19. Mrs. W-, et. 50, sprained her ankle on May 26th, and applied a rag saturated with pure tincture of A. In 12 hours this produced “erysipelas,” which was treated with various remedies and applications till ther 28th, when I saw her, and found her in very great suffering. A band of inflammation about 3 inches in width nearly encircled the ankle-joint of dusky-purple colour, upper part raised into large flattened blebs, lower part slightly suppurating; edematous for several inches above and below; the whole most exquisitely tender, and looking most like a severe scald or burn; general disturbance very slight, save for want of sleep; one eye slightly inflamed and lids swollen; a small erysipelatous patch on r. palm. Under arsenicum and belladonna she recovered in about 5 d. (J. N. BLAKE, Monthly Hom. Rev., xviii, 552.)
20. Capt. S- burned his foot slightly, and applied a weak solution of A. to it. Some days after, on mounting his horse, he rubbed off a little skin, and again applied A., -a compress soaked in a lotion of 2 drops to 3j of water. Some day later an erythematous inflammation appeared about the wound with a severe infiltration of cellular tissue. The inflammation soon extended in all directions, invading hands, face, eyelids, right ear, and right side of neck. It then appeared that during sleep he had held his hand, wrapped in a compress of A., to the r. side of his face. the erythema increased for 3 or 4 d., causing much itching and ending in exfoliation; there came moreover little blebs on face, wrists, thighs, and lower abdomen, some of which. (LOWDER, Hom. Times, Nov., 1853.)
21. A lady, of sanguine temperament and very healthy, fell on the ice and severely sprained her wrist. We applied cloths dipped in an A. lotion, 20 drops to the oz. These were continued, with alternate use of plain cold water bandages, for 8 or 10 d. The sprain being then very much better we did not call for 4 d. On revisiting patient, we found she had persisted with the A., using 30 to 40 drops to the oz. She had observed for 2 d., a slight redness of the skin, attended with great itching. On examination, we found the outer side of wrist covered with a small miliary eruption. In 2 d. this had very much increased; the whole forearm and hand were red and very much swelled, the surface covered with numerous small semitransparent vesicles, with red bases; in some parts they were confluent. There was great heat and excessive irritation from the itching. The eruption, where it first appeared, died away, leaving slight desquamation of the epidermis, but the redness and swelling continued. On 8th and 9th d., swelling had spread above elbow half-way up arm, but no eruption was visible there. On 10th day, patient complained of heat and itching of face, skin became red, and over l. malar bone eruption appeared; swelling and redness soon involved left eyelids. The course seemed to be, first heat and great itching of skin, then redness, then appearance of minute vesicles, increasing in size, and producing intolerable itching. These gradually subside, leaving slight desquamation and redness. In arm skin remained for some time covered with slight scabs and hard almost like leather. There was no fever, and headache only when face was affected. (BLACK, Brit. Journ. of Hom., ii, 276.)
22. A man of strong constitution, et. 70, fell and bruised his hand. He applied a fomentation of diluted tincture of A. On waking in m., he found injured hand almost black. Dr. Oschenheimer, arriving shortly after, found face, neck, breast, and back in a state of erysipelatous inflammation, left hand dark blue, covered with vesicles of various sizes, some as large as a pigeon’s egg; pulse was quick, patient depressed. After 4 day this erythema, with some pustules which had formed in connection with it, went off, and the patient gradually became quite well. (Ester. Medorrhinum Wochenschr., 1844, No.9)
23. A girl who was using an A. lotion for an old sprain came and showed me her knee, which, after having been wrapped in an A. compress some d., showed every sign of bruise; it was first blackish, then changed to a greenish, afterwards yellowish hue, before it covered. Patient supposed it was “drawing the bruise out;” but as the sprain was of many weeks’ standing, even that popular hypothesis would not explain the fact. (BAYES, Applied Homoeopathy, p. 54.)
24. a. A gentleman, far advanced in years, was threatened with cerebral congestion, for which I prescribed A. He warned me that A. always produced erysipelas with him. In that case, I said I will give you such a dose as cannot possibly produce such an accident; and I ordered him the 18th dil. Next day he had decided swelling and erysipelatoid rash around mouth, affecting especially upper lip.
