4. Dr. Davis took 3 dr., 2nd dil.. Sore feeling in soft palate. Tension in centre of sternum. Pain in region of 3rd left rib above nipple for some m. (Ibid.)
5. Dr. Zumbrock took 1/2 dr. tinct. Nausea and warm feeling in stomach after 1/2 h. Spasmodic stitches in stomach, after 1/2 h. Feeling as if stool would come, which it does not till next m. In sacrum and rectum sore feeling as in diarrhoea, after 1 h. Prostration. Rigor all over, after 1 hours (Ibid.)
6. Soubeiran swallowed a seed, which tasted at first sweet, then extremely acrid. After 1/2 hours he had acrid feeling in gullet, that gradually extended with increasing intensity to stomach, and at length caused vomiting. (Journ. de Pharm., xv, 501.)
7. Vautherin proved oil of seeds on himself. After 3 dr., there was insipid taste of drug, very slightly nauseating, without acridity or heat; after swallowing, this taste became more decided at back of throat. After 20 m., there was loathing at stomach, continuing until he took food. From 10 dr. there was same sense of loathing, as after castor oil, or almond oil in which 1/50 of croton oil had been mixed. From 51 dr. there was colic in 1/2 hours, and in 4 1/2 hours a small stool, followed by another 1/2 hours later. (Allen’s Encyclopaedia, v, 182.).
Poisonings
1. Headache; anxiety with burning in stomach; easy vomiting of a large quantity of watery, white – of – egg looking stuff; at same time watery diarrhoea, which gushed from him, with anxiety, coldness of body, shivering and clammy sweat, violent spasmodic pains in legs and cramps in calves, which were raised in lumps. These symptoms lasted several hours, and yielded to opium in wine. (G. de V., in Hering’s Amer. Arzneipr., 586.)2. In Porto Praya (Cape de Verde Islands) 2 men ate the seeds of Jat., which grows plentifully there. One ate a handful, the other only 3 or 4 sees. After 1 hours both had most violent vomiting and purging. The one who ate the smaller quantity had no more symptoms. In the other the muscles of the limbs were contracted by violent cramps, head confused, vertigo with great restlessness, breathing quick and gasping, skin cold and damp, pulse small, thready, intermitting; heart’s action very irregular, and so weak its impulse could hardly be felt on the thoracic wall. This lasted several h. Reaction commenced after 5 h. Soon afterwards he fell asleep. Next m. nothing remained but irritability of stomach and great weakness. (Farquharson, Am. Jour. of Medorrhinum Sci., quoted by Hering, Ibid.)
3. June 28th, James Cole, aet. 36, ate 5 seeds. After 10 m. burning in mouth and throat; sore pain in abdomen which was distended. A few m. later great nausea; in 1 hours vomited 5 times and was copiously purged. The burning in fauces and pain in abdomen continued; he felt hot and feverish. After 1 1/2 hours copious sweat all over body, and he became so weak he could hardly walk The next 1/2 hours the weakness increased, he got very giddy, became delirious, and, lastly, insensible. This continued 20 m. After 1/2 hours he could walk to the hospital, where he arrived 4 hours after having eaten the seeds. He was very weak, complained of heat and dryness in mouth and fauces, numbness of tongue and pain in abdomen; face pale and anxious, pupils normal, hands cold, pulse 140, weak. Soon restored by opium and cordials. (Letheby, Medorrhinum Gaz., July 21st, 1848.)
4. Thirty – three boys ate the seeds in various numbers from 3 to 50. In some the symptoms appeared in 10 m., in others not before 2 or 2 1/2 h. The symptoms were pain and burning in throat and fauces; pain and distension of abdomen; giddiness, vomiting, drowsiness, later purging of copious mucous and rice – water stools. Depression in some very great, in many dysuria: after effects thirst, fever, hot skin, quick pulse, pupils dilated, in those who had taken a large quantity. The drowsiness very marked. One fainted and fell after being sick and violently purged. The cases of 15 are given in detail, but the symptoms were all very much alike, differing mostly in degree. Several had severe cramps along with the purging and vomiting. One became pulseless and almost comatose. One had vomiting but no purging. (Medorrhinum Times and Gaz., June 25th, 1864.)
