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Mercury Hydrargyrum or Quicksilver (Color plate, Figs. c and f, Page 116)
The Treatment of Mercurialism Mercurialism is easily curable while the poison is still diffuse in the system, but its elimination becomes more difficult when it has concentrated in the brain and spinal cord as indicated by the corresponding sign in the iris. (Color plate, figs, e and f, p. 116.) But many such cases well advanced in locomotor ataxia and paralysis agitans have yielded to our natural treatment. One such patient had had locomotor ataxia fully developed for six years. When he came to us he had to take, according to his own statement; a few dozen doses a day of some powerful narcotic in order to subdue the "lightning" and "girdle" pains. After five months' treatment the pains had disappeared and he felt well enough to quit treatment. One of my first patients, Mr. S., was also a case of locomotor ataxia, fully developed for seven years. He was past the painful and in the paralytic stage. He could walk only with the aid of a crutch and a stick. The sphincters of the bladder and anus were partially paralyzed so that at times he could not control the movements of the bowels and of the bladder. After seven months' treatment he was able to work at the bench in a violin factory, and after eighteen months he worked as carpenter in the Pullman car shops. When I met him a few years afterward he told me that he continued to work during hot summer weather when most of the employees laid off on account of the unbearable heat. Such cases of course require thorough systematic natural treatment by all methods at our disposal. The curability of such a case frequently can be determined only by giving these methods a fair trial. Deception Taught in Medical Schools In medical schools students are warned not to use the word "calomel" in their prescriptions, "because people are afraid of it". They are instructed to write instead "hydrargyrum", which is the Greek word for mercury. When the mother pleads, "Doctor, I do not want you to give calomel to baby," she is shown that calomel does not appear on the prescription; she does not suspect that "hydrargyrum"--Hg--is the same thing. Why this deception? Because people look for instantaneous results. The doctor who cannot produce them loses his bread and butter. Homeopathy and other natural methods of treatment are not popular because they are regarded as "too slow". "Something must be done at once." The one who can most quickly move the liver and the bowels, run down the fever, suppress skin eruptions, ulcers and catarrhal discharges is the best doctor. In their anxiety for the loved one people will insist on "quick results". Sometimes when sorely pressed in acute crises, even those who thoroughly understand the teachings of Natural Therapeutics succumb to fear and resort once more to drugs in order to produce temporary relief. "I know you are right, Doctor. I do not doubt in the least the teachings of Natural Therapeutics, but I cannot endure to look any longer on this suffering. We will use the drugs just once more, and then stick to natural methods all the closer in order to eliminate the after effects." It is the old story--"I will sin just once more, and then I will be good." But the "once more" is frequently once too often. When Nature, under the influence of natural living and treatment has worked up to a healing crisis, suppression is dangerous and often fatal. The climax of a healing crisis marks Nature's supreme effort to overcome a diseased condition, and if at this critical moment she is thwarted again, the healing forces of the system are not strong enough to overcome the new suppression, and a relapse into chronic disease or death itself are the usual results. It is the anxiety for immediate relief which keeps alive the drug curse and which has turned true homeopathy into "mongrelism". I once attended a clinic presided over by a homeopathic physician. One of the subjects was a young man suffering from a venereal disease. After the diagnosis and usual discussion of the case one of the students was ordered by the professor to give the man a thorough mercurial inunction. I asked the doctor: "Is this homeopathic treatment?" Smilingly he replied: "I suppose not; but these people want quick results. If we do not produce them they will go to the man on the next corner." This is also the excuse of the saloon keeper for remaining in his line of business. Information from Allopathic Sources The following description of mercury, as well as those of all other drugs in this compilation, their uses and their chronic effects upon the system, were compiled by our Dr. Jean du Plessis from the latest standard works on materia medica in the John Crerear Library. These data from allopathic sources prove that the destructive effects of these so called medicines are well known to the medical profession. Mercury Allopathic Uses: 1. Caustic against luetic lesions and small skin growths. 2. Antiseptic dressing for wounds and ulcers. 3. Ringworm and other parasitic skin diseases. 4. Lues and chronic internal inflammations. 5. Alterative or intercurrent remedy. 6. Popular purgative in the form of calomel. Accidental Poisoning: 1. Workmen handling mercury in mines, in the manufacture of thermometers, mirrors, etc. 2. Blue ointment. Grey salve. 3. Blue pills and other patent remedies for costiveness. 4. Amalgam tooth fillings. Toxicology: Circulates as oxyalbuminate of mercury, impoverishing both plasma and corpuscles. Soon leaves blood stream to enter tissues, where it may remain indefinitely. Symptoms
of Hydrargyrism or 1. Salivation. Swelling and tenderness of gums. 2. Loose teeth--extraction followed by ulceration of sockets. 3. Mercurial teeth of Hutchinson found in children suffering from congenital syphilis, or according to Natural Therapeutics, from congenital mercurialism. 4. Dyspepsia. Diarrhea alternating with stubborn constipation--stools contain sulphid of mercury. 5. Mercurial eczema. 6. Ulcerations of mucous membranes and skin. 7. Softening of the bones, and pains in same. 8. Peripheral neuritis--girdle pains radiating down limbs. 9. Anesthetic patches. 10. Descending tremor progressing from intermittent with excitement and exertion, to continuous during waking hours only. 11. Impaired reflexes followed by various forms of paralysis such as locomotor ataxia, paralysis agitans or paresis. Elimination of Drug in Healing Crises: Takes place through skin eruptions, furuncles, ulcers, abscesses, various forms of feverish and catarrhal processes, open sores and hemorrhoidal discharges. Ordinary symptoms of "salivation" and metallic taste in mouth are frequent symptoms. Dizziness, nervous and mental disturbances are of common occurrence. Signs in Iris: While in the circulation it shows especially in the upper half of the iris as a whitish film. This, after five years or more, begins to condense into a greenish crescent of metallic lustre in the blue eye (Color plate, c) and of bluish color in the brown eye (Color plate, f). This greenish or bluish crescent in serious cases may extend all around the outer margin of the iris. The scurf rim becomes broader and darker in color. How Dentists Contract Mercurial Poisoning A few days previous to penning these lines I examined the eyes of a patient which revealed the typical "mercurial iris" covered all over with a heavy whitish "felt-like" film. The outer margin of the iris was bordered by a heavy, black scurf rim. The scurf rim in turn was surrounded by the transparent bluish, greenish mercurial ring which encroaches upon the white (sclera) of the eyeball. The brain region showed the fine white crescent of destruction of brain matter, indicating paresis. The patient denied having taken mercury in any form. After much quizzing he finally admitted that as a dentist he had for twenty-five years mixed the amalgam for tooth fillings in his bare hands. He is in advanced stages of paresis. This morning he tried to kill his wife.
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