24. At 5.45 p.m., health good, pulse 65, took 10 dr. 2x in 1/2 oz. of water. 5.50, dull ache in lumbar region followed by aching in right foot and elbow. 5.52, pain in right acromion and occipital region. 5.55, pitching in right knee; ache in back returns. 5.59, dull pain in forehead afterwards in occiput; pitching of hands, afterwards of face. 6, headache in right temple, afterwards in l.; pinching in bowels, relieved by discharge of flatus. 6.2, itching in right inner canthus, rubbing aggravates, and causes lachrymation that continues. 6.5, eructations repeated, with salivation; rumbling in bowels. 6:10, dull ache in chest, pain in right ulnar nerve. 6:15, pain in chest returns, dull headache. 6:20, sharp pain in right foot and toes when walking; slight cough. 6:25, sharp pain in teeth; pain and rumbling in bowels. 6:30, pain in chest returns, with headache, itching of chest walls. 7:10, pains in right ankle; slight headache with nausea; cold feet. 7:55, painless hoarseness; pulsating headache, 8 hearty supper relieved weariness; headache increased. 8:30, much flatus and eructations; occasional cough and chilliness when moving. 9, chilliness increased, pulse normal; dull backache and languor returns; respiration oppressed and short from fulness of abdomen. 9:15, felt very tired and weak without cause; dull headache. 9:30, aching in every joint, pulse 90, thirst, pulsating headache on retiring, feet are swollen and damp, old bruises very sore; scant urine; waked at midnight with frightful dreams and crick in back; a sour stomach and much itching kept me awake for some time. 2nd day, pulsating pains in head all day, much lassitude, and rheumatic ache in back and limbs aggravated by exercise. (A. W. WOODWARDS, M. D., communicated.).
Poisonings
1. A child had eaten of berries of red bryony (B. dioica). Mr. Masaon found him apparently in great pain in abdomen, very thirsty, hot, and excited; emetics were given, producing copious vomiting and free action of bowels. the following day pain had ceased, but temp. in axilla was 103. A saline mixture was given, but for the next 3 d. the temperature kept up, then gradually subsiding, and normal health returning. On first seeing case pulse was very feeble but after vomiting it increases in power wonderfully. (Brit. Medorrhinum Journ., 1883, ii, 1867.)
2. A man drank 2 glasses of infusion of B. root to cut short an intermittent; he was seized with violent colic and diarrhoea, which terminated fatally. (PIGL, Neue Mag., i, 3, 557.)
3. I was called to a lying-in woman, for whom her attendant had prescribed, to check the secretion of milk, a tisane of 30 grms. of B. root to a litre of water, and an enema of a concentrated decoction. On my arrival, 4 hours after this had been administered, I found the patient dead. On inspection of the matters voided into the bed, I recognised the lining membrane of the rectum. (Gazette de Sante, 1816.)
4. A man macerated a quantity of B. root in wine for 3d., and drank it to purge him. M. Lepage found him much prostrated, half-lying on his bed, not vomiting now. Extremities were cold, but mind was clear; he complained of formication in limbs. He was said to have had convulsive attacks, and one soon showed itself. It began by distortion of eyes and tonic contractions of limbs; then came loss of speech, clinic spasms, stiffness of muscles of nucha, opisthotonos, thorax immovable, and epigastric hollow very marked. Patient gradually improved, and after some hyper- catharsis became quite well. (L’ Art Medical, xiviii, 92.) [ Dr. IMBERT-GOURBEYRE, to whom we are indebted for Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of B. poisonings, mentions an occasion, recorded by Neumann in his Chemia Medica, on which B. root, used freely by mistake for another medicine, caused “very serious and dangerous symptoms, as convulsive movements, loss of consciousness, comatose conditions, delirium, swelling of head and eyes.”-EDS.]
5. A man, aet. 63, had taken by mistake about. 80 dr. of the homeopathic tinct. of B. Two hours later, having been quite calm and comfortable in the interim, he felt an uncomfortable, tickling, warm sensation in his throat, and then began to vomit. Within a few m. after the supervention of the vomiting he became oblivious of his surroundings, having a feeling as if a piece of gauze had been drawn over his face. He then remembered nothing more, until he heard Dr. Dixson calling him by a wrong name on his arrival. His pulse was imperceptible at the wrist; he was drowsy, livid, and covered with cold perspiration. There was no diarrhoea, nor did he complain of any pain. The patient was decidedly delirious, but could be induced to give some kind of answer to a question. After persevering in the use of strong stimulants, coffee, ammonia, & c., with warmth to the extremities the patient recovered in about 1 1/2 h. (Lond. Medorrhinum Record, March 15th, 1886.)
