Oleum jecoris aselli

An animal fatty oil obtained from the liver of the cod (family Gadidae), long employed as a nutritive and alterative in phthisis, scrofula, and rickets. Classical writers describe a material rich in fatty principles and marine traces, whose prolonged administration improves weight, bone growth, and resistance to infection, while large doses may induce nausea, diarrhoea, headache, and cutaneous eruptions [Hughes], [Clarke]. In homeopathy, the pure oil is triturated/attenuated and prescribed by similarity where the constitutional terrain is that of emaciation with hunger, poor assimilation, chilliness, night-sweats, catarrhal chest weakness, enlarged lymphatic glands, caries, and tendency to suppuration—especially in children and delicate adults of the tubercular or scrofulous habitus [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke], [Boger]. Its sphere bridges nutrition, respiration, glands, bones, and skin, often as a constitutional intercurrent to steady convalescence and arrest wasting [Clarke], [Dewey].

No complete Hahnemannian proving. The pathogenesis rests on fragmentary provings, toxicology, and abundant clinical confirmations in phthisical and scrofulous states—emaciation with increased appetite, chilliness with night-sweats, chronic catarrh, glandular swellings, rickets/caries, diarrhoea in children, and dermal eruptions from oil intolerance [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Tags: [Clinical] [Toxicology].

Oleum jecoris aselli is a terrain remedy: it suits the wasting, chilly, sweat-soaked constitution whose appetite is good but assimilation is bad, where chronic chest catarrh, enlarged glands, rickets/caries, and dry, rough skin weave a single fabric [Clarke], [Hering], [Boericke], [Boger]. The pace is slow and draining rather than stormy; the reactivity is blunted—little fever, much sweat; the thermal state is cold-damp-averse with a thirst for dry warmth. The picture often begins in childhood: a thin, fair or pale little one with a big belly, sweaty head by night, open fontanelles, large glands, chronic coryza, and a tickling cough that worsens in fog. He eats eagerly yet does not gain; fats disgust or loosen the bowels; when growth spurts or dentition demand more, rickets appears. In youths and adults the same axis shows as short breath on stairs, palpitation, evening flushing, and profuse night-sweats, with dry winter cough and general prostration.

Key polarities: Worse cold damp, winter/evening, exertion, rich/fatty foods, night in bed, and rapid growth/dentition; better dry warmth and sun, simple frequent feeding, gentle graded exercise, rest, warm bathing and thorough drying, and calcic–phosphoric companionship. The kingdom signature—an animal nutritive oil—maps to its clinical action on assimilation, ossification, and resistance: it steadies the organism rather than excites it. Choose Ol-j. over Calc-phos. when night-sweats + chest catarrh dominate, over Calc-c. when the habit is lean rather than flabby, over Phosphorus when burning/bleeding are absent and chilliness with sweats is the keynote, over Iodum when restlessness and heat are not present, and over Silicea when suppuration is not yet the main event. Clinically, it shines as a constitutional intercurrent to consolidate gains after an acute catarrh and to carry the delicate, sweat-weary patient through the long arc back to robustness [Clarke], [Dewey], [Farrington].

• Nutrition / blood-building — Wasting with voracious appetite yet poor assimilation; convalescents who “eat and do not thrive”; night-sweats and chilliness mark the milieu [Clarke], [Hering], [Boericke].
• Respiratory mucosa / apices of lungs — Chronic bronchial catarrh, short breath on exertion, weak chest, emaciation, and sweaty nights; useful in the phthisical diathesis [Clarke], [Boger], [Dewey].
• Lymphatic glands — Enlarged, indurated cervical and mesenteric glands in scrofulous children; slow suppuration tendency [Hering], [Allen].
• Bones (rickets / caries) — Delayed dentition, soft bones, curved tibiae, caries; “grows tall and thin, without strength” [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Skin — Dry, rough skin; eczematous and impetiginous eruptions in the scrofulous; some oil-eruptions (acneiform) from intolerance [Allen], [Clarke].
• Gastro-intestinal — Repugnance to fats or nausea, loose stools—acid, undigested—especially in children when diet is rich; mesenteric weakness [Allen], [Hering].
• General sweat / thermoregulation — Profuse night-sweats with chilliness by day; sweat does not relieve prostration [Boger], [Boericke].

