Cupr.
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| Cuprum metallicum |
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
[Samuel Johnson]
Signs
Cuprum metallicum. Copper.
CLASSIFICATION Copper is one of man’s most important metals. It is a reddish metal, with a bright lustre, in group 11 [formerly 1B] of the periodic table, along with silver and gold. Group 11 consists of metals discovered in prehistoric times and used ever since. Gold, silver and copper were the first metals used by man due to their occurrence as native metals. Copper became man’s very first metal because it was most widely distributed in nature. Natural copper contains two isotopes; twenty-five other radioactive isotopes and isomers are known.
OCCURRENCE Occurring native occasionally, copper is generally found in many minerals, such as cuprite, malachite, azurite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, and bornite. Large copper deposits are found in the U.S. A, Chile, Zambia, Zaire, Peru, and Canada. The most important ores are the sulphides, oxides, and carbonates. Native copper is found at many locations as a primary mineral in basaltic lavas and also as reduced from copper compounds. The greatest known deposit of copper is in porphyries formed by volcanic activity in the Andean Mountains of Chile. Copper deposits prevail in the western continents – North America contains about 36%, South America 25% -, with a balance in the central – Africa 18%, Europe 11% – and a scantiness in the eastern continents – Asia 9%, Australia 1%. The known worldwide copper resources are estimated at nearly 5,8 trillion pounds, of which about 0,7 trillion pounds have been mined throughout history. Nearly all of these 0,7 trillion pounds is still in circulation, because copper’s recycling rate is higher than that of any other engineering metal.
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| Cuprum metallicum |
HISTORY The use of copper is closely connected to the evolution of human civilization and is thought to date back for at least six thousand years. Not until about 3500 BC did gold appear as man’s second metal. By 3000 BC, silver and lead were being used. Ancient people gradually learned how to extract copper from ores. The metal replaced stone and the Stone Age, marking a new era: the Copper Age, leading up to the Bronze Age. Particularly well-known were the copper mines on the island of Cyprus. The discovery of making bronze – an alloy of copper with tin – marked a new development of world culture. For many centuries, bronze reigned supreme, being used for plows, tools of all kinds, weapons, armour, and decorative objects. Jewellers ‘advertised’ bronze mirrors as the best gift for women. In later epochs bronze became a favourite with sculptors. ‘Copper green’ [powdered malachite] was also in great demand, since it was fashion at the time for women to paint green circles under their eyes. “Although iron became the basic metal of every Western civilization from Rome onwards it was the copper metals which were used when a combination of strength and durability was required. The ability to resist corrosion ensured that copper, bronze and brass remained as functional as well as decorative materials during the Middle Ages and the successive centuries through the Industrial Revolution and on to the present day. … The early decades of the 19th century saw the foundation of the Electrical Age and thereafter the demand for copper increased tremendously. … The introduction of power distribution systems for electricity supply, the installation of land and submarine telegraph cables, and the use of electric traction for trains were among the major consequences of the rapid progress in electrical engineering during the latter half of the 19th century. … Today more than 5 million tons of copper are produced annually and the copper metals are playing an increasingly vital part in many branches of modern technology. The ductility of copper, which led to its use for water piping in ancient Egypt, is illustrated by the countless thousands of miles of copper tube in contemporary plumbing and heating systems: the corrosion resistance of copper, which induced the Romans to use it for sheathing the roof of the Pantheon, is today verified by the thousands of copper roofs on modern buildings large and small; and the electrical conductivity of copper, which was utilized by Michael Faraday in his epoch-making experiments [with electromagnetic induction], remains the key to modern power generation.”1 Because copper is one of the best conductors of electricity, copper wires are widely used to transmit electrical energy from power stations to homes, offices, factories, and other buildings and from wall outlets to electrical appliances. The concentration of copper wires under a major city such as New York rivals the mass of copper in many mines.
NAME “In their picture writing the Egyptians used the Ankh sign for copper. Appropriately it was also the symbol of Eternal Life; and as that still happens to be one of the main features of copper, it is used everywhere today for the metal. A long time afterwards Homer, following the Greek practice of around 1000 BC, called the metal Chalkos; hence the Copper Age is also known as the Chalcolithic. Finally, after another thousand years had elapsed, the words ‘aes Cyprium’ appear in Roman writings of the Early Christian Era because so much of the metal came from Cyprus. ‘Copper’ is the anglicized version of this Latin phrase.”2 There are more correlations between copper and Cyprus: the love goddess Aphrodite [Venus], born out of the foam of the sea, came ashore on Cyprus, and, Cinyras, according to Greek tradition the inventor of bronze-working, was the first king of Cyprus.
