11 b. Nervous system. dr. Inglis, of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, in a reprint records a case of chl. eating, in which at last 180 gr. were taken daily, followed after seven years, indulgence by gave perversion of the moral sense, epileptiform convulsions, great mental enfeeblement, and general nervous debility, necessitating asylum treatment, under which recovery took place. Dr. Woodbury mentions a case in which nightly doses of 20 to 30 gr. during four months were followed by a violent attack resembling delirium tremens. dr. Easton records the case of a lady who experienced ataxic symptoms with numbness and burning sensations, following the nightly use of 30 to 40 gr. during two years. many other observes report similar results.
11 c. Circulatory system. – Dr. Langdon Down has noted failure of the left ventricle.
11 d. Digestive system Dr. Althaus reports a case of digestive derangement with loss of appetite and constipation. Dr.
Carroll mentions the case of a lady in whom epigastric tenderness, dry brown tongue, vomiting and diarrhoea followed 30 gr. nightly doses for two months.
11 e. Cutaneous system. – Dr. J. Thompson mentions the case of a female, aet. 44, who took 20 gr. for three months, at the end of which time defective circulation of the hands was noted with a line of ulceration round each nail. Mr. Humphry sends a case of pompholyx (pemphigus) produced by chl. Dr. Fothergill notes peripheral paralysis of arterioles with blueness of extremities. Dr. Langdon Down has observed liability to the production of facial erysipelas. Many others record skin eruptions. Dr. Bussard and others have observed lachrymation and conjunctival irritation.[*”Its habitual use is very apt to produce an injected and irritable condition of the eyes, which we have observed in the case of a lady who took from 10 to 20 gr. every m. for several months. This state did not disappear until several months after the medicine had been omitted”(STILLE)*]. Dr. Sharpin reports two cases of troublesome itching of the legs.
11 f. Urinary and other systems. – Dr. Longhurst mentions a case in which irritability and subsequently temporary paralysis of the bladder followed doses of from 10 to 20 gr. taken for some months. (Trans. clin, Soc., xviii, 117.)
12. Dr. DABBS relates effects of overdue given for asthmatic
breathing to a woman pregnant more than 7 months. She got, Sept. 28th, 8 p. m., 30 gr.; at midnight, 20 gr.; at 12:30 another dose, about 2 a. m. sat suddenly bolt upright in bed, complained of agonising cramps in legs, feeling of suffocation, of swimming in head, and of absolute inability to co-ordinate movements of lower extremities. She seemed in a peculiar state of consciousness knew that she was very ill, and herself insisted on my being sent for At 4:30 I found head bent upon chest, face intensely flushed, eyelids closed and with some little difficulty opened, and whole conjunctivae injected. the odour of chl. in the breath was something sickening. There was slight tendency to vomit a teaspoonful of last dose came back. The pulse was quick and bounding, 120, but gradually decreasing, till at 8 a. m., it was only 96. She was with difficulty roused either to speak or take food; at 4 p. m. (Sept. 29) she tells me she does not remember a single circumstance after swallowing the second dose at midnight, but that the sensation had been one of unlimited rest, unbroken by anything, but quite different from sleep. the only symptoms to which she could herself refer was to the cramps, which even now remain to a very slight extent. she says herself that the agonising pain in her legs was the only occasional break in her otherwise complete mental monotony. (Medorrhinum Times and Gaz
13. Man aet. 35, took 24 grm. of cryst. chl. in order to destroy himself. Seen 1/2 hour after, patient in deep sleep, face red, veins of neck fuller than normal, resp. deep, pulse 100. After 1/2 hour (and cold applications to head) face, forehead, head to nape of neck flushed, with deep redness on lips and cheeks, livid colour. Pupils much dilate, veins in neck and head gorged, radial pulse hard, tense, 92. No abnormality at heart, temperature of skin 39.5, respiration stertorous, intermittent. Employed artificial respiration, faradic current. After 1/2 hour respiration ceased entirely, facies hippocratica, deadly pale, veins collapsed, mucous membrane became livid. Beat of apex and radial pulse imperceptible, in carotid scarcely to be felt. Heart, sounds hardly audible, pupils much contracted, body cold. Temp. 32.9 (a fall of 6.6. in 1/2 h.) [Dr. L – then injected strychnia, with success.] (LEVINGSTEIN, Viertel. f.gerichtl. Med., xx, 227.)
