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As the blood returns to the heart it passes through special thin walled vessels called veins. Unlike the tough strong arteries, these vessels are easily distended. One can demonstrate by pressing the finger on a vein on the back of hand and watching it swell as the blood builds up behind it. Blood flowing from the head and upper chest flows downward toward the heart. On the other hand, blood coming from the lower extremities must flow upward. To make this possible nature has provided valves in the veins so that the blood can flow only toward the heart, never in the other direction.

In human beings there are two sets of veins. The deeper veins are located within the muscles where they are given good support. But the veins on the surface just under the skin have little support and are easily damaged. These surface veins are often subject to inflammation or phlebitis.

In some people the veins in the legs are weak and may swell easily. Varicose veins, seems to run in families. Anything that increases the pressure in the pelvis or abdomen may slow the flow of blood back to the heart from the lower extremities. One frequent cause of varicose veins is pregnancy; other is obesity. Anything that increases the pressure within the veins of the legs and thighs may weaken or break down the little valves, so that the veins become enlarged and the blood does not finds its way back to the heart as it should.

Whooping cough is highly infectious specific disease, commonly of children characterized by respiratory catarrh and a special type of cough with inspiratory laryngeal spasm producing a characteristic sound.

This is common in children below 6 years, females are attacked more. Atypical cases are sometimes seen in adolescents and adults.

The disease occurs sporadically and less commonly in epidemics. It occurs mostly in winters and spring and is more common in temperate areas. The causative organism is Haemophillus pertusis present in the upper respiratory tract, conveyed by the infected sputum droplets of the patient to the contacts during the earlier stages of catarrh and paroxysmal cough.

The incubation period is 7 to 15 days or more.

A moderate degree of laryngeal, tracheal and bronchial catarrh with peribroncholitis and acute localized emphysema of the lungs are often associated. The tracheobronchial glands are sometimes enlarged. Rarely the right heart may be dilated and there may be haemorrhage in the brain and the meninges.

The word Aconite is derieved from ACONIS, a city of Bithynia (in Asia Minor). Also ACON means dart because the darts were poisoned with Aconite. Also, from Greek word ACONITUM means without soil, as this plant grows on a stony ground.

History and Authority: Master Hahnemann introduced it in homoeopathy in 1805.

A state of fear, anxiety; anguish of mind and body. Physical and mental restlessness, fright, is the most characteristic manifestation of Aconite. Acute sudden and violent invasion, with fever, call for it.

There is no medicine like Aconite Nap when a complaint is caused by exposure to dry cold weatlier or by fright or both. Aconite should be thought of as the first medicine in inflammation, inflammatory fevers, when an attack is acute, sudden and violent, when there is physical and mental restlessness and if the problem is recent and when all this is on account of exposure to dry cold weather. The parts of the body affected can be larynx, bronchi, pleura joints and even heart.

The name ARNICA is derived from ARNAKIS means lambskin due to the wooly appearance of the leaf.

MONTANA from Latin word MOUNTAINOUS from the place that is grows.

History and Authority: Hahnemann introduced it in homoeopathic practice in 1805.

The part used is the entire fresh plant, including root.

Arnica is one of the most frequently used remedies in the homoeopathic materia medica. We think of it whenever injury, however remote, appears to be the cause of the trouble. The injury may be recent or remote. It may be a blow or a contusion. The patient has a bruised, sore feeling all over. Any surface on which the body lies appears to be hard. Various limbs of the body ache as if these have been beaten. Arnica is the remedy in such cases.

It is a deep acting remedy on every organ and tissue. Its clear-cut characteristic symptoms amid correspondence to many severe types of diseases make its homoeopathic employment constant and certain. Its general symptoms often alone lead to its successful application.

Arsenic should be thought of in ailments from alcoholism, ptomaine poisoning, stings, dissecting wounds, chewing tobacco; ill effects from decayed food or animal matter; order of discharges is putrid: in complaints that return annually. Anemia and chlorosis. Degenerative changes. Gradual loss of weight from impaired nutrition. Reduces the refractive index of blood serum (also China and Ferr. Phos.) Maintains the system under the stress of malignancy regardless of location. Malarial cachexia. Septic infections and low vitality.

The word Belladonna is derived from two Latin words Bella means fine or beautiful and Donna means lady. Its generic name ' ATROPA' comes from the Greek fate ATROPOS, 'THE INFLEXIBLE ONE'.

Think of Belladonna if you see a red surface because this medicine is associated with red, blood shot eyes, red, puffed face, red, swollen throat, red skin, which radiates heat. This redness indicates inflammation. Thus a large number of acute inflammatory diseases respond well to Belladonna.

Belladonna problems come on suddenly, with violence, run a regular course and then disappear as suddenly as they come.

When an inflammation is localized, Belladonna is the remedy in the first stage. Such inflammation comes suddenly, is red, painful and throbbing. This can be in the head, throat, breast or anywhere else in the body. This can be in the form of a carbuncle or a boil, on a hand or on a foot. Belladonna controls and aborts the problem in its first stage.

The word BRYONIA means growing rapidly, as the stem grows rapidly.

ALBA, from Latin word ALBUS means white as the roots and flowers are yellowish or white.

Bryonia affects especially the constitution of a robust, firm fiber and dark complexion, with tendency to leanness and irritability. It prefers the right side, the evening, and open air. Warm weather after cold days, to manifest its action most markedly. Bryonia acts on all serous membranes and the viscera they contain.

Bryonia gives remarkable relief in muscular pain, which aggravates on motion, in the treatment of bronchitis and inflammatory and congestive headache.

The character of the pain is "Stitching and tearing". An interesting feature of Bryonia pain is that patient feels better, ameliorated if pressure is applied to the painful part. The patient is comfortable when lying on the painful side.

The name CACTUS was originally given by Theophrastus, to a spiny plant of Sicily in Italy.

Act on circular muscular fibres, hence constrictions. It is the heart and arteries especially that at once respond to the influence of Cactus, producing very characteristic constrictions as of an iron band. This sensation is found in various places, oesophagus, bladder, etc. The mental symptoms produced correspond to those found when there are heart affections, sadness and melancholy. Haemorrhage, constrictions, periodicity, and spasmodic pains. Whole body feels as if caged, each wire being twisted tighter. Atheromatous arteries and weak heart. Congestion; irregular distribution of blood. Favors formation of clots speedily. Great periodicity. Toxic goiter with cardiac symptoms. Cactus is pulseless, painting and prostrated.

