Platinum metallicum
Made from platinum — the noble metal of catalytic converters and, astonishingly, the ancestor of modern chemotherapy drugs.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of pride that has become a cage: arrogance alternating with a sense of worthlessness, sexual excitement and numbness of the parts, a peculiar improved-by-walking state, and dark-haired women with ovarian troubles who feel above everyone and below everyone in the same hour. Pride, numbness, contradictions of rank: that is Platinum.
The substance, in plain words
Platinum is the rarest of the coinage metals — incorruptible, catalytic, prized. Its chloride salt, cisplatin, became one of the founding drugs of cancer chemotherapy, saving countless lives since 1978. The metal's homeopathic proving gave one of the library's most psychological portraits.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Pride with inner worthlessness. The keynote: haughtiness, contempt, the certainty of superiority — alternating with sudden humility and self-abasement.
- Emotional numbness. Feeling blunted toward loved ones; consolation is not wanted and not needed.
- Exalted self-importance. Ideas of rank and dignity sit beside tears and irritability.
The body
- Numbness with sexual excitement. The strange pairing of the proving: genital excitement with genital numbness, better for walking.
- Ovarian pains. Left ovarian bearing-down and pain; dark-haired women of the 'proud type' in the old books.
- Better for walking. Motion, especially walking, relieves both the mood and the numbness.
- Constrictive head pains. Band-like headaches with numbness of the scalp.
- Constipation. Obstinate constipation; stool retained as if never quite ready — the books noted the psychological cast even here.
- Worse from emotions. The whole picture — pride, numbness, tension — flares with emotional disturbance.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| emotion; solitude. | walking; open air. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Female organs (ovaries), nerves and sensation, emotions and self-regard.
Where the classical picture comes from
The proving of platinum salts produced the proud, numb, contradictory state — the metal that will not corrode giving a personality that will not bend. Clinicians matched it to proud, dark-haired women with ovarian complaints, a portrait very much of its era.
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.
Platinum's real medical triumph is cisplatin — the accidental discovery that platinum compounds kill cancer cells, which created the platinum family of chemotherapeutics still used for testicular, ovarian and other cancers. The metal that produced a proud psychological portrait in proving produced one of oncology's hardest-working drug families in the laboratory.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Palladium metallicum | Pride, ovarian complaints | Palladium is the right-sided 'platinum', worse after excitement and consolation; Platinum walks off its moods. |
| Sepia officinalis | Female indifference | Sepia is worn-out and better for vigorous exercise; Platinum is proud, numb and better for walking. |
| Aurum metallicum | Pride, worthlessness | Aurum's despair turns suicidal with heart symptoms; Platinum's oscillates between pride and humility. |
| Lachesis muta | Ovary, left side, excitement | Lachesis is hot, talkative and throat-intolerant; Platinum is cold-proud, numb and walking-better. |