Argentum nitricum

An inorganic salt of silver and nitric acid, historically prepared as “lunar caustic.” For homeopathic use it is triturated (to 3C) and then serially diluted with succussion to potency; a solution-based route is also classical [Hughes], [Clarke]. Toxicology shows a dual signature: a caustic, ulcerative action on mucous membranes with thick, green, tenacious discharges, and a neuro-vegetative storm—tremor, ataxia, vertigo, palpitations, heat flushes, and diarrhoea precipitated by anticipation and fear [Hughes], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Proving and clinical tradition knit these into a coherent picture of a hurried, impulsive patient, driven by phobic foreboding (heights, bridges, crowds, theatres), whose gut ferments—with explosive, relieving eructations, flatulence, and the famous green, chopped-spinach stools—especially after sweets, which he craves yet cannot digest [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke], [Boger], [Nash], [Tyler], [Farrington].

Early proving material derives from the Hahnemannian school and was consolidated by T. F. Allen with clinical amplifications by Hering and Clarke [Proving] [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Core elicited features include anticipatory anxiety with urgent stool/urination, dilated pupils, vertigo as if falling forward, ataxia worse eyes closed, rawness and ulceration of mucosa with ropy green secretions, and sugar-induced gastric fermentation [Hering], [Allen]. Numerous nineteenth- and twentieth-century bedside confirmations followed in performers, students, travellers, and patients with chronic catarrh of the eyes/urethra with splinter-like pains [Clinical] [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash], [Tyler], [Farrington].

Core Themes / Remedy Essence
Argentum nitricum is the hasty strategist living one step before the present. Its inner climate is foreboding, not the mortal dread of Aconite, but a theatre of what-ifs—bridges might fail, queues might close, the hour might be missed—so the organism accelerates: thoughts speed, hands tremble, pupils dilate, and the heart flutters [Clarke], [Farrington], [Nash]. This mental acceleration recruits the gut: fermentation swells the abdomen, eructations thunder out, and the rectum demands an immediate exit; bowel urgency is the pressure valve of fear [Allen], [Clarke]. The body’s surfaces tell the same story in a different dialect: mucosa become raw and ulcerative, exuding thick, ropy, green secretions—eyes glued at dawn, urethra burning with splinter pain, throat rasping for cold water—the ulcer–ropy signature that reveals the substance’s local causticity in the homeopathic mirror [Hering], [Hughes], [Clarke].

Pace and space define the geometry of the case: edges (heights, bridges) threaten with a pull to jump, crowds compress the breath, warm rooms overheat the circuits; relief lies in the vector of movement and cool air—walk, breathe, unbutton, go out—and, crucially, in companionship with leadership, which borrows another nervous system’s calm (thereby fulfilling the Better: company modality) [Nash], [Tyler]. The core polarities are Heat vs. Cool, Enclosure vs. Air, Sugar craving vs. Sugar intolerance, Speed vs. Poise. Sweets promise solace yet ignite the ferment, making Arg-n. a classic model of self-defeating desire (compare Ant-c. where sweets strike a different, dermo-gastric chord) [Allen], [Boericke]. Miasmatically, psora supplies the functional storms and anxieties, sycosis the warty, ropy excess, and syphilis the ulcer trend in chronic mucosa—hence the breadth across mind, mucosa, and motor nerves [Kent], [Boger].

