Petroleum

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons derived from fossilised organic matter. In its raw state, it is volatile, flammable, and toxic. In homeopathy, it is prepared through serial dilution and succussion, rendering it energetically potent without material toxicity.

Used extensively in the fuel, plastic, and chemical industries; source of petrol, diesel, kerosene, lubricants, asphalt, and more. Historically, it was employed in folk medicine for skin disorders and rheumatism.

Proved by Hahnemann and published in Materia Medica Pura. Confirmed and expanded through clinical use by Allen, Clarke, and Hering.

• Skin – especially dry, cracked, fissured skin
• Mucous membranes – nose, mouth, rectum
• Stomach and intestines – nausea, vertigo, seasickness
• CNS and spine – vertigo, headaches, neuralgia
• Hands and fingertips – eczema, fissures, eruptions
• Eyes – chronic irritation, visual disturbances
• Genital region – itching eruptions, excoriation

• Eating
• Warmth and warm applications
• Dry weather
• Lying down (for some symptoms)
• Rubbing or pressure (in headaches or abdominal pain)

• Winter and cold weather
• Before or during menses
• Motion (especially of vehicles – nausea)
• Mental exertion
• Touch (especially of affected skin areas)
• During pregnancy
• From suppression of eruptions

• Graphites – Also fissured skin and eruptions, but more moist and sluggish; Petroleum more violent and raw
• Sulphur – Similar skin issues, but Sulphur is hot, irritable, extroverted; Petroleum more cold, dull, and passive
• Psorinum – Dirty, offensive discharges; Petroleum more fissured and cracking skin
• Thuja – Warts and eruptions in sycosis; Petroleum more fissured and weather-related
• Mezereum – Skin eruptions with crusts; Mez. more neuralgic and intense itching

• Complementary: Natrum muriaticum, Sulphur
• Antidotes: Nux vomica, Camphora
• Follows well: Graphites, Lycopodium
• Precedes well: Arsenicum album, Psorinum

Petroleum reflects the rigid, cracked, and toxic inner terrain of individuals overwhelmed by environmental and emotional coldness. They are dull, passive, nauseated, and fissured—mentally and physically. Skin is the mirror of inner rigidity and sluggish elimination. Nausea from motion, eczema worse in winter, and fissures that bleed define this remedy. It suits those whose vital heat is depleted, whose systems are choked with waste, and whose emotions have gone numb with chronicity.

• Excellent for eczema with painful fissures, especially in winter
• Go-to remedy for motion sickness, especially if nausea improves after eating
• Useful in occupational dermatitis from exposure to solvents or cold
• Think of it in skin complaints that alternate with mental confusion or gastric symptoms
• Helpful in cracked fingertips and winter hands

Mind

• Confusion, difficulty finding words
• Sadness, indifferent
• Apathy, sluggishness

Head

• Vertigo, worse motion
• Headache, before menses
• Sensation of cold spot

Skin

• Cracks, fissures, winter
• Eczema, chronic, bleeding
• Hands, fingertips, cracked

Stomach

• Nausea, motion sickness
• Better after eating
• Appetite with emaciation

Rectum

• Constipation, hard, knotty
• Fissures, painful, bleeding
• Stool crumbles at anus

Generalities

• Worse in winter
• Worse before menses
• Skin and gastric alternation

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving with keynote vertigo, nausea, and skin symptoms

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Emphasis on vertigo, nausea, and cold weather aggravation

James Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Analysis of mental dullness and eczema

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Deep description of skin, gastric, and vertigo symptoms

William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clinical tips, modalities, and concise indications