24 b. I have another patient, a lady of high rank, whose sensitiveness goes even beyond this. Her husband and sons, fond of field sports, use a small quantity of A. in their bath after an unusually tiring day, or an A. lotion or compress for bruises or strains. But under these circumstances, if they go immediately afterwards into the room where Lady-is, the invariably has slight erysipelas of the face, with puffiness of both eyelids and great irritation of the skin. Her last attack of this kind was induced by her having thoughtlessly mixed a dose of a dilution of A. for her husband, one drop of which fell on her finger; and although she immediately washed it off, she had erysipelas in her face next day [ “I know a lady who, having 12 years before made too free use of A., could not inhale it without having erysipelatous spots on different parts of body.” (GAILLIARD, Journ. du Disp. Hahn., 1869, p. 79) ] (IBID, Monthly Hom. Rev., xix, 623.)
25. A lady took, for a strain, pilules of 3rd dil. of A. Towards evening of 2nd day face ached, and she fancied she had caught cold. Next m. felt very poorly, took one pilule early and another at noon. Face got worse; by evening had every appearance of erysipelas. Felt very ill, and had to stay in bed for 48 h., by which time swelling had gone down. A week later, after 3 d. of 200th dil., face became hot, stiff, and a little swelled, but soon got right under aconite. (DYCE BROWN, Ibid., xxii, 171.)
26. Mrs. O-fell upon her chest against a stack of wood. There was no wound, but she had considerable pain inwardly, especially when she moved or exerted herself. For this she drank an infusion of one drachm of arnica flowers. Soon afterwards she got dimness of vision, trembling and great weakness of all limbs with vertigo and stupefaction. She lay for some time quite faint. Flickering before eyes, ringing in ears. Intermittent pulse. Scraping in throat, pressure strong in stomach. Then vomiting ensued, but it was long before she felt again strong and well, and in that previously healthy woman there occurred many symptoms, from some of which she still suffers and which were certainly caused by the arnica. She suffered much from congestion, the catamenia were often profuse and attended with pain. Frequent epistaxis. Frequent spasms of stomach, pressure and boring in it; it feels contracted and then distended with flatulence, swollen until relieved by eructation. Sometimes the left side feels as if ulcerated. Nausea and frequent vomiting. Rumbling in belly and frequent tearing pains, then urging to stool. Painful shooting and burning in anus and spasmodic contraction there. Sometimes small pimples broke out which discharged bloody matter. At same time pusillanimity, occasionally anguish, and precordial anxiety.
Others have observed spasm of stomach, nausea, and vomiting. Others felt shock like electricity in various parts of body, dry tongue, cough sometimes with expectoration of blood, nausea and miliary rash. (EMMERSCH, Archiv, xviii, 40.)
27. A lady, et. 60, stout, delicate, nervous, bruised leg in a fall and arn. in various dilutions of tinct., and once tinct. itself, had been rubbed into leg and retained there by bandage and oiled silk for 12 d. Bright redness then appearing on front of leg, it was discontinued; but next day redness had increased, and “small bladder” began to form, with some itching. On 17th d. Dr. Clarke saw her. There was no constitutional disturbance and no local pain even on walking. Leg was swollen and pitted on pressure. Lower portion was coloured red and back with extravasations. There were a few mattery points the size of lentils. Much of epidermis was raised, and clear fluid was oozing at points. Discolouration spread round calf, but was less deep and uniform than in front. There was no tenderness. Under rest, dry warmth, and arsenicum patient soon recovered. (J. H. CLARKE, M. D., Amer. Hom. Oct., 1885.).
Experiments on animals
1 a. In June, 1873, we injected into the rectum of a large-sized dog, at 2 p.m., two grammes of tinct. diluted with water. After 10 m. the animal became much excited; it began to frisk, to howl, then to scratch the ground with its paws, and to roll about with cries. Rectal tenesmus next came on, and contractions of the diaphragm, but neither stools nor vomitings. At 2:30 another order of phenomena manifested themselves; we saw the animal tremble on its legs, move in a hypnoid manner, and give way and its hind quarters, extending the legs as if instinctively to enlarge the base of support. Soon this posterior paresis alternated with contractions which bent the creature like a bow, and affected now one and now another of the hind legs, then both at one time. At length these contractions, so that by 4 o’clock there was nothing but great lassitude, retraction of hair, dull eyes, groanings, and hiccup; the animal ended by rolling itself up and sleeping. Next day it had regained its usual condition but for several diarrhoeic stools.
Hughes was a great writer and a scholar. He actively cooperated with Dr. T.F. Allen to compile his 'Encyclopedia' and rendered immeasurable aid to Dr. Dudgeon in translating Hahnemann's 'Materia Medica Pura' into English. In 1889 he was appointed an Editor of the 'British Homoeopathic Journal' and continued in that capacity until his demise. In 1876, Dr. Hughes was appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Organization of the International Congress of Homoeopathy Physicians in Philadelphia. He also presided over the International Congress in London.