Croton tiglium
Made from croton oil seed — the most drastic purgative of the old pharmacopoeias, whose oil is a genuine carcinogenesis research tool, and the classical remedy of the yellow gushing stool.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a purge like a broken dam: yellow, watery stool gushing out as if the reservoir had burst, with griping, hot sweat and prostration; the sensation before the stool that no time must be lost; and the books' great summer-diarrhoea and skin-eruption remedy. The bursting-gush remedy: that is Croton.
The substance, in plain words
Croton tiglium is the source of croton oil — the most drastic purgative of the old pharmacopoeias, a genuine violator of the bowel in overdose, and a genuine research tool in modern carcinogenesis studies, where croton oil inflames tissue on purpose. The proving gave the remedy its gushing portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety before the stool. The keynote of the mind: the sudden, urgent dread — no time must be lost, the dam is about to burst.
- Irritability. Cross, worse from eating, worse in the heat.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the exhausting, recurrent states.
The body
- Gushing yellow stool. The keynote: yellow, watery stool bursting out as from a broken dam — the books' most violent purgative portrait.
- Griping, hot sweat, prostration. The evacuations come with cramping, drenching sweat and sinking weakness.
- The least thing warns The warning is a breath away from the event — the quoted urgency.
- Worse eating and drinking. Anything by mouth restarts the gush — even water.
- Skin eruptions pustular The books pair the summer diarrhoeas with the pustular skin states.
- Better for rest and warmth Rest between the exhausting evacuations, and warmth, steady the system.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| eating and drinking; cold; motion. | rest; warmth. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Bowels (gushing diarrhea), stomach, skin (summer eruptions), vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The most drastic purge of the pharmacopoeias gave the proving its violence — the broken-dam gush, the urgency, the sweat; Croton became the classical remedy of the sudden yellow gush, standing at the violent end of the diarrhoea chapter.
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.
Croton oil is genuinely drastic — the strongest purgative of the old pharmacy, dangerous enough to be retired, and still used today as a research tool in carcinogenesis, where its inflaming chemistry serves the study of cancer promotion. The oil is real, violent and useful to science; the purges it served are history.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Gambogia | Gushing purgative stool | Gambogia's gushes with griping and hot sweat at morning; Croton's like a broken dam, any hour. |
| Podophyllum peltatum | Gushing dawn diarrhea | Podophyllum's is the dawn gush with prolapse; Croton's the dam-burst urgency. |
| Aloe socotrina | Urgency | Aloe's urgency is bearing-down; Croton's is the broken dam. |
| Veratrum album | Profuse evacuations | Veratrum's are rice-water with cold sweat; Croton's yellow with hot sweat. |