A constitutional weariness with dulness of energy pervades the Ol-j. subject; the child is apathetic, sits listlessly, and resents being roused for play, yet will brighten after food only to flag again—an ebb and flow that matches the poor assimilation keynote [Clarke], [Hering]. Peevishness alternates with quiet sadness; school tasks oppress, and attention wanders, bringing frontal ache and sleepiness—a brain-fatigue that tallies with worse from mental strain already noted [Clarke], [Tyler]. The consumptive adult fears exertion, not from anxiety but from experience of breathlessness and sweats; evening finds him averse to society, seeking the warm corner and an early bed which, paradoxically, yields night-sweats and tickling cough (cross-link Chest/Sleep) [Boericke], [Boger]. Children of scrofulous habit show timidity and cling to the nurse; they cry on waking, gape for air after a little running, and bargain for food between whiles—“always hungry, yet thin,” precisely the nutritional polarity of the remedy [Hering], [Allen]. Morbid fears are not a central feature; rather, a flattened affect with low reactivity, save when cold or fatty food revives the visceral symptoms (cross-link Stomach/Generalities). Compared with Phosphorus, there is less emotional brilliance and bleeding tendency; compared with Calc-phos., less fretful impatience with growth pains; Ol-j. centres on wasting with night-sweats and chest weakness in a gentle, subdued temperament [Clarke], [Farrington].

Sleep is unrefreshing; the patient sweats profusely after midnight, must change damp linen; cough wakens towards early morning [Boericke], [Clarke]. Children grind teeth during dentition; cry out and demand drink or food, then soon sleep again, showing the hunger–wasting axis. Daytime drowsiness with study is common; short mid-day sleep helps if followed by gentle exercise (Better For).

Dreams of exertion and exhaustion; of falling and waking clammy; of school tasks unfinished—mental fatigue embodied (Mind link) [Clarke]. Febrile children dream of fright and wake with cough in cold rooms.

Oleum jecoris aselli addresses the wasting, sweat-ridden, scrofulo-tubercular terrain: emaciation with good appetite, chilliness by day, profuse night-sweats, weak chest with chronic catarrh, enlarged glands, rickets/caries, and skin eruptions of the scrofulous child [Clarke], [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke], [Boger], [Farrington], [Dewey]. The modal polarity is plain: worse cold damp, winter/evening, exertion, rich/fatty food, rapid growth/dentition, night in bed, and suppressed discharges; better dry warmth, sunny air without chill, simple frequent feeding, gentle graded exercise, rest, warm bathing with thorough drying, and, constitutionally, by calcic–phosphoric stewardship. Cross-links recur: Mind’s dulness springs from mal-assimilation; Head/Eyes share study fatigue; Lymph and Bones declare the scrofulous stamp; Chest shows catarrh + sweats; Skin and Rectum externalise the dietary intolerance; Sleep seals the case with after-midnight sweats. Differentiate from Calc-phos. (growth-pains, open fontanelles, fretful; less chest catarrh), Calc-c. (sweaty head, flabby habit, fearfulness), Phosphorus (haemorrhage, burning, sympathy craving), Silicea (suppuration, cold clammy feet, obstinacy), Iodum (ravenous with wasting but hot, restless), Stannum (utter chest weakness, voice fails), Tuberculinum (changeability, restlessness, recurrent colds), and Psorinum (filthy odour, despair, great chilliness), choosing Ol-j. when nutrition-respiration-sweat form the governing triad with fat intolerance and cold-damp aggravation [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger], [Farrington], [Tyler].

Evening rise with flushed cheeks, cold hands/feet, and later night-sweats; fever is low and remittent, aligning with chronic catarrh rather than acute sepsis [Clarke], [Boericke]. Chill from damp air induces a reactive heat and sweat; fever falls as nutrition improves.