PROPERTIES Copper is malleable, ductile, and a good conductor of heat and electricity [second only to silver in electrical conductivity]. The electrical industry is one of the greatest users of copper. “Copper is one of the most ductile metals, not especially strong or hard. Strength and hardness are appreciably increased by cold-working because of the formation of elongated crystals of the same face-centred cubic structure that is present in the softer annealed copper. Common gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and sulphur dioxide are soluble in molten copper and greatly affect the mechanical and electrical properties of the solidified metal. Copper resists the action of the atmosphere and seawater; exposure for long periods to air, however, results in the formation of a thin protective coating of green, basic copper carbonate [patina].”3
USES In the volume of world production and consumption copper holds third place, with only iron and aluminium ahead of it. “Important series of alloys in which copper is the chief constituent are brasses [copper and zinc], bronzes [copper and tin], and nickel silvers [copper, zinc, and nickel, no silver]. There are many useful alloys of copper and nickel, including Monel; the two metals are completely miscible. Copper also forms an important series of alloys with aluminium, called aluminium bronzes. Beryllium copper [2% Be] is an unusual copper alloy in that it can be hardened by heat treatment. Copper is a part of nearly all coinage metals. Long after the Bronze Age passed into the Iron Age, copper remained the metal second in use and importance to iron; but, by the 1960s, cheaper and much more plentiful aluminium had moved into second place in world production.”4 Copper has played a predominant part for many centuries in the brewing of beer [brewing coppers]; whisky stills are invariably made of copper. For the chemical industry copper [or its alloys] is the constructional material of choice because of its high rate of heat transfer, and its resistance to certain corrosive acids at normal or moderately high temperatures. Copper evaporators are used for concentrating sugar, milk, extract of malt, coffee, tannin, and for gelatine, lactic acid, sulphite liquor, etc. Glucose converters, sugar rollers, stirrers, and furnace-pans, vacuum pans, stills, fruit-slicing wheels, cattle-food and poultry mashers, heat exchangers, textile-drying machines, and the rotproofing of textiles for damp tropical climates are among the many miscellaneous items for which copper and copper alloys are used. Due to the dramatic increase in wiring and electronics the average passenger car contains about 50 pounds of copper and copper alloys. A recent revolution in computer technology is the development of copper chips, to replace the current aluminium ones. Aluminium couldn’t keep up the pace; it is claimed that using copper could speed up microprocessors by up to 40%, resulting in computers that think faster and store more information. Copper thus will make almost every electronic device run faster.
COMPOUNDS The most important compounds are the oxide, the chloride, and the sulphide. Cuprous oxide is used principally as a red pigment for anti-fouling paints [esp. for covering the underwater parts of ships], glasses, porcelain glazes, and ceramics and as a seed or crop fungicide. Cuprous chloride is used as a catalyst in a number of organic reactions; as a decolourising and desulphurizing agent for petroleum products; as a denitrating agent for cellulose; and as a condensing agent for soaps, fats, and oils. The applications of cuprous sulphide include use in solar cells, luminous paints, electrodes, and certain varieties of solid lubricants. Cupric sulphate, blue vitriol, has wide use as an agricultural poison and as an algaecide in water purification; about 200,000 tons of cupric sulphate are used worldwide every year for these purposes. Cupric chloride serves as a wood preservative, fixative in the dyeing and printing of fabrics, disinfectant, feed additive, and pigment for glass and ceramics. 5
COLOURS Many of the beautiful Egyptian glazes owe their richest colours to inclusions of powdered copper. Copper and its numerous ores and compounds display a brilliant array of colours. Copper is in its colourfulness unsurpassed by any other metal. The pure metal can be rose-red, sunrise-red, reddish-yellow, or brown-red. In the transparency of extremely thin sheets it is a shadowy blue-green, complementary to the orange-red of the polished metal. Its steam shines with the same beautiful blue-green light as the thin sheets. Blue, green-blue, green, and violet tones appear in chemical solutions of its salts, and a world of colour reveals itself in the copper ores. Copper pyrite shines golden yellow, malachite and olivenite are green, azurite is blue, covelline is violet-blue, and the spotted copper pyrite [bornite] shimmers in all colours of the rainbow. The impression made by a lustrous piece of copper is pleasant, warm, and friendly. A copper mirror reflects our image in the colours of radiant health. 6 Physiologically, copper is increases red and green colour perception.
