Syphilinum 200c

– VERMEULEN Frans,
Syph.
Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.
[Samuel Johnson]
Signs
Syphilinum nosode. Luesinum. Lueticum.
SYPHILIS Primarily a sexually transmitted disease, syphilis is an infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, which belongs to a group of cork-screw shaped bacteria called spirochetes. The microbe is transparent and colourless which allowed it to remain hidden from researchers until 1905, when German scientists discovered it by using a dark field microscope. Continuous moisture is necessary for its survival, therefore it is most easily spread through bodily fluids. It requires a moist dark environment to live, so that any contact with air or sunlight will kill the microbe. As spirochetes infect the cells, each axial fibril attaches at an opposite end and winds around the cell body, which is enclosed by an envelope. The ideal situation for the spread is sexual contact, however other modes of transmission occur and include drinking vessels, medical instruments, blood transfusions, nursing mothers and in saliva. Transmission by sexual contact requires exposure to moist lesions of skin or mucous membranes; the disease can only be passed when first or second stage sores are present. Syphilis usually is treated with

penicillin, administered by injection. The disease has sometimes been called the ‘great imitator’, ‘great pretender’ or ‘great masquerader’ because its early symptoms mimic those of many other diseases. Pregnant women with syphilis can pass the disease onto their child, who may be born with serious mental and physical problems as a result of the infection [congenital syphilis]. About 25% of these pregnancies result in stillbirth or neonatal death. Some infants with congenital syphilis may have symptoms at birth, but most develop symptoms between two weeks and three months later. These symptoms may include skin sores, rashes, fever, weakened or hoarse crying sounds, swollen liver and spleen, yellowish skin, anaemia, and various deformities. As infected infants become older children and teenagers, they may develop the symptoms of late-stage syphilis including damage to the bones, teeth [pegged and notched teeth], eyes, ears, and brain.
HISTORY There is disagreement as to where syphilis originated. Some say that syphilis has been around since earliest recorded history, but was not identified as a separate disease from leprosy before AD 1500. According to others it arose in medieval Europe, activated by the 16th-century social disruptions, esp. warfare. Sailors accompanying Columbus were said to have contracted it from the native American population, with the Indians saying that the Spaniards brought the disease to the New World. Early 16th-century Europeans blamed each other. “Initially, it was called the ‘disease of Naples’, but rapidly became the ‘French Pox’ and other terms this or that nation: the Spanish disease in Holland, the Polish disease in Russia, the Russian disease in Siberia, the Christian disease in Turkey and the Portuguese disease in India and Japan. For their part, the Portuguese called it the Castilian disease, and a couple of centuries later Captain Cook [1728-79], exploring the Pacific, rued that the Tahitians ‘call the venereal disease Apa no Britannia – the British disease’ [he thought they’d caught it from the French].”1 The Italian humanist and physician Girolamo Fracastoro [1478-1553] published in 1530 an epic poem entitled Syphilis sive morbus gallicus, in which a fabled swine-herder named Syphilos is infected with the disease because he has insulted the sun god. With translations of Fracastoro’s poem in French, German, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, the swine-herder has ever since borne the blame and relieved the various countries of their nominal responsibility. It is generally assumed that the first epidemic of syphilis occurred amongst soldiers of the mercenary army of the French king Charles VII in 1494-95 during his Italian campaign. In this army there were a number of men who had been with Columbus to the West Indies the previous year and who were still infected with the disease they had contracted there. With the return of the mercenaries to their own countries, in 1496, their various routes were marked by the spread of syphilis. The first records show that the disease at that time had a different course than it has today. Ulcerating pustules often covered the body from head to toe, causing flesh to fall off people’s faces, and led to death within a few months. “The condition was accompanied by fever, a terribly putrefying smell and dreadful pains, esp. at night, in the head, neck, shoulders, arms and legs. The pains must have been virtually unbearable. They were often described as if the bones were being broken and twisted and the poor sufferers were heard screaming and whimpering day and night. There are even cases reported, were trepanning of the skull was attempted in order to alleviate the excruciating headaches.”2 The Morbus Gallicus, the French disease, spread quickly and viciously. “It appeared in France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Greece in 1496, in Scotland in 1497, and in Hungary and Russia in 1499. The spread of syphilis to the remaining parts of the known world was effected by the great voyagers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Vasco da Gama carried it on his ships to India in 1498, Europeans brought it to China in 1501, and by 1569 it had been smuggled into Japan. The Jews and Mohammedans, who were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella after the conquest of Granada, carried the disease to Africa. … It has been truly said that civilization and syphilization have advanced together.”3 In most countries, public health efforts to control syphilis focused on prostitutes, who quickly became the ‘social lepers’ of society. As early as 1496 the French city of Besancon appointed a physician solely for the medical examination of prostitutes. For many centuries the Churches saw syphilis as a just punishment from God for ‘vile creatures’ and ‘wicked lewd beasts’. Syphilitics were treated like outcasts. Astrologers connected the disease with activity of the planet Saturn. Public baths all over Europe were shut down. By 1546, syphilis had evolved into the disease with the symptoms so well known to us today.
