Formicum acidum Dr John Henry Clarke – Pathogénésies de l’an 1900 – Robert Séror

Main

Pathogénésies
de l’an 1900
New, Old And
Forgotten Remedies
By Edward
Pollock Anshutz
Presented
by Dr Robert Séror

Formicum
acidum

Proving of
Formicum acidum
Dr John Henry Clarke

The following was contributed by Dr. John H.

Clarke,
of London, England, in the year 1909.

I received from a correspondent, personally unknown to me, Mr. R.
Wallace

Ellison,
of 35 Selwyn Avenue, Richmond, S. W., three letters, which I here produce.

I did not keep copies of my replies, but that is of no consequence, as
they were chiefly intended to elicit the further information which Mr.

Ellison’s
second and third letters supply :

Letter 1

28 Jan., 1909.

Sir,

As you appear to be the only medical man who has made any study at all
of the important subject of

Formic
acid, I
thought I would detail my experience with it.

About two years and nine months ago I added to my daily diet from one
to two grains of this substance with the result that it has produced the
following results in my body :

Polypi and fibrous matter absorbed from my nose.

Nose, tongue, lips, and some other parts greatly reduced in

thickness.

Chronic catarrh of nose, throat, and intestines practically cured.

Stiff joints throughout the whole body have become loose.

Short sight diminished by 50 per cent.

Eyes have changed in color from light slate grey to a darker shade.

Varicose veins in left leg and others at base of neck now of no
consequence.

Facial and bodily appearance so altered that even my own mother is
puzzled and I can meet and converse with people who formerly knew me very
intimately without my identity being discovered.

I started this treatment on a sort of vague conjecture that

Formic
acid might be as
necessary (or partially so) as I found it to be to many tropical and other
creatures.

For example it figures very largely in the diet of all insect-eating
creatures and the frugivori. Even bears are known, at certain season, to
eat large quantities of red ants, which they search for on decayed
branches of trees, etc., and thus to produce certain alterations in their
tissues which make their flesh practically worthless for eating purposes.

It is true that in the case of rabbits and chickens to whom I have
given

formic acid,
I have not noticed this to be the case, but then the quantity supplied was
small.

I have also tried its effects upon a sickly and scabby pony and found
it quickly restored the animal to health as well as giving it a beautiful,
healthy crop of hair. (Anyone who cares can produce this result in the
case of an old pony.)

As far back as two years ago I wrote to the Cancer Hospital, at Fulham,
suggesting that they should try

Formic
acid, but at that
time only some of the foregoing changes had taken place and I was not so
certain of the truth of the theory as I am now.

Just recently, however, a well known cancer specialist has informed me
that he is trying the effects of it by dosage, local application, and
other means which I recommend.

I have some fears that not being able to properly grasp the theory of
the thing he may bring discredit upon it, for

formic
acid is a natural and
proper substance to be in human food and not a substance to be
administered in terrific doses for short periods (unless for some special
purpose, if at all.)

Taken for lengthy periods it has the effect of altering somewhat the
consistency of the blood and gives one the “

thin”
blood of the tropical animal, a circumstance not perhaps entirely without
its disadvantages.

Also it lowers the temperature of the body. I have also taken a good
deal of

citric acid.
My age is 31 I was diseased from childhood and the only part of my life
that has been entirely
free from suffering
is the last twelve months.

The method will be followed up till the day of my death. Of course, I
am not suggesting that all and sundry should incorporate Formic acid in
their food, as I am fully aware that in its crude state it is an irritant
poison. I will even go so far as to say that if they will take daily
fruits, honey and possibly lime juice and so forth they will be reasonably
certain of getting so much of

formic
acid as the body
requires.

I have some fear that you may regard the writing of this letter as a
most presumptuous performance on the part of an unknown man, but I know
that a

truly
scientific man will
draw information from any and every available source, and will not pause
to enquire – Is this man’s name upon the medical register ?

Of course, I do not expect you to enter into any correspondence with me
to acknowledge the receipt of this letter. If, as the result of reading
it, some of your future investigations should happen to deal with the
subject and the theory stated above, no doubt I, in common with the rest
of humanity, would be benefited and this is all that I require.

