Magnetis polus arcticus
Made from the north pole of the magnet — the pole of coldness; the classical remedy of the icy eyeball, the carious toothache and the somnambulistic dream.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of cold where the magnet is applied — an eyeball that feels like a lump of ice in its socket, a coldness running through the body, a toothache that shoots through the jaw — and, alongside it, a half-waking dream-state in which the mind works with unusual clarity. The north pole's action: that is Magnetis polus arcticus.
The substance, in plain words
The north pole alone: sugar of milk or water is charged with the influence of the north pole and potentised. The symptoms were obtained by holding the north pole four or five fingers' breadth from the fourth to sixth dorsal vertebrae, and from Hahnemann's pathogenesis.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Peevishness and tears. A mild, submissive mood with an inclination to weep and shiver.
- Indolence and irresolution. A sense of lost power to move when seated; hesitation, then sudden prompt action.
- Weak memory. Loss of ideas and a tendency to make mistakes when writing.
The body
- Coldness. A coldness where the magnet is applied, and an icy-cold eye "as if a lump of ice lay in the orbit".
- Teeth and jaws. Carious toothache, worse after a meal and from heat, better in the open air; one cheek swollen, hot and red; the jaw as if dislocated.
- Head. Vertigo with staggering; headache worse on lifting or moving the eyes or arm, and on waking.
- Sleep. Somnambulism and vivid dreams; a state between sleeping and waking in which thoughts come with unusual clarity but cannot be recalled when fully awake.
- Neck. Cracking in the cervical vertebrae on movement.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| on waking; moving the eyes or the arm; breathing through the mouth (for the toothache); a warm room. | uncovering; open air. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
The nervous system and sleep, the teeth and jaws, and the sense of temperature.
Where the classical picture comes from
Clarke's chapter and Hahnemann's Materia Medica Pura: the experiments with a powerful magnet's poles, the cures of jaw and tooth pain reported by Conant, and the somnambulistic symptom in which a prover worked out a difficult subject in a foreign language but could not recall it when awake.
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.
There is no north-pole drug. What is real is the biology of magnetic fields, of temperature and of sleep. Strong magnetic fields are used in MRI and in transcranial magnetic stimulation; the sensation of local coldness, the toothache and the dream states are ordinary neurology that the provers reported. As with all imponderables, the remedy is a nineteenth-century attempt to capture a physical force as a medicine.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Magnetis polus australis | The opposite pole of the same magnet | The south pole leads with a rush of blood to the head and ingrowing toenails; the north pole leads with coldness and carious toothache. |
| Magnetis poli ambo | The whole magnet | The whole magnet is the general rheumatic and neuralgic picture; the north pole is colder, and centred on the teeth, the jaw and sleep. |
| Graphites | Coldness with cracked skin | Graphites is the stout, chilly, indecisive type with a honey-like oozing eczema; the north pole leads with the icy eye and the toothache. |
| Silicea | Coldness and slow suppuration | Silicea is the chilly, sweaty-footed, slow-healing type; the north pole is centred on the teeth, the jaw and the dream-state. |