Acidum nitricum
Made from nitric acid — the aqua fortis of the alchemists, whose fuming corrosion gave chemistry its name for a metal test, and the classical remedy of warts and bleeding points.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a system that bleeds at the least touch: warts that crack and bleed, fissures that will not heal, ulcers with ragged edges and offensive discharge, stitching splinter-like pains, and the books' syphilitic-and-gouty legacy all at once. The bleeding-at-every-point remedy: that is Nitric acid.
The substance, in plain words
Nitric acid is aqua fortis — the alchemists' strong water, fuming, corrosive, dissolving copper with red fumes. It genuinely dissolves tissue — it is used to etch, to test, to clean — and its proving gave the library's portrait of bleeding, warty, fissured, corroded surfaces.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety about health. Fear of death, worse in the quiet hours; the books note the anxious, foreboding temperament.
- Irritability. Cross, worse from noise and contradiction.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the chronic, ragged, non-healing states.
The body
- Warts that crack and bleed. The keynote: warts — moist, bleeding, at every orifice's edge — the books' great wart-and-bleeding remedy.
- Fissures that won't heal. Cracks at the anus, the mouth's corners, the nipple — raw, smarting, unhealing.
- Ulcers with ragged edges. Offensive, bleeding ulcers, the syphilitic legacy of the old books.
- Splinter-like stitching pains. The acid's signature sensation — a splinter or fishbone in the part.
- Offensive discharges and sweat. The body smells of the corroded state — sweat, urine, stool all offensive.
- Worse cold damp and night. Wet weather and night aggravate every point.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; night; touch of the parts; suppressed discharges. | warmth; rest; the discharge established |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Skin (warts, fissures, ulcers), mucous membranes, bones and periosteum, discharges.
Where the classical picture comes from
The acid's corrosion of the proving — bleeding points, ragged edges, splinter-pains — mapped onto the syphilitic-and-gouty casebooks of the era; Nitric acid became the remedy of surfaces that will not heal and points that will not stop bleeding.
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.
Nitric acid's real chemistry is the laboratory's own: aqua fortis tests metals, etches glass, and dissolves the tissue it touches — a genuine, regulated corrosive. The conditions it portrayed — chronic ulcers, warts, bleeding — are today dermatology's territory, and the syphilis it accompanied is cured with penicillin, one of medicine's cleanest victories.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Thuja occidentalis | Warts, figwarts | Thuja's warts are oily, fig-like, left-sided; Nit-ac's crack, bleed and fissure. |
| Staphysagria | Sensitive surfaces, warts | Staphysagria's are the indignation-plantar warts; Nit-ac's the bleeding, cracking, ragged ones. |
| Hepar sulphuris | Splinter pains, suppuration | Hepar's splinter-pains are chilly and touchy; Nit-ac's are corroding with warty bleeding. |
| Arsenicum album | Anxiety, burning discharges | Arsenicum is chilly, fearful and sipping; Nit-ac is corroded, bleeding and splintered. |