We use Cactus for constriction of the heart. It feels as if an iron band were preventing the normal movement of the heart. The pain is worse when the patient is lying on the left side.

Cactus has four leading indications, viz. haemorrhage, constriction, periodicity and spasmodic pain. The whole body feels as if it is caged, with each wire being twisted tighter.

In case of heart problems, there is a fluttering and palpitation of the heart, an irregularity in the action of the heart. The patient suffers from endocarditis, an inflammation of the layer of the epithelial cells which lines the cavities of the heart. There may be mitrial insufficiency with palpitation. There may be swelling of the left hand, of the left leg and foot. The left arm is numb. The circulation of the blood is spasmodic, irregular.

This great Hahnemannian antipsoric is a constitutional remedy. Its chief action is on the glands, skin and bones. Increased general and local perspiration, swelling of glands, scrofulous and rachitic conditions generally offer numerous opportunities for the application of Calcarea. A jaded state, mental or physical, due to overwork. Persons of scrofulous type, who take cold easily, with increased mucous secretion, children who grow fat, are large bellied, with large head, pale skin, chalky look, affections caused by working in water. Children crave eggs and eat dirt and other indigestible things; are prone to diarrhoea. Calcarea patient is fat, fair, flabby and perspiring.

In cases of deficient or irregular bone development, deformed extremities, a crooked spine, a softening of the bone, Calcarea Carb comes handy. While the Sulphur patient might be usually thin, lean and wiry, the Calcarea patient might be obese. But like Sulphur, Calcarea carb helps in easy relapses, interrupted convalescence.

The typical Carbo patient is sluggish, fat and lazy and has a tendency to have chronic complaints. Blood seems to stagnate in thq capillaries, causing blueness, coldness and ecchymosis. Body becomes blue icy-cold. Bacteria find a rich soil in the nearly lifeless blood stream and sepsis and typhoidal state ensues. Weakness due to excessive diarrhoea, menstruation or other debilitating diseases. The patient may be almost lifeless, but the head is not, coldness, breathe cool, pulse imperceptible, oppressed and quickened respiration and must have air, must be fanned hard, must have all the windows open. The patient faints easily, are worn out must have fresh air. Haemorrhages from any mucous surface. Indicated for persons who have never fully recovered from the effects of some previous illness. General venous stasis, bluish skin, limbs cold.

Manifests its action mainly in chronic rheumatic, arthritic and paralytic affections, indicated by the tearing, drawing pains in the muscular and fibrous tissues, with deformities about the joints; progressive loss of muscular strength, tendinous contractures. Broken down senile. In catarrhal affections of the air passages, seems to choose preferably dark - complexioned and rigid fibered persons. Restlessness at night, with tearing pains in joints and bones, and faint - like sinking of strength. This weakness progresses until we have gradually appearing paralysis. Local paralysis, vocal cords, muscles of deglutition, of tongue, eyelids, face, bladder and extremities. Children are slow to walk. The skin of Causticum person is of a dirty white sallow, with warts, especially on the face. Emaciations due to disease, worry etc. Burning, rawness and soreness are characteristic.

Causticum is indicated in the treatment of chronic rheumatism and paralysis accompanying it. Here, Causticum ranks with Rhus Tox and Sulphur.

The word CHAMOMILA is derived from CHAMAEMELUM and MATRICARIA from MATRIX means apple on the ground, because the plant grows to the ground and has an odour like that of apples. It has been used since long as a domestic remedy by the name chamomile.

The chief guiding symptoms belong to the mental and emotion group, which lead to this remedy in many forms of disease. Especially of frequent employment in diseases of children, where peevishness, restlessness, and colic give the needful indications. A disposition that is mild, calm and gentle; sluggish and constipated bowels contra-indicate Chamomilla.

Chamomilla is sensitive, irritable, thirsty, hot, and numb. Oversensitiveness from abuse of coffee and narcotics. Pains unendurable, associated with numbness night-sweats.

The child patient wants to be carried in the arms. His mood is very irritable and snappy. He does not know what he wants. He needs a dose of Chamomilla. Even in elders, the patient is cross, ugly, spiteful and snappish. He cannot bear others. He cannot bear pain. He wants things but on getting them throws them away. He is uncivil.

CINCHON, a place where the Countess Ann, a wife of the 4^th Count of CINCHON lived. She was cured by tertian fever in 1638 by the use of cinchona bark. Its virtues were made known to Europe in 1640. The botanists identified it in 1717. This drug shows the pathway for the establishment of homoeopathy.

The key word in the prescribing of China is 'debility' or weakness caused by excessive loss of blood or other fluids from the body, through nursing or salivation or excessive and bloody leucorrhoea, menstruation or long-continuing diarrhoea or through profuse pus formation or after an attack of influenza. There may be haemorrhages from the wounds, the lungs, the bowels or from the nose, a sudden depletion leading to fainting, loss of sight, ringing in the ears or to an over all weakness of the body. China acts as a marvelous remedy in such cases. The dose should be frequently repeated in 200 potency.

The word GELSEMIUM is derived from Latin word GELSIMINO meaning jasmine and SEMPERVIRENS meaning ever green.

Gelsemium is one of the most effective remedies in the treatment of influenza where there is body pain, pain in the head at the base of the brain, that is, in the occiput, and where there are accompanying throat problems.

Mentally, the Gelsemium patient desires to be left alone in peace. He is torpid, sleepy and dreads movement. He is dull. He cannot think clearly or concentrate.

As indicated above, Gelsemium is one of the remedies used in the treatment of influenza where there is body pain, a feeling of chill going upwards in the spine and congestion on the occiput. The eyes burn and itch with great discomfort. The patient sneezes and experiences coolness at the root of the nose. There may be acute running nose with dull headache and fever. At times the nose is blocked. The face is hot, flushed, dark red and looks like that of fool. The skin is very hot. The temperature goes up. There is itching and tickling in the soft palate, in the throat and in the nasopharynx. The throat feels rough; it burns. At times there is the feeling of a lump in the throat, which cannot be swallowed. There is pain in the temples, in the throat, radiating towards the ear. The entire system of the ears, nose and throat appears to be affected.