I have not yet, I confess, succeeded in getting many scientific men to
agree with me when I say that

formic
acid is essential to the life of
many creatures and highly beneficial to most,
but I may say that the only man of known and recognized standing who
has actually investigated the subject agrees with me absolutely in toto.

Yours respectfully,

R. Wallace Ellison.

J. H. Clarke, Esq., M. D.

Letter 2

5th Feb., 1909.

Dear Sir,

I

am exceedingly obliged for your very kind letter and the
interesting information contained in it. I hasten to add what I would have
mentioned before, only for fear of making too long a story of it, that the
quantity taken during the last two years was not much over 1 gr. daily.

I found that 2 grs. daily was too much for regular use, though it
served the purpose. If my theory be correct, perhaps 1 gr. daily would be
the proper thing and best to be taken in the form of honey, raw juice of
sugar cane, etc.

Owing to having no fixed base it escapes the observation of the
chemist, but there are reasons which to me are satisfactory that it is to
be found in the above substances as well as a whole host of others.

Apart from this, people living in tropical countries are infested by
insects. It lowers the temperature and according to my view produces
changes in the blood which are absolutely necessary to take place if a
European is to live and survive in a tropical country.

I know certain people think that this causes malaria, but I look on it
as a wise provision of nature and I do not think that malaria germs would
thrive on the bodies of mosquitoes, seeing that the latter are heavily
charged with

Formic
acid.

I believe that

lactic
acid for old age is
another mirage and that it is no better than a poor substitute for formic
acid (the natural thing.)

I do not know if any one has ever noticed that no cases of cancer has
ever been known among the natives of Jamaica.

I have very good reasons for thinking that there is more or less

Formic
acid in the food they
eat. F.
A.
is an all pervading sort of thing in many of these places.

Thanking you for the interest you have taken in the matter,

Yours faithfully,

R. Wallace Ellison.

John H. Clarke, Esq., M.D.

Letter 3

Dear Sir,

In reply to yours of the 4th inst., I am not sure that

absolute
Formic acid
is a liquid, but I think it would be deliquescent – anyhow there is
none of it to be had, as far as I know.

I get ordinary commercial

Form.
ac. ; Sp. gr 1.062.

It is 25 per cent. I mix it with 11 parts of water and take about 1
teaspoonful of this after breakfast.

When I first commenced I used to drink about a pint of water with it,
but now I just put the teaspoonful of acid into a very small quantity of
water and drink it. It has a pleasant, “

fruity”
sort of taste.

Sometimes I add a little citric acid and sugar to it and I believe this
improves the effect.

Nature seems to be fond of supplying it along with carbonaceous
materials and perhaps the question of

Chlorophyll
is bound up with it in some mysterious way which I cannot find out.

Anyhow it produces the effects and the last 12 months of my life are
the only ones I can remember as being entirely free from suffering.

I may add that my father died of ulcerous gastritis after being ill
most of his life, I am told.

The last three of his family turned out “

wrong
uns,” my elder
brother having been operated upon a number of times for tuberculosis and
the younger one being supposed to have it also at the time he died.

I have also been supposed to have been tuberculous myself, but a well
known cancer specialist, who went closely into the matter recently for
other purposes, told me incidentally that in his view all my complaints
were perhaps caused by some sort of gout.

Anyhow I have seen my relations losing their lives in very painful ways
from diseases which I now know to be completely curable.

For example, my father’s sister died a few weeks ago from a tumor,
after having suffered from stiff joints most of her life. I believe that
with enlightened treatment in the proper time the unfortunate creature
might have lived another 20 years !

I was formerly obliged to take great care of myself in order to survive
at all. Now I smoke incessantly, I “

drink”
if I want to, I keep late hours, and do all the things that are injurious.

But I feel no ill effects whatever and I know that 12 months from now I
shall have fewer physical defects than I have now. I find, for instance, I
can now make out the time by some public clocks.

