Muriaticum acidum

A strong mineral acid (aqueous hydrogen chloride) whose caustic, corrosive crude action produces burning, ulceration, haemorrhage, and collapse. Homeopathic preparations follow Hahnemannian trituration and attenuation of the dilute acid [Hahnemann], [Hughes]. Classical records highlight adynamia, low septic states, aphthous and gangrenous ulceration, paralytic weakness (notably of the tongue and sphincters), bluish, exquisitely sensitive haemorrhoids, bedsores, and passive haemorrhages [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. The toxicology (corrosive mucositis, haemodynamic collapse) underpins its affinity for typhoid/typhus-like pictures with sliding down in bed, involuntary discharges, and a foetid, offensive milieu [Hughes], [Allen].

Primary material in Hahnemann’s school with additions by Hartlaub/Trinks; Allen aggregates numerous clinical confirmations in typhoid, diphtheritic debility, aphthae, piles, and bedsores. Hering and Clarke emphasise the characteristic sliding down in bed, tongue too weak to protrude, purple, intolerably sensitive haemorrhoids, and passive dark haemorrhages [Hahnemann], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Tags: [Proving], [Toxicology], [Clinical].

The essence of Acidum muriaticum is extreme prostration with hypersensitive sores: the patient slides down in bed, cannot protrude the heavy tongue, and suffers blue, exquisitely tender piles that bleed darkly at the least touch. Around this triad orbit aphthous/gangrenous mouth, bedsores, passive haemorrhages, involuntary stools and urine, and a small compressible pulse—a world of low sepsis, foetor, and failure of reaction [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke]. The kingdom signature (mineral acid) manifests in corrosion and dissolution: mucosae ulcerate, blood oozes rather than spurts, tissues slough at pressure points; yet the dominant modality is touch—even the sheet hurts. Thermal state leans heat-worse (bed, room), while cool air comforts the oppressed sick-room; reactivity is torpid, movement prompts faintness, and the organism prefers to be lifted rather than to act.

Miasmatically, syphilitic disintegration (ulcers, haemorrhage) overlays psoric exhaustion and sycotic venous stasis, with a typhoid pace—subacute slide into stupor and foetor [Kent], [Boger]. Core polarities: touch vs. no touch, support vs. collapse, flow vs. suppression (bleeding/stools). In practice, you meet Mur-ac. at the bedside of the adynamic, septic patient: the attendant whispers, “Doctor, he keeps slipping down; the piles are so sore he can’t bear the sheet; his mouth is filthy with ulcers, and he soils himself without knowing.” That sentence triangulates the remedy. Distinguish attentively from Carbo-veg. (greater air-hunger, wants fanning), Arsenicum (burning, anxious restlessness), and Sul-ac. (tremulous haste, ecchymoses) by the Mur-ac. rectal–oral polarity and touch-intolerant bruised soreness. In haemorrhoids/fissures of the aged, cachectic, puerperal, or typhoid patient—where pain from least touch is out of all proportion and strength is minimal—Mur-ac. often turns the case when local palliatives fail to reach the constitutional core [Clarke], [Boericke].

• Rectum & Anus — Bluish-purple, protruding haemorrhoids, intolerant of the slightest touch; bleeding, smarting and soreness out of proportion; fissures with knife-like pains; prolapse from weakness [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke].
• Mouth & Tongue — Aphthous, gangrenous ulcers; dark, foetid saliva; tongue paralytically weak, large and heavy—cannot protrude or trembles when attempted [Hering], [Boericke].
• General Nervous System — Adynamia, sliding down in bed, muscular paresis; sphincter weakness causing involuntary stools/urine in low fevers [Hering], [Allen].
• Skin & Trophics — Bedsores with black, undermined edges; ecchymoses and passive bleedings; ulcers that are sensitive to touch and ooze dark blood [Clarke], [Boger].
• Throat — Diphtheritic and septic sore throats with prostration out of proportion; foetor; dark membrane tendency; failure of reaction [Allen], [Clarke].
• Blood/Vessels — Passive haemorrhages: nose, uterus, bowel—dark, oozing, non-reactive haemorrhagic diathesis [Hughes], [Hering].
• Bladder — Incontinence from sphincter atony, especially during typhoid collapse; burning urine with urethral rawness from acrid stools [Clarke], [Allen].
• Female Genitals — Offensive, dark metrorrhagia; prolapse with exquisite soreness; varicosities and aphthae of vulva in low states [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Mouth–Anus Axis — Aphthae above, piles below—a recurring polarity: mouth/rectum simultaneously ulcerated and hypersensitive [Hering], [Boger].
• Heart/Circulation — Small, weak, compressible pulse; impending collapse in septic fevers; cyanotic tinge with cold sweat [Allen], [Clarke].