Like all the carbons, this remedy is an antipsoric of great power, but especially active in patients who are rather stout, of fair complexion, with tendency to skin affections and constipations, fat, chilly, and costive, with delayed menstrual history, take cold easily.

Children impudent, teasing, laugh at reprimands. Anaemia with redness of face. Tendency to obesity.

By and large, Graphites is a skin remedy. Eruptions oozing out at thick honey - like fluid require Graphites. Such eruptions may be on any part of the body. These would be especially found on or beyond the ears, on the head, the face and the genitals or on the eyelids.

Graphites is indicated in eczema of the legs where there is a thick oozing of sticky fluid. Eczema of the eyelids, where the eruptions are moist and the margins of the eyelids are fissured, also requires Graphites.

Suits especially scrofulous and lymphatic constitutions that are inclined to have eruptions and glandular swellings. Unhealthy skin. Blondes with sluggish character and weak muscles. Great sensitiveness to all impressions. Sweating patient pulling blanket around him. Chilliness, hypersensitiveness, splinter-like pains, craving for sour and strong things are very characteristic. The tendency to suppuration is more marked, and ahs been a strong guiding symptom in practice. The side of the body on which he lies at night becomes gradually insufferably painful; he must turn.

Hepar Sulph is the medicine for abscess, for the tendency to suppuration. Every little injury suppurates. Accompanying this suppuration is shooting pain. Suppuration or pus formation can be on any part of the body. If throbbing and shooting pain accompany it, it requires a does of Hepar Sulph in a high potency of 200 and above. Hepar Sulph can abort pus formation if given at the earliest stage of suppuration. Later it will hasten the pointing and discharge and help in healing the ulcer.

The name Ipecacuanha is from the Portuguese meaning, 'Road-side-sick-making plant⁷, and mention of it as a remedy for the bloody flux or dysentery goes back as far as the late sixteenth century.

The principle feature of Ipecacuahna is its persistent nausea and vomiting, which form the chief guiding symptom. Indicated after indigestible food, raisins, cakes, etc. especially indicated in fat children and adults, who are feeble and catch cold in relaxing atmosphere, warm moist weather.

One cannot think of treating persistent nausea without Ipecac. This is a nausea in which there is no relief by vomiting. The patient is as sick after as before. The second major problem for which Ipecac is a great cure is a chest complaint, bronchitis in infants, bronchitis with coarse rattling. Ipecac is also a remedy for infections of the upper respiratory tract wherein a peculiar wheezing sound is produced on breathing out. Old incurable cases of asthma are relieved by Ipecac. Ipecac is useful in uterine haemorrhages.

Kali Bi is one of the finest remedies for the treatment of sinusitis, in diphtheric croup and in chronic, old cases. The mucous membrane of the nose responds to the administration of Kali Bi in acute as well as chronic cases. The discharge is tough, stringy, green and goes inwards into the throat.

The mucus is very difficult to take out. The patient can be heard from a distance trying to take it out but without success. One dose of Kali Bi. loosens this mucus.

There is pain in the sinuses. There is neuralgia in the orbits above the eyes. The sense of smell has been lost. The nose is stuffed. At times, there is violent sneezing. The patient suffers from chronic inflammation of the frontal sinuses. Only Kali Bi. gives relief and cure to such a patient.

Catarrhal laryngitis cough has a brassy sound. True membranous croup, extending to larynx and nares. Cough with pain in sternum, extending to shoulders. Pain at bifurcation of trachea on coughing from midsternum to back.

Like all snake poisons, Lachesis decomposes the blood rendering it more fluid; hence a haemorrhagic tendency is marked. Purpura, septic states, diphtheria, and other low forms of disease when the system is thoroughly poisoned and the prostration is marked. Delirium tremens with mucfrtrembling and confusion. Very important medicine during menopause and for patients of a melancholic disposition. Diphtheria carriers. Sensation of tension in various parts.

Lachesis treats the worst of throat problems, hot flushes in women during menopause, and diptheric paralysis. It is indicated in high blood pressure with constriction and in heart disease when the face is purple and bloated. Also religious insanity.

As a red inflammation leads us to use Belladonna, so Lachesis is to be thought of when the colour is purple. The face is purple; the eyes are engorged. An inflamed spot is purple and so are the inflamed glands. Ulceration bleeds, blood coagulates and the surface looks purple. There is extreme sensitivity to touch. The throat is purple and not red because the blood under the skin has coagulated. There is nothing like Lachesis if these indications are present.

The word LYCOPODIUM is derived from LUCOS meaning wolf and PES meaning the foot, as the shoots has an appearance of the wolfs foot. CLAVATUM derived from Latin word CLAVATUS meaning club-like.

This drug is inert until the spores are crushed. Its wonderful medicinal properties are only disclosed by trituration and succussion. In nearly all cases where Lycopodium is the remedy, some evidence of urinary or digestive disturbance will be found. Lycopodium is adapted more especially to ailments gradually developing functional powers, where the function of the liver is seriously disturbed. Atony. Malnutrition. Mild temperaments of lymphatic constitution, with catarrhal tendencies; older persons, where the skin shows yellowish spots, earthy complexion, uric acid diathesis, etc.; also precocious, weak children. Symptoms characteristically run from right to left, act especially on right side of body, and are worse from 4 to 8 PM.

Lycopodium is most useful in troubles relating to digestion. These troubles arise from the consumption of food, which ferments in the digestive system. That is why Lycopodium relieves a bloated and full abdomen wherein the wind is pressing downwards.

Every organ and tissue of the body is more or less affected by this powerful drug; it transforms healthy cells into inflamed and necrotic cells; decomposes the blood producing a profound anaemia. This is converted into useful life saving and life preserving service if employed homoeopathically, guided by its clear-cut symptoms. The lymphatic system is especially affected with all the membranes and glands, and internal organs, bones, etc. lesions produced by Mercury are very similar to those of syphilis. Very often indicated in the secondary stage of syphilis where there is a febrile chloroanaemia, rheumatoid pains around joints, etc. all mercury symptoms are worse at night, from warmth of bed, from damp, cold, rainy weather, worse during perspiration. It is also known as human 'thermometre'. Sensitive to heat and cold. Breath, excretions and body smell foul. Tendency to pus formation, which is thin, greenish, putrid, streaked with thin blood.