Twelve months ago I could not. Moreover instead of living upon milk,
macaroni, and such like stuff, which I had to do, owing to gastritis, I
eat any mortal thing that is produced and never feel any discomfort.

These are simple facts and people who know me well know that which I
have stated is true.

If medical men don’t care to investigate the subject of

Form.
ac. and
allied substances then they themselves will have to pay the penalty (as
well as the unfortunate public).

With best wishes,

Yours respectfully,

R. Wallace Ellison.

John H. Clarke, Esq., M. D.

I think the importance of this clinical observation will be apparent to
all readers. I have followed it up in a certain measure myself, but not so
extensively as I could wish, so I now make it public that others may have
the opportunity.

The place of

Formic acid
in medicine and chemistry is a great and growing one. In the form of
tincture of ants – Formica
rufa – it has a
distinct place in homeopathic practice.

But Mr.

Ellison’s
experience is something over and above this and capable of wide
application. Apis
and other insects contain Formic
acid, also Urtica
and many other plants – among which, I suspect, is Lemna.

In the

Homeopathic
World of
April, 1902, Dr. Dudgeon
gave an account of the work of Dr. Edward Krull,
of Güstrow, who was led to think of Formic
acid. as
a remedy from its constant occurrence in the internal organs and soft
parts of the body.

He found it constantly present in the sweat of healthy persons, but
very much diminished in or entirely absent from the sweat of persons
affected with phthisis. He thought to supply the defect in phthisical
subjects by introducing it into the system in material doses.

But he found no benefit when he gave considerable doses by the mouth.
So he had recourse to hypodermic injections of the watery solution. After
two years of experiments he found, to his surprise that the more dilute
his injections were the more powerful the effects, and he ended by giving
injections of a dilution which corresponds to our 3rd or 4th centesimal,
and waiting five or six months before repeating the injection.

“He treated, in this way, with success,” I am quoting
Dudgeon, “external and internal tuberculosis, chronic nephritis, and
malignant tumors. It was necessary for the success of the treatment that
the nutrition of the body should be well maintained. In cachectic states
the treatment is contraindicated. It will be remembered that Hering
mentions one case of an anemic woman who died from the effects of an
ant-vapor bath.”

“The general effects which were observed in all the cases treated
by Krull’s method were :

Immediate increase of nutrition, the appetite improved, the weight
increased ; all this without any material change in the diet. In all the
patients during the first months, sometimes every two or three days,
sometimes at an interval of weeks, there occurred slight transient attacks
of pain in the abdomen, on the right and left of the umbilicus, sometimes
accompanied by urging to stool. If several copious fecal evacuations
occurred, this had no bad effect on the patient, they seemed to have a
critical character. After the injection the menses came on earlier and
were more copious ; all diseased organs and parts showed greater
activity.”

In the first and second stages of tuberculosis cure is the rule. In the
third stage the treatment only does harm, rapidly diminishing the
strength.

The action is most remarkable in

lupus.
During the first days after the injection the affected part commences to
grow vividly red, rises up somewhat and discharges moderately, and is the
seat of shooting pains occasionally. Curative action usually begins in the
third week.

“In chronic nephritis, so long as there has been no shrinking of
the renal parenchyma and no heart complication, the action of the Formic
acid injection is beneficial.”

[I may say I am acquainted with one case of this kind in a young man
whom

Krull
treated with perfect success. – J.
H. C.]

“In carcinoma of the breast and stomach, the tumor first increases
in size and becomes very sensitive and the skin over it feels warmer. The
shorter the term the tumor has existed and the stronger the constitution,
the sooner does reaction occur and the consequent cure of the
disease.”

In the concluding words of

Dudgeon’s
article :

“Tuberculosis, chronic nephritis and carcinoma are not diseases in
which we can claim a great amount of success. . . . So where other
remedies fail or cannot be discovered we may take Solomon’s advice and
-“Go to the ant! “

In the

Homeopathic
World, Sept.,
1906, I quoted from the British
Medical journal an
article by Dr. L. B Couch,
who thus formulates his conclusions as to the nature of rheumatism :

(1) All rheumatism, acute or chronic, muscular or arthritic, is due to
self-gerierated systematic poison.