• Mind–autonomic axis. Anticipation drives the bowel and bladder (urgent stool/urination) and the heart (palpitation) with tremor and heat flushes; phobias of heights, bridges, crowds, theatres, narrow places dominate, and open air with movement brings relief (cross-ref. Mind/Chest/Generalities) [Clarke], [Nash], [Tyler].
• Spinal cord / proprioception. Ataxia, unsteadiness, and Romberg-like swaying; vertigo looking up or over edges; worse closing eyes while standing (cross-ref. Head/Extremities) [Boger], [Hering], [Allen].
• Gastro-intestinal tract. Fermentation, loud eructations (relieving), flatulence, 11 a.m. diarrhoea, and green chopped-spinach stools; sweets aggravate yet are craved (cross-ref. Stomach/Abdomen/Rectum/Food) [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash].
• Mucous membranes (ulcer–ropy). Thick, green, tenacious discharge with rawness and splinter pains: eyes, nose, throat, urethra, cervix (cross-ref. Eyes/Nose/Throat/Urinary/Female) [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Throat & larynx (voice users). Raw, splintery fauces; hoarseness/aphonia of singers and speakers; better cold sips and cool air; worse warm rooms/overuse (cross-ref. Throat/Respiration/Modalities) [Farrington], [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Ocular surface. Photophobia, corneal ulcers/granulations, ropy green mucus gluing lids; lids stuck in the morning; old notes on pterygium (cross-ref. Eyes/Generalities) [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke].
• Genito-urinary tract. Urethral burning, cutting with green discharge in chronic urethritis; anxiety-linked sexual weakness or premature emission (cross-ref. Urinary/Male) [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Cardio-vascular reactivity. Functional palpitations with fear, coffee, sweets; precordial anxiety needing open air and unbuttoning (cross-ref. Heart/Chest/Generalities) [Clarke], [Boger].
• Skin/appendages. Soft warts, herpetic borders; slow healing mucocutaneous ulcers; toxic greyish hue (argyria) contextual (cross-ref. Skin) [Hughes], [Clarke].
• Thermoregulatory set. Warm rooms and heat aggravate (sweat, throbbing, restlessness); cool air and movement relieve (cross-ref. Modalities/Generalities) [Nash], [Clarke].

The core theatre is anticipatory fear with a hurried, impulsive engine. The patient imagines catastrophes before engagements, rehearsing bridges collapsing, crowds closing in, or missing the time, and becomes restless, talkative, and driven to walk fast in open air to steady himself [Clarke], [Nash], [Tyler]. Phobias are signature: heights and bridges compel him to clutch the rail with an impulse to jump, while crowds, churches, theatres, and narrow places compress his chest and force an urge to stool—a straight mind–gut axis that you should cross-reference under Rectum and Chest [Hering], [Clarke]. During these autonomic storms the pupils dilate, hands sweat, and the heart flutters; yet if a calm companion takes the lead, the mind settles (echoes the Better: company with leadership modality) [Tyler], [Clarke]. He is hasty in plans and motions, does things impulsively and later dreads they will miscarry, a polarity shared with Gelsemium yet opposed in pace—Gels. is dull and drowsy, Arg-n. is speeded and scattered [Farrington], [Kent]. He may oscillate between excitability and exhaustion, with memory lapses in fear, and shows a distinctive relief from open air and walking, which also reduces stool urgency [Nash], [Clarke]. Small organisational details (tickets, keys, timings) obsess him, and noises startle his heart into flutters (cross-link Heart). When repeatedly thwarted, irritability appears, but it is the anxious haste, not anger, that colours the picture [Clarke], [Boericke]. Children likewise become restless, impulsive, with diarrhoea before school—a canonical mini-case seen by multiple authors [Clinical] [Nash], [Tyler]. After the ordeal, a collapse-like tiredness arrives, seeking cool air and quiet; if confined in heat the storm rekindles (echo Worse: warm rooms) [Clarke], [Nash].

Sleep is captured by anticipation: he cannot fall asleep for scenarios and schedules; when he dozes, starts and jerks awaken him with dry mouth and palpitation [Clarke], [Nash], [Tyler]. He wakes early with a rush of agenda, soon followed by urgent stool—a morning mini-case repeated in students before examinations [Clinical] [Nash]. Warm rooms keep him wakeful and throbbing; cool air or a brief night walk settles him (Modalities echo). If he falls asleep late, after midnight wakefulness may recur with chest flutter (Heart link). He dreams of heights, bridges, crowds, and being late, and wakes with panic and thirst for cold water (Dreams cross-ref.) [Clarke]. Napping after a cool morning walk restores poise better than long night sleep. Children toss, grind teeth, and wake to stool urgency before school days. Voice-users sleep poorly after evening performances in hot halls—rawness and hoarseness follow (Throat link). Relief follows firm reassurance and fresh night air.

Dreams stage the same phobic set: falling from heights, bridges giving way, losing one’s group in a crowd, late for an examination, or tickets lost [Clarke]. On waking, there is palpitation, dry mouth, and a compelling urge to stool (Mind/Rectum echo). In children, dreaming of school reprimand is classic, with morning diarrhoea [Nash]. After a cool walk at dusk, dreams lighten.