Chill in cold damp; seeks warmth; heat moderate in evening; sweat profuse at night, especially chest, neck, and scalp, without relief—keynote triad [Boger], [Boericke]. Suppressing sweat aggravates chest symptoms—observe the tubercular law (Generalities).

Headaches are frontal and occipital, worse towards evening and with study; a weight on the brow accompanies eye-strain in delicate students [Clarke]. In rickety children the head is large relatively, fontanelles slow to close, with sweat on scalp at night—signs that echo the bone/constitutional affinity (Bones/Sweat cross-links) [Farrington], [Hering]. Dizziness on rising quickly occurs with palpitation in the under-nourished; fresh air relieves if chill is avoided. Scalp may be dry, desquamating, or subject to impetiginous patches in the scrofulous (Skin link) [Clarke]. The head clears with food and rest, but re-clouds under cold damp or exertion, reflecting the general modality set. Compared: Calc-phos. (school-headaches in growing youths), Phos. (rush of blood, photophobia, haemorrhagic tendency), Nat-m. (headaches with emaciation but dryness rather than sweat).

Scrofulous ophthalmia in children with gluey lids, photophobia, and tears that excoriate the cheek is frequently cited where glands are large and skin eruptions co-exist [Hering], [Clarke]. Vision blurs with study; the ocular fatigue fits the general nutritive weakness. Light per se is not the principal modality; wind and cold damp aggravate, and warm dryness relieves (modal cross-link). Compare Calc-c. (blepharitis with sweat and open fontanelles), Graphites (fissured angles with sticky crusts), selecting Ol-j. where emaciation, glandular swellings, and night-sweats headline the case [Clarke], [Boericke].

Chronic otorrhoea of the scrofulous with enlarged post-auricular glands, pallor, and poor growth stands in the Ol-j. orbit; discharge is thin or offensive, relapsing in cold damp [Clarke], [Hering]. Hearing dull in catarrhal weather; warmth and improved nutrition bring intervals of quiet. Compare Kali-s. (yellow discharge; open air >) and Puls. (bland otorrhoea in gentle children), taking Ol-j. when wasting and bone/gland signs prevail.

Chronic coryza, with crusts and bleeding on picking, recurs in winter; smell dull; adenoids and large glands go with mouth-breathing at night [Clarke], [Boger]. Cold fog sets the coryza and cough together; drier warmth calms. The nasal field shares the scrofulous stamp; improvement parallels weight gain and bone strength (Generalities cross-link).

Face pale, sometimes flushed with exertion; lips anaemic; dark under-eyes; scrofulous eczema about nostrils and ears common [Clarke], [Hering]. Edges crack in wind; an odour of stale sweat clings after nights of perspiration. Compared with Sulph., there is less heat and itch; with Psorinum, less fetor and despair; Ol-j. is a quieter, nutritive picture.

Aphthous patches in delicate children; gums spongy in the under-fed; tongue pale, coated towards evening [Allen], [Clarke]. Appetite good or craving, yet food “does not feed him,” a hallmark echoed in Stomach and Generalities. Fats may disgust, or if taken, provoke nausea/looseness—a practical intolerance that reinforces worse from fat.

Delayed dentition; teeth late and poorly calcified; caries early; gnashes at night during teething with sweat on scalp (Bones/Sleep linkage) [Hering], [Farrington]. Chewing strengthens appetite yet tires jaw in the wasted child. Calc-phos. remains the closer ally; Ol-j. follows where night-sweats and chest weakness predominate.

Chronic pharyngeal catarrh with hawking; tonsils large in the scrofulous; throat dry in heated rooms, worse cold damp out-of-doors [Clarke], [Boericke]. Swallowing easy; appetite unimpeded, but fats nauseate (Stomach link). The throat is a passageway reflecting the constitutional state rather than a primary seat.