The prolong taking of excessive salt causes profound nutritive changes to take place in the system, and there arises not only the symptoms of salt retention as evidenced by dropsies and oedemas, but also an alteration in the blood causing a condition of anaemia and leucocytosis. There seems also to be retention in the tissues. It is a great remedy for certain forms of intermittent fever, anaemia, chlorosis, many disturbances of the alimentary tract and skin. Great debility; most weakness felt in the morning in bed. Dry mucous membranes. Constrictive sensation throughout the body. Great weariness and weakness. Oversensitive to all sorts of influences. Hyperthyroidism. Goiter, Addison's disease. Diabetes.

According to Dr. E.B. Nash, Nat Mur is one of the best homoeopathic remedies for anemia. This anaemia can be caused by loss of fluids, by menstrual irregularities, by grief or mental diseases. The patient is pale, emaciated and in spite of eating very well he is anaemic. He suffers from a throbbing headache, soreness while climbing steps, exhaustion or physical exertion, constipation to some degree and overall depression. Some women have scanty flow of blood during menses.

The main action of this drug is on the outlets of the body where the mucous membrane and the skin meet; these pain as from splinters. Marked improvement of symptoms while riding in a carriage. Acts best on the dark complexioned and past middle life. Syphilis after abuse of mercury. Pains appear and disappear rapidly. All discharges very offensive especially urine, faeces, and perspiration. Persons who have chronic diseases and take cold easily and disposed to diarrhoea. Excessive physical irritability.

The human body has many outlets where the mucous membranes and the skin meet. Any pain on account of problems in these regions is severe. It is a sticking pain. It is a pain as if somebody is piercing the surface with splinters. Nitric Acid is the remedy for problems of this type.

The skin and the mucous membrane join at the corners of the mouth, in the nose and at the anus. On the lips the corners crack, get ulcerated and swollen. In the mouth there are blisters with a lot of pus and swelling. The gums are swollen, ulcerated and spongy. Fissures occur in the canthi. Nitric Acid is the first remedy in such cases.

The word NUX VOMICA is derived from Latin word NUX meaning nut and VOMERE meaning vomiting because of the peculiar property of the nut.

Is the greatest of polychrests, because the bulk of its symptoms correspond in similarity with those of the commonest and most frequent of diseases. It is frequently the first remedy, indicated after much dosing, establishing a sort of equilibrium of forces and counteracting chronic effects.

Nux is pre-eminently the remedy for many of the conditions incident to modern life. The typical Nux patient is thin, spare, quick, active, nervous and irritable. He does a good deal of mental work; has mental strains and leads a sedentary life, found in prolonged office work, over study and close application to business with cares and anxieties. This indoor life and mental strain seeks stimulants, coffee, wine, possibly in excess; or again, he hopes to quiet his excitement, by indulging in the sedative effects of tobacco, if not really a victim, to the seductive drugs, like opium etc. Nux is preeminently a male remedy. These conditions produce an irritable, nervous system, hypersensitive and over impressionable, which Nux will do much to soothe and calm. Especially adapted to digestive disturbances, portal congestion and hypochondriacal states depending thereon. Nux patients are easily chilled, avoid open air. Nux always seems to be out of tune, inharmonious spasmodic action.

The common acid " debility" is very marked in this remedy, producing a nervous exhaustion. Mental debility first, later physical. A congenital soil for the action of Phos. Acid is found in young people who grow rapidly, and who are overtaxed, mentally or physically. It is useful when the body is exposed to acute diseases, excesses grief, loss of vital fluids. Useful in relieving pain of cancer.

An excellent use of phosphoric Acidum is made in curing mental and physical debility and in acute and chronic diseases where the patient is tired in mind and body. The mental debility is a result of nervous exhaustion in persons who have been working overtime at a young age. Physical debility comes as a result of acute disease, sexual excesses, grief, and loss of vital fluids from the body. Haemorrhages in typhoid, therefore require Phosphoric Acidum.

Phosphorus irritates, inflames and degenerates mucous membranes, irritates, and inflames serous membranes, inflames spinal cord and nerves, causing paralysis, destroys bone, especially the lower jaw and tibia; disorganizes the blood, causing fatty degeneration of blood vessels and every tissue and organs of the body and thus gives rise to haemorrhages.

Produces a picture of destructive metabolism. Causes yellow atrophy of the liver and sub-acute hepatitis. Tall, slender persons, narrow chested, with thin, transparent skin, weakened by loss of animal fluids, with great nervous debility, emaciation seems to be under the special influence of Phosphorus. Great susceptibility to external impressions, to light, sound, odors, touch, thunderstorms. Polycythaemia, fatty degeneration, cirrhosis, and caries are pathological states calling for this remedy, inflammations of the respiratory tract. Paralytic symptoms. Ill effects of iodine and excessive use of salt, worse lying on left side.

The first indication for Phosphorus is given by an intense sensation of burning in various parts of the body like the mouth, the lungs, the stomach, the small intestines, the anus, up the spine, the palm of the hand, and even the face. The patient craves for cold food, but this food is vomited as soon as it reaches the stomach. There is an insatiable hunger, an empty gone feeling in the stomach, in the whole abdomen.

The word PULSATILLA is derived from PULSATUS meaning to beat or to strike as it pulsates from the blowing winds.

The weathercock among remedies. The disposition and mental state are the chief guiding symptoms to the selection of Pulsatilla. It is pre-eminently a female remedy, especially for mild, gentle, yielding disposition. Sad crying readily; weeps when talking; changeable, contradictory. The patient seeks the open air; always feels better there, even though he is chilly. Mucous membranes are all affected. Discharges thick, bland, and yellowish green. Often indicated after abuse of Iron tonics, and after badly- managed measeals. Symptoms ever changing. Thirstless, peevish and chilly. When first serious impairment of health is referred to age of puberty. Great sensitiveness.

Pulsatilla cures chronic colds, fatty dyspepsia, and painful and scanty menstruation. One of the leading indications for the use of Pulsatilla is a thick, bland, yellowish or green discharge from mucous membranes in the body. Such discharges are to be found in nasal catarrh, in expectoration from the ears, the eyes, the lungs, ulcers, leucorrhoea and in gonorrhoea. In most such cases Pulsatilla leads to a cure. In the vagina, however, this discharge is excoriating and not bland.