CONCEPTIONS “Those who today still look on syphilis and gonorrhoea as punishments for sin have not progressed beyond the ideas of medieval Europe. There was an excuse for the Emperor Maximilian when he issued his edict in 1495 declaring syphilis to be an affliction from God for the sins of men. The civilization of his time had not progressed beyond such beliefs. Cotton Mather declared syphilis was a punishment ‘which the Just Judgment of God has reserved for our late Ages. …’ His ignorance was as great as his religious bigotry which led him to drown helpless old women for witchcraft. Ignorance and bigotry are the twin allies of the plagues of syphilis and gonorrhoea. The reason that syphilis and gonorrhoea are not viewed as pestilences, which they really are, lies in the fact that they are involved in one of the greatest problems of civilization – the relation of the sexes. The very name ‘venereal diseases’ – diseases of Venus – imputes to them a divine origin and brands them with the stigma which purists always have given to sex. The venereal diseases are involved in that great sex problem about which the ideals and ethics of Christian civilization centre. Its ethics, its art, and its literature are instinct with prurient caution in regard to sex. Thus sex is kept a problem. A true perspective on sexual matters is lost because the facts are obscured with secrecy and distorted in the imagination. … It is certainly not moral in any sense of the word that women and children infected with syphilis or gonorrhoea shall pay in the coin of suffering for some man’s lack of morality. Our conventional morality sees in the venereal diseases a punishment for sin even to the third generation. … The venereal transmission of the disease was not recognized at first, and it was thought to be spread by contagion. Under this idea, Cardinal Wolsey was accused of giving syphilis to King Henry VIII by whispering in his ear. Henry VIII unquestionably had the disease, but there were other and more likely sources than the cardinal’s words. In 1497, by act of the parliament of Paris, all persons infected with the new disease were prohibited, ‘under pain of death, from conversing with the rest of the world.’ … After it was discovered that the disease was not transmitted by contagion the law requiring isolation was no longer enforced.”4
GRANDEUR “History has been profoundly influenced in some cases by the effects of syphilis upon rulers. Ivan the terrible of Russia suffered from cerebral syphilis, which drove him to deeds of horrible cruelty. The reign of several of the Tudors in England was marked by the almost unmistakable effects of syphilis. Henry VIII had a series of stillborn children, strongly suggestive of the syphilis with which he was said to be infected. His son, Edward VI, died at an early age of what appeared to be a combination of congenital syphilis and tuberculosis. His daughter Mary – Bloody Mary – shows in her pictures the facial expression quite typical of the congenital disease. Henry himself had an abscess in his thigh, probably syphilis of the bone, which troubled him for many years. His marked sensuality developing in middle life and his bloodthirsty habits of divorce are strongly suggestive of cerebral syphilis. … Herod, king of the Jews, is said to have had a malignant disease of the genitals which resulted in his death.”5 Syphilis was a disease of the famous, too. Its victims include Napoleon, Baudelaire, Nietzsche, Gauguin, Dostojevski, Vincent van Gogh, Keats, Robert Schumann, Marquis de Sade, and E.T. A. Hoffmann [who had a morbid fear of going insane]. It was a popular myth among the avant garde “that it contributed to genius, providing drive and restless energy. Many writers were positively exalted at getting poxed [or were good at putting a brave face on it]. ‘For five weeks I have been taking mercury and potassium iodine and I feel very well on it,’ boasted Guy de Maupassant in 1877: ‘My hair is beginning to grow again and the hair on my arse is sprouting. I’ve got the pox! At last! Not the contemptible clap … no – no – the great pox, the one Francis I died of. The majestic pox … and I’m proud of it, by thunder. I don’t have to worry about catching it any more, and I screw the street whores and trollops, and afterwards I say to them, ‘I’ve got the pox’.”6
STAGES Syphilis has four stages: primary, secondary, latent [silent], and tertiary. These stages may overlap one another and also do not always follow in the same sequence. The first stage is characterized by the appearance of a firm, round, small, and painless sore or ulcer [chancre] at the site of initial contact, possibly within a week followed by swollen glands. The sore will last from one to five weeks and will disappear by itself even if no treatment is received. The second stage, beginning with a rash anywhere on the body, can start as the chancre is fading or wait up to six months. The rash typically is characterized by brown sores about the size of a penny, almost always involving the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. “Syphilitic skin rashes may simulate various dermatologic conditions. Usually, they are symmetric and more