It is a general venous stasis , and is sometimes worse in sleep, worse from lying, better from bodily exertion. Now, as the mental symptoms are the most important in a proving, so are the mental symptoms in sickness the most important. Hahnemann directs us to pay most attention to the symptoms of the mind, because the symptoms of the mind constitute the man himself. The highest and innermost symptoms are the most important, and these are the mind symptoms. Aesculus has not been brought out in the finest detail, but we have the key to it.
Extreme irritability is the very general state from which ramify a great many mental symptoms.
Irritability and mental depression run through a great many remedies, and form the centre around which revolve all the mental symptoms in some cases. The reason that these are more interior than some other symptoms of the mind is that these relate to the affections themselves. The mental symptoms can be classified in a remedy. The things that relate to the memory are not so important as the things that relate to the intelligence, and the things that relate to the intelligence are not so important as the things that relate to the affections or desires and aversions. You never discover he is irritable if you do the things he wants you to do.