(2) It is not bacterial.

(3) It is chemical.

(4) It is an acid and a suboxidant product.

(5) It is not uric acid,

(6) Uric acid is a product, not the cause of rheumatic conditions.

(7) It is produced by starchy indigestion alone.

(8) It is produced by fermentation.

(9) It is produced by carbonic acid gas generated in the bowels and is
due to drinking at meals and washing the food into the stomach without
proper mastication and mixing with the proper ferments designed to digest
such foods.

“Dr. Couch was led to study the action of Formic acid in
the treatment of rheumatic disorders by the experience of a farmer who was
cured of it after being stung by bees. The remedy was found to be of the
greatest value (says the Brit. Medical Journal, epitomizing Dr.
Couch’s article in Medical Record of June 24th), and the histories
are given of several cases in which remarkable results were
obtained.”

The author, who is, of course, an allopath, uses the hypodermic method
and gives the following directions :

“(1) Always cleanse the parts thoroughly before injecting formic
acid solution.

(2) Never use a stronger solution than 3 per cent. ; a 2 1/2 per cent.
is better.

(3) Never use it without using 5 to 8 drops of a 1 per cent. solution
of cocaine, or ,other local anesthetic, as a preliminary.

(4) Always choose exterior or outer parts for exhibiting the remedy and
inject it just beneath the skin.

(5) Never use more than 8 drops in any place of either cocaine solution
or formic acid solution.

(6)

If larger doses of formic acid are used, painful lumps are
formed which are slow of absorption and painful ; whereas if smaller doses
are used no destruction of tissue results.

(7) The author makes the injections not less than z inches apart and he
has never used more than thirty injections at a time(!), and it is far
better to use only twelve and repeat the following day in another place.
Injections may be given every day or every other day, till all the pain
has ceased.”

This ends the extract from the

British
Medical journal. The
writer was evidently obsessed with the necessity to imitate the bees as
exactly as possible. But Dr. Krull’s
experience proves that it is not necessary to imitate Dr. Couch.
But the experience is valuable, nevertheless, and although the dosage need
not be copied – indeed Dr. Couch
himself discovered that the less he gave the better – it is quite possible
that the hypodermic method has some advantages,

Formic acid

is
known to the homeopathic Materia Medica only in the preparation of Formica,
a tincture being
made of the insects, which contains the acid. An account of this may be
found in Allen,
Hering,
and my own Dictionary.
The range of its
action may perhaps be best gathered from the Clinical section under Formica
in the last named
work :

Clinical

:

Apoplexy. Brain, affections of Bruises, Chorea, Cough, Diarrhea,
Dislocations, Dropsies, Eyes, affections of Facial paralysis, Foot-sweat ;
checked, consequence of, Gout, Hair, falling out, Headaches, Nodes,
Overlifting, complaints from, Paralysis, Rheumatism Sight, affections of
Spine. affections of Spleen, pain in Throat, sore.”

8 Bolton St., London, W. June 28, 1915.

Later, concerning dosage, Dr. Clarke wrote the following letter :

The Dosage Of Formicum Acidum

Editor of the Homeopathic Recorder:

I should have answered your letter of Nov. 16 sooner, but my spare time
has been taken up by a Zeppelin casualty in my own house. On account of
these nocturnal birds of prey the streets of London are kept in darkness
after sundown, and accidents are consequently frequent. Pit the beginning
of December, Mrs.

Clarke
became one of the victims, and sustained a bad fracture from a fall. She
is now, I am happy to say, recovering ; but you will understand that the
event put Formic
acid somewhat
out of my mind.

You tell me your correspondents ask about the dosage. In my article I
gave the details as known to me, and I hope your readers would test the
dosage there described, and improve on it.

But I will tell you how I manage. In prescribing for case of varicose
veins, polypi, and catarrh, such a condition, in short, as that described
by Mr.

Ellison,
I order an ounce or two of a solution of Formic
acid in
the proportion of one part of the acid to eleven parts of distilled water.