MUSIC Copper has a happy relationship to the element of sound. It is a “euphonious” metal. Many wind and percussion instruments, as well as brassbands, bear rousing witness to this fact. “In the long and involved history of musical instruments, copper and bronze have been featured since ancient times. Many examples of an ancient bronze horn, the large Danish lur, have been found in peat bogs, etc., where they were buried up to 2,700 years ago. The Romans had copper alloy horns and bronze trumpets called buccinas. The latter were mainly military instruments and had only one or two notes, like most of the other trumpets of that period. The buccina was employed to sound the morning and evening watches, as well as at funerals. It was also sounded on festive occasions to announce the sitting down at the table and the rising [for those who could rise] afterwards. Another instrument which the Romans developed at least two thousand years ago was the organ. One of these early organs is known to have had ten bronze pipes.”7
WEATHERCOCKS “Weathercocks or vanes are of great antiquity. Although its natural place is at the summit of a tower or a church steeple, it is less clear why the traditional form of this old sign should be a cock. One authority has explained it as having a religious origin because ‘the cock, like the preacher, watches throughout the night, marks the hours with his call, wakes the sleeper and celebrates the dawn’. Although copper is the traditional material for this purpose, the oldest known weathercock is of bronze. It stands above the summit of Brescia Cathedral, where it was fixed nearly eleven and a half centuries ago.”8
COMMUNICATION According to Pelikan, “copper receded into the artistic sphere, serving the foundryman, the sculptor, the engraver, the etcher, the instrument-maker, and the organ-maker,” when “iron took over the dominant place that once was occupied by copper.” In the 19th and 20th centuries copper has contributed strongly to the development of communication systems and mass media. The installation of land and submarine telegraph cables [with copper wires] began in the 40s and 50s of the 19th century. In 1879 the first telephone exchanges [with copper for telephone lines] were conducted in Great Britain and America. With the development of television and radar, in the 30s and 40s of the 20th century, began an enormous modern industry using vast amounts of copper and copper alloys. The introduction of the copper printed circuit revolutionized wiring in the electrical and electronics industries. Copper enhances communications.
PHYSIOLOGY Although only very small amounts of copper are required by the body, recent surveys have demonstrated that only 25% of the US population consume the recommended daily amount of copper. Only about one-third to one-half of dietary copper is absorbed in the stomach and upper intestine. It is transferred across the gut wall and carried to the liver where it combines with proteins. Excretion is mostly via secretion in bile into the gastrointestinal tract and then elimination in the faeces. Loss in sweat or urine is usually negligible. Half of the copper content of the body is contained in the skeleton and muscles; a further 10 percent is in the liver with significant amounts in brain, kidney and heart. Babies have liver copper concentrations ten times those in adult livers. This acts as a store since milk is not a rich source of the trace mineral. 9 Copper helps make haemoglobin; it is essential for the transport of iron in the blood and for the production of red blood cells. It is necessary for the healthy function of small blood vessels, and essential for the contractility of heart muscle. In addition, it is a component of many body enzymes. Enzyme functions include natural colouring pigments in skin and hair, protection against toxic agents, wound healing, and nerve impulses in the brain. It helps body cells to produce energy. Necessary for the synthesis of cell membrane phospholipids it so helps maintain myelin. It also helps regulate neurotransmitter levels, particularly of dopamine and norepinephrine. Copper is involved in fat and cholesterol metabolism and in the normal functioning of insulin which regulates glucose metabolism. In a more minor role, copper participates in the maintenance of body structure by linking collagen with connective tissues. Men who die of aneurysms have a liver copper content which can be as little as 26% of normal. In reducing histamine levels, it alleviates allergies. Increased plasma copper levels are noted during pregnancy, and during acute and chronic infections and heart attacks. Women need more copper than men, primarily because copper is required for the production of the enzymes which convert progesterone into oestrogen. [Men require more zinc, to form the enzymes necessary for converting progesterone into testosterone.]