14. Lady, aet. 45, of slight but compact frame, keen intellect suffering from sleeplessness and dyspepsia, for upwards of two years had taken Chl. up top 60 – 70 gr. in 24 h. Much reduced in morale and physique, unable to walk 100 yards without sinking from sheer exhaustion. Confusion of mind, inability to concentrate thoughts, impaired memory. Erythema of head and neck, with well-marked dark areolae (much intensified after ingestion of smallest quantity of wine, beer, or spirits), with most distressing palpitations, for about 2 hours, the hyperaemia disappearing last of all from the forehead in curiously well defined patches. Partial paralysis of oesophagus with nervous disinclination to take food or drink, interfering with her nutrition. Dimness of sight with eyes bloodshot and overflowing with tears. Marked projection of eyeballs. Feeling of intense sickness (without vomiting) frequently for a few m. after taking drug. (MURPHY, Lancet, 1873, ii, 150, 191.]
15. Man, aet. 29, lightly but strongly built, remarkable for courage, suffering from sleeplessness from mental worry, took chl. for eighteen months, repeated dose once or even twice if first was unsuccessful. led open – air life, with violent exercise. Lost daily strength, and capacity for business. One m. awoke to find power of his lower limbs completely gone. Paralysis was transient. he found it necessary to increase dose. Sometimes large dose proved wholly ineffective, sleep fitful and restless. On awaking intense thirst with dryness of tongue and fauces, headache, vertigo, nausea, great nervous sensibility. Erythematous flush, intensified from beer or spirits. violent palpitations forcing patient to lie down for a 2 hours at a time. Completely prostrated. Eyes affected as in No. 14. Acute wandering pains in lower limbs, especially in calves of the legs, occurring during many weeks previous to cessation of Chl. Had a feeling at times, on putting his feet to the ground in m., “as if his legs were all in a mash,” as if he could not distinguish clearly between one part and another. Finally, on rising one m. found his legs suddenly give away under him; was unable to stand or walk, had to get into bed again. Passed off in course of day, but felt great nervous depression and bodily weakness, accompanied with a feeling of utter vacuity of mind, and inability to concentrate the attention upon anything. (Ibid)
16. The symptoms of chronic Chl. poisoning, according to Richardson, are: sleeplessness, mental irritability, and muscular prostration; uncertainty of movement, with tendency to fall forward; caprice of appetite, nausea; and injection or yellowishness of the conjunctivae. the urine may be albuminous; the bowels are constipated, and the stools pale and hard. All these symptoms we have met with, and also a state of mental depression, irresolution, and gloom, which threatened to end in insanity. (STILLE, op. cit)
17. a. According to Kirn, disturbances of the respiratory processes are excited in rare instances, which may increase from a feeling of anxiety, terror, and a shortness of breath to attacks of dyspnoea, and even of asphyxia. Shaw also, after about 1 grm., observed spasmodic breathing, with irregular action of heart. Marsh states that after an ordinary dose he has found changes in the mucous membrane of the respiratory apparatus, as shown by the occurrence of acute bronchitis.
17 b. Among other incidental effects, Curschmann reports swelling of epiglottis and false vocal cords, and Reimer the occurrence of bedsores under very slight external pressure, while epidermis is intact. Here and there cases are reported in which jaundice is said to have occurred after the use of this agent. Thus Wernich mentions the case of a drunkard, in whom a fresh icterus appeared after 4 grm. had been taken. Arndt also witnessed the occurrence of this condition in a paralytic after he had taken the drug for 14 days; it passed off when medicine was topped, and reappeared when it was again used. (LEWIN, Opium cit.)
18. Mrs. R. -, aet. 24, took mixture of chl. with tolu and peppermint water Suddenly sore throat, swelling of parotid and submaxillary glands, face bloated out. Face, shoulder, chest
intensely red, suggesting the appearance of scarlet fever, or a mild attack of erysipelas. Medicine was discontinued; on its being later resumed, was covered from head to foot with urticaria, with intense scalding pain in eyes, and a continual running of a semi – opaque fluid from them, as if from the intense heat of the surface. (CHAPMAN, Lancet, 1871, i, 666.)
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.