Three cords braid the case: Fear → Ferment → Flight. Fear/anticipation triggers autonomic storms—palpitation, tremor, sweat, dilated pupils—and throws the gut into fermentation with loud eructations and green stools; instinctively, the patient flees to open air and movement, which unwinds the storm (Mind/Stomach/Rectum/Chest echoes) [Nash], [Clarke]. The mucosa across organs behaves uniformly—raw, ulcerative, ropy, green—from eyes to urethra and cervix (Eyes/Urinary/Female), coding the substance signature [Hering], [Clarke]. The mechanics are equally characteristic: pressure/binding helps expanding head, eructations vent pressure, cool air resets the vascular tone, and company with leadership steadies the mind (Modalities). Thermal set is warmth-aggravated, cool-relieved; spatially, the patient fears edges and crowds (Head/Mind). Distinguish from Gelsemium (exam fear with dullness and heaviness, not hurried impulsion nor the sugar–gas axis), Aconite (acute terror of death, minimal fermentation), Lycopodium (evening bloat with authority anxiety, not heights/bridges phobia), Kali-bich. (stringy catarrh but plug-like with round ulcers, not ropy green torrents), and Argentum metallicum (voice fatigue > cold drinks without the mind–gut fear cascade) [Farrington], [Boger], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash], [Tyler]. Cases habitually report 11 a.m. sinking, after-midnight restlessness, and reliable relief by brisk outdoor walking.

This is a flush remedy, not a sustained pyrexia: heat of face and head in warm rooms with tremor and palpitations, followed by sweat that does not relieve (Generalities echo) [Clarke], [Boericke]. Catarrhal fevers show ropy, green discharges and photophobia (Eyes/Nose). Chills in doorways before events betray the autonomic hinge (Chill/Sweat link).

Chill: in doorways and draughts just before an ordeal; hands cool and damp [Clarke]. Heat: flushing of face/head in warm or crowded rooms with bounding awareness (Heart/Head). Sweat: palms, axillae, upper lip under anticipation, non-relieving (echo Worse: heat; Better: open air) [Nash], [Clarke].

Head symptoms mirror the expansion motif: the head feels enlarged, as if distending; a tight band or firm pressure relieves, and loud eructations off-gas both skull and stomach (cross-link Better: pressure and eructations) [Clarke], [Allen], [Boericke]. Vertigo is peculiar: as if falling forward, provoked by looking up or over edges, and by closing the eyes while standing; the patient sways like a Romberg test (cross-ref. Extrema) [Hering], [Boger]. Headaches are frontal or occipital, pressing or throbbing, intensified by heat, study, emotion, and particularly by sweets, and are better in cool air, walking, and binding [Clarke], [Boericke]. The scalp may feel tight, and temples throb with palpitation (Heart link). Unlike Bryonia, which desires absolute stillness and large cold drinks, Arg-n. wants motion in air and relief by belching, a differential that matters at the bedside [Farrington], [Boger]. After nocturnal worry, morning light may dazzle and renew head pressure until the first walk in cool air [Tyler].

Ocular mucosa exemplifies the ulcer–ropy signature: photophobia with red, raw conjunctiva, ropy green mucus gluing the lids, and a tendency to corneal ulcers, chemosis, and granular lids; lids stick in the morning and must be bathed (cross-link Worse: warm rooms, Better: cool air) [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke]. The eyes smart and burn “as if touched by nitrate,” a substance echo often remarked by classical writers [Hughes], [Clarke]. Vision shakes with tremor and fear, and pupils are often dilated in the autonomic phase (Mind link) [Boericke]. Old notes mention pterygium and marginal ulcers responding where the ropy green keynote is very plain [Allen], [Clarke]. Closing the eyes while standing can worsen staggering, an ocular-proprioceptive clue to the spinal affinity (cross-ref. Extrema) [Boger]. Relief comes from cool air, shade, and gentle bathing, while heat and close rooms intensify the glare and rawness (Modalities echo) [Clarke].

Ears show ringing and roaring synchronous with palpitations during fear spells; sudden noises startle and drive precordial anxiety, reinforcing the Mind–Heart reflex [Clarke]. Catarrhal states produce transient hardness of hearing, with tenacious nasal mucus tracking to the Eustachian region (Nose link) [Clarke], [Boericke]. Vertigo may be accompanied by a sense of ear pressure on looking up or turning quickly, accenting the vestibular element (Head link) [Hering]. The auditory field thus often echoes the circulatory haste: heat and crowds aggravate tinnitus, and open air lessens it (Modalities) [Clarke]. After strain, a dull earache appears, relieved by cool applications.

