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| Petroleum |
Petr.
Travellers, like poets, are mostly an angry race.
[Richard Burton]
Signs
Crude Oil. Rock Oil.
SUBSTANCE Complex mixture of hydrocarbons [chemical compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon] that occurs in the earth in liquid form; as a technical term, petroleum also includes natural gas and the viscid or solid form known as bitumen, tar, pitch, or asphalt. The liquid and gaseous phases of petroleum constitute the most important of the primary fossil fuels. Unprocessed petroleum is usually called crude oil, rock oil, or oil. The name petroleum is from a combination of the Latin words petra, rock, and oleum, oil. Petroleum is derived from aquatic plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago. Mingled with mud and buried under sedimentary layers, the organic matter gradually decomposed into petroleum. As found in the earth [at depths from 150 to 7,600 metres], petroleum may have a variety of properties. Some forms are black, others dark green, and some light like kerosene. The liquid ranges from very viscous to easy-flowing.
CONSTITUENTS The mixture of hydrocarbons has varying molecular weights, structures, and properties. “Bitumen is formed by crude oil that has migrated toward the earth’s surface and has been stripped of its lighter fractions by descending water. The substance is found immobilised in deposits commonly known as tar sands. The simplest hydrocarbons are a large group of chain-shaped molecules known as the paraffins. This broad series extends from methane, which forms natural gas, through liquids that are refined into ordinary gasoline, to crystalline waxes. A series of ring-shaped hydrocarbons, known as the naphthenes, ranges from volatile liquids such as naphtha to tarry substances such as the asphaltenes, the main constituents of bitumen. Another group of ring-shaped hydrocarbons is known as the aromatics; the chief compound in this series is benzene, a popular raw material for making petrochemicals. Nonhydrocarbon constituents of petroleum include sulphur, oxygen, nitrogen, and the metals nickel and vanadium. Most of these impurities are removed during refining – esp. sulphur, which forms a noxious air pollutant upon combustion.”1 The various compounds are separated into fractions by a distillation process called refining. The oil is first heated to vapour and then passed through a tower containing trays at various levels. Different fractions condense in the trays at different heights. In an average crude oil the fractions, beginning with the lightest, are: [1] dissolved gases, [2] petroleum ether, [3] gasoline, [4] kerosene, [5] gas oil, [6] lubricating oils, [7] fuel oils, and [8] asphalt.
HISTORY “Petroleum was known to many ancient peoples through surface seepages. Excavations in Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere show that bitumen, or asphalt, was used to caulk ships, to build roads, and for other purposes. Europeans of the age of exploration found similar seepages of the black liquid in the Americas and the Dutch East Indies [now Indonesia]. The first important modern use of crude oil was as an illuminating fuel to replace whale oil in lamps. The first well drilled specifically for oil was that of E.L. Drake at Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859; within a few decades oil drilling was widespread in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and the East Indies. The development of the automobile gave petroleum a new and swiftly expanding role as the primary source of gasoline. In subsequent decades oil and then natural gas replaced coal as the primary fuel for industrial and domestic heating. Petrochemicals derived from petroleum became the source of such chemical products as solvents, paints, plastics, synthetic rubber and fibres, soap and cleansing agents, waxes and jellies, explosives, and fertilizers. Fuels derived from petroleum power the engines of automobiles, airplanes, ships, tractors, trucks, and rockets. Petroleum fuels also generate a large portion of the world’s electrical-power supply. Asphalt from petroleum is used to surface roads and highways. Petroleum is also used as a lubricant in a great variety of machines. Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Russia are the world’s leading producers; the United States is by far the largest consumer.”2