Weak chest with short breath on exertion, tickling cough at night, and exhausting sweats; expectoration scant or muco-purulent in chronic bronchial catarrh; haemoptysis rare but possible in the phthisical [Clarke], [Boericke]. The cough is more catarrhal than spasmodic; cold damp is the surest external aggravation; dry warmth, rest, and gradual exercise help. Children wheeze on running yet recover quickly if kept warm and dry (modal cross-link). Compare Phos. (heat, burning, haemorrhage), Stannum (marked chest weakness, voice fatigue), Calc-c. (sweat of head and chest with flabby habit).

Palpitation from slight exertion in the deconditioned; pulse soft, sometimes compressible in evening; cardiac symptoms are reflex to anaemia and chest weakness rather than primary valvular disease [Clarke], [Dewey]. Lying quietly calms, but the night-sweat follows—another link in the cycle of prostration.

Breath short, especially on ascending; sighing; catch at the top of inspiration in cold air; cough tickling and teasing at night [Clarke], [Boger]. In damp fog the bronchi fill; in dry warmth they clear—exactly the remedy’s climate polarity. Expansive breathing improves under gentle training when nutrition rises (Better For: exercise without chill).

Good appetite with emaciation typifies the remedy; craves food, but fats or heavy meals bring nausea, eructations, or vomiting; repugnance to the oil taste is not uncommon [Allen], [Clarke]. Sinking towards evening, desire for frequent small feeds; after eating there is comfort if diet is simple. In adults, heartburn and sense of weight after grease match the intolerance modality. Stomach signs improve as assimilation improves—an explicit cross-link with Affinity: Nutrition.

Abdomen full with mesenteric weakness; glands felt along the chain in children; wind after fatty food; colicky pains with loose stools [Hering], [Allen]. The abdomen emaciates while the belly protrudes, a scrofulous configuration (Bones/Glands tie). Warm, dry applications soothe; damp chills renew distension and looseness (modal cross-link).

Loose, offensive stools with undigested food; worse after fats or fruit; perineum excoriated in infants [Allen], [Hering]. Evening diarrhoea exhausts and anticipates night-sweats; mornings quieter with simple fare. When nutrition mends, stools firm and frequency falls—an objective marker of remedy action.

Urine pale, copious in the day; sweat bears the brunt of elimination by night (Generalities). Enuresis may occur in exhausted children after bad nights; improve when sweat abates and chest quiets (cross-link Sleep/Chest).

Craves food yet wastes; fats disgust or disagree; milk/cream may loosen bowels; warm, simple fare suits best [Allen], [Clarke]. Thirst moderate; cold drinks in damp weather renew cough; cod-liver oil itself may be repugnant though the attenuated remedy suits the case (toxicology–similars point).

Sexual power low in the wasted; emissions with weakness in youths who over-study and under-eat (Mind link) [Clarke]. Testes may be sensitive in scrofulous boys with gland enlargements. The sphere is secondary to nutrition.

Menses late to appear in delicate girls; scanty, with fatigue, palpitations, cold feet, and night-sweats [Clarke]. During growth spurts, rickets and scoliosis worsen; Ol-j. assists alongside calcic remedies (Relationships). Nursing mothers thin despite appetite; fats disgust; cracked nipples in winter respond as nutrition improves.

Dorsal fatigue; aching between scapulae after short exertion; spine weak in growing children; curvature tendencies in rickets [Farrington], [Clarke]. Warmth and support assist; cold benches renew pain. Sweat wets the back at night, demanding a change of linen (Sweat link).

Thin limbs, muscles soft, bones tender; tibiae bend; ankles weak; feet cold and damp in the evening [Farrington], [Clarke]. Knees ache on stairs; hands chilly. Chilblain-like erythema in winter; dry warmth eases. Compare Calc-phos. (growing pains), Sil. (sweaty feet, suppuration, caries).

Dry, rough, easily chapped skin; eczema of scalp/behind ears in scrofulous children; impetiginous lesions slow to heal; boils recur in the under-nourished [Hering], [Clarke]. Night-sweats leave skin clammy; rash may flare when oil is ill-borne (toxic note) [Allen]. Healing advances with warm dryness, simple diet, and steady constitutional support (modal cross-link).