Coryza starts watery then becomes green, thick, tenacious, excoriating the nares—another enactment of the ulcer–ropy theme [Hering], [Clarke]. Sneezing brings vertigo and head rush, and odours in crowds/theatres feel oppressive, triggering anxious breathing (Mind/Chest cross-links) [Clarke]. When the discharge dries in warm rooms, raw burning returns; in cool air with gentle movement, breathing frees (Modalities echo) [Boericke], [Nash]. Nasal edges may ulcerate with splinter-like soreness on touch (Throat link), and mornings find the nostrils gummed with green ropiness.

The expression is anxious and drawn, with a sometimes sallow or greyish tint in chronic toxicity (argyria context, not a prescribing sign) [Hughes], [Clarke]. Herpetic borders around lips and soft warts on face may coexist (Skin link) [Clarke]. During panic surges the face flushes hot in warm rooms, then cools in open air (Modalities). Lips dry with fear; children chatter teeth before performances (Teeth link) [Nash]. After diarrhoeal episodes the face looks drained but relieved.

The expression is anxious and drawn, with a sometimes sallow or greyish tint in chronic toxicity (argyria context, not a prescribing sign) [Hughes], [Clarke]. Herpetic borders around lips and soft warts on face may coexist (Skin link) [Clarke]. During panic surges the face flushes hot in warm rooms, then cools in open air (Modalities). Lips dry with fear; children chatter teeth before performances (Teeth link) [Nash]. After diarrhoeal episodes the face looks drained but relieved.

Toothache from sweets and from cold air is noted, with edges sore and tender; anxious children chatter teeth pre-event (Mind link) [Boericke], [Clarke]. Grinding may occur in fearful sleep. Firm binding of jaw (hand pressure) occasionally relieves transient neuralgic zings (clinical note).

The classic sensation is of a splinter in the throat on swallowing; fauces are raw, red, burning, and stringy mucus is hard to detach [Farrington], [Clarke]. Voice users develop hoarseness/aphonia from overuse or warm halls, with striking relief from cold drinks and cool air (Modalities echo) [Farrington], [Boericke]. Fear brings a globus and dry mouth; speaking aggravates cough (Respiration link) [Clarke]. Morning adhesions demand clearing; evening warmth rekindles rawness.

Precordial anxiety with air-hunger in crowds/theatres; must unbutton clothes and get into open air at once (echoes Better: open air) [Clarke], [Boger]. Sighing respirations punctuate fear. Warm, close rooms rapidly worsen dyspnoea, while a window or corridor often resets the storm. Chest wall may feel hollow or tremulous. Voice-users notice chest constriction preceding hoarseness (Throat link).

Heart flutters and throbs from emotion, coffee, or sweets; pulse rapid and soft, with awareness of each beat (functional labile storm rather than structural failure) [Clarke]. Palpitation lessens after stool or urination (Rectum/Urinary link). The open air and steady walking tone the pulse down (Modalities). If confined in warm rooms, circulation surges back to the head (Head link). Acon. covers fright with fear of death; Arg-n. covers foreboding haste with gut resonance—an efficient micro-differential [Farrington].

Short breath during panic; a tickling rawness provokes cough; cool air eases whereas warm halls suffocate (Throat/Chest echo) [Farrington], [Clarke]. Deep breaths may steady tremor when taken near an open door. In crowds he gasps and seeks exits (Mind link). After relief, respiration becomes sighing.

The stomach is a fermenter: after sweets (pastry, chocolate) comes bubbling, pressure, and the keynote loud, explosive eructations that relieve both head and epigastrium [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. There is empty sinking about 11 a.m., often the prelude to nervous stool, with hiccough under strain and nausea from anticipation [Allen], [Clarke]. A stone-in-stomach heaviness appears with fear, eased by open air and walking (Modalities echo). Coffee and alcohol exaggerate tremor and palpitation, stirring gastric unrest (Heart link) [Clarke]. Binding the epigastrium or standing in a breeze calms pressure. After outbursts the stomach settles into fatigued atony (compare Carbo-v.) [Farrington].

Rumbling, gurgling, tympanitic distension, and colic dominate; the patient passes much flatus with relief (cross-ref. Better: eructations/flatus) [Allen], [Clarke]. The recti tremble during panic and colic, and tension eases with walking fast in open air (Mind/Modalities echo) [Nash]. The green, chopped-spinach stool hallmark arises from mucosal hypersecretion and rapid transit (pathophysiology remark) [Allen], [Boericke]. Pressure or a support belt helps sensitivity. Heat and close rooms inflate distress (Modalities).