A picture of exhausted irritability: the patient is peevish, difficult to please, and easily offended, yet too weak to sustain emotion, lapsing into apathetic stupor [Hering], [Clarke]. Anxiety centres on impending collapse; there is anguish with the sense of sinking, and an instinct not to be disturbed—even the sheet is intolerable. In typhoid states the mind wanders with low muttering; answers are short, indistinct, or absent because the tongue is heavy and paralytic [Allen]. The patient wants to lie still, slides down in bed, and resents attempts to rouse or move him—aggravation from the least effort mirrors the global adynamia (see Modalities). Irritability rises when piles or bedsores are touched, provoking anger or tears. There is disgust for one’s own foetor and excretions, leading to aversion to company, yet calm, non-intrusive presence soothes (Better For: company). Micro-comparison: Phos-ac. shows mental indifference from grief/exhaustion, but without the touch-intolerant pains and piles of Mur-ac.; Carbo-veg. longs for fanning and air-hunger, but lacks the purple, tender piles and aphthous mouth keynote [Kent], [Clarke].

Drowsy stupor by day; at night, muttering, picking at bedclothes is less marked than in Opium but present in low sepsis [Allen]. Sleep does not refresh; the patient awakens exhausted, immediately sliding down. First sleep is restless if piles or bedsores touch the sheet (worse touch). Dreams indistinct; heaviness of jaw, mouth open, drooling in stupor.

Confused, oppressive dreams of falling or sinking; dreams of blood or shame from incontinence in bed (symbolic of sphincter weakness) [Clinical]. Nightmare eases on cool airing of the room.

Acidum muriaticum synthesises adynamia + touch-intolerant ulceration + passive haemorrhage. Bedside hallmarks: slides down in bed, tongue too weak to protrude, bluish, exquisitely sensitive haemorrhoids that bleed darkly, aphthous foetid mouth, bedsores, involuntary stools/urine, and a small, compressible pulse [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke]. Modalities cohere: worse from the least touch/pressure, stool, heat of bed and warm rooms, night, exertion; better from gentle support/cushions, cool air, warm sitz or cautious cold applications, tiny sips, after a soft stool. Differentiate from Sul-ac. (hasty, trembling, ecchymotic but less piles-touch), Phos-ac. (mental apathy without the piles/aphthae polarity), Carbo-veg. (want of air/fanning without exquisite local soreness), Arnica (bedsores with sore, bruised feeling but more reactive), and Aesculus/Aloe (piles without adynamic, aphthous, haemorrhagic field) [Boger], [Kent], [Boericke].

Adynamic, low septic fever: slight chill, irregular heat, cold, clammy sweats; temperature may be modest while prostration is extreme [Clarke]. Foetor, dark haemorrhage, aphthae, and involuntary stools accompany. Heat of bed aggravates; cool air comforts (Modalities).

Chilliness in drafts followed by dull heat of head/face; sweat cold, offensive, without relief—especially about the sacrum and nape [Hering]. Sweats stain linen and worsen bedsores.

Oppressive, stupefying headache with heaviness of occiput; worse in warm, close rooms and during low fevers [Clarke]. Occasional flashes of heat to the face accompany passive bleedings, after which faintness supervenes [Allen]. The scalp is sensitive; pillow pressure aggravates in bedridden states, and beginnings of bedsore about occiput may appear in the profoundly adynamic. Vertigo on raising the head is marked; the patient slips down again (cross-link Generalities). Compared with Arnica in bedsores, Mur-ac. is more septic, odorous, haemorrhagic, and complains less—too weak to protest [Hering], [Boger].

