Sol
Made from sunlight itself — milk sugar exposed to concentrated sun's rays; the classical remedy of the sun-struck and the light-sensitive.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a person the sun itself overwhelms: the violent headache from working bare-headed in bright light, the glare that stabs the eyes, the burning skin, the faintness and prostration — yet everything eases the moment they reach shade and cool air. Sunlight, turned into a remedy: that is Sol.
The substance, in plain words
Sol is not a plant or a mineral but a force. Milk sugar (lactose) is exposed to concentrated sun's rays and stirred with a glass rod until it is judged to have taken up the light; the charged sugar is then potentised in the usual way (Fincke). Nothing of the sun that can be weighed remains — only the impression the light left on the sugar, carried forward by dilution and succussion.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Nervous excitement. "As if all the nerves were trembling inside" — anxious, easily startled, worse in bright light.
- Anxiety in the stomach-pit. A sensation of anxiousness centred under the breastbone, with fright if anyone approaches.
- Over-sensitivity. Light, noise and touch on hot skin all jar; the person must reach shade to feel safe.
The body
- Violent sun-headache. Pressing pain from the vertex down to the forehead with heat in the face, worst when the sun strikes the bare head.
- Eyes. Light offends; a feeling of swelling as if the eyes would press out of their sockets; the veins of the white of the eye suffused.
- Skin. Sunburn and freckling; the skin that burns rather than tans.
- Heat and faintness. Prostration and weakness about the heart; the face hot while the hands and feet are cold.
- Fever. Warmth on the surface with a cold feeling within; congestive chill after sun and cold water.
- Menses too soon; nausea and vomiting from exposure to the sun.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| sun and glare; sunshine on the bare head; the heat of the day; mental excitement. | shade; cool air; a cool drink or a cool application to the stomach-pit; evening. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
The nervous system, the head and eyes, the skin, and the body's heat regulation.
Where the classical picture comes from
The portrait is the ordinary physiology of solar radiation written large: sunburn (ultraviolet erythema), photophobia, headache from glare and heat, and the prostration of heat exhaustion and sunstroke. Clarke's chapter records both the light-therapy of Finsen, who used concentrated sunlight (solar cautery) on skin cancers and lupus, and Swan's 1880 pathogenesis, built from four provers and from the observations of the 'sensitives' of Reichenbach.
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.
Sunlight is one of the great medical forces of the modern era. Narrowband ultraviolet B and PUVA phototherapy are standard, effective treatments for psoriasis, vitiligo and other skin diseases; the skin makes vitamin D under ultraviolet B; and the solar cautery that Finsen pioneered has given way to precise light therapies. The harms are equally real — sunburn, photoageing and skin cancer from ultraviolet exposure. In 2020 a small, uncontrolled pilot observation reported that Sol 30c taken before ultraviolet B exposure seemed to raise the dose needed to burn in two of three volunteers; no controlled trial followed.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Belladonna | Hot, red, throbbing head with dilated pupils and a dry skin | Belladonna is drier and semi-delirious, with a pounding, burning heat; Sol is light-centred, with photophobia and a clear head between exposures. |
| Glonoinum | Surging, bursting head from the sun | Glonoinum is a violent vascular storm with a bounding pulse; Sol is gentler, and shade and cool air relieve it sharply. |
| Natrum carbonicum | Chronic headache from sun with weakness | Natrum carbonicum is broader, with atony and digestive weakness; Sol turns on the light itself as the trigger. |
| Gelsemium | Drowsy, heavy, drooping in the heat | Gelsemium is heavy-lidded and trembling, worse from anticipation; Sol is excited and anxious, and fears the light. |