Argentum – A Group Study

 If  gold is king of metal , silver is queen of metals

It is compared to moonlight when it glitter , so called half moon

In  latin america , argentina has derived it’s name from the word silver

In 16th century spanish explorer juan solis cited a river along south america & gave this name . Capt sebastian cobot passed by this river & gave  name  la plata , because people here had a lot of silver. In 19th century , when country was freed from spanish it was called argentina

  • Silver has derived its name from the anglo-saxon word  “siolfur”.
  • ‘Ag ‘ is derived from argentum .
  •  the name comes from the greek word ‘arguros’ meaning ‘brilliant white’
  • Silver stands close to copper chemically & pharmacologically.
  • Naegeli  first observed the so called oligo-dynamic action with these two metals

By observing the results of poisoning by various metals on human beings Hahnemann got the idea of proving metals on human beings

  • Symbol Ag
  • Group I B
  • Series  5th
  • Atomic number 47

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

  • Solid at ordinary temparature
  • White,lustrous ,soft & malleable metal
  • Having highest known elactrical & thermal conductivity
  • Heavier than water
  • It’s sonorous & not brittle

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

  • less reactive than copper, except towards sulphur & h2s which rapidly blackens silver surfaces
  • silver forms many alloys
  • silver dissolves in oxidising acids & in cyanide solutions in presence of oxygen & peroxides

EMPIRICAL — USES:

  • silver was employed by the arabian physicians against dropsy, but can also produce a fatal dropsy.
  • silver nitrate has been used for several years as a dye for the hair.
  •  the 200th or 1000th potency in watery solution as a topical application in ophthalmia neonatorum has relieved when the crude silver nitrate failed.

COMMON — USES

  • strong , external corrosive agent
  • antibacterial
  • making ornaments, utensils,paints
  • conducter of electricity& heat
  • silver tin amalgam used for filling teeth
  • silver salts in photography
  • glass polishes & battery plates
  • since ancient times used for treatment

SYMPTOMS OF POISONING:
Acute symptoms of poisoning are severe gastro intestinal symptoms, spasms, loss of consciousness, loss of sensitivity over the body and involvement of cardiac activity, widening of the pupils, which do not react to light . In animals after injection of silver compounds paralysis of the central nervous system and soon after death is observed

  • At the time of hahnemann only silver nitrate was employed and it appears quite remarkable that at that time hahnemann should have seen metallic silver effects in the organism.
  •  Because the general view present in that time was “ metallic silver is insoluble in the animal organism and therefore cannot serve as a medicament.” Now there are about sixteen medicines in argentum group.

MEDICINES:

1.Argentum aceticum
2. argentum arsenicum
3. argentum bromatum
4. argentum chloratum
5. argentum colloidale
6. argentum cynatum
7. argentum fluratum
8. argentum iodatum
9. argentum metalicum
10. argentum muriaticm
11. argentum nitricum
12. argentum oxydatum
13. argentum proteinatum
14. argentum phosphoricum
15. argentum sulphuricum

16. argentum vitelinicum 

CENTERS OF ACTION

Argentum group of medicines has six special centers of action:

1. Mucous membranes
Up on the mucous membrane of the stomach and duodenum, the main action of the argentum is to produce atony with great flatulence; but when given in large doses, it causes vomiting, purging and violent gastro intestinal inflammation. It causes inflammation of the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, pharynx, larynx, urethra and vagina.

2. Cartilaginous system: – Especially that of the ears, nose, false ribs, tarsal cartilages, tendons and ligaments of joints producing destructive inflammation.

3. Glandular system: – Induration and fatty degeneration of glandular system

4. Blood: – here it produces defective oxidation, destruction of the red corpuscles, anaemia and depressed temperature.

5. Skin: – nodular and vesicular inflammation.

6. Cerebro-spinal system: – silver has a special action upon the cerebrospinal system, as shown by the titanic convulsions, paralysis, and insensibility that ensue from large doses.