Rectum is the barometer of fear: urgent stool in anticipation, often at or just before 11 a.m.; stools may be green, chopped-spinach, or loose yellow with mucus [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Tenesmus and spasm abate after copious flatus or once the event begins (Mind link). Anus is raw and itching from acridity. The paradox is that walking briskly in cool air can avert the stool for a time (Modalities echo) [Nash].

Frequent urging in public settings from nerves; a few drops may pass with tremor, after which palpitations lessen (Mind/Heart cross-tie) [Clarke]. Burning, cutting, and splinter-like pains in chronic urethritis; greenish discharge in old cases (Mucosa signature) [Hering], [Clarke]. Anxiety-locations (stations, theatres) especially provoke visits; relief comes with open air and movement (Modalities).

Craves sweets—yet sweets aggravate head, stomach, bowels, and nerves, culminating in green stools and throbbing (Head/Stomach/Abdomen/Rectum echo) [Allen], [Boericke], [Clarke]. Cold water is preferred in laryngeal rawness; coffee and alcohol provoke tremor and palpitation (Heart). Small cool sips are better than large draughts in fear (Stomach). Gas subsides after eructation and open-air walking.

Frequent urging in public settings from nerves; a few drops may pass with tremor, after which palpitations lessen (Mind/Heart cross-tie) [Clarke]. Burning, cutting, and splinter-like pains in chronic urethritis; greenish discharge in old cases (Mucosa signature) [Hering], [Clarke]. Anxiety-locations (stations, theatres) especially provoke visits; relief comes with open air and movement (Modalities).

Menses early and profuse when nerves are overstimulated; fearful forebodings intensify premenstrually (Mind link) [Clarke], [Boericke]. Leucorrhoea green, ropy, offensive, tenacious like the ocular/urethral signature (Mucosa affinity). Stage-fright and hoarseness cluster around menses for singers. Labour-like abdominal pains with flatulence occur in nervous flares, relieved by walking in air (Abdomen/Modalities).

Occipito-cervical tension accompanies headaches; the small of back gives way under fear, matching the ataxic signature (Head/Extremities tie) [Clarke], [Boger]. Lying warm increases tightness; a cool breeze behind the neck eases. Between shoulder blades he feels a hollow weakness.

Hands tremble, fingers become clumsy under performance stress; knees knock with fear; gait becomes ataxic, notably worse with eyes closed—the Romberg point (Head link) [Hering], [Boger]. Calves cramp when the abdomen ferments (Abdomen link). Grasping a railing or companion’s arm helps (Mind/Modalities). After relief, a general limb fatigue remains.

Soft, moist warts, herpetic borders, and slow-healing ulcer margins appear; orifices burn and excoriate (Mucosa theme) [Clarke], [Boericke]. Chronic exposure may tint skin greyish (argyria), a toxicological note, not a criterion for prescribing [Hughes]. Pruritus worsens in warm rooms, and eases with cool air (Modalities).

Aetiology: anticipation / performance

• Gelsemium — Exam fear with dullness, drowsy heaviness, tremor, wants to be still; lacks hurried impulsion and sweets modality; diarrhoea not typically green-fermentative [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Aconitum — Acute panic of death, hot, frightened face, recent shock; less ropey catarrh and fermentation; fear of death more explicit [Farrington], [Kent].
• Lycopodium — Authority/anticipatory anxiety at 4–8 p.m., bloating after small food; fears public speech but not heights/bridges; open air not as decisively ameliorative [Clarke], [Boger].

Mind–gut axis / sweets aggravate

• Antimonium crudum — Sweets aggravate with white-coated tongue and cutaneous warts; temperament peevish, not hurried/fearful; stool not the green chopped-spinach of Arg-n. [Boericke], [Farrington].
• Iris versicolor — Gastric burning and bilious migraine; less stage-fright and ropy catarrh [Clarke].

Green/ropy catarrh

• Kali bichromicum — Tough plugs, round, punched-out ulcers; stringy but plug-like; lacks fear–hurry and open-air amelioration [Clarke], [Boger].
• Mercurius — Offensive ulcers with salivation and night sweats; restless but different thermals and mouth; not the sweets-ferment axis [Clarke], [Boericke].