marked on the flexor and volar surfaces of the body, esp. the palms and soles. The rashes generally occur in crops as macules, papules, pustules, or squamous lesions. The individual spots are pigmented in blacks and are pinkish or pale red in whites. They are round, tend to become confluent and indurated, and generally do not itch. They eventually heal, usually without scarring but sometimes with areas of residual hyperpigmentation or depigmentation. The mucous membranes frequently erode, forming mucous patches that are circular and often greyish white with a red areola. These patches occur mostly in the mouth, on the palate, pharynx, or larynx; on the glans penis or vulva; or in the anal canal and rectum. Condyloma lata – hypertrophic, flattened, dull pink or gray papules at the mucocutaneous junctions and in moist areas of the skin – are extremely infectious. Hair often falls out in patches, leaving a moth-eaten appearance [alopecia areata].”7 Other symptoms accompanying the second stage include tiredness, weight loss, fever, sore throat, patchy hair loss, headache, iritis and/or chorioretinitis, hoarseness, loss of appetite, swollen lymph glands, and soreness and aching of muscles, joints, and bones. These symptoms disappear by themselves after two to six weeks, although they may recur later. Next, syphilis may lapse into a latent stage during which the disease is no longer contagious and no symptoms are present. Many people who are not treated will suffer no further consequences of the disease.
TERTIARY SYPHILIS A minority [up to 30%] of individuals will develop tertiary syphilis years later, in which the bacteria damage the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, bones, joints, or almost any other part of the body. This stage can last for years, or even for decades. Late stage symptoms include muscular inco-ordination, paralysis, anaesthesia, growing blindness, insanity, personality changes, impotency, shooting pains, aneurysm, tumours or gummas, severe abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, damage to knee joints, deep sores on the soles of feet or toes, and condylomata all over genitals and rectum. Syphilis bacteria frequently invade the nervous system during the early stages of infection, and approximately 3 to 7% of persons with untreated syphilis develop neurosyphilis. Some persons with neurosyphilis never develop any symptoms. In some instances, the time from infection to developing neurosyphilis may be up to 20 years. 8 Three types of tertiary neurosyphilis are distinguished; these types may occur alone or in combination. [1] Meningovascular neuro-syphilis may cause low grade meningitis and/or stroke-like symptoms due to vascular occlusion. Brain involvement is signalled by headache, dizziness, poor concentration, insomnia, neck stiffness, and blurred vision. [2] Parenchymatous neurosyphilis [general paresis or dementia paralytica] results in headache and mental changes progressing to dementia. Specific mental changes are a slow process of losing ones personality, loss of concentration, loss of good judgement, delusions of grandeur, loss of memory, disorientation, apathy or violence. [3] Tabes dorsalis, a degeneration of the posterior columns of the spinal cord, also known as locomotor ataxia, is characterized by lightning pains in trunk and legs, incontinence, sensory deficits including loss of pain sensation and loss of position sense [leading to ataxia], and Argyll Robertson pupils, in which the pupils react to accommodation but not to light. There is also benign tertiary syphilis which is still painful and hideous but not life threatening. Gummatous infiltration of the bones of the nose was responsible for one of the most horrible deformities caused by syphilis as the nose itself eroded and sometimes collapsed and ulceration spread to the face. “Benign tertiary syphilis: Lesions usually develop within 3 to 10 years of infection but have almost vanished in the antibiotic era. The typical lesion is a gumma, an inflammatory mass that evolves to necrosis and fibrosis and that is frequently localized but may diffusely infiltrate an organ or tissue. Localized lesions are composed of central necrosis surrounded by granulation tissue. Gummas are indolent, grow slowly, heal gradually, and leave scars. They may develop in the skin, resulting in nodular, ulcerative, or squamous eruptions. Subcutaneously, they result in punched-out ulcers with sloughing, washed-leather-appearing bases; healed ulcers typically leave atrophic [tissue-paper] scars. Gummas often occur in submucosal tissues [esp. of the palate, nasal septum, pharynx, and larynx] and lead to perforation of the palate or septum. Though most common on the leg, upper trunk, face, and scalp, they may occur almost anywhere.”9