BLOOD “Copper has especially interesting relationships to the blood. It is necessary for the formation of blood. Certain forms of anaemia can be cured only if copper is used to help with the incorporation of iron into the haemoglobin. Copper itself appears mainly in the blood serum, in which a certain copper level is always carefully maintained. Here it works together with the serum iron in a way that varies with the sexes. The serum iron level in the male amounts to 118 gamma %, while in the female it is only 88 gamma %. The serum copper level on the other hand amounts to 106 gamma % in the male and, at 107 gamma %, is practically the same in the female. The balance between copper and iron thus tends, in the woman, in the direction of copper. The male is, in this connection, richer in iron. During pregnancy the serum copper level rises to 280 gamma %. In infections, the interplay between copper and iron is shifted, the iron level sinking and the copper level rising. When healing takes places, the levels approach each other again.”10
DEFICIENCY Deficiency symptoms in babies include failure to thrive, pallor, diarrhoea, depigmentation of hair and skin, and prominent dilated veins in skin. In adults deficiency manifests itself as anaemia, water retention, irritability, brittle bones, hair depigmentation, loss of sense of taste, and poor hair texture. Copper deficiency leads to poor collagen formation, which may result in bone deformities, damaged blood vessels, reduced resiliency of skin and other internal and external linings of the body. Copper deficiency is an important factor in the development of hyperthyroidism. Deficiency may occur in malnourished children, premature babies, from excessive intake of zinc, fluoride, cadmium, molybdenum or vitamin C, and after prolonged diarrhoea. Living on highly refined diets is an additional cause of copper deficiency; copper content of highly refined flours is low, and white refined sugar contains not more than 0,08 mcg per gram [where brown sugar contains 3 mcg per gram].
DISORDERS Inherited copper deficiencies, which are due to enzyme defects or impaired copper absorption mechanisms, include albinism and ‘Menke’s kinky-hair syndrome’. The latter is characterized by retarded growth, degeneration of the central nervous system, and sparse, brittle hair. Death usually occurs within a year after symptoms begin to develop. Wilson’s disease, an inherited disorder, results in chronic copper toxicity from slow accumulation of copper due to a defect in the body’s ability to remove copper via the liver. The condition occurs most often in children whose parents are blood relations. Wilson’s disease causes progressive deterioration of mental function, loss of coordination, haemolytic anaemia, and liver damage. “In an equal proportion of patients [with Wilson’s disease] the first illness is of the CNS. In these patients copper has diffused out of the liver into the blood, and hence almost innocuously into many organs and tissues, but disastrously into the brain. There it can cause motor neurologic disease characterized by any combination of tremors, dystonia, dysarthria, dysphagia, drooling, open-mouthedness, and incoordination; or copper’s toxicity to the brain may first be manifested as grossly inappropriate behaviour, as rather sudden deterioration of school or other work, or as a psychosis indistinguishable from schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness. Except for headache, sensory disturbances are never seen.”11 In the course of its mobilization from liver to brain, some copper deposits in the eye causing a golden-brown or grey-green pigment ring at the edge of the cornea. Radiating brownish spokes of copper deposits on the lens capsule form the characteristic sunflower cataract. The occurrence of psychosis in the course of Wilson’s disease corresponds with the observation of abnormally high serum copper levels in certain mental diseases, most notably in schizophrenia or manic depressive disorder. Serum copper level is also increased in epilepsy. The more active the metabolism becomes, the higher the copper level seems to rise. Thyroid hypofunction not only lowers the basal metabolism but also the copper level; the reverse occurs in hyperthyroidism. [One of the reasons that beer drinkers put on weight and develop a ‘beer-belly’ is thought to be the high copper level in beer, which slows down the thyroid.] Patients with ulcerative colitis may accumulate copper in the tissues and the excess of copper may aggravate the disease. Altered copper to zinc ratios may play a role in several disorders including heart disease and some types of cancer including those of the breast, lung and gastrointestinal tract. Copper zinc ratios seem to be high in violence-prone males.
DIABETES Various studies suggest a link between copper and diabetes. Copper depletion doubled glucose in the blood of diabetic rats fed glucose. Buildup of copper in the kidneys of diabetics is thought to be responsible for the kidney damage which sometimes appears in diabetics. There are indications that diabetics absorb copper two times more readily than non-diabetics. Copper deficiency in rats destroys the pancreas but doesn’t affect the isles of Langerhans. Cupric sulphate, blue vitriol, was formerly used, in daily doses of 10-20 mg, as a substitute for insulin in the treatment of diabetes.
AGING As an adult ages, liver copper decreases and that in the brain increases to the same concentration. Preliminary evidence from animal studies suggests that too little dietary copper may contribute to the ageing process. The physiologist Saari, of the American Agricultural Research Service, speculates that years of eating a diet low in the mineral may be a factor contributing to the age-related decline in tissue function from increasing protein glycation. Copper is important to the body’s defence against oxidation through the copper-containing enzyme superoxide dismutase. With ageing this enzyme’s activity decreases, while oxidative damage increases. 12
AQUATIC LIFE The role of copper in small quantities is essential to marine life. It is present in the ashes of seaweeds, in many sea corals, and in many molluscs and arthropods. It plays the same role of oxygen transport in the haemocyanin of blue-blooded molluscs and crustaceans as iron does in the haemoglobin of red-blooded animals. Copper deficiencies in certain species can result in reduced growth and cataracts. However, overly high presence of copper in natural waters, due to pollutants, may badly damage gills, adversely affect the liver and kidneys of fish or cause neurological damage.