The word RHUS means red because its flowers and leaves are red in colour. TOXICODENDRON means poison tree.

The effects on the skin, rheumatic pains, mucous membrane affections, and a typhoid type of fever, make this remedy frequently indicated. It mainly affects fibrous tissues, joints, tendons, sheaths producing pain and stiffness. Ailments from strains, over lifting, getting wet while perspiring. Rheumatism in the cold season.

Rhus Tox is the first remedy one should think of in any muscular pain where the cutting pain and soreness are temporarily relieved by movement. This is in direct contrast to Bryonia where movement aggravates pain.

It produces contraction of the unstriped muscular fibers, hence a constringent feeling throughout the whole body. This produces an anemic condition, coldness, numbness, mortification and gangrene. A useful remedy for old persons with shriveled skin- thin, scrawny old women. All the Secale conditions are better from cold; the whole body is pervaded by great heat. Haemorrhages continued oozing, thin, fetid, watery black blood. Debility, anxiety, emaciation, though appetite and thirst may be excessive. Facial and abdominal muscles twitch. Secale lowers the flow of pancreatic juice by raising the blood pressure.

Menstrual colic, with coldness and intolerance of heat. Passive haemorrhages in feeble, cachetic women. Burning pains in uterus, brownish, offensive leucorrhoea. Menses irregular, copious, dark, continuous oozing of watery blood until next period. Threatened abortion about the third month. During labor no expulsive action, though everything is relaxed. After-pains. Suppression of milk; breasts do not fill properly. Dark, offensive lochia. Puerperal fever, putrid discharges, tympanitis, coldness, suppressed urine.

Acts especially on the portal system, with venous congestion. Stasis and thereby ptosis of viscera and weariness and misery. Weakness, yellow complexion, bearing-down sensation, especially in women, upon whose organism it has most pronounced effect. Pains extend down to back, chills easily. Tendency to abortion. Hot flashes at menopause with weakness and perspiration. Upward tendency of its symptoms. Easy fainting/ Ball" sensation in inner parts. Sepia acts best on brunettes. All pains are from below up. One of the most important uterine remedies. Tubercular patients with chronic hepatic troubles and uterine reflexes. Feels cold even in warm room.

The most important indications of Sepia are in the problems of women relating to the uterus. It has been called the best uterine remedy available. The patient feels that all her internal organs would come out of the pelvic region. She has to sit with legs crossed to relieve this feeling. Sepia is a chronic remedy. It can take care of long standing problems.

Imperfect assimilation and consequent defective nutrition, it goes further and produces neurasthenic states in consequence, and increased susceptibility to nervous stimuli and exaggerated reflexes. Diseases of bones, caries and necrosis. In TB it must be used with care, for here it may cause the absorption of scar tissue, liberate the disease, walled in, to new activities. It is a deep acting remedy and slow in action. It is meant for scrofulous children with large head, open fontanels and sutures, distended abdomen, slow in walking. Ill effects of vaccination. It is related to all fistulous openings. Ripens abscesses since it promotes suppuration.

Silica patient is cold, chilly, hugs the fire, wants plenty warm clothing, and hates drafts, hands and feet cold, worse in winter. Lack of vital heat. Prostration of mind and body. Great sensitiveness to taking cold. Intolerance of alcoholic stimulants/Ailments attended with pus formation.

In inflammation with pus formation, which has become chronic, silicea is of great help. It is equally useful in grandular or bony ulceration. Think of silicea in whitlow, unhealthy skin, smelly feet, mammary abscess, mammary cancer, TB of the skin, the bone or of the abdomen,

This is a great Hahnemannian anti- psoric. Its action is centrifugal - from within outward - having an elective affinity for the skin, where it produces heat and burning, with itching; made worse by heat of bed. Inertia and relaxation of fibre; hence feebleness of tone chracterizes its symptoms. Ebullitions of heat, dislike of water, dry and hard hair and skin, red orifices, sinking feeling at stomach about 11.00am, cat-nap sleep; always indicate sulphur homoeopathically. Standing is the worst position for sulphur patients it is always uncomfortable. Dirty, filthy people, prone to skin affections. Aversion to being washed. When carefully selected remedies fail to act, especially in acute diseases, it frequently arouses the reactionary powers of the organism. Complaints that relapse. General offensive character of discharge and exhalations. Very red lips and face, flushing easily. Often use in beginning the treatment of chronic cases and in finishing acute ones.

1.1 The relation between man and the earth’s resources

The balance between the demand which a community of plants or animals makes on its environment and the ability to satisfy those demands is not the static equilibrium of a laboratory balance with equal weights on either side. It is more like the unstable balancing of a circus acrobat - a series of swings and overcorrections, resulting in an oscillation on either side of the true balance point. Thus a species of wild life increases in number according to the availability of its food supplies, but then goes beyond the optimum number. The natural correcting factors of starvation or migration reduce the population, but there is an overcorrection, and soon the cycle starts again with increasing numbers.

1.1.1 The Malthusian Thesis

In primitive societies the human population also oscillates about a mean as the limiting factors of starvation, disease, and war, maintain an uneasy balance against the natural tendency to increase. A serious imbalance arises when man learns how to modify the limiting factors, but allows the natural increase to go unchecked. The essence of the Malthusian Thesis is that the resulting instability is the inevitable order for mankind. The thesis is named after the English political economist Thomas Malthus who first gave it formal expression in MALTHUS (1966). In an age when significant improvements in health, hygiene, and the standard of living were just becoming possible, Malthus aroused great argument when he pointed out that these very improvements could lead to mi sery through overpopulation. The key point of Malthus’s argument is that population increases in what he called geometric ratio, what today we would call an exponential curve, because whenever there is an increase in population there are more people to produce the next generation, so the rate of population growth accelerates - in modelling terms a positive feedback loop. On the other hand, when we increase food production there is no feed-back loop, the best we can hope for is for a constant linear increase. The natural sequence is therefore for food demand to increase faster than food supply, leading at some point to food shortage.