Conjunctivae dull, slightly injected; lids heavy and bluish in collapse [Allen]. Photophobia is slight; eyes half open in stupor. Acrid tears may excoriate when aphthae are severe; oozing at canthi reflects general ulcerative tendency. Vision dims on sitting up; blue rings are common in haemorrhagic states [Clarke]. Septic odours worsen irritation; cool air soothes (Modalities).

Low buzzing or distant roaring with weak pulse; hearing obtuse in stupor [Allen]. Earache is not central; bleeding or oozing from fissured lobules may occur in cachectic patients. Any examination or pressure around the ear/neck is unwelcome due to tactile hyperaesthesia in low fevers [Hering].

Epistaxis of dark, oozing blood in the adynamic; bleeding relieves head pressure slightly but exhausts the patient [Clarke]. Nostrils sore, red, excoriated by foetid discharge in septic throats; smell of one’s own odour is intolerable. Air-hunger is not characteristic (contrast Carbo-veg.), but cool air freshens and reduces nausea from foetor (Better For) [Allen].

Dusky, cyanotic tinge; features relaxed, jaw droops; lips dry, blackish in low fevers; herpetic crusts at angles of mouth in aphthous states [Hering]. Expression is heavy, indifferent, or peevish. Touch to the face is resented; shaving and washing irritate. Flushing alternates with pallor during bleedings.

Cardinal sphere. Aphthae and ulcers pepper tongue, cheeks, and palate; surfaces are dark, livid, or yellowish with exquisite soreness, bleeding on the least touch [Hering], [Allen]. Tongue is heavy, flabby, paralytically weak—cannot protrude or trembles and slips back; speech thick, indistinct [Clarke]. Saliva foetid, sometimes blood-streaked; sour or metallic taste; teeth feel elongated; gums spongy and bleed easily (contrast Nit-ac. splinter pains) [Boericke]. Cold water in sips cools but cannot be managed if tongue fails (Better For: small sips). The mouth picture tallies with the worse heat/touch modality and parallels the rectal piles below (Mouth–Anus axis).

Gnawing, sore pains at roots; gums swollen and bleed to the lightest brush; toothache worse from warm food and touch [Allen]. Teeth feel long; clenching produces ache shooting to ear. Dental manipulation is poorly tolerated in adynamic patients; bleeding is passive and dark (cross-link Blood).

Raw, septic throat with dark, offensive exudation; swallowing difficult from weakness rather than intense spasm [Clarke]. Liquids may regurgitate if the patient tries to drink quickly; small sips succeed. Fauces look livid; ulcers bleed to touch; foetor is marked. Diphtheritic cases with prostration out of proportion and failure of reaction have shown benefit, especially when mouth and anus display the typical Mur-ac. soreness [Allen], [Hering]. Micro-comparison: Merc-cy. has ashy-black membranes and bleeding on touch with albuminuria; Mur-ac. is less destructive, more adynamic with aphthae and piles.

Short, sighing respiration; cannot speak from weakness; cough feeble, with dark, blood-streaked sputum in adynamic pneumonias [Allen]. Sternum sore to touch; any pressure annoys. Breath is offensive; attendants remark the room’s foetor (cross-link Mouth/Generalities).

Pulse small, frequent, compressible; orthostatic faintness; cold sweat on forehead [Clarke]. Palpitations are more collapse-related than irritative; least exertion exhausts. Compared with Arsenicum (angst and burning), Mur-ac. is more torpid, haemorrhagic, touch-intolerant.

Sighing, shallow breathing with stupor; rattling in low bronchitis when strength fails to expel [Allen]. Propped posture aids little unless it prevents sliding; cool air eases the sick-room oppression (Better For). Speaking is an effort and often avoided.