USES Petroleum distillates are used for numerous purposes: as defoaming agents in cosmetics and yeast and a coating on cheese, raw fruits, and vegetables; as a coating on eggshells; in froth-flotation cleaning of vegetables; in the manufacture of vinegar, wine, and pickle brine; as a component of pesticide formulations; as a defoamer in processing beet sugar and yeast; in modified hop extract of beer. Formerly used in medicine for bronchitis and tapeworm, and externally for arthritis and skin problems. Petroleum wax is used as a chewing gum base. Petrolatum is a purified mixture of semisolid hydrocarbons from petroleum, and known as petroleum jelly, paraffin jelly, vaseline, etc. It is a yellowish to light amber or white, unctuous mass, practically odourless and tasteless, and almost insoluble in water. The uses of petrolatum include: as ointment base in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; as lubricants for firearms and machinery, and in leather grease, shoe polish, rust preventives, and modelling clays; as a releasing agent and sealant for confections; in baking products; as a lubricant in meatpacking plants; in dehydrated fruits and vegetables. 3
TOXICOLOGY “The toxicity of hydrocarbons [and petroleum distillates] generally is indirectly proportional to the agent’s viscosity, with products having high viscosity [150 to 250], such as heavy greases and oils, being considered to have only limited toxicity. Products with viscosity in the range of 30 to 35 or lower present an extreme aspiration risk and include agents such as mineral seal oil, which is found in furniture polishes. It is important to realize that even small amounts of a low-viscosity material, once aspirated, can involve a significant portion of the lung and produce a chemical pneumonitis. Oral ingestion of hydrocarbons often is associated with symptoms of mucous membrane irritation, vomiting, and CNS depression. Cyanosis, tachycardia, and tachypnoea may appear as a result of aspiration, with subsequent development of chemical pneumonitis. Other clinical findings include albuminuria, haematuria, hepatic enzyme derangement, and cardiac arrhythmias. A history that presents with coughing or choking in association with vomiting strongly suggests aspiration and hydrocarbon pneumonia. Hydrocarbon pneumonia is an acute haemorrhagic necrotizing disease that can develop within 24 h after the ingestion. Pneumonia may require several weeks for complete resolution.”4
PROVINGS •• [1] Hahnemann – self-experimentation; method: unknown.
Although Hahnemann doesn’t acknowledge the involvement of other provers than himself, several times a “child” or a “she” is mentioned. These may have been observations on patients.
•• [2] Benson – self-experimentation, c. 1868; method: single dose of 10 drops of 1x, effects observed for 2 days.
•• [3] Boger – 1 ‘prover’, c. 1905; method: “One dose of Petroleum 3M [Skinner] given for symptoms referable to the ankle produced the following symptoms; they began within 24 hours, gradually diminishing during the twenty-one days.”5
[1-2] Encyclopaedia Britannica. [3] Winter, Food Additives. [4] Klaassen, Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology. [5] Boger, Petroleum: A Proving; International Hahnemannian Association, 1905-06.
Affinity
OCCIPUT. SKIN [folds; scalp; face; genitals]. Mucous membranes. Stomach. Bowels. Mind. Nerves. * Left side. Right side.
Modalities
Worse: MOTION [CARS; CARRIAGE; BOAT]. Weather [cold; winter; changing; damp; thunderstorms]. Eating. Vexation. Cabbage. Mental exertion. Daytime. Fasting. During pregnancy. Touch.
Better: Warm air. Dry weather. Lying with head high. Summer. After eating.
Main symptoms
M EXCITABLE and quick temper.
QUARRELSOME, esp. after drinking alcohol.
• “Very irritable; everything affects him disagreeably and depressingly; he could not calm himself as to many things which else seemed trivial to him, and despite every effort, he could not cheer up.” [Hahnemann]
M IRRESOLUTION; loses his way in well-known streets.
[Compare: Confusion, walking in open air.]
M One thing.
• “He does not know how to stop talking about a thing.” [Hahnemann]
• “He cannot easily free himself from the subject on which he is talking.” [Allen]
• “At night, no sleep, but only fantasies over one and the same disagreeable subject, attended with night-sweat.” [Hahnemann]
M Two things.
• “He imagines that somebody is lying beside him.” [Hahnemann]
• “Since confinement two weeks ago when in bed, in dark room, at night, delusion that there is another baby in bed, which requires attention, also that she has a third leg which would not remain quiet.” [clinical case Berridge, cited by Hering]
Objects appear double.