Constitution

  • Argentum group is predominently antisycotic
  • According to Dr.Grauvogl ‘carbo nitrogenoid constitution’
  • People in whom intellectual features are predominent .
  • Suited for business man, brain workers, students & readers with broken down, emotional wrinkling & aged looking people. Lean, thin,emaciated , tall with pale face

Miasm – sycotic, syphylitic & tubercular

Thermal relation – Chilly patient,(except arg nit, arg met, arg sul, arg iod)

Diathesis – Scrofulous 

Mental features

 Keynote: impulsive, erratic mentality( Philip.M.Bailey)

1) Eccentricity- There is a strangeness or eccentricity about the Argentum individual that is usually apparent almost immediately, especially in the case of Argentum men. Argentum people are very open and forthcoming in most cases (rather like Phosphorus) and do not try to hide their eccentricity during the interview. As with all true eccentrics, it is the mental or intellectual aspect of the personality that is ‘off-centre’, rather than the emotions.

The average argentum individual is a mental rather than an emotional type. In other words, he lives more in his head than in his feelings.

2) The unstable mind expressed as various impulses-Argentum’s pathology appears first on the mental rather than the emotional level (Kent: ‘the intellectual feature predominates, the affections are disturbed only in a limited way’).Expressed as various impulses. One impulse of Argentum is very common and is characteristic of the type. This is the impulse to jump when looking down from a height, whether it be a top storey window, or from the railings of a bridge.

The impulse can be so strong that the individual avoids these circumstances for fear that they would jump (Kent: ‘impulse to jump’). This impulse occurs in the absence of any suicidal desire , and is quite inexplicable, both to the patient and to the homeopath. It is just one of those strange impulses to which Argentum is subject. 

3) Hurriedness

With deepening pathology argentum’s mind becomes less and less reliable. Concentration becomes difficult, words are misplaced, and the memory becomes patchy and vague. The individual is aware of this mental deterioration, and it usually causes alarm. The feeling of alarm causes thoughts to crowd in upon each other, leading to a feeling of hurriedness (kent: ‘hurry, while walking’). Whenever argentum feels nervous he becomes hurried, rather like lachesis and medorrhinum.

4) Fears & Anxieties- Fear becomes a major problem. Argentum individuals can develop all manner of fears. A particularly characteristic fear is an anxiety felt when looking up at tall buildings.

Another common fear is claustrophobia (though natrum muriaticum is needed for this phobia far more often than argentum). Again the patient has a sense that the walls will fall in, and so this is closely related to the fear of high buildings.

In such a state of fear the patient naturally feels that the world is not a safe place, and this can give rise to feelings of paranoia (kent: ‘fear-of people’).

Agarophobia is another characteristic fear of argentum. It may be mild, causing anxiety only in wide open spaces, or severe, preventing the patient from going out at all. (agarophobia is liable to occur in any individual who feels that his mind is breaking down, since wide open spaces produce a sense of exposure and vulnerability.) Fear of immanent death is also seen sometimes, as is fear of disease (cf. Arsenicum). 

5)Anxiety  Argentum is one of the principal remedies for anticipatory anxiety (kent: ‘anxiety anticipating an engagement’). It is as though the already shaky mind cannot cope with the uncertainty of not knowing how a coming task or event will turn out.

Like lycopodium, argentum may become anxious when he thinks that something is expected of him, or when he has to perform in some way. At such times anxiety can become extreme, accompanied by palpitations and diarrhoea. This is related to a characteristic expectation of failure, which is often unrealistic, at least in the more healthy argentum individual. At such times encouragement from a friend can bring enormous relief, an example of the impressionability of the type, which results from a lack of mental stability.

Phosphorus’ mind is generally less sharp and less analytical than that of argentum, and more sensitive to environmental influences. Argentum is more liable than phosphorus to develop specific phobias when stressed, and is distinctly more impulsive, and more prone to bizarre ideas (Kent: ‘strange notions and ideas come into his mind. A strange idea comes into his mind that if he goes past a certain corner of the street, he will fall down and have a fit, and to avoid that he will go around the block’.) For phosphorus the primary weakness is a lack of boundaries to the personality, whilst for argentum it is the erratic quality of the thinking processes.