2.1 Geological and accelerated erosion

Erosion has always taken place, and always will. The surface of the earth is constantly changing, with mountains rising, valleys being cut deeper and wider, the coast line receding here and advancing there. The physical pattern of the surface of the earth which we see today is not the result of some single cataclysmic sculpturing but the result of changes so infinitely slow that only after centuries is the effect noticeable. Erosion is simply one of the aspects of the constant process of change. It is fundamental to the formation of alluvial soils and sedimentary rocks. Man’s activities seldom slow down or halt the process but frequently speed it up. We usually refer to geological erosion or normal erosion, or natural erosion when we mean that which results only from the forces of nature, and to accelerated erosion when the process is influenced by man.

When trying to predict the probable severity of man-made erosion it helps to consider the rate of geological erosion. If the conditions of climate and topography are such that geological erosion is quicker than usual, then these sameronditions will also lead to particularly severe accelerated erosion. Extreme examples of both kinds of erosion are shown in plates 2.1 and 2.2.

3.1 Physical characteristics

There is obviously an association between the amount of rainfall and the amount of soil erosion, i.e. more rain goes with more erosion, and less rain with less erosion, but in statistical terms the correlation between the two is poor. The same total quantity of rain can on different occasions result in widely differing amounts of erosion, and so other more specific measures are required to describe the ability of rainfall to cause erosion. In this chapter we shall establish the known facts about the main physical properties of rainfall, and then in chapter 4 show how these properties are related to the erosive power of rainfall.

3.1.1 Quantity of rainfall

Any measure of rainfall amount is a sample, and so associated with the inevitable problems of sampling, namely, ⁴is the sample representative of the whole?’ and ‘is the sample measured accurately?’ On both counts the data of rainfall which are usually available are of very doubtful reliability. Considering firstly the size of the sample measured, a very intensive network of rain gauges such as that established in an experimental catchment might be as dense as one gauge per 25 hectares, but this corresponds (with a 125 mm diameter gauge) to a sample of about one in 20 million, which would for any other scientific measurement be considered totally inadequate. The density of gauges in a country which considers itself very well provided might be one gauge per 25 square kilometres - a sample of one in 2 000 million, and in an undeveloped country the density of one gauge per 2 500 square kilometres is a sample of 1 in 200 000 000 000! Secondly, the siting of this remarkably small number of gauges is usually arranged primarily on convenience, eg where they can be easily read and contained, with little or no consideration of whether the site is representative of the whole. Thirdly, the accuracy of the measurement is usually unknown and studies have shown that variations in the shape and size of the instrument, and in the height at which it is mounted, and the way it is shielded from the wind, can seriously affect the recorded amount of rainfall. Clearly, even the apparently straightforward question of how much rain falls is not answered as precisely as might be imagined from a survey of rainfall tables and maps.

4.1 Defining erosivity and erodibility

Rainfall erosion is the interaction of two items - the rain and the soil. The amount of erosion which occurs in any given circumstances will be influenced by both, and our study of the processes of soil erosion is simplified by considering the two aspects separately.

We know from observation that one storm can cause more erosion than another on the same land, and we also know that the same storm will cause more erosion on one field than on another. The effect of the rain is called erosivity and the effect of the soil is called erodibility. The way they differ is best explained by examples.

Let us imagine an experiment station which has over its whole area exactly the same soil type and slope. Assume also that the whole of the station is covered by a completely uniform crop. If the amount of erosion taking place during each storm were measured, the amount would be influenced only by the nature of the rain. Comparing the effect of one storm with that of another storm would provide a relative measure of the power of each storm to cause erosion, and that is what is meant by erosivity. This will enable us to say that on this imaginary experiment station, storm A caused a soil loss of X kilograms per hectare and storm B caused a soil loss of Y kilograms per hectare. If Y is half of X, then the erosivity of storm B is half of the erosivity of storm A.

5.1 Definitions

The erodibility of soil is its vulnerability or susceptibility to erosion, that is the reciprocal of its resistance to erosion. A soil with a high erodibility will suffer more erosion than a soil with low erodibility if both are exposed to the same rainfall. Whereas the erosivity of rainfall was shown in chapter 4 to be a fairly straightforward measure of the rain’s physical properties, the assessment of erodibility is more complicated because it depends upon many variables. There are alternative uses of the term erodibility. In the widest sense it can be used to include all the variables which effect erosion except the erosivity of rain, as in the first line of figure 2.2. It is also used in the narrower sense as a measure only of the effect of physical characteristics of the soil, as in the erodibility index K of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, where the effects of land management and crop management are assessed separately, as shown in the last line of figure 2.2.

5.2 Factors influencing erodibility

In this chapter we will look at the three broad groups of factors which affect erodibility. First, there are the physical features of the soil, including the chemical and physical composition. Second, there are the topographic features, such as the slope of the land. Third, there is the management of the land, i.e. how it is used.

6.1 Quantities and rates of runoff

Before a start can be made on the design of the channels and ditches and other works which can deal with surface runoff we need to know the probable quantity of water. If the object is to impound or store the runoff then it may be sufficient to know the total volume of water to be expected, but the usual conservation problem is conveying water from one place to another, and in that case the rate of runoff is more important, and particularly the maximum rate at which runoff is likely to occur. That is the flow which a channel must be designed to accommodate.

In a hypothetical catchment area* with an impervious surface and no losses the maximum rate of runoff would be directly proportional to the rate of rainfall. In natural catchments there are other factors: some of the rain is intercepted by vegetation, some infiltrates into the soil, some starts moving over the surface but is trapped in depressions, and some is lost by evaporation. Estimates of rates of surface runoff therefore depend on two processes: estimating the rate of rainfall, and estimating how much of the rainfall becomes runoff.

There are several empirical methods for doing both and for combining the two factors, but because they are empirical two points must be stressed. Firstly, as with all empirical solutions, data, tables, and formulae developed in one situation should not be applied in different conditions without careful checks on whether the method is valid in the new situation. Secondly, each of the three main methods which will be

7.1 The purpose and type of models

Sometimes the simplest way to estimate the effect of a physical process is to use an established equation, or formula, or charts and diagrams based on existing knowledge. The current fashion is to call such aids and solutions models, and they tend to become increasingly complicated and consequently dependent on computers to handle the mathematical processes.

