MORPHINUM (see vol.iii, p.498)
II. 25. I was called in great haste to M. C -, who was said to be very ill. I found him in a state of unconsciousness, not always complete; there was loquacious delirium; speech was interrupted and incoherent, it turned mainly on what had most interested him the day before, viz., a municipal election. He frequently endeavoured to leave his bed, though submitting each time to my prohibitions. There was trembling of muscles of face; very rapid movements, he was not tranquil for a m., sometimes carphology; pupils were dilated; there was incomplete paralysis, especially on right side, of both motion and sensation; pulse was hard and full, 96; there was thirst; head was burning and face very red. Before my arrival the symptoms were said to have been much more marked. It seemed that that m. at 9 o’clock an old – school physician had injected subcutaneously 7 milligr. of the acetate for a painful torticollis. In 1/4 hours slight somnolence had come on, which had lasted 10 m., then numbness and formication in extremities. The pain being calmed, M. C – had risen from bed (where he had been till now), but had felt very weak on the legs, and had fallen towards the right side; the limbs on the right side were paralysed, those on the left being numbed and heavy. Thereupon ensued a rapidly increasing cerebral excitement, rising 3/4 hours later to the delirium in which I had found the patient. For 5 hours more the unconsciousness continued complete, then intelligence returned by degrees. Towards 10 p. m. the delirium had ceased. The cerebral excitement went off very slowly; n. was sleepless. Next m. at 7, there came on intolerable nausea lasting 2 hours, during evening twice vomited yellowish glairy matter. The paralysis and insomnia went off gradually, taking 5 day for their entire disappearance. (Van Den Berghe, L’Hom. Militante, iii, 98.)
26. Kern relates the case of a patient to whom a suppository, containing gr. 1 6/10, was applied at noon. Next m. he sought his physician, complaining of intense pruritus extending over the entire surface. Erythema supervened almost simultaneously, beginning about perinaeum and scrotum. At various points scratching had given rise to the appearance of small bullae. There was considerable fever. Next day fever had diminished, but erythema had spread over entire surface, sparing only lower extremities. Penis and scrotum were much swollen. Desquamation took place by the end of a week. (Philad. Medorrhinum Times, Aug. 23rd, 1884.)
III. 11. Dr. Grehaut, experimenting on dogs, has found that during the artificial sleep caused by M., the exhalation (and therefore, presumably, the quantity formed in the body) of carbonic acid falls to 1/3 of its normal amount. (L’Hom. Milit., iii, 461.)
MUREX (see vol.iii, p.320)
I. 4. Mrs. C – was furnished with 12 powders of 3rd trit. for proving, to take one n. and m. She reported the following effects: – Heavy dull pain in forehead, beginning about 4 p. m., and lasting till she went to sleep, relieved by tying head up tightly; shooting in eyes; red spots on face; swelling of face in m. for several day; itching of face and forehead, only temporarily relieved by scratching, while salt water, though causing smarting, relieved the itching. Nasty flat taste in mouth. On waking in m., tongue yellowish; appetite impaired; heavy pain in pit of stomach, going to heart, where it is sharp, felt while lying on back relieved by sitting up (after a month); watery, urgent, forcible, flatulent diarrhoea 3 times a day, before stool cutting and griping in hypogastrium, extending downward and to back, after stool slight tenesmus. Urine scanty; after micturating, pressure with desire to pass more; menses 2 – 3 day too early first mo. (after 4 day of drug), lasted usual time, dark, clotted, and copious; at second month, they were 16 day early, and lasted only 2 day, copious, pale, and thin, followed by bland transparent leucorrhoea; during menses, for three occasions, pain crossed womb from right to left, then rose to stomach, and went to left chest; heavy sore pain in uterine region at intervals for 3 – 4 day, soreness there on bending forward and going up stairs, better while still; pressing down in womb, worse standing. Heavy sore pain about heart, worse lying on back and (still more) on left side, better from moving about; sharp pain about heart. Stiffness of neck and left shoulder in morning; weak, tired all over, stiff in limbs; shooting in limbs, now in one place, now in another,-l. wrist to elbow, – in finger – joints of both hands; lameness; constant heavy dull pain in hips, most in right; rheumatic cutting and shooting pains in knees, as if in bones, extending to ankles. (Rushmore, The Organon, iv, 131.)