5. Nov. 11th, 1848, M -, aet. 22, healthy, ate at 11:30 a. m. 15 to 20 seeds. 1 p. m. burning in throat and stomach with restlessness and urging to stool. Some profuse purging, at first of dark faecal matter, then of thin or nearly watery discharges, with great pain, sinking of abdomen and vomiting. At 2:30 p. m. cramps in feet, legs and thighs. At 3 p. m. purging ceased but cramps continued, and were so severe that patient sprang in agony out of bed and stamped his naked feet with all his force on the ground as if to flatten them, as the cramp distorted them. The cramps were not confined to lower extremities, but were, though not so severe, in muscles of abdomen, arms and back; occasionally convulsive twitchings in back like tetanus. When the cramp commenced he began to lose sense of hearing; this increased till 3:30 p. m., when he was so deaf as to appear insensible to the loudest voice calling in his ears; sight dim, could not recognise those about him. From 1 to 4 p. m. pulse very small, thready and weak; skin cold, damp, clammy; features sunken and contracted and he was quite exhausted. Brandy and opium failed to give relief until 6:30 p. m., when the body became warmer and pulse stronger. Then the cramps gradually declined till midnight, after that only about once in 1 h. He got some sleep and was better in m. Next day remained totally deaf, occasional cramps, tenderness of abdomen on pressure. The 2nd day the hearing returned and he was well. Though he seemed quite conscious during the illness, he had when he recovered no remembrance of anything that had happened after the purging. (Marrett, Madras Quart. Journ. of Medorrhinum Science, 1861, iii, 37.)
KALI BICHROMICUM (see vol, ii p.162)
II. 16. W. W -, aet. 47, a furniture dealer’s employe, having finished work one night, took up a jug in the shop and drank a hearty draught of the contained liquid, which he imagined to be cold tea, but which afterwards proved to be a solution of bichromate of potash, used for staining wood a mahogany colour. Finding by the bitter taste that he had made a mistake, he immediately started for home, but was violently sick on the way. The sickness continued with much violence, accompanied by profuse diarrhoea and great pain in the epigastrium. I arrived about an hours after he had taken the liquid, and found him greatly collapsed, with cold sweats, an anxious expression of the face, pulse almost imperceptible, pupils dilated, extremities cold, and severe cramps in the calves and thighs. I immediately washed the stomach with warm water by means of a flexible tube and funnel, the liquid first drawn off and the vomited matter consisting of a dark brown liquid with some blood – clots and much mucus. Hot bottles were applied to the extremities and poultices to the epigastrium. Some warm brandy – and – water was left in the stomach, and remained long enough for some absorption to take place. A mixture containing bismuth, magnesia, and chlorodyne was given every 2 h. The first two doses were rejected, but after the third he sank into a good sleep, and next morning was much better, and after being kept for three days on fluid diet was in his usual state of health. The quantity taken was about five ounces of a saturated solution of the salt. (Bullock, Lancet, Sept. 13, 1890.)
II. 17. a. A young Englishman, Charles B -, aet. 25, committed suicide by taking about 2 oz. of bichromate of potassium in the solid form. From the evidence at the coroner’s inquest and from subsequent inquiries it was established that he could not have taken the poison before 11:15 a. m. A few m. later B was found lying in the outhouse, vomiting, purging, and in great agony. When seen by the ambulance surgeon of the Montreal General Hospital he was writhing with pain on the floor of the shop, speechless, his mouth, hands and clothes stained with greenish – yellow vomit, surface of body cold, face contorted and of a dusky hue, pupils unequally dilated, pulseless at the wrist, respirations very rapid and shallow, abdomen retracted and painful on pressure, and the knees drawn up to the body. The breath was cold, and the mouth contained a yellow, frothy mucus. The emesis, which had ceased, was brought on again by passing the finger into the back of the mouth. He was taken to the hospital as quickly as possible, and hypodermic injection of ether administered, and an attempt made to use the stomach pump, but without success, the patient dying a few m. arrival, less than 1 hours from the time of taking the fatal dose. When seen 1 hours after death, cyanosis was intense over face and neck, and pupils were widely dilated.
