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Sulphur (Sulph.)

Sulphur (Sulph.) appears in 2,702 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 165 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 238 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on Delusions, Children, Fear and Anxiety, and further on Aversions, Thoughts, Dullness and Memory. The result is the picture of a person who reaches far mentally, produces thoughts and plans in abundance, and in doing so misses reality, his own body and his own responsibility in a peculiar way.

The King-Pin Symptom: Gradual Wasting Away

The king-pin symptom reads "Delusions - thin - he/she would become." What is meant is a process, not a state: the feeling of becoming thinner from day to day means, according to the note on the rubric, that energies on the physical and mental level diminish step by step, up to the loss of courage, pluck and self-confidence. To this belong the small rubrics on the feeling of being emaciated and on the delusion that the body is black, crushed or trembling. The Repertory draws a being that is outwardly rich in ideas and at the same time fears quietly using itself up.

Reality and Illusion

A striking group of single-remedy rubrics concerns the question of what is real. The ground seems to sway, the bed appears too small or too large, things seem now tiny, now gigantic, and the body alternates between small and large. The groping for certainty becomes clearest: "Touching, handling something - things, inclination to touch - does not know whether objects are real until he/she has touched them." The same rubric exists for children. One can see in it a person who does not trust his own perception and must verify it on the object. In the same direction points the transfiguration of the humble: "Delusions - old - old rags seem as beautiful and fine as silk," likewise listed as a single-remedy rubric under Imbecility.

The Philosopher in Rags

The mind is lively but hardly turns to the practical. Listed are the inclination to philosophize and theorize, metaphysical brooding, religious speculation, political preoccupation, literary work and the desire to discuss. The desire to read encyclopedias or detective stories is found already in children. The rubric "Philosopher - in rags" summarizes it: the world of thought is rich, the outer situation and appearance neglected. Fitting are the wishes to dress ridiculously, to fill the pockets with all sorts of things, the inclination to be a tramp and the aversion to washing. Conversely striking are an aversion to being instructed, to literary connoisseurs and to education and training. The mind wants to roam freely, not be taught.

Self-Image and Evasion

In relation to himself there are two lines. On one side stand self-exaltation and self-sufficiency: heroic deeds are recounted, possessions are praised, help from others is refused, and the person feels confident going it alone. Flattery achieves much. On the other side stands withdrawal: "Responsibility - denies," plus the small rubrics on excuses, on putting off work and on evasive actions. The rubric "Cheerful, mirthful - pleasure principle, lives by the" belongs in the same neighborhood. The talents are also listed: talent for dancing, drawing, music and the creative arts, plus inventiveness, wit and captivating speech. The picture is that of a gifted person who is hard to pin down.

Fear, Anxiety and the Hour of Eleven

Fear is directed at the concrete and bodily: of going blind, of catching cold, of seeing others fall from high places, before stool and after urination. Anxiety occurs at night, with heat, after the consumption of acids or connected with pressure in the stomach, and it refers to the future. A temporal peculiarity belongs to this remedy alone: Stupefaction, Impatience and Anger at eleven o'clock in the morning, and "Weeping - forenoon - 11 a.m." The mood otherwise also follows the course of the day: Dejection during the day alternates with Cheerfulness in the evening, Irritability with Mirth.

Waking, Sleep and Hearing

The transition from waking to sleeping forms a group of its own. On falling asleep the person sees grimaces, on waking people, at night he hears himself called. One called by name starts. On waking he sings or laughs, but also returns with fear of a ghost that he cannot get rid of. Somnambulism leads onto roofs and bridge railings. The boundary between dream and waking seems permeable, much like that between reality and imagination.

Children

With 304 rubrics, Children is the largest main rubric. The entries concern observation, possession and curiosity: "Children, general - watchful, attentive - observes everyone at meals," in love with their own possessions, possessive toward a parent, gifted but inattentive, precocious in religious matters and unable to meet the demands of school. Alongside stand the urge to explore everything without destroying anything, and the habit of putting everything in the mouth. The child already bears the features of the later philosopher: curious, self-absorbed, hard to guide.

Aversion to Body and Excretions

Among the unusual single-remedy rubrics is the aversion to one's own body odor to the point of nausea and to one's own excretions, along with sensitiveness to unclean smells. A small rubric states that one's own odor is abhorred but that of others loved. The aversion to water and washing also stands in contrast to the compulsion to wash repeatedly. One can read in this an ambivalent relationship to the body.

Summary

In the Repertory, Sulphur shows an idea-rich, willful person who lives more in thought than in the world. He tests reality by groping, embellishes the humble, evades duty and responsibility, and relies on a great self-confidence beneath which lies the feeling of gradually wasting away. That the picture shows from childhood on gives it coherence: curiosity, sense of possession and evasion are laid down early and continue in the philosophical attitude of the adult.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.