Nausea from foul secretions; sinking at epigastrium with craving for cool drinks in tiny sips [Allen]. Appetite gone; attempts to eat bring faintness. Hiccough and eructations are feeble but offensive; vomiting is dark, coffee-ground if haemorrhage complicates the picture (passive, not wrenching). Warm food aggravates mouth and stomach; sour drinks sting ulcers.

Distended, tender; gurgling and offensive flatus; burning in hypogastrium during metrorrhagia or dysentery-like states [Clarke]. Liver region sore in bed-bound patients from posture and septic absorption; spleen engorged in typhoid. Any palpation is ill tolerated—least touch aggravates, paralleling the rectal sphere (Modalities).

Signature sphere. Haemorrhoids protrude blue, livid, exquisitely sensitive; cannot bear even the sheet; bleed darkly after stool; smarting and throbbing persist long after evacuation [Hering], [Allen]. Fissure produces knife-like pains; rectum feels raw; sphincter atony leads to involuntary stools—small, frequent, dark, offensive—during low fevers [Clarke], [Boger]. The act of stool is exhausting, with faintness and sliding down in bed post-defecation. Compare Aesculus (dry piles, backache, little bleeding), Aloe (gelatinous mucous stools, sense of insecurity), Ratanhia (fissure, burning like fire)—Mur-ac. outranks when touch-intolerance and adynamia dominate.

Frequent urging with incontinence from sphincter weakness; dark, offensive urine; dribbling in bed [Allen], [Clarke]. Micturition exhausts; urethra smarting from acrid stools soiling the parts. Albuminuria is not central (contrast Merc-cy.), but sediment may appear in septic collapse.

Aversion to food; desire for cool drinks in small sips (tongue weakness) [Hering]. Sour, salt, and alcohol irritate mouth and stomach, increase foetor (worse). Warm broths in teaspoonfuls are tolerated better (Better For). Constipating foods worsen piles; soft diet alleviates straining.

Sexual desire depressed; erections fail during feverish debility; excoriations from acrid discharges [Clarke]. Haemorrhoidal torment eclipses sexual concerns. Prostatic weakness with dribbling in the aged fits the sphincter-atony theme [Allen].

Metrorrhagia—dark, passive, oozing—without reaction, increasing faintness and adynamia [Clarke]. Uterine prolapse with sore, bruised feeling—cannot bear pessary or examination; vulvar aphthae sting and bleed to touch [Hering]. Lochia may become foetid, dark, and exhausting; perineal bedsores develop in prostrate puerperae. The piles picture remains decisive even in gynaecological cases.

Sacrum and coccyx bruised and sore; bedsores threaten early; the patient slips downward and must be drawn up repeatedly [Hering]. Pressure from hard mattress is intolerable; cushions and frequent gentle shifts help (Better For). Lumbar weakness accompanies haemorrhoids.

Cold, livid hands/feet; subungual haemorrhages in septic patients; tremulous weakness [Allen]. Cannot stand; knees give way; slightest motion brings faintness. Petechiae on legs reflect the haemorrhagic diathesis (Skin/Blood).

Ecchymoses, petechiae, bedsores, and black, undermined ulcers that bleed darkly to light touch [Clarke], [Hering]. The skin is clammy; sweat cold and offensive; eruptions heal slowly. Bedsores notably around sacrum, trochanters, and occiput in those who slide down in bed.

Aetiology / Adynamia–Sepsis

• Carbo-veg. — Collapse, air-hunger, wants to be fanned; Mur-ac. has touch-intolerant piles, aphthae, tongue weakness, less air-craving [Clarke], [Kent].
• Arsenicum — Burning pains, intense restlessness, anxiety; Mur-ac. is more torpid, haemorrhagic, sore to touch, with piles/aphthae polarity [Kent], [Clarke].
• Baptisia — Typhoid stupor with besotted sensorium; less aphthous mouth + piles keynote; foetor overlaps [Clarke].

Mouth / Aphthae

• Borax — Aphthae with dread of downward motion; less septic, no piles keynote; Mur-ac. more adynamic [Hering], [Allen].
• Kali-chlor. — Membranous stomatitis; lacks paralytic tongue-too-weak and haemorrhoidal axis [Clarke].
• Merc-sol. — Ulcerative mouth with salivation and heat-worse; not the same dark passive haemorrhage and touch-intolerant piles [Allen].