DETERIORATION The relationship of general paresis to syphilis was definitely established in 1897 by the German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. An exponent of degenerationist thinking and author of Psychopathia Sexualis [1866] – a study of sexual transgressions in the 19th century – von Krafft-Ebing inoculated paretic patients with matter from syphilitic sores. None developed secondary symptoms of syphilis, which led to the conclusion that they must previously have been infected. Occurring far more in males than in females, general paresis is associated with a wide range of behavioural and psychological symptoms. “During the early phase of this disorder the individual typically becomes careless and inattentive and makes mistakes at work. At first the person may notice these mistakes but will attribute them to fatigue; later, they go unnoticed. Personal habits may show some deterioration, and the once-neat person may become slovenly. Comprehension and judgement suffer, and the individual may show a tendency to evade important problems or may react to them with smug indifference. Accompanying these symptoms is a blunting of affect, so that the individual ceases to share in the joys, sorrows, or anxieties of loved ones. … Overly sentimental behaviour is typical, and this phase may involve promiscuous sexual patterns. … Writing is disturbed, with tremulous lines and the omission or transposition of syllables. Frequently, the individual has a rather vacant, dissipated look, with a silly grin. … Paretic individuals tend to be unmannerly, tactless, unconcerned with their appearance, and unethical in their behaviour. Memory defects, which may be noticeable in the early phases of the illness, become more obvious. These individuals may be unable to remember what they did just a short time before. This memory impairment extends to less immediate events, and memory losses are made up for by various fabrications. As their intellectual processes are increasingly impaired, paretic individuals become unable to comprehend the simplest problems and may optimistically squander their money on harebrained schemes or become involved in a variety of antisocial acts. This entire picture of personality deterioration is usually coloured by emotional reactions in the form of either marked euphoria, depression, or apathy. Thus, three categories are commonly used to distinguish clinical types of paretic individuals – expansive, depressed, and demented – although these types are by no means always distinct, and depressed individuals frequently change categories by becoming euphoric. As the disease enters the terminal period, the extensive brain damage leads to a similar picture for all three types, in which the individual leads a vegetative life, expresses little interest in anything, becomes inarticulate in speech, and can no longer maintain personal care. Convulsive seizures usually become common. Finally, a terminal infection or breakdown of body functioning leads to death.”10
AIDS “Physicians who treat patients with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome [AIDS] generally accept the belief that the disease is caused by a retrovirus variously called HIV, LAV, or HTLV-3. The truth of the matter, however, is that increasingly clinicians as well as researchers and scientists are questioning whether a simple retroviral model explains the myriad clinical and laboratory abnormalities we are coming to associate with AIDS. It is my contention that the primary insult to the immune system which ultimately results in the syndrome now called AIDS is repeated exposure to pathogenic spirochetes. While the list of such spirochetes and the primary diseases associated with them is long and ranges from B. burgdorferi, the agent responsible for Lyme Disease, to B. recurrentis, the cause of Relapsing Fever, in the Western world we are speaking for all practical purposes about T. Pallidum and the disease it produces – syphilis. Assuming that the growing body of experts is correct and AIDS cannot be explained by a single viral model, then chronic disease with tertiary syphilis becomes more than just another candidate for the cause, but a likely candidate. It is extremely immune suppressive, esp. in its chronic form. It is a blood borne disease; it is transmitted venereally; and it is easily acquired in utero thus explaining paediatric AIDS. Syphilis in the United States is also increasing in the same manner AIDS is. Finally, chronic syphilis has for decades been endemic in precisely the same populations most at risk for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: gay and bisexual men, those who use parenteral drugs, the repeatedly transfused, the sexual partners of those at risk whether male or female and the unfortunate children born to those infected. … All signs and symptoms of AIDS have their counterparts in syphilis and/or other spirochetal diseases.”11 Supporting evidence for this conception comes from the observation of the striking similarities between the pathologies of syphilis and AIDS. Persons with either disease may manifest alopecia, anorexia, aphasia, ataxia, bladder disturbances, cranial nerve involvement including facial paralysis, dementia, encephalitis, epilepsy, fever, glomerulonephritis, hemiplegia, hyperactive reflexes, Kaposi’s sarcoma, laryngitis, lymphadenopathy, nephrotic syndrome, optic atrophy, paraplegia, pharyngitis, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, seizures, strokes, and thrush. 12 [See also Harris Coulter, AIDS and syphilis: the hidden link; Berkeley, 1987].