Of this I order one teaspoonful to be taken in a tablespoonful of
water, once or twice a day after food. I regard it given in this way as a
kind of medicinal food and I do not find that it interferes with any other
indicated remedy that I wish to give at the same time.

A correspondent in

Vancouver,
Wash., whose name I am unfortunately unable to decipher, who is troubled
with catarrh, rheumatism, and cramps, asks me if taken as Mr. Ellison
suggests would cause a proving in him. I think it probably would not, I
should think it well worth risking.

Any one wishing to repeat Dr.

Krull’s
experience I should advise to use the hypodermic method advised by him,
But there could be no harm in trying various homeopathic preparations of
the acid on his indications if anyone likes to do so.

It should be remembered, though, that he administered single doses at
long intervals. In these cases, if administering it by the mouth, I should
give the dose, not after a meal as in the crude one of Mr.

Ellison,
but in the manner of the unit, doses of Dr. Cooper
– not less than two hours after a meal, and at least an hour before any
food is taken again.

That is to say, taken on an empty stomach, and allowed to act
undisturbed before digestion is again set in action.

You say some of your readers ask if

Formica
rufa will
answer the same purpose as Formic
acid ?

I think most probably it would. But this is a question which experience
will have to decide. It is open to anyone to try and report results, and
there will be no risk to patients in making the trial.

In prescribing Formica acid or Formica rufa on the
indications of the Formic a. provings, I should vary the potency
and frequency in exactly the same way as I do with Acon., Bell., or
Bryonia.

Yours truly,
John H. Clarke.
No. 8, Bolton St., W., London
January 9, 1916.

The following was contributed by Dr. Herbert T.

Webster,
of Oakland, Cal., to the Eclectic Medical Journal, March, 1916 :

Last August, my attention was called to this agent through reading an
article in the Homeopathic Recorder. Since then I have been giving it
considerable attention and have found it a valuable resort in a few
chronic cases. I feel that it is destined to become a remedy of much
benefit and that we are neglecting a means of relieving many stubborn
chronic ailments.

Chronic rheumatism is one of its most important fields of action,
though other painful states come under its influence. A young man, who
acquired syphilis about three years ago, came to me complaining of loss of
ambition and general debility, and also, what disturbed him most, a
constant pain in the right side.

He has been under treatment about two months without relief when I put
him on

Formic Acid.
I gave him
enough to last a month, with instructions to report when the medicine was
finished. At the proper time he appeared at the office and informed me
that he was feeling much better and that the pain in his side was gone.

A middle-aged woman, cook in a large establishment, had been under
treatment for some time for a severe pain in the lumber region, which
extended into the right side at times. This was so severe that it almost
interfered with work sometimes, and at critical moments.

She had been operated for ovarian trouble several years before and
believed that the pain was connected, some way, with the old trouble.

I was puzzled as to what to do for her finally, for the list of
remedies for muscular pain had been pretty well exhausted. As a final
resort I put her on

Formic
acid.

When she
returned, about four weeks later, she came to pay me and was genuinely
delighted with the fact that she had been entirely relieved of the severe
pain that had troubled her so long.

In two cases of chronic articular rheumatism in which I have tried it
results have been promising.

In one case, enlargement of the joints of the fingers became very much
lessened and stiffness of the legs, which had troubled her very much in
walking, was markedly relieved.

Mr.

L.,
a Civil War veteran, had an attack of “shingles”
at the Soldiers’ Home, at Yontville, six weeks before consulting me. He
informed me that he had not bun able
to sleep a wink for all that time.

The pain affected his left pectoral region and the back of the shoulder
so severely that he was in agony the greater part of the time. I put him
on

Magnesium phos.,
3x, alternated with
Kali phos.,
3x, and also gave Formic
acid.

Three days afterward his daughter, from Berkeley, at whose home he was
stopping, called for more medicine and reported him free from pain with
the exception of slight twinges at long intervals.