Thinks that one limb is double.
Feeling as if fluids were drying up in body, and as if body were getting smaller internally, but expanding externally. [proving Boger]
G CHILLY; dreads open air.
COLDNESS in SPOTS.
[stomach; abdomen; uterus; teeth; fingertips; cold spot between scapulae]
Sensation as if there were a cold stone in heart.
Chilliness of entire right side. [proving Boger]
G Increased APPETITE.
Feels BETTER FROM EATING.
Waking from hunger.
Nausea from hunger.
Sensation of emptiness [stomach, abdomen] after stool [diarrhoea].
Diarrhoea and constant hunger.
Mental symptoms > eating.
Gastric symptoms > eating.
Gnawing pain in stomach when empty.
• “Particularly applicable in all gastric troubles of pregnant women.” [Guernsey]
G Aversion to FAT FOOD.
G < FLATULENT FOOD. Especially cabbage, sauerkraut, and beans and peas. G OFFENSIVE PERSPIRATION. • “[Perspiration of feet and in armpits] so pungent that it can be observed on the patient entering the room.” [Kent] G < Before and during THUNDERSTORM. G Weariness during menses. G MOTION SICKNESS. • “Occipital headache, with vertigo from focusing the eyes on the waves, or on passing objects, with relief in a dark place, and with the all-gone, hunger or pain in stomach driving him to eat, may be helped with Petroleum.” [Kent] G DRYNESS [ears, nose, throat, etc.]. G MUCOUS secretions increased. G Slightest injury suppurates. Wounds slow to heal. P Occipital headache. Extending to forehead and eyes. And Vertigo or visual disturbances. And All-gone hungry feeling or pain in stomach. P Sensation of contraction: • “The parts of the head and face feel as if being drawn together toward the middle of the nose and then downward into throat.” [proving Boger] P Tremendous DRYNESS of SKIN; < WINTER. • “There is no other remedy that has this so prominently. The hands chap, crack and bleed, and are all covered with eczema during the winter and get well in summer.” [Nash] Deep bloody cracks. [hands, fingertips, nostrils, folds of the skin, wrists, elbows, joints, genitals, nipples] Skin rough and thickened. Rubrics Mind Abusive during drunkenness [1]. Anger, in morning on waking [1], with taciturnity [1]. Anxiety, about his family [when away on a journey] [1]. Aversion to company, to the presence of strangers [1]. Confusion, knows not where he is [2], loses his way in well-known streets [2], after smoking [1], after wine [1]. Delusion, body was scattered about [2], divided into two parts [1], someone walks beside him [1]. Mental symptoms > after eating [1]. Feeling of helplessness [1]. Indifference to the dictates of conscience [1]. Loquacity during drunkenness [1]. Restlessness after coition [1]. Talking of nothing but one subject [1].
Vertigo
Beginning in nape of neck or occiput [1; Gels.; Iber.; Sil.].
Head
Congestion from rapid motion [2/1]. Waving sensation > motion [1/1].
Vision
Dim, during sadness [2/1]. Objects seem to be moving, fine motion [1/1]. Objects seem to be trembling [2], in evening by light [1/1].
Throat
Food lodges in throat [1]. Swallowing impossible during menses [1/1].
Stomach
Disordered, during stormy weather [1/1]. Pain, while fasting [2], < milk [1]. Respiration Difficult, when talking loud [1/1]. Limbs Heat, palms of hands, during menses [2; Carb-v.]; soles of feet, during menses [2], uncovers them [2]. Perspiration, hands, with ophthalmia [2]. Sleep Sleepiness during coryza [1]. Waking from hunger [2]. Food Aversion: [3]: Fat; meat. [1]: Butter; cabbage; cooked food; delicacies; hot food; warm food. Desire: [2]: Beer; brandy. [1]: Delicacies; sweets. Worse: [3]: Cabbage; flatulent food; sauerkraut. [2]: Beans and peas. [1]: Dry food; milk; tobacco; vegetables; wine.