PROVINGS •• [1] Swan – 12 provers, 1890; method: higher potencies, manner unknown.
•• [2] Carr – 3 provers [2 females, 1 male]; method: unknown.
[1] Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind. [2] Springer and Wittwer, Syphilinum: Past and Present; HL 2/00. [3-5] Haggard, Devils, Drugs and Doctors. [6] Porter, ibid. [7] Merck Manual. [8] National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA. [9] Merck Manual. [10] Coleman et al., Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. [11] Caiazza, Chronic spirochetal infection and the pathogenesis of AIDS; Quantum Medicine, Vol. 1, January 1988. [12] Mitchell, Syphilis as AIDS? – A Call For Research; Medical Hypothesis, Vol. 48, 1993.
Affinity
Mucous membranes. Nerves. Bones.
Modalities
Worse: NIGHT; sundown to sunrise. Gradual < then slow >. Protruding tongue. Extreme heat or cold [cold weather in winter; summer heat]. Every alternate full moon. During thunderstorms. Damp. Seashore. Raising the arm laterally.
Better: During day. Changing position. Continued or slow motion. High altitudes; mountains. Warmth. Cold bathing.
Main symptoms
M OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOUR.
Fear of INFECTIONS, germs.
Always washing her hands.
• “Obsessional anxiety, expressed in the need to count railings, to wash the hands, and in repetition of words and phrasings.” [Gibson]
• “Syphilinum is a main remedy for compulsive neurosis that is manifest in an obsession with cleanliness and a germ-free state. There is a compulsion about checking and rechecking the correctness of former actions such as having turned off appliances. A strong fear of infectious diseases prevails and is accompanied by a constant washing of the hands. … Syphilinum is overly occupied with health, order, and cleanliness. Underneath the routines and anxieties lies a fatalistic view of life, a deep sense of being doomed and of not proceeding in recovery; the emotional life deteriorates, angry outbursts occur, affectionate ties weaken, alcoholism is engaged in. … These patients have an inherent fear of dangers, of being hurt, or of breaking down in mind and body.”1
[• “The most famous obsessive-compulsive of this century was arguably industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes. After having affairs with some of the world’s most glamorous women of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, Hughes became a complete recluse during the last years of his life. He walled himself off from the outside world because he was preoccupied with being contaminated by dirt. He almost certainly suffered from fears of personal contamination and spermaphobia [a morbid fear of germs]. He had all papers and food brought to him by employees who wore surgical masks and special gloves. This was so that no one could possibly touch what he would touch. Obsessive-compulsive cleaning rituals eventually took up his entire day. Sadly, Rapoport writes, ‘… toward the end of his life, paradoxically, Hughes became a filthy, unkempt figure with unwashed, matted hair, a scraggly beard, and fingernails and toenails of such length that they curled in upon themselves. He either went nude or dressed only in a pair of undershorts. Most probably the rituals of bathing and grooming became so overwhelming in Hughes’s case that he was ultimately incapable of even the simplest self-care.”]2
The following is not a Syphilinum case, but an example from psychiatry that contains the typical elements of Syphilinum.
