental labor, are the exciting causes of symptoms. Extreme indifference.

It is a typical brain-fag remedy with indifference and lack of willpower, aversion to talk, think, or perform any mental exertion. He is quickly prostrated from the least mental work, and it brings on many complaints, such as soreness and lameness, diarrhoea, burning along the spine, general weakness and heaviness of limbs and back. He loses all interest in things; becomes irritable from any mental exertion. In young school children we have a common use for this very valuable but neglected remedy. When the child begins to learn the alphabet headaches come, and return with every repeated effort, often with dilated pupils. After every examination at school come these violent headaches. A young man at school with the following symptoms was cured promptly: Student's headache, vertigo when remaining standing, heaviness in the head, epistaxis, dilated pupils, congestion of junctiva, inability to bear artificial light, loss of appetite, bitter taste in mouth, vomiting, jaundice. Vertigo from mental exertion, lameness from stooping, walking, ascending, from raising the head from the pillow, cannot sit up, soon nausea comes from it. It is often associated with the head pains. For headaches of students, teachers, professional men, and overworked business men, it is a most useful remedy. For headaches with great nervous weakness from grief and depressing emotions, it has been often overlooked. It has violent pain in vertex, forehead and occiput, extending down the spine with much heat. Congestive headaches. The head must be cool, it is worse from warm room, and wrapping up the head or body, and better from rest of mind and body.

The headaches often begin and increase with the day, and are better by sleep at night. The patient is wholly incapacitated in the daytime, but comfortable from rest and sleep during the night. Extreme prostration often comes with these headaches. Extreme sexual excitement often comes with the headache as with many of its "complaints," but it is not an essential concomitant.

The eye symptoms are due to loss of tone in the eye muscles of such as are suffering from brain fag. Looking, reading fine print and exertion of vision will bring on the headache and eye symptoms (Onosmodium). Sensation of sand in the eyes, smarting, acrid tears, sparks, fog before the eyes, near sighted, dim vision, objects confused, pupils dilated, severe pain over eyes. Thick mucus in eyes. The symptoms from the eye are worse from artificial light.

Small boils and pustules in external auditory canal. Eructations, abortive, sour. Nausea in the morning worse on rising and moving about. There is evidence of liver trouble, and the patient is jaundiced.

Rumbling in the abdomen, diarrhoea from mental exertion. Yellow, watery or thin faecal, oily stool; smarting after stool; stool like yellow cornmeal gruel. Great weakness after stool, in debilitated persons. Urine contains sugar and albumen. Urine of high specific gravity. Urine heavy with urates, uric acid, phosphates, and poor in sulphates. Dribbling after urination. Weakness of the bladder. Great waste of phosphates.

In the proving it turns the normal sexual sphere into lust, and salacity with violent erections, especially during the night It has many times cured these symptoms even when of long standing. Pain in occiput and spine, heaviness of limbs and sexual excitement. Where great restlessness of feet is present the Zincum picricum acts better. It cures impotency and spermatorrhoea when the mind is unable to control the lustful state.

Burning heat in the spine from mental or physical exertion. Weakness of the spine and heaviness of the limbs, especially the lower limbs. The back is so tired that he cannot sit up erect, he must slide down in the chair or lie down. He is relieved while lying. It has been very useful in myelitis, with the weak limbs and a sensation as if body and limbs were bandaged or constricted; also with anaesthesia of legs and as if he had on elastic stockings. In locomotor ataxia where there are tormenting erections and emissions as soon as he falls asleep. Many cases of spinal weakness have been cured by this remedy.

Weakness of the lower limbs with trembling, numbness and constriction. Formication and prickling as from needles. Marked coldness of the feet. Physical exertion greatly intensifies all these symptoms; after long rest he is ameliorated. Tired after least exertion in limbs and whole body, excessive lassitude. Great muscular weakness. Sleepiness in day-time and sleepless at night, especially after mental labor.