PLANT LIFE Some plants, especially in the carnation family [Caryophyllaceae], are stimulated by copper and may serve as ‘copper indicators’. As a plant micronutrient, copper seems to function primarily as a cofactor for a variety of oxidative enzymes. The browning of freshly cut apple and potato surfaces is due to the activity of copper-containing phenolase. Common disorders due to copper deficiency are generally stunted growth, distortion of young leaves and, particularly in citrus trees, a loss of young leaves referred to as ‘summer dieback’.
FOOD The normal daily requirement is 2 mg for adults, who contain between 75 and 150 mg. Food sources rich in copper include organ meats [esp. liver], seafood, soybeans, legumes, whole wheat, olives, prunes, nuts, seeds, and molasses. Beer and chocolate are also good sources of copper. In addition, much of the copper that enters the body does not arise from in the original food we eat. Instead, it comes from processing and storage of food, residues of pesticides and fungicides in food stuff, copper in tap water carried by copper pipes, and from inhalation of road dust shed from automobile brakes during their use.
TOXICITY Even small excesses of copper in the body can be dangerous and may cause such disorders as depression, arthritis, hypertension, and heart attack. Smokers and women using the contraceptive pill are liable to disturbances in copper levels; oral contraceptives seem to increase, rather than decrease, copper levels. Acute high concentration copper poisoning gives rise to nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, diffuse muscle pains, and abnormal mental states [ending with coma and death]. Sheep are particularly sensitive to copper toxicity; 1.5 g per sheep per day for 30 days will be fatal.
BACTERICIDE Lower plant forms are suppressed by the effects of copper. Copper kills unicellular plants, moulds, and algae. Copper also has bactericidal properties. A study of infection control in hospitals investigated the bacterial growth on various metals, such as doorknobs and push plates of stainless steel or of tarnished brass. The results were striking. Brass doorknob cultures showed sparse streptococcal and staphylococcal growth, while stainless steel doorknob cultures showed heavy growth of Gram-positive organisms and an array of Gram-negative organisms, including Proteus species. In a follow-up of the study small strips of stainless steel, brass, aluminium, and copper were heavily inoculated with broths of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus group D, and Pseudomonas species. Brass proved to disinfect itself in seven hours or less, copper disinfected itself of some microbes within 15 minutes, while the aluminium and stainless steel produced heavy growths of all microbes. 13
MYTHOLOGY Copper was sacred to Aphrodite, or Venus, who arose from the sea and set foot on land in Cyprus, the copper island. Botticelli depicted the Cypriot goddess being carried to land upon a conch shell. During ancient Mesopotamian times copper was attributed to the Queen of Heaven as well as to goddesses associated with the planet Venus. These include Inanna, Ishtar, and Astarte. By the alchemists copper was designated Venus, probably because mirrors were anciently made of copper. A mirror is still the astronomical symbol of the planet Venus. In view of copper’s predominant colours – red, blue, green – it is noteworthy that the alchemists named Venus “she with the blue cloak and the red soul.” Bronze was sacred to the lame blacksmith Hephaestos, the Greek god of fire and metalworking who was married to Aphrodite. Their marriage was seen as a personification of the union of craft and beauty, which gives birth to beautiful things. The Romans identified Hephaestos with Vulcan. Hephaestos fashioned the bronze giant Talos and gave him to Minos, king of Crete. Talos guarded the island by walking round it three times a day on his untiring feet. He got rid of strangers by hurling huge rocks at them or by making himself red-hot and burning them to death in a fiery embrace. Hephaesthos, as well as Vulcan, became the patron of smiths and other craftsmen who use fire for the good of mankind. [Native copper occurs mainly in areas that once exhibited strong volcanic activity. The greatest known deposit of copper is in porphyries formed by volcanic activity in the Andean Mountains of Chile.]
PROVINGS •• [1] Hahnemann – 5 provers; method: unknown.
•• [2] Fincke – 2 [female] provers; method: provings with 1M, 10M, 44M, and 50M.