Nutrition / Wasting

• Iodum — Wasting with restless heat and incessant hunger; Ol-j. is chilly, sweat-ridden, and calmer [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Phosphorus — Tall, fine-fibred, burning chest, haemorrhagic bent; Ol-j. less haemorrhage, more night-sweat + catarrh [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Psorinum — Extreme chilliness, filthy odour, despair; Ol-j. lacks the fetor and hopelessness, stresses nutrition [Boger].
• Tuberculinum — Changeable, craving change, recurrent colds; use as intercurrent when case stalls; Ol-j. steadies assimilation [Clarke], [Tyler].

Glands / Bones

• Calc-phos. — Growth pains, school-headache; Ol-j. when catarrh + sweats dominate the same child [Farrington], [Dewey].
• Calc-c. — Flabby, sweat of head, fear; slower, heavier; Ol-j. thinner, more chest-catarrh [Clarke].
• Silicea — Suppuration, fistulae, caries with chill; more offensive discharges than Ol-j. [Boger].

Chest / Catarrh

• Stannum — Extreme chest fatigue, voice gives way; Ol-j. broader constitutional wasting and night-sweats [Clarke].
• Ferr-phos. — Early inflammatory catarrh with anaemia; Ol-j. for chronic, sweat-ridden catarrh [Dewey].
• Kali-s. — Yellow, shifting catarrh; open air >; Ol-j. cold-damp < with wasting [Boger].

Skin / Scrofula

• Graphites — Gluey oozing, fissures; Ol-j. drier, rough skin with gland/bone signs [Clarke].
• Sulphur — Heat, itch, ragged look; Ol-j. cooler, sweat at night, fat intolerance [Kent], [Clarke].

• Complementary: Calc-phos. — Acts on growth-bone axis while Ol-j. fortifies assimilation; frequently paired in rickets [Farrington], [Dewey].
• Complementary: Calc-c. — Constitutional calcic base in scrofulous children; Ol-j. adds anti-wasting support [Clarke].
• Complementary: Phosphorus — For delicate chests with irritative cough when sweating abates but weakness remains [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Follows well: Tuberculinum — After the terrain is unlocked in tubercular diathesis, to consolidate nutrition [Tyler], [Clarke].
• Follows well: Ferr-phos. — After febrile catarrh subsides, to rebuild in the convalescent [Dewey].
• Precedes well: Silicea — When suppuration/caries emerges as strength returns [Boger].
• Precedes well: Stannum — If sheer chest weakness remains after catarrh decreases [Clarke].
• Antidotes (functional): Warm, dry climate, simple diet, graded exercise, regular sleep; Nux-v. for gastric over-dosing with oils (toxicology note) [Allen], [Clarke].

• Scrofulous/rickety child: Sweaty scalp at night, big belly, thin limbs, enlarged glands, chronic coryza/cough, fat intolerance—use Ol-j. with calcic allies; insist on dry warmth, simple diet, routine [Hering], [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Phthisical catarrh with night-sweats: quiet, chilly patient; short breath on exertion, tickling nocturnal cough, sweats—Ol-j. between and after acute phases steadies assimilation [Clarke], [Boericke], [Dewey].
• Convalescence after influenza/bronchitis: appetite returns but strength and weight do not; chest easily tired; prescribe Ol-j. and graded exercise without chill [Clarke], [Boger].
• Potency & repetition: Constitutional cases respond to 6C–30C once or twice daily for brief courses, then pause; in deep diathesis, a 200C at intervals as an intercurrent while managing with Calc-phos./Calc-c. according to the bone/gland picture; avoid dosing through febrile spikes—wait for the sweat-ridden convalescent phase [Dewey], [Farrington].

Mind

• Apathy with peevishness in delicate children — nutrition-fatigue portrait [Hering], [Clarke].
• Aversion to exertion from weakness — breathless, sweat-prone [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Mental fatigue from study in undersized youths — school-headaches [Clarke], [Tyler].
• Timidity; clings to nurse — scrofulous child [Hering].
• Sadness towards evening with bodily exhaustion — low glow of the diathesis [Clarke].
• Better after food, soon weak again — assimilation failure [Allen].