6. Bryony, which grows abundantly in the hedges of our eastern departments, is known to the peasants by the name of the: “devil’s plant.” In spite of this terrible surname, many of them gather the root, which they carefully preserve after having dried it in the oven, and which they give empirically in the treatment of hernia. This is not the place to investigate as to whether this popular belief is sensible or absurd. But I shall always recollect that I had the opportunity of seeing, in 1847, in a village of the cote-d’Or, an unfortunate woman, 50 years of age, who, to cure herself of a hernia to all appearances incurable, swallowed every day, for the space of four months, from 10 to 12 gr. of bryony. Of all the disorders evidently produced by this long intoxication, that which struck me most was the existence of a pseudo- membranous catarrh, which became chronic. “There is some skin in my expectoration,” said the woman to me,” I pit it out every morning, sometimes in long strips, and it comes off even from my palate and my throat.” This I ascertained to be the case. (TESTE, Journ, de la Soc, Gal., i 205.)
7. Sept. 20th, 1867, at 8 a.m., I was hastily summoned to visit a little girl, aet.3, who had eaten freely of the berries of the B. dioica. I attended immediately, only to find the child in articulo mortis. From the parents I learned that about 1/2 hours after eating the berries the child became giddy, and during n. furious delirium supervened; pupils became dilated; vomiting incessant, but not accompanied with diarrhoea. Nothing was done but to give a dose of castor oil. As m. approached delirium ceased, and the little patient became comatose, with occasional subsultus tendinum. Parents then became alarmed, and I was called in only in time to see closing scene. No Post-mortem was made. (GOATE, Lancet, 1868, i, 610.).
Experiments on animals
1. a. At a meeting of the Society Medical Hom, de france, Dr. EUGENE CURIE presented the tongue, trachea, and lungs of a rabbit to which he had administered B. for 8 months, at first 2 dr. of tinct. per diem, gradually advancing to 250 dr. “You can see,” he said, “that there is formed a pseudo-membranous firm tube which lines the trachea, and on the one hand penetrates the 2nd and 3rd ramifications of the bronchia, on the other lines the whole of the larynx. Some false membranes existed also in the mouth, at the base of the tongue; but these not being so strongly organised have disappeared in the alcohol; one can, however, ascertain the red spot (pointille) which formed this point of attachment. It can’t be supposed that we have to do here with a mechanical action; the penetration of an irritant liquid into the bronchia could not induce such an effect without also producing a deep disorganization of the tissues; besides, the effect commenced with the mouth. I add, that I am, able to affirm that no liquid did penetrate the bronchiae, which could easily be proved, because of the cough which results from the introduction of the smallest quantity of alcohol; I except, however, the last 3d., during which the animal had some difficulty in swallowing, but he also suffered from suffocation. With this exception, there was no perceptible phenomenon to note during the whole course of experiment, not even any distress in the respiration. This I explain as follows: – The false membrane grew little by little by little and permitted the trachea to enlarge for the passage of air, which I was able to ascertain by autopsy. The trachea had acquired an abnormal size, which can no longer be seen because of the shrinking produced by immersion in the alcohol. The rabbit died in full vigour and quite fat, so that I am quite sure it was a mere accident, the membranous tube having detached itself at the level of the larynx by an effort, perhaps the shock of a cough brought on buy the introduction of a drop of liquid. At any rate, I found the extremity of the tube free, and it is probable that, being no longer kept open by adhering to the parietes of the trachea, it had acted the part of a valve, and no longer allowed the air to pass; but for this I think I should have obtained lesions still more extensive. Those which I have to report are: 1st, slight congestion (from asphyxia) of the lungs, which are otherwise sound, 2nd, almost complete emptiness of the intestines, rare in the rabbit, but which is easily explained, because he could not swallow for the last three days. 3rd, absence of inflammation in the alimentary canal and also of false membrane throughout its length, excepting the stomach, where it maybe questioned whether it was not due to local mechanical action. 4th, the intestines contain a serous yellow liquid. I should state that there was no evacuation before the last days. 5th, the heart full of black clots not at all decolorised. 6th, no visible alteration in the heart. Several of you seem astonished at not seeing more marked lesions in the lungs and intestines. That may have been owing to the mode of administering the substance. Thus, I have tinct. of B. to two young rabbits, nearly of the same age, at the beginning of the experiment. 10 dr. per day caused their death in 4 d., a fact to be noticed in proof of the tolerance one may obtain, since in the other case, by proceeding gradually, I was able to raise the dose to 250 dr. Now, in these two rabbits the following lesions were observed: – 1. None in the trachea. 2. The lungs on the contrary were tinged in places with a lively red, quite distinct from the violet tinge of asphyxia. Nevertheless, the tissue was not sufficiently affected to have led to hepatisation; but there was evidently in those cases a tendency to pathogenetic localisation on the lungs. 3. The heart was full of coagulated blood, and three fourths of the clots were destitute of doubtedly the cause of death.” (Bull. de la Soc. Medorrhinum Hom. de france, i, 72.)
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.