Stannum

Metallic tin (Sn), a malleable post-transition metal; homeopathic preparations from triturations of the pure metal. Early toxicologic notes emphasise gastric irritation, metallic taste, and neurasthenic fatigue, with occupational exposure associated with respiratory irritation (“stannosis” dust) and laryngo-bronchial weakness—lines that presage the remedy’s peculiar profound weakness centred in the chest and larynx, exhausting cough, and voice failure from the least exertion of speaking [Hughes], [Clarke]. Hahnemann’s proving established the classic crescendo–decrescendo quality of many Stannum pains and the striking emptiness/weakness in the chest despite abundant catarrh [Hahnemann], [Hering], [Allen]. [Proving] [Toxicology]

Extensive industrial use (alloys, plating); medicinally insignificant in the crude beyond historical vermifuge salts (stannous compounds), whose irritant effects helped frame the abdominal and neurasthenic elements later recognised in the remedy [Hughes], [Clarke].

Hahnemann and later compilers (Hering, Allen) record great prostration, voice weariness, exhausting cough with copious expectoration, sensation of emptiness in chest, colic relieved by pressure, uterine bearing-down and prolapse-tendency, constipation with soft stool needing great straining, facial/trigeminal neuralgia, and characteristic pains that increase gradually to a peak and decline slowly (“crescendo–diminuendo”) [Hahnemann], [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Kent]. [Proving] [Clinical]

• Chest & lungs (primary motor centre of weakness): Profound weakness/emptiness in chest, exhausting cough, voice fatigue, must talk slowly or stop, descending stairs aggravates breathlessness; pressure with hands to sternum gives relief; better after expectoration though weakness remains [Kent], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hering].
• Larynx/voice: Aphonia from speaking, voice breaks; readers/singers fail early; hoarseness with tough green or sweetish sputum; talking excites cough [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke].
• Bronchi/catarrh: Copious, often greenish, sweetish or saltish expectoration, rattling yet exhausting; cough worse talking, laughing, singing, after exertion, better lying on right side and after bringing something up [Clarke], [Boericke], [Nash].
• Abdomen/colic: Griping colic relieved by strong pressure or by bending double; emptiness at epigastrium; flatulence with weakness [Hering], [Allen].
• Rectum: Constipation with soft stool requiring great effort (paretic expulsion); rectal weakness; piles tender after straining [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke] (cf. Alum.).
• Female pelvic floor: Bearing-down as if everything would protrude, prolapse-tendency, must cross legs or press with hand, leucorrhoea like albumen with debility; labour-like pains with crescendo–decrescendo profile [Clarke], [Hering], [Kent].
• Neuralgia (face, intercostals, ovaries): Pains increase gradually to a peak, then subside slowly; pressure relieves; motion and talking aggravate; intercostal and trigeminal tracks common [Hering], [Allen], [Farrington], [Boger].
• General neuromuscular: Extreme fatigue from the least exertion, limbs feel powerless, drops things, knees give way; descending aggravates more than ascending—a keynote [Kent], [Clarke], [Tyler].
• Mind/nerve tone: Weary, despondent, anxious about health, cognitive slowness with muscular exhaustion; sensitive to music (aggravates by stirring emotions) [Kent], [Clarke], [Nash].

• Firm pressure on the painful part (abdomen, intercostals, sternum). [Hering], [Boger]
• After expectoration—breathing easier; cough abates, though weakness persists. [Boericke], [Clarke]
• Rest, silence, speaking little and slowly; avoidance of vocal effort. [Kent], [Hering]
• Lying on the right side or supporting the chest with pillows/hands. [Clarke]
• Leaning forward/bending double during colic or cough. [Hering]
• Warmth, wraps, warm drinks for chest soreness and neuralgia. [Boericke], [Allen]
• Gentle, steady pressure/bandaging over pelvic floor (bearing-down states). [Clarke]
• Open air that is mild and still (harsh wind aggravates, calm air soothes). [Tyler]
• Short naps or after a quiet sleep—temporary renewal of strength. [Nash]
• Support while descending (handrail); slow measured steps. [Clinical]
• Eating a little may relieve the hollow, sinking feeling. [Clarke]
• Massage of weak limbs and intercostals. [Clinical]

• Talking, reading aloud, singing, even a short conversation—evokes cough and prostration. [Hering], [Kent], [Boericke]
• Exertion, ascending then especially descending stairs, lifting; the descent notably exhausts and shakes the chest. [Kent], [Clarke]
• Motion, laughing, deep breathing, cold air, drafts—cough and pains flare. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Evening and after exertions; forenoon sinking in some provers. [Allen], [Hering]
• Touch (neuralgia), yet firm pressure relieves—paradox typical of Stann. [Hering], [Boger]
• Music/emotion—stirs and fatigues the nerves, renews cough/weakness. [Kent]
• Heat of bed at night for intercostal neuralgia; morning for cough on waking to speak. [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Stooping, talking while standing, and cold damp weather. [Clarke], [Tyler]
• Fasting—hollow, sinking, tremulous weakness worse when empty. [Clarke]
• Pregnancy/lochia exertions—bearing-down returns with effort. [Hering], [Clarke]
• Odours, smoke, dust in readers/singers—laryngeal fatigue rekindled. [Boericke]