The greater part of the symptoms is derived from poisonings, either from swallowing copper coins, ingesting verdigris [= cupric acetate], eating food cooked or stored in copper utensils, or from working with copper [e.g., copper-plate printers, coppersmiths, coppersmelters, braziers]. A curious account comes from Ramsay – reference 31 in Hughes – who relates the misfortunes of several men on board of a ship where they ate food cooked in copper vessels. Their symptoms account for the violence and aggression of the Cuprum state. “Some people on board the ‘Vestal’ had been taken suddenly ill. On 6th one man was seized in an instant with a dulness, stupidity, and headache; he fell down and struggled so hard that it required six men to hold him; he shortly became delirious and behaved in the most extravagant manner. On 7th several more men were seized, and on 8th to the number of 16 more. They are all at times outrageous and mad, they snap with their teeth at those who hold them and struggle very much. One fancies himself a captain and gives orders accordingly; a second calls out, ‘Ground ivy to sell;’ a third, ‘Old chairs to mend;’ one spits in your face and laughs; one is very merry and sings; his neighbour is surly and ill-natured; and another mopes in a corner, stupid and insensible. They all have their lucid intervals, and they complain of pains in the bones and of headache. Pulse during the fit is full, quick, and strong; then sweat breaks out and it becomes soft; their eyes appear red and inflamed; their looks are wild, their speech incoherent; they sleep little. None complain of gripes and few of nausea. At the first several vomited, but no immediate relief followed. The people are chiefly seized after dinner. The whole recovered in 2 or 3 days. Dr. R – attributes these attacks to the copper vessels used in cooking their food. A few months afterwards the like malady prevailed in the ‘Adventure’ and was attended by the same odd symptoms. The copper vessels were found to be very foul, and on remedying that fault the disease stopped and about 15 who were seized with it recovered.”
[1-2] Webster Smith, Sixty Centuries of Copper; UK Copper Development Association, 1965. [3-5] Encyclopaedia Britannica. [6] Pelikan, The Secrets of Metals. [7-8] Webster Smith, ibid. [9] Mervyn, Vitamins and Minerals. [10] Pelikan, ibid. [11] Merck Manual. [12] McBride, ‘Can Copper Status Affect Ageing?’; Agricultural Research magazine, August 1999. [13] Kuhn, ‘Doorknobs: a source of nosocomial infection?’; Diagnostic Medicine, Nov. 1983.
Affinity
NERVES [cerebro-spinal axis]. Digestive tract. Epigastrium. Abdomen. Muscles. Blood. * Left side.
Modalities
Worse: Emotions; anger. Suppressions [inflammations, discharges, perspiration, eruptions, exanthema]. Overtaxing. Motion. Hot weather. Vomiting. Loss of sleep. Touch. Raising arms. Night, in bed. Cold air, cold wind. During pregnancy. New moon. Before menses.
Better: Cold drinks [> spasms, cough, nausea, vomiting]. Pressure over heart. During perspiration.
Main symptoms
M Serious people, CRAMPED inside; self-critical.
Very closed; suppressed feelings.
• “Onset often in adolescence from great fear of their sexual thoughts. Period of adolescence: upheaval in emotions and wild imaginations related to sexual fantasies.”
Fright and feelings of guilt suppress these strong feelings.
• “How am I going to present myself with these feelings in the world. They feel that what they are thinking and feeling is bad.”
• “You will see a woman under this seriousness and convulsions will become man-like, with a loss of femininity.” [Vithoulkas]
c compare: • “The Hephaestos archetype predisposes a man [or woman] to not talk about or address his feelings. He prefers to go to his personal version of the forge and work in solitude. There he either sublimates his feelings or expresses them through his work. … The forge is wherever he does the work of transforming or translating what he feels deeply into something outside himself.”1
[Cupr. is associated with hyperthyroidism.]
M DUTY-bound. Strait-laced.
Very great sense of responsibility; very aware of his duty.
Very respectful of RULES; angry when others do not respect them.
• “He likes to go by the rules and principles. When he was the monitor of the class he didn’t hesitate to complain about the backbenches. He did that when he was new to that school and had only one friend in the whole class. He is a lover of leadership, rules, and regulations.”2
• “They try to control everything in a rigid manner, are fastidious and have to respect the rules. They plan everything and have difficulty to adapt. They are serious and cautious and don’t like to take risks.”3
c Copper was once used to make buttons for uniform jackets worn by policemen, and the common slang expressions ‘cop’ and ‘copper’ refer to this practice.
M Discipline; self-discipline.