NAJA (see vol, iii, p.328)
II. 8. A Hindu, aet. 40, was bitten on bare right shoulder by a black cobra at 12:30 a. m. On inspection 5 m. later two small punctures were found over deltoid, from each of which had oozed a drop of clear serous fluid mixed with blood. He complained of burning pain, rapidly increasing in intensity, in an area round bites about size of a saucer. At 12:45 he felt pain shooting towards throat and chest; but was calm and collected. Pupils were dilated, but responded to light; pulse was normal, and there was no embarrassment of respiration. In 5 m. more he began to lose control over muscles of legs, and staggered when left unsupported. At about 1, paralysis of legs having increased, lower jaw began to fall, and frothy and viscid saliva to ooze from mouth. He also spoke indistinctly, like a man under influence of liquor. At 1:10 he began to moan and shake his head frequently from side to side. Pulse was now somewhat accelerated, but regular; resp. also was quickened. He was unable to answer questions, but seemed to be quite conscious. His arms did not appear to be paralysed. Hitherto small quantities of brandy and water had been administered; but now liquor ammoniae was injected, 25 min. under skin of forearm, then same dose into basilic vein. No improvement followed; he continued to moan and shake his head from side to side, as if trying to get rid of viscid mucus in throat. Resp. was laboured, but not stertorous. Another 25 min. was now injected into jugular vein, but without benefit; breathing gradually became slower and slower, and finally ceased at 1.44, heart continuing to beat 1 m. longer. There were no convulsions before dissolution. (Hilson, Indian Medorrhinum Gazette, Oct., 1873.)
NAPHTHALINUM [NAPHTIN].
Introduction
A crystalline substance prepared from tar, C10Hs.
Poisonings
1. a. The peculiar effect of N., even of the purest specimen, upon the urinary secretion has been noted repeatedly by various physicians. Dr. Pick, of Coblentz, calls special attention to this objectionable feature in the Deutsche Medorrhinum Woch., No. 10, 1885, as expressed by a frequent and inordinate desire to urinate, and violent burning sensations in the urethra after micturition. In a 2 1/2 years’ child, suffering from chronic intestinal catarrh, five daily doses of 0.25 grm. were administered. After the twelfth dose the catarrh itself was improved, but the following untoward symptoms appeared all at once: Violent desire to urinate, reddening and tumefaction of the external urethral orifice, and oedema of the prepuce. As soon as the N. was discontinued these unpleasant after – effects of the drug ceased instantly.b. Dr. Pauli, of Lubeck, reports in the Berl. Kl. Wochenschrift, No. 10, 1885, similar evidences of untoward symptoms caused by this drug. He treated five children, all affected with chronic intestinal catarrh, with N. (0.1 to 0.3 grm. every 3 h.), and found the drug, though very effective if persisted in against the disease, still to produce what he regarded as a constitutional intoxication. The face assumes a pale – yellowish hue; the children either grow restless or lie quietly as if stupefied by a narcotic. (Therap. Gazette, Oct. 15th, 1885.).
Experiments on animals
1. Experiments with N. on rabbits showed that, when fed with it, the fundus of the eye was either thickly studded with numerous small brilliant points – compared to the appearance of the sky at night – or there appeared a large white spot usually at lower part of pupil, which increased in size and concealed the vessels of the choroid. Similar spots appeared later in other parts of the fundus. On the optic papilla there appeared brilliant points which increased in size, so that at length the whole papillary depression appeared to be filled with them. In the vitreous humour only occasionally some small floating crystals could be seen. The crystalline lens became dim, beginning at its posterior aspect and from the border. Shining and shady spots are alternately seen with the ophthalmoscope. The dimness grows apace, so that after 2 day the whole posterior surface of the lens is diffusely opaque. Besides this there radiate from the border opaque striae. The author supposes this dimness to be caused by exudation between the lens and its capsule, and between the fibres of the peripheric parts of the lens. All the animals died of parenchymatous nephritis. If the Naphthalin was given in large doses of 2 to 3 grms. the symptoms occurred in a violent manner, and sometimes detachment of retina ensued, but in smaller doses the process might go on for several months. (Magnus, Berlin. Kl. Wochensch., 1887, 834.)2. Dor experimented on rabbits and guinea – pigs. After 3 to 5 day there appeared in the retina of the rabbits small white spots the size of a pin’s head, and in one perceptible dimming in the periphery of the lens of both eyes. (A similar dimness appeared in the lens of one of the guinea pigs – but it went no further.) The round chalk – white retina spots increased in number and size, and so did the opacity of the lens, so that on the 11th day it was impossible to see into the ocular fundus. After 33 day a rabbit died. There was found fluid in pericardium and pleura. Heart and lungs were studded with spots similar to those observed in the retina for 1 to 3 mm. in diameter. Similar appearances were found in pleura, liver, kidneys, and convex surface of brain. These little lumps consisted entirely of agglomerated leucocytes mixed with small crystals. (Kl. Monatsbl. f. Augenheilk., 1887, 246.)
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.