• Exhausting cough with weakness/emptiness of chest; expectoration relieves
  • Phosphorus — Burning, haemorrhage, thirst for cold, emotional openness; less peculiar descent-worse and soft-stool-with-straining. [Clarke], [Kent]
  • Antimonium tart. — Rales with inability to raise, cyanosis, drowsiness; Stann. can raise after effort but is spent. [Hering], [Boericke]
  • Causticum — Aphonia/paresis; cough from tickle in larynx; expectoration not so greenish/sweetish; lacks descent-worse. [Clarke]
  • Drosera — Paroxysmal, spasmodic, after midnight; retching; little emptiness motif. [Boger], [Farrington]
  • Kali carbonicum — Stitching, lower-lobe weakness, oedema, 3–4 a.m. aggravation; Stann. marked voice-fatigue and pressure >. [Clarke]
  • Stann. vs. Stann-salts — Metallic Stann. shows voice/chest motor weakness and stool paradox; salts (e.g., Stann-iod.) shift toward glands/skin. [Clarke], [Boger]
• Pelvic bearing-down / prolapse-tendency
  • Sepia — Marked indifference, pelvic relaxation, ball-bearing-down, better exercise; Stann. worse exertion, needs mechanical support. [Kent], [Clarke]
  • Murex — Excited sexuality with bearing-down; Stann. lacks erotic hyperæsthesia. [Farrington]
  • Lilium tigrinum — Hysterical alternations; urgent bearing-down; more mental unrest. [Tyler]
• Neuralgia with gradual increase/decrease
  • Magnesia phosphorica — Cramping, lightning-like pains better pressure and heat, but lacks the staged crescendo–decrescendo emphasis. [Clarke]
  • Spigelia — Thread-like, left-sided ocular/heart stitches; posture rules (right-side), not the Stann. pressure-better colics. [Farrington]
  • Mezereum — Burning bone-pains with eruption; different terrain. [Hering]
• Constipation paradox: soft stool yet needs straining
  • Alumina — Atony without desire; stools hard, dry; no soft-yet-difficult peculiarity. [Allen], [Clarke]
  • Silicea — Ineffectual urging with spasm; stool recedes; Stann. marked soft stool with labour. [Hering]

• Complementary: Phosphorus—after Stann. frees mucus and steadies voice, Phos. may rebuild reactive weakness; reversed order when burning, haemorrhagic signs dominate. [Clarke], [Kent]
• Complementary: Calcarea—chronic catarrhal constitutions that collapse on exertion; Calc. builds base after Stann. has restored mechanics. [Farrington]
• Follows well: Antimonium tart. in bronchitis as power to raise returns; Causticum when paresis recedes to Stann.’s motor weakness. [Boericke], [Boger]
• Precedes well: Kali carb. or Carbo veg. if failure persists with oedema or flat collapse; Sepia if pelvic bearing-down dominates after the chest clears. [Clarke], [Nash]
• Inimical/antidotal notes: Over-use of voice, music, cold damp aggravate; counsel pacing speech, warmth, and supports while dosing. [Kent], [Tyler]

Stann. is the economy of effort made into a remedy. The organism’s motor seems seated in the chest and larynx; when asked to speak, laugh, descend, or exert, the machinery runs down: an exhausting cough comes, copious greenish/sweetish sputum is raised with relief, and the patient is left hollow. The hand goes instinctively to the sternum or abdomen to press and support. Every feature repeats this mechanics: pressure relieves, descent aggravates, pains climb and fall like a musical phrase, soft stool paradoxically needs straining, pelvic organs sag unless supported. The subject economises breath—answers in short phrases, reads silently, stands still, leans; a short nap restores some clarity but not power. Compare Phosphorus (brighter, burning, thirsty for cold; collapses after over-openness), Ant-t. (drowning rales, no expulsive power), Causticum (paretic cords without the mucous and stool paradoxes), Sepia (bearing-down without the voice-chest motor centre). In clinics of readers, singers, teachers, in elderly bronchitics, in post-grippal states with hollow chest and soft-stool labour, Stann. earns preference when after expectoration comes relief yet prostration—and when descending stairs tells you more than spirometry. The practical art is to pace speech, humidify warmth, bind and support, and let Stann. re-prime the chest’s motor. Case-pearl 1: Chronic bronchitis in a lecturer; two pages aloud triggered racking cough and emptiness; Stann. 30C b.i.d. with voice rationing cleared the cough and restored graded reading [Kent], [Clarke]. Case-pearl 2: Woman with bearing-down and albuminous leucorrhoea whose cough and pelvic drag worsened descending; Stann. 200C plus perineal support relieved both spheres within a cycle [Hering], [Clarke]. Case-pearl 3: Constipation with soft stool needing great straining in a convalescent bronchitic; Stann. 6x normalised stool and lessened chest emptiness over a week [Allen]. [Clinical]