The

Magnesium
phos. was
discontinued, and the Potassium
phos. continued,
in connection with the Formic
acid, with
Arseniate of Quinia,
3x, for a tonic
effect. The patient has now been under treatment for a fortnight, and when
the last report came in, two days ago, he was reported free from pain, up
and around, eating and sleeping well ; in short convalescing.

This drug is credited with a selective influence on the eyes. For a
time, the writer, who has noted a considerable failure of vision within
the past year, has been taking it, and has found much satisfaction from
its action. I do not believe we have a more positive remedy for failing
vision when the ocular apparatus is not obstructed than this. Where only
functional failure of the eyes is present, one can hardly go wrong
prescribing it, if reports are true. I intend to give it a thorough
investigation in this direction.

Dr. John H.

Clarke,
of London, England, has given this remedy particular attention and has
published, in connection with comments of his own, some very interesting
and convincing testimony by letters from a layman, a Mr. R. W. Ellison.

We find in Mr.

Ellison
certainly a cheerful advocate of Formic
acid. My
own experience convinces me that here we have a wonderful searching
remedy. I must use it considerably longer before I become well acquainted
with it, but a brief knowledge of it has been a very encouraging one.

Dr.

Clarke,
who has probably investigated it more extensively than any other
physician, concludes his remarks as follows:

“In the concluding words of Dudgeon’s article :
“Tuberculosis, chronic nephritis and carcinoma are not diseases in
which we can claim a great amount of success. . . . So, where other
remedies fail or can not be discovered we may take Solomon’s advice and go
to the ant.”

The following clinical summary is appended :

“Apoplexy ; brain, affections of ; bruises ; chorea ; cough ;
diarrhea ; dislocations ; dropsies ; eyes, affections of ; facial
paralysis ; foot sweat checked, consequences of gout ; hair falling out ;
headaches ; nodes ; overlifting complaints from ; paralysis ; rheumatism ;
sight, affections of spine, affections of ; spleen, pain in throat,
sore.”

Naturally, we are interested in the subject of dosage. I incline toward
the opinion that my doses have been rather excessive, though they have not
disturbed one appreciably. However, I feel the effect in the stomach and
head for thirty minutes or an hour after taking. A particularly sensitive
person might be disturbed by it. I add one drachm of

Merck’s
pure Formic acid
to two ounces of alcohol in a pint bottle, then fill the bottle with
water.

Of this, a dose is half a teaspoonful, once a day, immediately after
breakfast, so as to mix the drug with the food. One dose every twenty-four
hours is sufficient, the medicine exerting its influence until the
following morning. It is my intention to add a quart instead of a pint of
water to the next batch and still restrict the dose to half a teaspoonful
once a day.

While the dose I am using produces no untoward symptoms, more or less
drug effect follows its inhibition, and I believe that the smallest dose
which will produce the desired effect is the proper one. A tablespoonful
of water may be added to the dose before taking. In this way it is a
pleasant acid drink.-

Eclectic
Medical journal.

The following letter, printed here without abbreviation, is taken from
the pages of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan.
8, 1916

To the Editor :

In the summer, noticing that some of the dahlias in my garden failed to
grow well, I went literally to the root of the matter and found there the
troublesome insect,

Aphis
radicis, with Formica
flava, the yellow ant,
encouraging its depredations.

I crushed numbers of the ants with my fingers, noticing at the time the
pungent odor which they emitted, which was, of course, due to

formic
acid, especially
abundant in this species.

At about this time, my hands began to present symptoms of
eczema-itching (much aggravated after the taking of salted food) and
formation of vesicles, with subsequent thickening and cracking of the
skin.

I did not associate these symptoms with the handling of the ants until
they had recurred under the same circumstances for several seasons. I now
avoid the annual attack of pseudo-eczema by avoiding the yellow ants.

The facts appear to me to suggest the dependence of genuine cases of
eczema on the presence of formic add, since this acid has been detected by
various chemists in the perspiration. –

E.
M. B. T., New Bedford, Mass.

(Numération, vérification, restructuration, mise en
valeur colorée des symptômes, pour HI. Le vendredi 15 septembre 2000. Dr
R. S.)

Copyright © Robert Séror 2000

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