The chief effect of the Chlorine
element in this salt appears to be to intensify the mercurial action. Merc. cor. is Merc. viv. with a
much greater rapidity of action. Phagedena is the type of Merc. cor.
ulceration. Chancres spread with great rapidity. The burning of Merc.
cor. is more intense. The dysenteric straining is more excessive. For this reason
Merc. cor. is more generally prescribed In dysentery
than Merc. viv., and it has even become a recognised
remedy in the old school. As with other ulcerating remedies, Merc.
cor. is a powerful disinfectant. Being much less irritating than Carbolic acid, it has taken the place of the latter as the
leading antiseptic. Before the proper degree of dilution had been ascertained many patients
were poisoned by its external use. Merc. cor. has some
of its most characteristic symptoms in the urinary sphere. The urine is albuminous, scanty,
hot, bloody; may be retained or suppressed. There is intense vesical tenesmus. In some of
the poisoning cases the bladder was found after death firmly contracted into a small hard
lump. "Tenesmus vesicæ, with intense burning in urethra and discharge of mucus and
blood with the urine or after it," is a keynote for Merc. cor.
When this accompanies dysentery Merc. cor. is the
remedy. In such cases the rectal and vesical tenesmus will go together. A patient of mine
who had had under allopathic treatment an injection of a solution of Merc. cor. (gr. vi to two ounces) injected into his urethra for
gonorrhœa, not only suffered intensely in the urethra at the time, but for years afterwards
had a painful spasm of the rectum every time he had coitus. The tenesmus is < (or at any rate not >)
after stool. This is the note of Merc. cor. In the
diarrhœa calling for Merc. cor. there is the
"never-get-done feeling" long after all has passed that there is to come. This is
also the indication in intussusception. Membranous threads in stool; much pure blood;
weakness, faintness, shuddering. Merc. cor. is a true
gonorrhœa remedy, but local injections of it are not the right form of administration. The
indications are: Greenish-yellow, or bloody, watery discharge, with violent burning, urging,
and painful erections; dark purplish swelling; glans has a dark red or gangrenous
appearance; phimosis or paraphimosis. The chancres of Merc. cor.
spread with great rapidity. Serpigenous ulcers; ulcers with ragged edges which will eat away
half the penis in a few days. The sore throat of Merc. cor.
is also characterised by the rapid spread of the affection and by the intensity of the
burning pains. The mouth is specifically affected. There is one useful bit of practice in
this connection which I learned from Dr. McKechnie. Long uvulas sometimes give rise to
irritating coughs. If to the uvula is applied on a brush a little of a low trituration of Merc. cor. it will in many cases immediately, and often
permanently, relieve the trouble. In syphilitic eye affections Merc.
cor. is a leading remedy. The inflammatory symptoms are of the most violent
character. Burning, agonising pains with excessive photophobia causing excoriation of
cheeks. Tearing pains in bones and around eyes. Scrofulous no less than syphilitic
ophthalmias with these characters yield to Merc. cor.
Near to the eyes are the superior maxillary bones and their antra. These are affected by Merc. cor. The nasal catarrh is thick and glue-like; acrid
excoriating. The gullet is very markedly affected. Constriction
is a leading note of the remedy. Any attempt to swallow (solid or liquid) causes violent
spasm and immediate ejection. Cutting as from a knife in throat. There is raging thirst for
cold things. Desire for cold food and intolerance of hot things. Skin affections of many
kinds are met by Merc. cor., including syphilitic
roseola and small-pox and condylomata. In addition to the upper jaw and cranium, the
sternum, ribs, and tibiæ are prominently affected. When present in cases of enteric fever,
pains in the tibiæ may form an indication for Merc. cor.
along with the symptoms of intestinal ulceration; also affections of the tibiæ occurring as
sequelæ of enteric. Like Merc. viv., Merc. cor. has a
distinct place in rheumatism and rheumatic fever.─A case of poisoning by
Merc. cor. is quoted from Eisenhardt in Brit. Med. Jour., July 18, 189l. A woman, 37, drank a tumblerful
of tepid water in which a 5 per cent. sublimate pastille had been dissolved. Immediately she
felt nausea, faintness; knees so weak she could not crawl into bed. Directly she was put to
bed violent choking sensation set in, and she vomited bile-stained mucus. In an hour and a
half, when Eisenhardt saw her, the symptoms were intensified, and in addition there were:
General trembling movements, especially in upper part of body. Unable to speak; she
indicated by signs pain in stomach, pharynx, and head. Pulse rapid, soft. Temperature
subnormal. Pupils contracted. She had taken (with great difficulty) a quart of milk. Whites
of eggs were also given, and later oil of Camphor and
hypodermic injections of Morphine. There was temporary
suppression of urine, but the kidneys acted in twenty-four hours. Tea and black coffee
favoured diuresis but were quickly vomited. The vomiting gradually ceased. On the third day
profuse salivation set in, and ulcerating stomatitis with bloody and slimy stools and scanty
and occasionally albuminous urine. Emaciation; falling out of hair; failure of sight. In a
fortnight she could stand, and was convalescent in a month. Unna reports two cases, in
elderly women, of poisoning by sublimate lotion, lint, and gauze after ablation of the
breast. The dressings were removed the second day in each case. The first symptoms were
intense irritation of the skin and diffused redness of the part. The wounds failed to heal
by first intention. Widespread dermatitis followed, and in the course of a few days a
diffuse erythema spread over the whole body, creeping onwards like "water on blotting
paper." Some fever, general malaise, nausea, restlessness. In one case the eruption
lasted three weeks and changed its type; "scattered urticarial and erythematous itching
spots on all parts of the body suggested that there was at that period a poisoning of the
more central nervous system" (Calcott Fox quoted in Brit. Med.
Jour., December 13, 1890). R. C. Markham (Med. Adv.,
xxi. 524) records a cure with Merc. cor. after the
failure of Merc. viv. in a case of dysentery. The
symptoms were: (1) Stool: bloody mucus. (2) Tenesmus after stool. (3)
Cutting colic below umbilicus. (4) Nausea. (5) Perspiration before and after stool, most pronounced on lower
part of body and thigh. Symptoms 3 and 5 were not found under Merc.
viv., but were under Merc. cor. The patient
felt better within ten minutes of receiving a dose of Merc. cor.
1m. (I give the case, as it is a striking one, but I am unable to find the indications he
names under Merc. cor. in Bell's work on Diarrhœa, from which Markham says he obtained them. My editions
are third and fourth.) The Conditions of Merc. cor. are
in the main those of Merc. Motion > pain in hip-joints. <
By coitus. Dysentery and summer complaints from May to November. Notable Concomitants are:
Vesical tenesmus and tibial pains. According to Teste, Merc. cor.
is suited to males, and Merc. sol. to females. Merc. cor. will act in men on indications for Merc. sol. He lays this down as a positive law, and without going
into the details of experience on which it is based, he mentions this as a "curious
fact": Both Merc. cor. and Merc.
sol. antidote Sepia, which antidotes them in
turn but imperfectly. But "this neutralisation of Merc. cor.
by Sepia, and vice versâ, does not take place thoroughly except in the case of males, nor
does the neutralisation of Merc. sol. by Sepia, and vice versâ, take place thoroughly
except in females."