Rectum / Haemorrhoids–Fissures

• Aesculus — Dry, aching piles with sacral backache, little bleeding; Mur-ac. purple, bleeding, touch-intolerant [Boger].
• Aloe — Fullness, jelly-like mucus, sense of insecurity; Mur-ac. piles exquisitely sore with sepsis [Clarke].
• Ratanhia — Fissure, burning like fire, knife-like pains; less general adynamia [Boericke].
• Nit-ac. — Splinter-like pains, bleeding fissures, strong odour; Mur-ac. more passive haemorrhage, aphthae, and collapse [Hering].

Skin / Bedsores

• Arnica — Sore, bruised bedsores in the injured; Mur-ac. septic, black, oozing with dark bleed, extreme weakness [Boger].
• Pyrogenium — Septicaemia with pulse–temperature discordance; lacks piles/aphthae polarity [Kent].

Female haemorrhage

• Trillium — Profuse bright bleeding with faintness on least motion; Mur-ac. dark, passive oozing with foetor [Boericke].
• Sabina — Active, hot bleeding with sacral–pubic pains; Mur-ac. passive, adynamic [Boger].

General acids

• Sul-ac. — Hasty, trembling, ecchymotic; more craving for acids; Mur-ac. more touch-intolerant piles and tongue paralysis [Allen].
• Phos-ac. — Mental apathy after grief; diarrhoea painless; Mur-ac. piles/aphthae, sepsis, dark oozing [Kent].

• Complementary: Carbo-veg. — Restores reaction in collapse once local soreness is palliated [Clarke].
• Complementary: Aesculus — Chronic venous rectal engorgement between septic flares [Boger].
• Complementary: Hamamelis — Passive venous haemorrhages alongside piles [Boericke].
• Follows well: Baptisia — After typhoid besotted stage when aphthae/piles and dark bleeding appear [Clarke].
• Follows well: Arnica — When bedsores pass from bruised to septic, black, oozing [Boger].
• Precedes well: Ratanhia — Persistent fissure pains after sepsis abates [Boericke].
• Precedes well: Nit-ac. — For lingering fissural splinter pains with offensiveness after convalescence [Hering].
• Compatible with: Trillium — If dark oozing shifts to bright, profuse flooding [Boericke].
• Antidotes: Nux-v. (drug irritability), Hepar-s. (ulcer sensitivity) in some schools [Clarke].
• Related: Sul-ac., Phos-ac., Ars., Carb-v., Aesc., Aloe, Ratanhia, Nit-ac., Arn., Bapt., Pyrog. — see Differentials.
• Inimical (trad.): None firmly established; avoid overuse alongside strong topical caustics [Kent].

• Typhoid/low sepsis with foetor, sliding down, involuntary discharges: Mur-ac. when tongue is too weak to protrude and piles/bedsores are intolerably sore [Hering], [Allen].
• Haemorrhoids (blue, exquisitely sensitive) & fissures: sheet-touch is torture; bleeding dark; small, soft stools and warm sitz palliatives while remedy acts [Clarke], [Boger].
• Aphthae (adults or puerperal) with offensive mouth, dark oozing: use frequent low–medium potencies until reaction appears; then lengthen intervals [Allen], [Boericke].
• Bedsores (black, undermined edges): alternate Arnica (bruised, reactive) and Mur-ac. (septic, adynamic) according to stage [Boger].
• Potency & repetition: In adynamic states many authors favour low to medium (3x–30C) at short intervals initially; in sensitive constitutions with marked polarity, 200C single or spaced doses may trigger steadier reaction—pause on improvement [Clarke], [Kent].
• Case pearls:
  • “Typhoid; patient slips down; piles intolerable to sheet; Mur-ac. restored reaction and control of sphincters” [Hering].
  • “Aphthae with tongue too weak to move; dark oozing haemorrhage—relieved promptly by Mur-ac.” [Allen].
  • “Bedsores in a cachectic puerpera, black edges, dark bleeding—Mur-ac. with careful nursing” [Clarke].