According to Jan scholten  Essence of argentums: holding on to a successful position. Having to hold on to success makes them extremely nervous and tense, even if they don’t show it. They can never be themselves because there is always a former status to keep up. This creates a feeling as if the earth is trembling beneath their feet, there is no feeling of solidity. Of course it is their own anxiety that creates these tremors but to them it appears as if the earth itself is shaking.

6)Mentally dull and sluggish

concentration difficult. Dullness of mind. Aggravation from mental exertion. Prostration of mind. Ideas deficient. Indecisiveness. Irresolute.
Arg. Nit– mental operations sluggish. Thought requires effort. Complete loss of consciousness. Memory impaired, cannot find the correct word.
Arg. Met– dullness with sensation of emptiness in the head. Confusion as if caused by smoke and sensation of intoxication, with tingling in the head

7) Oversensitive- weeping tendency to

arg met – melancholy.
Arg nit – melancholic, apprehensive of serious disease

8) Time passes too slowly – arg. Met, arg. Nit.

  • Wants to do things in a hurry- arg. Met
  • Arg. Nit — always in a hurry but accomplishes nothing.
  • Always in continual motion. He walks fast.
  • Hurries restlessly to fulfil engagements, fears to be late when there is plenty of time. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES 

1)  Lean, thin emaciated, tall with pale face
arg met –tall, thin irritable persons. Emaciation, a gradual drying up.
Arg nit — withered dried up old looking patients. Emaciation progressing every year; most marked in lower extremities

2)  Defective coordination
manifested as loss of control mentally and physically.
Arg nit – symptoms of incordination, loss of control and want of balance everywhere, mentally and physically. Trembling of affected parts.

3. Want of power
Limbs feel powerless, cramps, involuntary movements, and staggering gait. Speech, stammering, eyes nystagmus
arg nit – great weakness of lower extremities, with trembling; cannot walk with eyes closed.
Arg met – legs weak and trembling, worse descending stairs. Involuntary contractions of fingers, partial paralysis of forearm. Writer’s cramp.

4. All discharges are thick and profuse

Arg met – thick, white and glairy

Arg.Nit — offensive, thick, yellowish, purulent and bloody

5. Pains are sharp, cutting and splinter like—gradual onset 

6. Side affinity: – predominantly left sided
Arg met – left sided pain are characteristic. Dull paroxysmal neuralgia over left side, gradually increasing and ceasing suddenly. Pain between left eye and frontal eminence. Pain in left ovary.
Arg nit – painful affections of left ovary. General aggravation left side. Ulcerative pain in left side under ribs

7. Loud /noisy symptoms
Noisy flatus. Stool, belching

8. Predominant action over the mucous membrane and causes great dryness of it.
Great dryness of mouth with increased thirst. Dryness of larynx and hoarseness.
Arg nit is an irritant to mucous membranes producing violent inflammation of the throat and a marked gastro-enteritis.
Arg iodatum has a predominant action over the mucous membrane of the throat and larynx and causes hoarseness

9. Craving for sweets (sugar) coffee and ices
Desires coffee —arg met and arg nit.
Desires ice — arg met and arg nit.
Desires ice cream – arg nit
Desires sweets – arg met and arg nit
Desires sugar — arg nit

10.  Aversion smoking
Tobacco aversion – arg nit
Aversion to smoking — arg met

11.  General aggravation during night and from emotions
aggravation night – arg met and arg nit
ailments or aggravation from strong emotions or excitement — arg met and arg nit

12.  General amelioration in open air and from pressure and motion
amelioration in open air — arg met and arg nit
pressure – amelioration — arg met and arg nit
motion — amelioration — arg met and arg nit

13.  Ailments from anger (vexation) fear, fright and onanism
ailments from anger — arg met and arg nit
ailments from vexation — arg nit
ailments from fear — arg met and arg nit
ailments from onanism — arg met and arg nit 

INDIVIDUAL DRUGS

Argentum metallicum (silver)

