7. When in an adult 1-3 milligrammes are subcutaneously injected, in a few morning pupils dilate, and in 20-25 morning iris has disappeared. At same time, patient complains of dryness of throat and gums, which shows itself by involuntary acts of swallowing and constant mumbling There is much thirst and some dysphagia. There is a slight acceleration of pulse and breathing; also a little rise of temperature, but this is not constant. Dulness of head is complied of, and a slight excitement with tendency to movement; but the legs tremble, bend, and refuse their aid, as in intoxication. After an hour or two comes desire to sleep, lassitude; sometimes a slight delirium and a profound slumber succeed to this period of excitement. Next day nothing remains but sense of dryness of throat, and sometimes pupils still dilated. In impressionable persons there is occasionally disturbed vision, as diplopia; and in some unwonted erotic dreams, with or without pollutions. (LAURENT, de l’ Hyoscyamine et de laDaturine, Paris, 1870.)
8. a. To an adult, at 11:50 a. m., 3 hours after a meal, 2 gr. of amorphous alkaloid were given. Previous to administration pulse was 104, temperature 8.6o, respiration 20, pupils 1/8” At 12, pulse 94, respiration 18; otherwise same. 12:10, 12:10 pulse 80, respiration 18 mouth dry, giddiness. 12:20, pulse 116, respiration 20, temperature 98.7o, pupils 1/4, motion impaired. 12:30, same; drowsiness. 12:40, pulse 120, respiration 24, temperature 98.5o; motion more impaired. 12:50, temperature 98.9o articulation slow. 1.0, pulse 114, respiration 22, temperature 98.7o, mouth and nose very dry. 1:10, pulse 108, respiration 24, temperature 98.5o; interrupted sleep. 1:20, pulse 105, respiration 22, temperature 98.2o illusions and paralysis of accommodation. 1:30, pulse 100, respiration 21. 1:40, pulse 105, respiration 22; active dreams and involuntary exclamations. 1:50, pulse 106, respiration 20, temperature 9.6o; icterus.[*”The subject of the experiment was the only person who witnessed the existence of jaundice. It has never been seen in the course of numerous subsequent experiments.”*]. 2.0, pulse 100, respiration 21, temperature 98.2o; movement still impaired. 2:10, pulse 94, respiration 18, pupils (all this time at 1/4) 3/8”; incoherence and aphasia. From this time pulse, etc., were no longer recorded; mental state was characterized by heaviness, incoherence in conversation, and a certain amount of toxic aphasia, as shown by a tendency to slur over words and syllables. During following night sleep was disturbed by dreams, in which person affected frequently made short audible remarks, evidently in answer to subjective interrogations.
8 b. After 3 days, 3 gr. were given to same individual at 3:50 p. m. Pulse was 104, respiration 20, temperature 99 o, pupils 3/16. 3, pulse 108, respiration 19; lips dry, giddy. 4:15, pulse 112, respiration 22; great loss of motor power. 4:30, pulse 108, respiration 19, pupils 1/4; marked drowsiness. 4:40, pulse 116, respiration 23; voice husky, interrupted sleep. 5:10, pulse 126, respiration 22; could not walk alone. 5.23, pulse 110; interrupted sleep. 5:30, pulse 114; restless and incoherent. For 7 hours subsequently it was possible to take only occasional and irregular observations. During a long-continued display of delirious excitement pulse fluctuated irregularly between 104 and 1290, respirations fell to 14, and temperature reached a minimum of 98.4o and a maximum of 99.2o. During this stage of the action of the medicine the patient manifested all the symptoms of simple mania. He mistook identities, spoke incoherently, acted irrationally, and was frequently under the influence of delusions and hallucinations. Early in this period there was marked paralysis of ocular accommodation. Chairs, which were 5 or 6 feet distant were grasped as if within reach, and repeated efforts were required to rectify the mistakes originating in this aberration of vision. The full cerebral effect of the drug was manifested 2 hours after administration. he first symptoms was inability to fix the attention on any given subject. The patient, though rising from his seat for a definite purpose, immediately forgot what his own intentions were. He talked in incoherent snatches, and after commencing to express an idea passed suddenly on to the statement of another and apparently unconnected one, which also he left obscure and unexplained. While under the combined influence of delusions, hallucinations of sight, and paralysis of accommodation, he attempted to step from a window