17 b. Autopsy performed 48 hours after death. Intense purplish – blue lividity of face and upper part of neck; pupils contracted to a pin’s point. Post – mortem rigidly present in all joints, and very marked. Bright yellow staining of skin around mouth and nose, and on hands. Anus smeared with yellow faeces. Cerebral sinuses and veins of pia mater, which were distended, contained dark chocolate – brown blood of a syrupy consistency, and without clot. Brain substance and membranes normal. The peritoneal cavity contained an ounce of dark – brown fluid. The liver was of an intense purplish – blue colour, and hyperaemic on section. The spleen was dark – red and firm. The capsule of the kidneys was non – adherent, and the parenchyma dark purple – red and very hyperaemic. The small intestines were moderately distended, and contained a quantity of olive – green tenacious mucus, with shreddy pieces of a yellowish colour. The mucous membrane showed evidence of irritation, but nowhere was there loss of substance. The large intestine was very firmly contracted, and contained only a little mucus. The stomach contained a considerable quantity of greenish – yellow, ropy mucus, the mucous membrane being stained a deep olive – green colour, and covered in places with a loose membrane which came away in flakes, and under the microscope was found to consist of masses of cylindrical epithelium. No undissolved bichromate was found in the stomach. The bladder was firmly contracted and quite empty. The lungs, which were of a dark blueblack colour externally, were crepitant, and contained a little blood, also of a dark chocolate – brown colour. The cut surface was dark brown and very frothy. The right auricle and ventricle were moderately dilated, and the left ventricle was contracted. The heart contained three ounces of dark chocolate – brown fluid blood, but no clots. A crystal of bichromate of potash, about the size of a split pea, was found on the right side of the upper part of oesophagus, and a smaller one on the opposite side at the same level. The tongue and the anterior surface of the oesophagus were stained a bright yellow. The skeletal muscles were all very rigid and of a dull red colour. 72 hours after death, when the body was removed for burial, rigor mortis was still very marked. A chemical examination showed that the blood everywhere contained neutral chromates of both sodium and potassium. By far the largest quantity was obtained from the veins of the portal system. The blood in the heart and great vessels also contained a very considerable amount, and chromates could be readily detected in the blood of the brain. The liver, as one would expect, contained a larger quantity of the poison than any other organ; its tissue was readily stained of a yellow colour by lead acetate, and of a red colour by silver nitrate. The kidney also gave these reactions, but not so readily as the liver. On suspending a portion of the kidney for a few minutes in a dilute solution of lead acetate, the cortex was found to be most deeply stained by the chrome yellow, though all parts of the organ became decidedly tinted. The mucous membrane of the stomach was of a green colour, from the presence of reduced oxide of chromium. The blood was found to be profoundly altered in colour and consistence, and to have lost its characteristic alkaline reaction, being quite neutral to litmus. It remained undecomposed and homogeneous in loosely corked bottles for nearly two weeks after the autopsy. On spectroscopic examination, the absorption bands produced by the blood were found to be identical with those produced by that form of haemoglobin called methaemoglobin by Hoppe – Seyler – that is, the blood presented a three – banded absorption – spectrum in dilute solution, one band being in the red, near the line C in the solar spectrum and between C and D (wave length 632), the two others lying close together between D and E; the last two formed one black band in more concentrated solutions of the blood. The identity was further confirmed by the action of strong reducing agents. The methaemoglobin could be reduced to haemoglobin by ammonium sulphide, and again oxidised to oxyhaemoglobin on shaking with air. There being no urine in the bladder, the question of the excretion of the poison by the kidneys could not be determined. (Ruttan and Lafleur, Montreal Medorrhinum Journ., Aug., 1888.)
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.