Corallium rubrum
Made from red coral — the calcium-carbonate skeleton of the Mediterranean coral animal, and the classical remedy of the machine-gun cough.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a cough that fires in bursts: paroxysms so rapid the coughs seem to run together — a dozen in one breath — then a pause, then another volley, worse at night from eleven to two, ending in choking. The machine-gun paroxysm: that is Corallium rubrum.
The substance, in plain words
Red coral is the hard crimson skeleton of a colonial sea animal — calcium carbonate arranged by evolution. Its proving gave the library's most precisely-described cough: rapid volleys, night hours, air-hunger between the bursts.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety between paroxysms. Dread of the next volley; fear of suffocation with the air-hunger.
- Irritability. Cross from broken sleep and the violence of the fits.
- Restlessness. Tosses between the paroxysms, cannot rest for fear of the next.
The body
- Rapid volleys of coughing. The keynote: coughing so fast the individual coughs merge into one continuous paroxysm — like a watchman's rattle.
- Worse 11 p.m.–2 a.m.. The fits own the first half of the night.
- Air-hunger between paroxysms. Gasping, suffocative pause, then the next volley.
- Heat and redness of the face. The face flushes hot during the fits.
- Very little mucus. The cough is dry and mechanical despite its violence.
- Worse cold air entering Cold air and the approach of evening set the fits off.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.; cold air; evening; lying. | warmth; sitting up; expectoration if any. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Respiratory tract (paroxysmal cough), airways, throat.
Where the classical picture comes from
The coral skeleton's proving produced the dry, volleyed, night-owling cough; in the era of pertussis it earned its place beside Drosera and Cuprum in the classical cough trio.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
Coral is calcium carbonate — the same chemistry as oyster shell, Tums and bone mineral. Its ecological modern story is cautionary: reef coral is endangered, and medicine's calcium comes today from sustainable sources. The skeleton's chemistry is ordinary; the cough it portrayed belongs now to pertussis vaccination, one of immunisation's quiet triumphs.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Drosera rotundifolia | Paroxysmal night cough | Drosera is gagging, midnight, violent; Corallium is volleyed, 11–2, air-hungry. |
| Cuprum metallicum | Spasmodic cough | Cuprum's cough ends in spasm and blue face; Corallium's in the volley itself. |
| Coccus cacti | Paroxysmal cough with threads | Coccus has thread-like mucus; Corallium is dry and machine-gun. |
| Mephitis | Whooping cough | Mephitis' cough is worse lying, worse night, with the whoop; Corallium's is the rapid volley. |