• Voice-worker’s bronchitic cough (greenish/sweetish sputum, voice fatigue, after expectoration relief yet prostration): Stann. 6C–30C every 4–6 hours acutely; taper as cough eases; enforce voice rationing and humid warmth. [Boericke], [Clarke], [Kent]
• Emptiness of chest with descent-worse in convalescence: single 30C–200C then observe; add sternal support training for stairs; compare Phos. if burning/thirst predominate. [Kent], [Tyler]
• Constipation: soft stool yet must strain (rectal atony): Stann. 6x–12x b.i.d. with abdominal support and warm fluids; distinguish from Alum. (dry hard stool, no desire). [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke]
• Pelvic bearing-down with chest weakness: Stann. 30C–200C; insist on mechanical support (crossing legs, pessary evaluation where appropriate) while tone returns; compare Sepia if mental indifference dominates. [Clarke], [Kent]
• Intercostal/trigeminal neuralgia with gradual rise/fall and pressure >: Stann. 6C–30C during waves; warm compression and stillness potentiate action. [Hering], [Boger], [Farrington]

Mind

• MIND — DESPONDENCY — weakness from the least effort — with. — Practical dread of exertion.
• MIND — AVERSION to conversation — speaking aggravates complaints. — Voice-economy.
• MIND — MUSIC — aggravates. — Nerve fatigue stirred by emotion.

Head / Face

• HEAD — DIZZINESS — descending stairs — aggravates. — Descent-worse keynote.
• HEAD — PAIN — temporal/malar — gradually increasing and decreasing. — Stann. time-curve.
• FACE — NEURALGIA — pressure — ameliorates — motion/talking — aggravates. — Neuralgic paradox.

Throat / Larynx / Voice

• VOICE — WEAK — reading aloud — aggravates — aphonia from exertion of voice. — Speaker’s failure.
• LARYNX — TICKLING — talking — aggravates — cough from. — Phonation-cough link.
• THROAT — RAWNESS — speaking — aggravates — warm drinks — ameliorate. — Warmth soothes use-fatigue.

Cough / Chest / Expectoration

• COUGH — TALKING — aggravates; LAUGHING — aggravates; DESCENDING — aggravates. — Use and descent triggers.
• EXPECTORATION — GREENISH — sweetish/saltish — copious — after coughing — relief. — Classic Stann. sputum/relief.
• CHEST — EMPTINESS — weakness — speaking — aggravates — pressure — ameliorates. — Motor centre failure.
• PAIN — INTERCOSTAL — pressure — ameliorates — motion — aggravates — gradual onset/decline. — Neuralgia signature.

Abdomen / Rectum

• ABDOMEN — COLIC — pressure — ameliorates — bending double — ameliorates. — Mechanical relief.
• RECTUM — CONSTIPATION — soft stool; yet must strain greatly. — Atony paradox.

Female

• GENITALIA — BEARING-DOWN — must cross legs/press vulva. — Mechanical support need.
• LEUCORRHOEA — albuminous — weakness — with. — Pelvic atony pattern.

Generalities

• GENERALITIES — DESCENDING — aggravates. — Stairs signature.
• GENERALITIES — PRESSURE — ameliorates — touch — aggravates. — Stann. paradox.
• GENERALITIES — EXERTION — from the least — aggravates — prostration. — Global fatigue.
• GENERALITIES — AFTER EXPECTORATION — amelioration. — Turning-point cue.
• GENERALITIES — MUSIC — aggravates. — Emotional stir costs energy.

Sleep

• SLEEP — UNREFRESHING — wakes tired — cough on speaking after waking. — Morning economy required.
• SLEEP — NAPS — short — ameliorate. — Brief reset of nerve tone.

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura / Chronic Diseases (early 19th c.): proving bedrock—emptiness of chest, stool paradox, crescendo–decrescendo pains.
Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): voice fatigue, greenish/sweet sputum, pressure > colic, pelvic bearing-down; modalities.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): cough/expectoration, rectal atony with soft stool, neuralgia time-curve, descent-worse notes.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): reader’s aphonia, descent-worse chest weakness, albuminous leucorrhoea; comparisons.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): “motor in the chest,” voice-exhaustion, economy of effort, stairs modality.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1901): greenish sweet sputum; pressure >; cough from talking; relationships.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modality grid—pressure >, motion/touch <; intercostal neuralgia; sequencing.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (late 19th c.): neuralgia comparisons (Mag-phos., Spig., Mez.); pelvic vs. chest differentials.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1907): short naps restore mind, not power; cough–weakness relation.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870s): tin background; occupational notes; catarrhal rationale.
Tyler, M. L. — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): “descending-worse” portraits; teacher/reader cases; practical pacing.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1901): chest catarrhs, voice-worker counsel; regimen adjuncts.
Phatak, S. R. — Concise Materia Medica (1977): keynotes—emptiness of chest, stool paradox, cough from speaking.