• “They are people that will go into spiritual groups and choose the most disciplinarian.” [Vithoulkas]
• “HARD WORKER, very active, never has time to rest or to relax; many activities, very organized; other people can hardly believe that one person can do all those things; works so hard that he does not feel his fatigue; planning his whole day; strong desire to finish his work; PERSEVERANCE, never gives up. Is hard on himself and on others.”4
c compare: • “No man is so absorbed and dedicated to work as an Hephaestian man who has found his life work. … A typical setting for Hephaestos is in a creative field, where many men think of themselves as ‘outsiders’, have an intense passion for work, and do work that provides a means of expressing their intense feelings. … He works best as a loner, motivated neither by profit nor influenced by competition. The corporate world is foreign and meaningless to him. He cannot sell himself or his products. When he is successful, that is because his work speaks for itself and for him, and because someone else, or some other archetype in him, has a business sense. Given all these prerequisites that need to be met to find fulfilling work, no wonder lack of significant work demoralizes Hephaestian men, who suffer deeply from job-related depression or unemployment.”5
Grim, tight-lipped, determined.
[clenched teeth; clenched fists; long pauses before replying]
• “In the Cuprum patient the nerves are all the time wrought up to the highest tension.” [Kent]
Or: Lack of discipline.
• “It is suitable in those girls who have always had their own way, have never been crossed, and when they grow older, and reach puberty, and have got to submit to some sort of discipline or never become women, they have mad fits, have cramps. Cuprum will sometimes make them sensible.” [Kent]
M Ambitious and independent.
• “AMBITIOUS; will be THE BEST; tries to prove that he can make it, that he is not an ordinary labourer or that he is not stupid, etc. Desire to be INDEPENDENT, doesn’t really ask for help. DICTATORIAL, talking with an air of command; delusion he is a person of rank.”6
M When the expression of love is cramped and comes out in a convulsive way. [An important modality of Cupr. is < TOUCH; “contact renews and < the ailment.”] M BEHAVIOURAL problems: destructive, striking, biting and esp. SPITTING. • “Children cannot bear to have anyone come near them [Cina].” [Kent] Hold their breath [e.g. from anger] until blue in the face. • “Emotional instability is prominent; ‘flies off the handle’ moods vary – sullen, loquacious, malicious, morose, often with fixed ideas, possibly terror of death. The spoiled child, tricky, changeable, disorderly, dissatisfied. Sudden urge to injure, to scream, to run away, to escape. Tendency to shrink from people; aptitude to mimicry. Wild-eyed, maniacal fits of rage.” [Gibson] M Changeable behaviour: alternately YIELDING and HEADSTRONG. Or: weeping alternating with queer antics. Sullen, playing tricks, imitates everybody. • “Insane foolish gestures of imitation and mimicry; full of insane spiteful tricks; doesn’t recognize own family.” [Hering] c compare: • “Acting the buffoon: problems of low self-esteem and inadequacy. Philip Slater, author of The Glory of Hera, saw in his Hephaestos role as clown his ‘resignation from manhood’: Hephaestos conveys the interpersonal message: ‘You have nothing to fear from me, nor is there anything about me which should arouse your envy or resentment. I am merely a poor lame clown, ready to serve you, and make you laugh with jokes at my own expense.’ … He is the boy who overreacts when teased, and then gets unmercifully pummelled. Perhaps he learns that his humiliation is always worse if he objects, and discovers that if he acts the buffoon he defuses the situation.”7 M Seductive; enticing; performing. Wants to be appreciated for his abilities and beauty. Good taste; show nice and sweet side. Good sense of humour; conceal bitterness with jokes. Grown up without appreciation of family; wants to surpass father. Searching for relationship, a master, support [but not deep love]. Many broken relationships; blames the other. [Complaints often begin after a separation; foster revenge + resentment.] Wants to teach people who are weaker but fear they will surpass him and then will be his enemies. Hypochondriacal + complaining [very pronounced]. Wants to show strength but only complains. [Mangialavori] G Great chilliness. Coldness seems to exude from body. Yet: cold drinks >.
G > PERSPIRATION.
Feels better when sweating.
G VIOLENCE.
• “Cuprum is not passive in its business. Violence is manifested everywhere. Violence in its diarrhoea, violence in its vomiting, violence in its spasmodic action; strange and violent things in its mania and delirium. Hysterical cramps and hysterical attitudes may change in a night or in a day to St. Vitus’ dance, and go on with it as if nothing had happened.” [Kent]
G Mental and physical exhaustion from overexertion of mind or loss of sleep.
• “The spirit of Cuprum corresponds to the fact that the individuals feel they do not measure up; they are placed in a situation that goes beyond their abilities, such as executives who climb the company ladder until finally they reach a position that completely surpasses their abilities.” [Grandgeorge]
G Ailments and BLUENESS of skin [e.g. face, lips].
G Ailments and vertigo.
G Bad effects of SUPPRESSED foot sweat.
G > MAGNETISM; > mesmerism.