Larynx (voice users)

• Argentum metallicum — Hoarseness and vocal overuse > cold drinks, but no anticipatory diarrhoea or green ropy theme; more joint/cartilage affinity [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Phosphorus — Husky voice with burning, thirsty for cold drinks; open, impressionable, not phobic-hurried [Clarke], [Farrington].

Vertigo / ataxia

• Cocculus — Motion-sickness nausea, vertigo on carriage/sea; less heights fear and no bandage-> head keynote [Clarke].
• Bryonia — Worse least motion, wants absolute rest, thirst for big draughts; not open air >, not eructations > [Boger], [Farrington].

Anxiety with palpitations

• Arsenicum — Midnight anguish, restlessness, burning pains, thirst in sips; stools watery/burning but not green-fermentative; orderliness surpasses Arg-n. haste [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Aurum — Profound melancholy with self-reproach, cardiac awareness; lacks sweets ferment and green ropy mucosa [Kent], [Clarke].

Urethral catarrh

• Thuja — Warty, sycotic urethritis with thin discharge; fixed ideas; less raw splinter pain and ropy green quality [Clarke].
• Petroselinum — Frenzy-like itching and urging in urethra; discharge not the Arg-n. green [Boericke].

Crowd/space phobias

• Pulsatilla — Weepy, seeks open air, but gentle, not hurried; dislikes heat, prefers cool, yet lacks sugar-gas and heights impulse [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Agaricus — Fear with clumsiness, jerks, and chill-heat alternations; less green catarrh and sweets axis [Farrington].

• Complementary: Gelsemium — After fear-storms, when dull heaviness remains, Gels. rounds the edges (mind/nerve sequencing) [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Complementary: Nux-vomica — For stimulant excess (coffee, late nights) underlying Arg-n. crises; restores gastric tone [Clarke].
• Complementary: Kali-bichromicum — When ropey catarrh becomes plug-like with round ulcers, Kali-bi. continues structural work [Clarke], [Boger].
• Complementary: Carbo-vegetabilis — After prolonged fermentation and flatus, Carb-v. lifts gastric atony [Farrington], [Boericke].
• Follows well: Aconitum — Shock settles; panic of death gives way to anticipatory haste with gut signs (then Arg-n.) [Farrington].
• Follows well: Pulsatilla — After catarrhal heat subsides in gentle subjects, Arg-n. covers residual fear-ferment episodes [Clarke].
• Precedes well: Lycopodium — For chronic evening ferment with authority anxiety after Arg-n. clears acute fear-storm [Clarke], [Boger].
• Precedes well: Sepia — If venous pelvic stasis dominates after fear layer, Sep. balances thermals and mood [Clarke].
• Antidotes: Coffea (partial) — Over-excited states (but coffee also aggravates); use Nux-v. for stimulant overuse background [Clarke].
• Antidotes: Camphor (drug-effects) — For some caustic/toxic sequelae in old texts [Boericke].
• Related (congeners): Argentum metallicum — Larynx and joint cartilages; cold drinks >, less mucosal ulcer-ropy [Farrington].
• Inimical: None fixed in classical literature; avoid indiscriminate alternation without picture shift [Boger].
• Notes: Reinforce non-drug preventives—avoid sweets/overheating, ensure cool air, walk before events (practical adjuncts) [Tyler], [Clarke].

Clinically, choose Arg-n. when the triad is unmistakable: anticipatory haste, fermenting gut, and ropy green mucosa, all worse heat/indoors, better cool air/movement/pressure. In performers and students, it averts the sprint to the lavatory, steadies the hand, and clears the throat for the stage; in chronic catarrhs, it thins ropy tides and heals splinter rawness with a shift in terrain and tempo [Tyler], [Farrington], [Clarke]. Potency: many authors use 30C–200C for acute stage-fright with diarrhoea, single or repeated in brief intervals; for chronic mucosa (eye/urethra) and entrenched fear habits, 200C–1M at longer spacing is recorded, with Q/LM in sensitive patients who relapse under heat and sweets [Boericke], [Nash], [Clarke]. Repetition: halt when speed drops, gut settles, and open-air craving diminishes; resume if 11 a.m. sinking and heights/crowds fear recur.