• “Guilt and fear of punishment. Obsessive-compulsive behaviour often seems to stem from feelings of guilt and self-condemnation. Lady Macbeth’s symbolic handwashing after her participation in the bloody murder of King Duncan is a well-known literary example of ritualistic behaviour aimed at the cleansing of guilt for immoral behaviour. In the following case, the development of obsessive-compulsive patterns seems to be associated with a belief that ‘unforgivable’ behaviour will inevitably be punished. A 32-year-old high-school cooking teacher dreaded to have anyone eat anything she had prepared, and if students in her cooking class were absent, she was certain they had been poisoned by her cooking. In addition, she developed the obsessive notion that a rash at the base of her scalp was a manifestation of syphilis, which would gnaw at her brain and make a ‘drooling idiot’ of her. Accompanying the obsessive fears were compulsions consisting primarily of repeated hand-washings and frequent returns to some act already performed to reassure herself that the act had been done right, such as turning off the gas or water. In treatment the patient was self-centred but highly sensitive and conscientious. She had graduated from college with honours and considered herself highly intelligent. About three years before her present difficulties she had married a noncollege man of which she had been very much ashamed because of his poor English, table manners, and other characteristics which she thought led to a very poor social showing. As a result, she had rejected him in her thinking and behaviour and had treated him in what she now considered a very cruel manner. On one occasion, she had also been unfaithful to him, which was directly opposed to her moral training. … This woman’s obsessive fear of contaminating other people and of having syphilis apparently grew out of a feeling that her past ‘sins’ had caught up with her. They also served the function of protecting her from acting upon her occasionally returning desire for sexual relationships with other men.”]3
M FAR-AWAY FEELING. DISTANT.
And Apathy and indifference to future.
Stranger; loner; hider.
• “Syphilinum will often say they feel like a stranger, separate from the world, separate from people and society and even from themselves. … Far away from themselves, from their feelings, from the world. Because of this distance they feel that they have to hide themselves from society and from people. Thus Syphilinum becomes markedly secretive; they feel they have to keep things hidden from others. … There is an impression of a deep, dark emotional depression which the patient tries to keep tucked away out of sight. There is a feeling that the patient is distant, a deep distant private life, they live in their own world, perhaps an odd character. Can be self destructive; strike themselves, self mutilation; destroy their possessions and themselves. … Syphilinum can very much become a loner, they can hide themselves away in their private little world, but the feature which stands out more for us is the anti-social behaviour. They can be defiant, anti-authority and anti-establishment. They will often become destructive and want to destroy society and organisation, break down, cripple, destroy.”4
• “Syphilis also had a great influence on western culture. It clearly dictated fashion from the end of the 16th century until modern times, as the dresses had to be designed so to best hide the stigmata of the pox. Therefore official uniforms always bore high collars concealing an eventual ‘Venus’ necklace or other syphilitic scars. At the court, full-bottomed wigs were introduced to hide patchy alopecia, and syphilitic eruptions of the hand were hidden by wearing gloves. The whole body was carefully veiled behind clothes with the exception of the face, where the use of make-up became popular to cover up suspicious spots. Finally the habit of using perfumes developed because of the need to counteract the nauseating smell of syphilitic ulcers.”5
M Erratic, odd behaviour.
• “Invariably we can observe in this nervous state other odd behaviour such as rapid change of the disposition; seems to suddenly change in character and expressions. They can take on different caricatures and personalities alternating from one to the next. [In two cases that were treated successfully with Syphilinum, both were actors.] This could be a kind of confusion of identity as the patient experiences an inability to feel himself. It is bordering on megalomania. There is a lack of personal control, of personal decency. We can sometimes observe a lasciviousness in the patient, there is shameless talk, a state of great nervousness and impulsiveness. The mind dwells on disgusting things in the realm of sex; they may indulge in sexual extremes and perversions. Absence of moral restraint. This fits the development of a nihilistic state.”6
Fascination with death and the macabre.
