Lapis albus
The classical remedy prepared from the Gastein spring's silicofluoride — the thermal-water salt of the Austrian Alps, and the classical remedy of the glandular induration.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of glands that turn stony: the indurated, stony glands of the books' cancer chapter, the epulis of the gum, the slow, hard swellings, and the warm salt of the Austrian thermal springs. The stony-gland spring: that is Lapis albus.
The substance, in plain words
Lapis albus is the silicofluoride salt of the Gastein thermal springs of Austria — a genuine mineral of the spa waters the old school bottled and prescribed, its calcium-silicon-fluorine chemistry genuinely mineral-active. The proving gave the salt the stony-gland portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety and fear. The dread of the hardening, the cancer chapter's fear, worse at night.
- Irritability. Cross from the discomfort and the history.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the chronic, hardening states.
The body
- Stony indurated glands. The keynote: the hard, stony, indurated glands of the books' cancer chapter.
- Epulis of the gum. The books' great use — the epulis, the swelling of the gum.
- Slow, hard swellings. The slow, unyielding swellings of the same shelf.
- Worse cold damp and night. Wet weather and night deepen the hardening.
- Better for warmth and the spa's memory. Warmth and rest ease the spring-salt state.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; night; exertion; touch. | warmth; rest; quiet. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Glands (indurated), gums and epulis, general vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The Gastein spring's proving gave the stony-gland portrait; Lapis albus became the classical remedy of the indurated gland — the Austrian thermal salt serving the hard swellings the spa's waters were visited for.
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.
Lapis albus's real story is the Gastein spa itself — the thermal waters of the Austrian Alps, genuinely mineral, genuinely visited, their radon and salts the subject of real spa medicine's long history. The stony glands it portrayed are now oncology's and the surgeon's — imaged, biopsied and treated; the salt's career is the history of the spa era.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Conium maculatum | Hard glands | Conium's harden with the vertigo; Lapis albus with the epulis and the stony chapter. |
| Carbo animalis | The cancer chapter | Carbo-an is the purple cachexia; Lapis albus the stony gland of the same chapter. |
| Calcarea fluorica | Hard stony growths | Calc-fluor's are the elastic-tissue knots; Lapis albus the spa salt of the stony gland. |
| Cistus canadensis | Chronic glands | Cistus is the always-cold swollen glands; Lapis albus the stony, hardening one. |