Case pearls:

• Student with urgent 11 a.m. stool before exams, walk in cool air postpones; Arg-n. 200C settles both fear and bowel [Nash].
• Soprano hoarseness after warm hall performance, splinter throat, cold sips >; Arg-n. 30C before call restores voice [Farrington].
• Traveller with bridge-edge vertigo, impulse to jump, must hold rail; Arg-n. 200C plus walking habit resolved crossings [Clarke].
• Chronic green ropy conjunctivitis, lids glued mornings, cool air >; Arg-n. 30C t.i.d. short course, then weekly high potency to consolidate [Hering], [Allen].

Mind

• Anxiety, anticipation, with diarrhoea — Classic pre-event bowel storm; reassure and walk in cool air [Clarke], [Nash].
• Fear of heights; impulse to jump from — Edge-phobia with forward-fall vertigo [Clarke], [Hering].
• Fear of crowds; in theatres, churches — Air-hunger indoors; seeks exits [Clarke].
• Hurry; does everything in — Hasty, impulsive execution; errors follow [Kent].
• Company ameliorates; desires someone to accompany — Leadership calms storm [Tyler].
• Startled by noises; palpitation from — Autonomic reflex [Clarke].
• Restlessness; must walk in open air — Core modality [Nash].

Head

• Head, expansion, sensation of; bandage amel. — Binding relieves pressure [Clarke].
• Vertigo, looking up; looking down from heights — Forward-fall feeling [Hering], [Boger].
• Headache, heat of room aggravates; open air amel. — Thermal polarity [Clarke].
• Headache from sweets; eructations amel. — Sugar–gas axis [Allen], [Boericke].

Eyes

• Conjunctiva, discharge, green, thick, tenacious — Ulcer–ropy signature [Hering], [Allen].
• Photophobia, warm room agg.; open air amel. — Thermal/space axis [Clarke].
• Ulcers, cornea; discharge green — Substance signature [Allen].
• Lids, agglutinated mornings — Ropy glueing [Clarke].

Throat/Larynx

• Sensation as of a splinter in throat; swallowing agg. — Pain signature [Farrington].
• Hoarseness of singers; cold drinks amel. — Voice-user keynote [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Throat, mucus, stringy; warm room agg. — Ulcer–ropy meets heat-agg. [Clarke].

Stomach/Abdomen/Rectum

• Eructations, loud, ameliorate complaints — Off-gassing keynote [Allen].
• Desires sweets; sweets aggravate — Central modality [Allen], [Boericke].
• Stool, green, chopped-spinach — Pathognomonic image [Allen].
• Diarrhoea, anticipation, before events; 11 a.m. — Clocked autonomic low [Clarke].

Heart/Chest

• Palpitation from emotion; open air amel. — Functional storm [Clarke].
• Anxiety, precordial, in crowds; unbuttoning amel. — Exit-seeking reflex [Boger].
• Sighing respiration in anxiety — Relief sign [Clarke].

Generalities

• Warm room aggravates; open air ameliorates — Global axis [Nash], [Clarke].
• Motion, walking rapidly ameliorates — Flight becomes remedy [Nash].
• Pressure ameliorates (head/abdomen) — Mechanical antidote [Clarke].
• After midnight aggravates; 11 a.m. sinking — Circadian notes [Clarke], [Allen].

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura (1821–34): early silver family references; methodological foundation for proving use (context).
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879–91): mucosal ulcer–ropy signature; mind–gut–nerve confirmations; splinter pains.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): proving and toxicology—green “chopped-spinach” stools, explosive eructations, ocular/urethral findings.
Hughes, R. — A Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy (1895): silver nitrate toxicology, argyria, neuro-vegetative effects; substance–symptom correlations.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): phobias (heights, bridges, crowds), modalities (open air, pressure), laryngeal notes, timings (11 a.m.).
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—sweets aggravation, ropy green discharges, bandage-to-head, anticipatory diarrhoea.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): ataxia/Romberg traits; relationships; open air amelioration; plug vs ropy distinctions.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics (1899): stage-fright, hurried walking in open air, stool anxiety; case vignettes.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): differentials (Gels., Acon., Lyc., Kali-bi., Arg-met., Ars.); voice-user larynx and cold drinks.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): mental speed vs heaviness; miasmatic colouring; modality logic.
Tyler, M. L. — Homeopathic Drug Pictures (20th c.): bedside portraits—company amelioration, pre-event walking, singers’ throats.
Hale, E. M. — New Remedies (late 19th c.): historical clinical notes on mucosal caustics and their homeopathic echoes (context).
Cowperthwaite, A. C. — A Text-Book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics (late 19th c.): functional cardio-autonomic notes; digestive modalities.