Introduction
Natrum biboracicum, acid borate of sodium, BNa2 B4O7 10H2O. Including boracic acid and other borates.
Provings
1. HAHNEMANN, Chronic Diseases, Part 2 of original, vol. of translation. Contains 460 symptoms from self and Schreter.
2 a. BINSWANGER. – D. M. -, aet. 25, healthy, took borax in various doses repeatedly without effect. 1 1/2 drams in cold water, taken fasting caused in half an h. hawking, much cold saliva, and after 16 m. vomiting of a viscid fluid mass, with strong alkaline reaction. One day he took at 8 a.m. 1 drachm, the same at 8:30, 9, 9:30 and 11 a.m. There occurred great nausea and weight in stomach, going off when walking in open air. In afternoon rumbling in belly and two scanty, pappy stools. On waking next morning head confused, sick headache, a pappy stool. On third and fourth day still pappy stools.
2 b. The same person took 3ss, and then 3j of B. acid, but nothing was observed except increased call to urinate. One m. he took 3j at 8 and again at 9 a.m. In 3/4 h. sudden violent nausea, retching or vomiting of 1 1/2 oz. viscid slime with watery fluid, with strong alkaline reaction. Till dinner weight and uneasiness in stomach. At 6 p.m., 3j. All day long there had been continued call to make water, and in e. a slight transient pain in ureters. Th quantity of urine passed was greater by two thirds than the ordinary quantity; it had a very acid reaction. 2 c. 3ij of B. tartarisata, in the course of 2 h. caused frequent urination and pappy stool. Next d. 3vj in 6 h. caused one loose stool, m., and two in afternoon. The urine was increased by 16 oz. in 24 h. 2 d. First day, 3j of borate of potash in four doses did nothing. Second day, 3ss; third day, 3j. Always there occurred pressure and weight in stomach, nausea, increase of urine. 2 e. In the dose of 3j, borate of ammonia caused the same symptoms, but the stomach affection lasted one d. Urine increased somewhat. Some time after commencing these provings with the alkaline borates, he observed on r. thigh an impetiginous eruption consisting of pustules, which grew larger, and were in the middle of spots the size of a sixpence, round which new pustules formed, which when they burst discharged freely. After two months this eruption (impetigo figurata) extended to right leg, then went to left leg, and eight months after their first appearance, none of the drug having been taken for two months, all the ulcers had healed and left only dark red spots. (Pharm. Wurd. der Borsaure, c., 1846.).
Poisonings
1. Dr. GOLDING BIRD says,” In women this drug (borax) cannot be used with impunity, as it certainly exerts a stimulant action on the uterus, and I have seen it in two instance produced abortion.”A case is reported by Dr. Thorn, in which premature labour is stated to have been brought by the administration of 30 gr. 3 times a d. for 16 d. The labour was natural, and the child was born alive. Similar testimony is furnished by Spengler. (STILLE, op. cit.)
2. A man, aet, 62, suffering from catarrh of stomach and proctitis, got for latter, twice daily, from December 8- 24th, 1882, a clyster of B. acid, gr 300 in 2 1/2 per cent. solution. All went well till 23rd, when appetite departed, weakness set in, and temperature rose to 38.6 c. On 24th he appeared pale and collapsed, was apathetic, complained of headache, vertigo, noise in ears, great weakness, loathing, and sweat in scrobiculus cordis, with occasional vomiting of greenish stuff. Tongue dry and furred. difficulty of moving it, and dryness in throat. Urine showed albumen and boracic acid. These symptoms continued until 26th, only they were slighter; urine free from albumen; temp. lower. On Jan. 2nd he was as well as before using the acid (Schmidt’s Jahr., cxcvii, p. 28.)
2. A man of 25, after thoracocentesis, was treated by washing out the pleural cavity with 5 per cent. boracic acid water, the operation lasting an h., and 15 quarts of the solution having been employed, a portion of which remained in the chest. Vomiting, weakness, increase of pulse and temperature, followed, and later an erythematous eruption on the face. Within a d. or two all these symptoms grew worse; the erythema spread over body and thighs, pearly vesicles appeared over face and neck, vomiting continued, weakness increased, hiccup and dimness of vision followed, and finally, on the 4th d., death. (Ibid.)
3 A patient, aet, 16, suffered from an abscess in region of hip; which was washed out with a similar solution, a portion remaining in the cavity of the abscess. Within 1/4 h. uncontrollable vomiting began, and patient died of exhaustion on 3d day (Ibid.)
4. Dr. Gowers reports 2 cases occurring in his own practice, and one related to him by a friend, in which eruption of psoriasis resulted from the internal administration of borax for epilepsy. The drug was given in Dr. Gowers’ cases in 15 – 20 gr. doses 3 times a d., and the eruption appeared in one after 2 years, in the other after 8 months of its employment. In two of the cases the addition or substitution of arsenic caused it to disappear. It occurred on trunk and limbs, but most on arms; face was free,. It occupied both flexor and extensor aspects of limbs. The patches varied in size up to 1 1/2 in. in diameter. Their appearance was quite characteristic, but the scales were not so thick as they sometimes are in ordinary psoriasis. In no case was there a history of syphilis, and in one this could with certainty be excluded. (Lancet, Sept, 24th, 1881.)
5. In one case where the 1x trit. of borax was given freely for catarrhal fever, there seemed to result an engorgement of the uterus, with bearing down pains and prolapsus; this condition was attended by increased heat in vagina, and was finally relieved spontaneously by a profuse discharge of albuminous leucorrhoea, clear and glutinous.(WOODWARD, U. S. Medorrhinum Inv., viii, 495.).
Experiments on animals
1. A terrier was poisoned with repeated doses of borax. He had vomiting of slime and bile, and seemed to be in a great pain. He was killed. The P. M. showed softening of the m. m. of pylorus, some inflamed patches in upper third of ileum, also inflammation of muscular layer of bowel and softening of m. m., including that of ilio-caecal valve. (BINSWANGER, op. cit.)
2. Rabbits poisoned with B. acid had quick breathing and heart’s beats, which gradually grew weaker, they cowered and ran about, and were purged, the excrements soft and slimy. One, after 3/4 h., discharged milky urine, alkaline reaction, another had slightly tinted neutral urine. P. M. showed in one the mucous covering of the stomach very thick, the second had almost no mucus, the m. m. of stomach soft, the capillaries full of blood. The entire m. m. of small intestine inflamed, its epithelial covering detached and turned into mucus, in one pale, in the other coloured red. The caecum little altered, but contained much mucus, and the capillaries injected. (MITSCHERLICH, De acid, acet., oxalic., c., effectual in animalibus observatio. Berolini, 1845.).
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.