G < TOUCH. G < BEFORE menses. G Convulsions: SPASMS, CRAMPS, TWITCHING, JERKING. G Convulsions starting in FINGERS [esp. in thumbs] and TOES; from periphery inward [Cic. from centre-solar plexus-outward]. [Hands are main organs of contact.] G Vertigo > stool.
P GURGLING noise while drinking.
P Death-like sensation in stomach [Ars.].
P Spasmodic asthma.
And Nausea and sudden vomiting.
Asthma interrupted by sudden vomiting; asthma > vomiting.
P Cough or respiratory affections with short periods in which breathing stops: appears as if the patient is dead.
[1] Bolen, Gods in Everyman. [2] Nanandikar, A lazy king: A case of Cuprum metallicum; HL 2/99. [3-4] Smits, Cuprum metallicum – development of the mental picture based on 20 cases; HL 2/92. [5] Bolen, ibid. [6] Smits, ibid. [7] Bolen, ibid.
Rubrics
Mind
Answering, reflecting long [2]. Playing antics, alternating with weeping [1; Carb-an.]. Anxiety, from night watching [1], > walking slowly [1/1]. Aversion to company, avoids the sight of people [2]. Contradiction, disposition to contradict [2]. Deceitful [1]. Delirium, talks of fire [1; Calc.], look fixed at one point [1]. Delusions, he is about to be arrested [1], being a commander [1; Cann-i.], is a great person [1], he is an officer [2], he was pursued by police [2]. Destructiveness [2]. Dictatorial, talking with air of command [1]. Too much sense of duty [1]. Fear, of others approaching [2], of downward motion [1], of falling [2], things will catch fire [1], of being touched [1], of water [1]. Hiding himself on account of fear [1]. Imitation, mimicry [1]. Insanity, megalomania [1]. Laughing, after anxiety [2/1], after overwork [2/1], ending in profuse perspiration [2/1]. Malicious, laughing [1]. Obstinate, alternating with mildness [2/1]. Pompous [1]. Spitting, in faces of people [2]. Striking, about him at imaginary objects [1]. Weeping, involuntary, during conversation [3/1], when making speeches [1/1].
Vertigo
On looking upwards at a light [1]. On reaching with the hands up [1]. After stool > [2; Phos.; Zinc.]. Touch < [1]. Head Tingling, vertex [2]. Sensation as of cold water poured on head [2]. Eye Movement of eyeballs, pendulum like, from side to side [2]. Wild look [2]. Vision Lost, before convulsions [2/1], on looking upward [2/1]. Face Discolouration, bluish about the mouth [2; Cina]. Mouth Protruding tongue, rapidly darting in and out like a snake’s [2]. Speech, difficult, from chorea [2]; stammering [2]. Teeth Constant desire to clench teeth together [1]. Throat Gurgling, oesophagus, when drinking [2]. Swallowing, difficult, liquids [2]. Stomach Retching, before epilepsy [2/1]. Vomiting, before convulsions [2]. Rectum Diarrhoea, after vegetables [1], during warm weather [2]. Bladder Ineffectual urging to urinate, with diarrhoea [1/1]. Involuntary urination during mania [2/1]. Urine Copious, after epilepsy [2; Caust.], during headache [1]. Male Erections, wanting, with diabetes [1]. Sexual desire diminished in diabetes [2/1]. Respiration Difficult, on covering nose or mouth [1.]. Cough Seems to re-echo in stomach [1/1]. Chest Palpitation, before convulsions [2; Glon.; Lach.]. Limbs Icy coldness of feet, with burning soles [2/1]; coldness of feet from mental exertion [2]. Convulsion, limbs alternately extended and flexed [2]. Cramps, calves, on attempting coition [2/1]. Sleep Position, on abdomen, spasmodically throwing up the pelvis [2/1]. Chill Chilliness, during headache [3]. Skin Sensation as if a cold wind were blowing out from skin [1/1]. Generals Chorea, from imitation [2], > lying on back [2]. Convulsions, begin in fingers and toes [2], from pressure on stomach [1]. Dry weather > [2].
Food
Aversion: [1]: Cooked food; drinks; potatoes; warm food.
Desire: [2]: Cold drinks. [1]: Alcohol; beer; cold food; delicacies; hot food; sour; warm drinks; warm food.
Worse: [2]: Hot food; milk; vegetables; vegetables, green; warm food. [1]: Beans and peas; bread; cabbage; fat; flatulent food; heavy food; meat; sauerkraut.
Better: [2]: Cold drinks; cold food. [1]: Warm drinks.