about 30 ft. from the ground stating that he was going out upon the lawn, which he was convinced was on a level with the window. He had numerous hallucinations of sight. A picture which, under the influence of a delusion, he had taken from the wall and placed on a sofa, he immediately afterwards sat upon in the belief that it was an embroidered cushion. He pointed to cats which he said, were standing on their hind legs and making fantastic movements, when no such animals were visible to others. Friends at a distance were spoken to as if sitting in parts of the room which were quite unoccupied. Female heads and faces were pointed at in the air as examples of perfect grace and beauty. The mistakes in identity were so complete that interrupted conversation was carried on with persons who had temporarily assumed the identity accorded to them by the patient. During the persistence of these personal delusions, statements, which were either unreservedly sincere or ludicrously inappropriate, were freely cited by suggestion. The patient several times partially changed his clothes with the intention of going out for special purposes – to work, to walk, or to dine; but every new suggestion led to a modification of dress, till, actuated in a totally different manner, he left his toilet incomplete, and directed his attention to new and equally absurd pursuits. Latterly the motor impairment became less marked, but the cerebral condition was characterized by greater incoherence in speech and extravagance in action. The patient tried repeatedly to wind up a gold watch with a corkscrew. Ideas were imperfectly expressed which at best had neither sequence nor relative connection. The patient walked in an aimless manner from room to room, but to a great extent avoided obstacles in his way. The emotional condition was one of quiet satisfaction and comparative good humour. When the influence of delusions required the use of personal restraint the patient met it more by illogical argument and exposition than by force. The cerebral condition during the time followed upon the short period of drowsiness was characterised by wakeful restlessness, till, 9 hours after the administration of the medicine, the patient, in a comparatively lucid interval, undressed and went to bed. Throughout the night he experienced numerous hallucination of sight. Lizards and other animals crawled on the bedclothes. A face-always the same-formed itself by the hollows and elevations of the cornice, but this delusion could be dispelled by mental analysis. Two sides of the room appeared to form the two pages of a book separated by the intervening angle and by the influence of hypermetropia seemed to rest upon the bed and lie open before the patient; but after fixed attention the vision appeared to recede till the elements of the delusion wee fully determined by their relation to surrounding objects. after a short period of interrupted morning sleep no traces of the operation of the drug remained, except wide dilatation of the pupils, some dryness of the throat, and slight lassitude. During the action of the drug there was no reddening of the skin or other appearance of eruption.[*”Since the time that this paragraph was written, I have had frequent occasion to see and demonstrate a decided rash produced by the use of H. It appears most frequently on the face and forearms, and is not unlike the eruption of measles.”*]. Though during the greater part of the time consciousness was not affected, scarcely a single incident anterior to the time of going to bed was remembered by the patient, neither could the events recorded recalled to his memory by any attempt to associate the vagaries which he had forgotten with those of which he head a dim recollection. While the physiological action of the drug lasted there was free diuresis but no vomiting or nausea. (LAWSON, W. Riding Asylum Medical Reports, vol. v.).
Experiments on animals
I. The action of hours on the lower animals is essentially the same as on man.[*So also state M.M.Oulmont and Laurent.–EDS.*]. (HARLEY, op. cit.)
2. M. M. OULMONT and LAURENT have arrived from their experiments on animals, at the following conclusions:
2 a. Hyoscyamine and daturine act especially on the sympathetic nervous system.
2 b. In small doses they reduce the capillary circulation; in large doses they produce paralysis of the vessels.
2 c. Arterial tension is increased by weak, diminished by powerful doses. These effects are not modified by section of the vagi.
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.