• “Syphilinum individuals may be attracted to anything that is associated with death. … Some Syphilinums have something of a sadistic streak, in that they enjoy watching animals die, and will find themselves stepping on insects, or putting them in water and watching them drown. I have not come across cruelty towards humans amongst Syphilinums, but the potential is presumably there. Syphilinum’s fascination with death and the macabre is sometimes reflected in her dreams. [The majority I have seen have been female.] One patient told me that she often dreamt of skeletons or of skulls, or of being buried herself, and that these dreams were not distressing. It is important for the homoeopath to realise that this fascination with death is genuine and deep-seated, and not some fad that the person has embraced to appear interesting. Usually the Syphilinum person knows that her interest are ‘weird’, and for this reason she keeps them to herself.” [Bailey]
M Fear of night.
• “Terrible dread of night, on account of mental and physical exhaustion on waking.” [Clarke]
Fear in the dark; wants a light in the room at night.
Does not want to be left alone.
M Violence.
• “The patient is exceedingly irritable, to the point of violence on being opposed, and fuelled by a delusional tendency to feel personally exalted or superior.”7
• “Irritability is a well-known feature of the Syphilinum personality. He quickly gets very angry, esp. when drunk or in pain. He also has a very low threshold to strike. The Syphilinum type of striking can most be observed in children. It is sudden, with full force and not out of blind rage like in Stramonium. Syphilinum consciously hits where it hurts most.”8
G CHILLY.
G Craving for ALCOHOL in any form.
• “Bacchus and Venus are close allies.” [Clarke]
G < Extremes of HEAT and COLD. > Moderate temperature.
G < NIGHT. = Pains, asthma, coughs, sleeplessness, feeling as if hot water is running through all veins. < Winter [long nights]. G > Mountains.
G DISTORTIONS.
[nails, facial features]
G ULCERATIVE processes; foul discharges.
G SUCCESSION of abscesses; boils; suppurations.
G DESTRUCTIVE tendency.
Early DECAY.
G Glandular affections.
[1] Boedler’s Psychic Causes; Reference Works. [2] Juan, The Odd Brain. [3] Coleman et al., Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. [4] Bianchini, Syphilinum, the remedy; The Homoeopath, Dec. 1992. [5] Springer and Wittwer, Syphilinum: Past and Present; HL 2/00. [6] Bianchini, ibid. [7] Boedler’s Psychic Causes. [8] Springer and Wittwer, ibid.
Rubrics
Mind
Abusive [1]. Antisocial [2]. Checking, must check twice or more [1]. Intolerant of contradiction [1]. Delusions, he is dirty [2], he will become insane [2], he is neglected by members of family [1*]. Disgust with everything [3]. Fear of, contagious disease [2], of dark [1*], of insanity [1], of mice [1*]. Indifference to loved ones [2]. Insanity, megalomania [2]. Liar, never speaks the truth, does not know what she is saying [2]. Desire for light [1*], at night [1*]. Cannot bear to be looked at [1*]. Secretive [1]. Squandering [2]. Presence of strangers < [1*]. Aversion to being touched [1*]. Head Bores head in pillow [1*]. Motions, rolling head sideways [1*]. Pain, from exposure to sun [1], while talking [1]; as if top of head will come off [1]. Pulsating, vertex, on exertion [1]. Eye Eyes half open during sleep [1*]. Vision Diplopia, vertical [1]. Face Chewing motion of jaw during sleep [1*]. Discolouration, pale, around mouth, before vomiting [1*]. Mouth Putrid taste in mouth before epileptic attack [1/1]. Stomach Vomiting, of curdled milk [1*]; of water, soon after drinking [1*]. Abdomen Pain, cramping, region of umbilicus, > heat [1*], > pressure [1*], > sitting bent over [1*].
Rectum
Pain, < blowing the nose [1*], < coughing [1*], > heat, steam from hot water [1*], > sitting with legs wide apart [1*], < standing [1*], < walking [1*]. Larynx Voice, hoarseness, before menses [1]; lost, before menses [1/1]. Chill Chilliness < draft of air [1*]. Perspiration Single parts, side not lain on [1*]. Generals Abscesses, greenish pus [1], recurrent [2]. Seaside air < [1]. Cold bathing > [1]. Motion, continued motion > [3], slow motion > [3].
* Repertory additions from H.C. Morrow, Comments on Syphilinum; Hom. Phys., May 1896.
Food
Aversion: [2]: Meat. [1]: Fat.
Desire: [2]: Alcohol.
Worse: [2]: Alcohol; cold food.