It is important to identify the exact objective and purpose of models which are designed to estimate soil erosion. Two main divisions are models for prediction and models to assist with explanation. If the purpose is to predict amounts of erosion under alternative management practices then empirical models such as the USLE are efficient and effective. For an understanding of the processes of erosion it is necessary to turn to physically-based or deterministic models. The two objectives should not be cross-threaded onto the wrong kind of model, i.e. the USLE should not be seen as a vehicle for research studies on the mechanics of erosion. Neither should sophisticated simulation models be used as the basis for evaluating conservation practices which are better designed on the basis of experience, and evaluated by direct testing in the field.

The different kinds of models need a short explanation:

An empirical solution or model is one based on observation or experiment, and not derived from theory. It fits observed facts, and allows us to predict what will happen in certain circumstances, because we know what has happened before in those circumstances. The reliability of such methods depends on the database of experience: we might say This will certainly happen’ (because it always does), or “Will probably happen’ (because it usually does), or ‘it may happen’ (because it sometimes does). An empirical solution may be a simple approximate relationship or a complex multiple regression equation.

8.1 The purpose of erosion research

The need for research

A soil conservation programme needs to be based on factual information about rates and quantities of erosion. For example some land obviously needs to be protected by mechanical works such as channel terraces, some land equally obviously does not need any protection, and a great deal of land lies somewhere between the two extremes. At some point the terraces become unnecessary or uneconomic, but a logical decision on where to draw the line can only be made if data are available on how much soil erosion is occurring and how much it would be reduced by terraces. Similarly, the effect of channel terraces should be compared with the effect of alternative measures, and the effect should also be measured on the different soils and crops which are likely to be encountered.

Nowadays there are excellent opportunities for research workers to exchange the results of their work. The national and iniernational journals are packed with accounts and results of research reports in their proceedings (as listed in Further reading). Some of the reported research results can be usefully applied in countries other than where the research was done, but care is required in any transfer of technology. If the local conditions of soil, climate, or land use, are different, the results may not apply. However, research in other situations can often serve as a pilot trial to show which factors should be studied locally. Even when local conditions are so different that the results do not apply at all, the techniques and apparatus developed by other workers can still be helpful.

9.1 Planning land use

Modern techniques such as mechanization, better crop varieties, and the scientific use of fertilizers can transform agriculture, but before they can be effective the use of the land has to be right. No techniques will make it possible to grow a good crop if the soil conditions are unsuitable for that crop, and no conservation works can prevent erosion when the basic cause is trying to grow crops on land which is really unsuitable for arable farming (plate 9.1). The object of land use planning is to determine the characteristics of land, its possibilities, and its problems, and try to match these to a form of land use which will be sustainable and economically productive.

9.7.1 Some planning principles

An often quoted definition is that ‘planning is the conscious process of selecting and developing the best course of action to accomplish an objective’. In the case of Land Use Planning the objective is the efficient intensive use of land resources.

It is difficult to imagine any field of human activity where some form of planning is not essential to achieve the objective. Consider going on holiday. Certainly it is possible to come home from work one evening, throw some clothes into a suitcase, go to the railway station or airport and buy a ticket to the first holiday resort which comes to mind. Some fortunate people may indeed enjoy so unplanned a holiday but for most of us it would be disappointing to find oneself in a mountain holiday resort without climbing boots, or on a sunny beach with only winter clothing in the suit case. No, one is more likely to achieve the objective of a happy holiday by a planned approach and this means going through a logical sequence of steps, i.e.

10.1 Different practices for different purposes

There are so many different practices used in erosion control that to describe them needs some form of grouping. For a long time mechanical protection was used to describe all the methods which involved earth moving, such as digging drains, building banks, levelling sloping land, and so on. Anything else was lumped together under biological methods for want of a better title.

This is appropriate for large mechanized farms where the approach is to use machines to do the earth-moving and follow up with improved farming methods. But this division does not suit the concept of erosion control through better land husbandry supported by mechanical protection, and the division is artificial when we start talking about progressive terracing using grass strips or live hedges.

An approach more suited to today’s thinking is to group methods and techniques according to their main objective. All have an element of saving soil loss, but an important difference is the handling of surface runoff. This chapter identifies three kinds of water management objective and two types of soil management on sloping land.

11.1 The farmer’s point of view

In the last chapter possible conservation practices were reviewed in groups according to their purpose in terms of influencing runoff or soil loss. Now, looking at ways of limiting soil degradation by improved land husbandry, the primary consideration is to look at the alternatives from the farmer’s point of view. In fact we need to be very wary of manual-type recommendations. A better approach is to offer a menu of alternatives, and the role of the professional is to help the farmer choose what is appropriate for his or her circumstances. A recent review of technologies acceptable to resource-poor farmers points out that combining practices into a farming system must take account not only of the physical factors such as soil and climate, but equally the available resource inputs, especially cash and labour, and the farmer’s objectives (STOCKING 1993).

The objectives of a commercial farmer are usually to maximize yield and income, but the subsistence farmer is likely to be more interested in improving food security by reducing the risk of failure, or improving the return on inputs of seed, fertilizer and labour, or improving the quality of life by reducing drudgery, particularly relevant in the case of women farmers.

We need a new approach to the farmer when recommending changes to farming practice. Instead of recommending practices because they will reduce erosion, we should show how they can lead to increased production. For example, practices which lead to better soil structure, more organic matter, or more moisture-holding capacity should be put forward because they improve yield, not because they reduce the soil erodibility. Increasing infiltration from better ground cover or the use of contour farming or ridging can result in better crops as well as reducing soil loss. Improved crop management could include more use of fertilizer and manures or crop rotations. These practices will make more sense to the farmer if they are recommended as leading to better production, which he can instinctively appreciate as desirable, rather than because they will reduce soil erosion which is likely to be a less important objective.

12.1 The nature of gully erosion

Gully erosion is spectacular and widespread, and so it is often used by conservationists as a characteristic symptom of erosion. As a result there is a danger of its importance being over-emphasized. Certainly it is most important as a source of sediment in streams, but in terms of damage to agricultural land or reduction of agricultural production, it is usually not very important for the simple reason that most land subject to severe gully erosion is of little agricultural significance. The really spectacular erosion so popular in non-technical reports shows large areas cut up by deep interconnecting gullies, but this situation is usually found in semi-arid climates unsuitable for any serious agriculture, or on soils which have such adverse chemical or physical properties that their potential production is very low. Added to this is the fact that gully control is always difficult and expensive, so the cost of reclamation usually exceeds the value of the land. Certainly in the sense of reducing the amount of eroded soil choking the dams and rivers it may be highly desirable to do something about gully erosion, but it is very much a case of prevention being better than cure. Limited resources in manpower, money and materials can usually be better employed in preventing future gullies than in curing existing ones.

