Alumen
Common potash alum. Alum. Potassic-Aluminic Sulphate.
An astringent double salt, found as a mineral near the volcanoes of the Lipari Isles, in Sicily.
The essential features
This remedy should be understood as having mainly two phases, two states of pathological action upon the human organism.
In the first it produces conditions where we see extreme dryness of the mucous membranes (coition is almost impossible), and skin which becomes rough, indurations and hardening of glands and tissues of tongue, of rectum, uterus, mammae etc with a tendency to malignancy, ulcers with indurated bases, epitheliomas, scirrhus etc.
There is a tendency in this remedy to greyish black manifestations such as eruptions, stool which is black, dark pseudomembranes on throat etc.
The second phase is one of paralysis, paralytic weakness, especially in rectum (severe constipation) and bladder (no power to expel the urine, runs perpendicularly), with constricting feelings like that of a tight band especially on extremities. Also paresis, sluggish action of muscles, varicose veins that become relaxed and bleed, hemorrhages of various types especially from rectum, etc.
Sometimes
read more [...]