  • Emaciation, a gradual drying up, desire for fresh air, dyspnoea, sensation of expansion and left-sided pains are characteristic.
  • The chief action is centered on the articulations and their component elements, bones, cartilages, and ligaments.
  • Here the small blood vessels become closed up or withered and carious affections result.
  • They come on insidiously, lingering, but progress.
  • The larynx is also a special center for this drug.
  • Tall, thin, irritable persons.
  • Ailments from abuse of mercury.
  • Constitutional effects of onanism.
  • Affects the cartilages, tarsal, ears, nose, eustachian; the structures entering into joints.
  • Seminal emissions : after onanism; almost every night; without erection; with atrophy of penis.
  • Crushed pain in the testicles (rhod.).
  • Prolapsus : with pain in left ovary and back, extending forward and downward (right ovary, pal.); climacteric haemorrhage.
  • Exhausting, fluent coryza with sneezing.
  • Hoarseness; of professional singers, public speakers (alum., arum t.).
  • Total loss of voice with professional singers.
  • Throat and larynx feel raw or sore on swallowing or coughing.
  • When reading aloud has to hem and hawk; cough with easy expectoration of gelatinous, viscid mucus, looking like boiled starch.
  • Alteration in timbre of voice with singers and public speakers (arum t.).
  • Raw spot over bifurcation of the trachea; worse when using voice, talking or singing.
  • Relation. Follows well : after, alum.
  • Similar : to, stan. In cough excited by laughing.
  • Aggravation. Riding in a carriage (coc.); when touched or pressed upon; talking, singing, reading aloud. 

Argentum nitricum

  • The silver nitrate.
  • Always think of Argentum nit. on seeing withered, dried-up, old-looking patients (thin, scrawny, Sec.).
  • Emaciation, progressing every year; most marked in lower extremities (Am. m.); marasmus.
  • Apprehension when ready for church or opera,  diarrhoea sets in (Gels.).
  • Headache : congestive, with fulness and heaviness; with sense of expansion; habitual gastric, of literary men; from dancing; hemicrania, pressive, screwing in frontal eminence or temple; ending in bilious vomiting; < from any exhaustive mental labour; >> by pressure or tight bandaging (Apis, Puls.).
  • Acute granular conjunctivitis; scarlet-red, like raw beef; discharge profuse, muco-purulent.
  • Ophthalmia neonatorum : profuse, purulent discharge; cornea opaque, ulcerated; lids sore, thick, swollen; agglutinated in morning (Apis, Mer. s., Rhus).
  • Eye strain from sewing, < in warm room >> in open air (Nat. m., Ruta); diseases due to defective accommodation.
  • Craves sugar; child is fond of it, but diarrhoea results from eating (craves salt or smoked meat, Cal. p.).
  • Flatulent dyspepsia : belching after every meal; stomach, as if it would burst with wind; belching difficult, finally air rushes out with great violence.
  • Diarrhoea; green mucus,  like chopped spinach in flakes; turning green after remaining on diaper; after drinking; after eating candy or sugar; masses of mucolymph in shreddy strips or lumps (Asar.); with much noisy flatus (Aloe).
  • Diarrhoea as soon as he drinks (Ars., Crot. t., Throm.).
  • Urine passes unconsciously day and night (Caust.).
  • Impotence : erection fails when coition is attempted (Agnus, Calad., Selen.).
  • Coition : painful in both sexes; followed by bleeding from vagina (Nit. ac.).
  • Metrorrhagia : in young widows; in sterility; with nervous erethism at change of life (Lach.).
  • Great longing for fresh air (Amyl, Puls., Sulph.).
  • Chronic laryngitis of singers; the high notes cause cough (Alum., Arg. m., Arum).
  • Great weakness of lower extremities, with trembling; cannot walk with the eyes closed (Alum.).
  • Walks and stands unsteadily, especially when he thinks himself unobserved.
  • Convulsions preceded by great restlessness.
  • Sensation of a splinter in throat when swallowing (Dolich., Hep., Nit. ac., Sil.); in or about uterus when walking or riding.

Relation. Natrum mur. For the bad effects of cauterizing with nitrate of silver.

  • Coffea increases nervous headache.
  • Boys’ complaints after using tobacco (ars., ver.).
  • Aggravation. — Cold food; cold air; eating sugar; ice cream; unusual mental exertion.
  • Amelioration.– Open air; craves the wind blowing in his face; bathing with cold water.

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*