Mind

• Irritability with great weakness — peevish but too tired to react [Clarke].
• Stupor, answers slowly or not at all — typhoid adynamia [Allen].
• Aversion to being moved or touched — pain and faintness from least handling [Hering].
• Anxiety of collapse; fear of sinking — small, compressible pulse [Clarke].
• Apathy alternating with fretfulness — septic toxaemia pattern [Allen].
• Better by quiet company — reassurance steadies [Kent].

Head

• Heaviness of occiput with stupor — low fevers [Clarke].
• Vertigo on raising head; slips down again — profound weakness [Hering].
• Head hot, face dusky during bleedings — passive haemorrhage [Allen].
• Scalp sore to pillow, bedsores threatened — touch intolerance [Clarke].
• Jaw hangs; mouth open in stupor — muscular paresis [Allen].
• Occipital bedsore tendency — nursing cue [Boger].

Mouth

• Aphthae, ulcerations, dark, bleed on touch — cardinal [Hering].
• Tongue too weak to protrude, trembles — keynote [Clarke].
• Foetid saliva, metallic taste — septic mouth [Allen].
• Gums spongy, bleed easily — haemorrhagic diathesis [Boericke].
• Speech thick, indistinct — paralytic tongue [Clarke].
• Cold sips relieve briefly — modality [Hering].

Throat

• Septic sore throat, prostration out of proportion — failure of reaction [Clarke].
• Swallowing difficult from weakness — not spasm [Allen].
• Dark exudations, foetor — adynamic sepsis [Hering].
• Better cool air; worse warm room — sick-room hygiene [Clarke].
• Liquids in sips only — tongue weakness [Hering].
• Touch provokes bleeding — fragile mucosa [Allen].

Rectum

• Haemorrhoids, bluish, exquisitely sensitive — sheet-intolerable [Hering].
• Bleeding, dark, after stool — passive haemorrhage [Allen].
• Fissure with knife-like pains — fissural axis [Boger].
• Prolapse from weakness — sphincter atony [Clarke].
• Involuntary stools in bed — adynamia [Allen].
• Worse least touch; better warm sitz, soft stool — modalities [Hering].

Skin

• Bedsores, black, undermined, bleed on touch — septic stage [Clarke].
• Ecchymoses, petechiae — haemorrhagic terrain [Allen].
• Ulcers oozing dark blood — passive bleed [Hering].
• Cold, clammy perspiration — collapse [Allen].
• Offensive odour permeates room — bedside pointer [Clarke].
• Touch aggravates lesions — management cue [Boger].

Generalities/Fever

• Slides down in bed — classic sign [Hering].
• Small, compressible pulse — cardiac weakness [Clarke].
• Foetor of all discharges — septic signature [Allen].
• Worse touch, heat of bed, exertion, night — modality cluster [Clarke].
• Better cool air, gentle support, tiny sips — nursing synergy [Hering].
• Passive haemorrhages dark, non-reactive — remedy field [Hughes].

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura & Chronic Diseases (1821–1835): provings, preparation notes; early clinical indications.
Hering — Guiding Symptoms (1879): piles, aphthae, adynamia, sliding down in bed, modalities.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): proving and toxicology; septic states; rectal and mouth keynotes.
Clarke, J. H. — Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): low fevers, bedsores, haemorrhagic diathesis, nursing modalities.
Hughes, R. — Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy (1870): toxicologic basis (corrosion, haemorrhage, collapse).
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual (1901): concise keynotes (piles, aphthae, adynamia), relationships.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key (1915): rectal fissure vs piles distinctions; septic bedsores; differentials.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): comparative acids; Carbo-veg./Ars./Mur-ac. polarity.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics (1899): typhoid adynamia; haemorrhagic tendencies.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1901): sepsis, haemorrhoids management; stage sequencing.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): acids compared; haemorrhagic states.
Tyler, M. L. — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): bedside portrait (foetor, stupor, piles); nursing cues.