Head / Eyes

• Head-sweat at night (children) — rickets terrain [Hering], [Farrington].
• Headache from study in delicate youths — brow weight [Clarke].
• Scrofulous ophthalmia with enlarged glands — constitutional pointer [Hering], [Clarke].
• Photophobia with gluey lids (children) — chronic catarrh [Clarke].
• Fontanelles slow to close — ossification lag [Farrington].
• Dizziness on rising with palpitation — anaemic weakness [Clarke].

Chest / Respiration

• Catarrh, chronic, scrofulous subjects — weak chest [Clarke], [Dewey].
• Cough, tickling, night, cold damp aggravates — climate modality [Boger], [Boericke].
• Dyspnoea on ascending; palpitation from slight exertion — deconditioning [Clarke].
• Night-sweats with cough — phthisical stamp [Boericke].
• Emaciation with good appetite — paradox of the remedy [Clarke].
• Better dry warmth; worse fog — polarity [Clarke], [Boger].

Glands / Bones

• Glands, cervical/mesenteric, enlarged (children) — scrofula [Hering].
• Rickets; delayed dentition — growth lag [Farrington].
• Caries; bone tenderness — deep nutrition fault [Clarke].
• Ankles weak; tibiae curve — mechanical sequel [Farrington].
• Sweat of head in sleep (children) — bone link [Hering].
• Rapid growth aggravates — demand > supply [Farrington].

Skin

• Eczema/impetigo in scrofulous children — cutaneous outlet [Hering], [Clarke].
• Dry, rough skin; chapped — surface sign [Clarke].
• Boils recurrent in under-nourished — suppurative tendency [Hering].
• Excoriation in infants from loose stools — gut–skin loop [Allen].
• Worse cold damp; better warm dry — climatic rule [Clarke].
• Eruptions after fat/oils — intolerance mark [Allen].

Stomach/Abdomen/Rectum

• Hunger with emaciation — assimilation failure [Clarke].
• Repugnance to fat; fat aggravates — gastric intolerance [Allen].
• Stools undigested, sour in children — mesenteric weakness [Hering].
• Abdomen full with thin limbs — scrofulous habit [Clarke].
• Diarrhoea evenings; night-sweats follow — course note [Boericke].
• Better small, simple meals — nursing rule [Clarke].

Generalities / Sweat

• Night-sweats, exhausting; must change linen — central keynote [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Cold, damp air aggravates; dry warmth ameliorates — climate axis [Boger].
• Exertion aggravates; gentle exercise (without chill) improves — training rule [Clarke].
• Suppressed discharges aggravate chest — tubercular law [Hering], [Boger].
• Winter aggravation — seasonality [Clarke].
• Convalescence slow; eats yet does not thrive — essence [Clarke], [Dewey].

Hughes, R. — Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy (1870): notes on cod-liver oil pharmacology and intolerance (GI, head, skin).
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): fragmentary proving/toxic data; gastric repugnance to fats; undigested stools in children.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms (1879): scrofulous child picture—glands, head-sweat, rickets, catarrh; constitutional pointers.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): terrain—phthisis, scrofula, rickets; modalities (cold damp <, dry warmth >); assimilation failure.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—night-sweats, chest weakness, emaciation with appetite, fat intolerance.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key (1915): climate modalities; chronic catarrh of delicate subjects; repertory relations.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): rickets/ossification; delayed dentition; remedy relations with calcic group.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (1901): convalescence; chest catarrh; sequencing with Ferr-phos., Calc-phos., Phos.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): comparative notes—Sulph., Psor., Phos., Calcic group in scrofulous constitutions.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homeopathic Therapeutics (1899): concise constitutional cues for wasting and night-sweats.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): portraits of delicate school children; mental and study fatigue in growth phases.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1941): terse rubrics—wasting, night-sweats, fat intolerance, cold damp <.