The worldwide occurrence and recognition is well demonstrated in the variety of names: in English and American - gully, in Egypt - wadi, in South Africa - donga, in French-speaking lands - ravine, in India - nulla, in South America - carcava, or arroyo, and many others. The definition is the same in any case, a steep-sided eroding watercourse which is subject to intermittent flash floods. They are more common in semi-arid climates with infertile soils and sparse vegetation, but some spectacular examples are found in tropical forests in deep soils with dense vegetation.

Damage to arable land tends to attract most attention but degradation of non-arable land can also have serious effects, whether economic, or social, or on the food supply. In dry seasons, loss of grazing capacity is a common and serious problem, forest land may suffer through over-exploitation, roads can cause much damage particularly on steep land. In this chapter we will look at the more important erosion problems on non-arable land.

13.1 Erosion on grazing land

On well-managed high-yielding pasture it is unlikely that there will be any erosion, for the ground will have a good uniform cover. But land which is not arable because it is too poor, too infertile, too stony, or too arid, and is only described as grazing land because it is unfit for more intensive use, is a very different matter. Again, erosion control can be directly and precisely equated to improved management - anything leading to a better water balance and a better ground cover will lead to reduced erosion.

14.1 Changes in policy and strategy

14.1.1 Policy changes

In the discussion on land use planning we suggested that the ideal pattern of development is to establish a long-term national or regional policy, which leads to medium-term strategies, and short-term tactical operations. In the real world a curious situation is arising in that the adoption of the new land husbandry approach is growing so fast that the practitioners have moved ahead of the politicians and opinion formers, with the result that the implementation of strategies by Non-Government Organisations, aid agencies, and senior field officers, is helping to shape new policies.

There is always the problem that national policies ought to be long term, but are created by politicians usually working within a short time frame to the next election. Fortunately, the land husbandry approach allows planners at all levels from farmers to governments to appreciate the long-term issues.

The new approach was mentioned in section 9.2.1 in connection with land use planning. It is summed up in the slogan From soil conservation to land husbandry, and two reviews using that title list the main points as the need for:

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This volume is concerned with the chemistry of soil processes. These are rather arbitrarily divided and discussed in the first part of this book in terms of mass flow and diffusion, precipitation, cation, anion and ligand exchange, adsorption, translocation of metals, and oxidation and reduction. The way in which these processes operate to determine the fate of different substances added to soils is described in the remaining part of the book. In this initial chapter an attempt is made to show how the individual chemical processes described later combine with physical and biological processes to give soils their ability to support plant life, and to accept the detritus of the world and to convert it to harmless constituents of the soil mass.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Mass flow and diffusion are processes which cause the redistribution of many components within the soil profile. They are usually investigated because they cause a redistribution of materials such as fertilizers and pesticides which are added to the soil, or because of the need to reduce salt concentrations to levels safe for crop growth. This has given an economic incentive to the investigations, but the processes are also basic to our understanding of the development of soil properties. For example, diffusion is the main process for the movement of gases into and out of the soil, which in turn affects many soil properties (Chapter 7), and mass flow of water is an important cause of the formation of horizons in soil profiles (Chapter 8). Hence there are both academic and economic reasons for attempting to understand the way the processes operate in soils.

Over the last few years our understanding has increased considerably. It is the purpose here to give the principles which have been evolved in this recent work, and to discuss their application. It will also be shown that many problems remain to be solved.

Diffusion means a spreading out, and is caused by random thermal motion, as is the Brownian movement of colloidal particles observable under the microscope. In unstirred liquids, which are our main concern in this chapter, all the molecules and ions of the solvent and solute have this random movement (molecules and ions in gases and some solids behave similarly). As a result of this motion, which occurs randomly in all directions, any irregularities in the concentration of a solution or mixture of gases eventually disappear.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The chemistry of the soil is much more complex than can be represented simply by precipitation, adsorption, or exchange processes. The complexity arises from the time scale of soil chemical reactions in which the structure and dimensions, the extent and distribution of pores, and the content and mobility of water in them, interact immensely with the reaction chemistry. The fourth process adding to this complexity is the dissolution of native and reprecipitated soil constituents by percolating water containing solutes accumulated by natural processes or added by man. The fifth complicating factor compounding the time scale is that very often the resultants of soil chemical reactions are large complex molecules, occasionally polymeric, made up of several constituent groups or atoms. It is by no means clear which of the four processes participate in a chemical reaction and in which order. That a process reoccurs during a prolonged reaction is very likely.

Such complexities explain why no single model related rigorously to the retention and release of cations and anions, can provide a basis for a laboratory procedure to test and compare the chemical properties of soils. In this chapter, some of the soil reactions that are important to plant nutrition and pedological processes are discussed, principally those leading to relatively simple compounds accumulating in soil.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

All soil components contribute in some measure to cation exchange. The source, extent, and quality of the contribution of each to the cation exchange capacity is varied and complex. Ocasionally, reactions between components alter the extent and quality of cation exchange. Also, in some this is strongly influenced by the pH of the soil-water complex, and the electrolyte content of the soil solution. Indeed, when ‘simple and rapid’ methods, empirical or allegedly fundamental in origin, appear in the literature, they must be viewed circumspectly. Mostly, they provide an incomplete, or a one-sided, picture of the phenomenon. To justify his invention, the experimenter usually provides correlations with other intrinsic soil properties (e.g. the concentration by weight and the mineralogy of the <2 jxm particles, the organic matter content, the surface area) or with the reaction of soil with its environment (e.g. plant growth and composition). However convincing such statistical parameters might be for the population of soils investigated, they do not help elucidate, and may indeed mask, the true extent and quality of cation exchange.

This chapter deals with current views on the sources, extent and quality of cation exchange, and with comprehensive methods for evaluating these. The relationship between the properties thus observed and values obtained from simple and rapid procedures is considered.