8. Two soldiers gathered some sprouts of hours, an boiled them in oil, of which they both partook,. They soon had vertigo, the tongue was paralysed, the limbs relaxed, and they fell to the grounds as if intoxicated. After 5 hours they were brought into hospital, and then their eyes were wild, pupils dilated, look staring and stupid, breathing difficult, pulse small and intermitting, aphonia, trismus, risus sardonicus, loss of sensibility, nymphomania, cold extremities, paralysis of lower extremities, carphologia and convulsions of arms. One, who took a sufficient quantity of tart. em. to cause him to vomit freely, was next day quite well except a slight supraorbital headache. The other, who did not vomit freely, remained very delirious during the night, but the following day was well. A corporal who had taken a small quantity of the stuff had burning in throat, slight stupefaction and oedematous swelling of arms and hands. (CHOUET, Ibid., xxvi, pt. 4, 353.).
9. A plethoric man, aet.34, got in the space of 4 hours 2 clysters of an infusion of hours 3j and 3iij. After I hour he was in an apoplectic and convulsed condition, could hardly see 3 paces distance, there seemed to be a veil before eyes, his face was brown and bloated, difficult speech and incoherent talk, throat dry and constricted, with dysphagia, could hardly stand upright, seemed about to fall every instant. (BERNIGAU, Hufeland’s Journ., v., pt. 4, 905.)
10. A child, aet.4, ate some seeds of hours at 4 p. m. It observed that the mouth was distorted convulsively; soon the convulsions extended all over the body, the child passed the night screaming horribly, and tossing about, and made frequent attempts to vomit. Next morning the father brought it in his arms violently convulsed, like st.Vitu’s; dance it cried out sometimes, could not stand, and was destitute of all steadfastness of body and limbs, which were in constant violent movement. Hearing was gone, pupils enormously dilated, eyes staring and bright, pulse small and scarcely to be felt, like a thread; skin soft and warm. It was carried to another house; during the transport it lay quite limp and passive in its father’s arms. When put to bed the convulsions returned, but not so severely. Vinegar was administered by mouth and anus, whereby a large quantity of green stuff came away, with relief; this was followed by a quantity of white mucus, and it gradually recovered. The dilated pupils contracted the next day (KAHLEIS, Ibid., Ixviii, pt. 2, 81).
11. Two girls, aet. 5, ate several capsules of H. They were seized with trembling of limbs, anxiety, restlessness, and incoherency os speech and action. After 6 to 8 hour they were found talking incoherently, laughing, and sometimes singing, they did not know those around them, had frequent twitchings of facial muscles. When they were held, or when an object was taken out of their hands, they scratched, pinched and bit in order to get away, showing great strength in hands and feet, sometime they made dancing movements, ground their teeth, and projected their tongue spasmodically with a peculiar trembling movement of it, eyes sparkling, rolling about, albuginea red, pupils extremely dilated and insensible to light, pulse hardly to be felt, small, and very quick. Emetics, coffee, and vinegar, and lastly milk, soon brought them round. (BURDACH, Ibid., Ixxvi, pt. 6,89.)
12. Three children, aet. from 4 to 8 one evening ate some of the leaves of H. They soon began to stagger, fell convulsed to the ground, and were found in the evening in a perfectly unconscious state. Milk was administered and assistance sought. The doctor saw them about midnight; their faces were bloated, they were normally warm; skin dry; pupils so dilated that not a trace of iris could be seen, eyeballs directed upwards and inwards. In one child the abdomen was enormously distend, but without pain even when pressed, tongue extruded out of mouth, turned upwards towards nose. The others had not this symptom. In the 2 youngest the extremities were convulsively agitated to such a degree that a strong man could hardly hold them, the shoulders were bent backwards, and the abdomen projected forwards. They were alternately unconscious and conscious, spoke much and hurriedly and unconnectedly. The 8 years old child had no similar symptoms, in paroxysms, otherwise quick and full. Dysphagia in all 3. No competent of pain; one child was foolishly gay. (WAGNER, Ibid., Ixxxvi, pt. i, 129.)
13. A woman got 2 enemata of decoction of leaves of H. She had vertigo, stupefaction, incoherency of ideas, great excitement, delirium, redness of face, very dilated pupils, pulse slow resistant, loss of strength. Three days later, notwithstanding vinegar enemata, castor-oil, and strong coffee, she had violent fever with extreme dread of dying, which last became a sort of monomania which last became a sort of monomania which lasted six months, and let behind great nervous irritability. (Journ de Toublouse, 1853, in Z. day V hom. Aer. Oestr., i, 376, 1857.)
14. Three persons, a man and two women, ate a considerable quantity of cooked root of H.
14 a. The woman, who had eaten least, had during the meal paralysis of tongue, and such great constriction of throat that she could neither chew nor swallow the morsel in her mouth. Soon she commenced to laugh, to dance, to run about the room, to seize hold of various things; she stared at those around her, heard
nothing, and did not answer questions, several people could not make her drink or lie down. Face pale, pulse quick, respiration free, pupils very dilated, capillaries of eyes greatly injected. The maniacal symptoms lasted with complete sleeplessness till next day., the vertigo, stupefaction, and incoherency lasted several day.
14 b. In the second woman paralysis of tongue and spasm of throat came on rather later. She soon fell leap in her chair, and lay there motionless. The head sank down on chest, face very red, respiration deep, skin warm, pulse small and quick, eyes closed, its vessels much injected. 14 c. The man took the largest quantity. In him paralysis of tongue and spasm of throat came on later. Then he rose from table, staggered like a drunken man to bed and sank down there motionless; the whole body was cold and stiff as a log. Face pale, conjunctiva much injected the anterior cervical muscles so contracted that it was impossible to lay his head back on pillow; pulse small, thready, very quick, respiration; on account of paralysis of pulmonary plexus and spasms of pectoral muscles, stertorous and difficult. (Gaz. des Hopit., 2, 1854, in Z. day V. hom. Ar. Oest., Loc. cit.)
15. A gentleman took by mistake for borage two cups of infusion of hours seen soon afterwards he was in bed in profound sleep. Features pale, lips blue, breathing tranquil, pulse full, 82. When roused, muttered and became irritable. On attempting to make him drink he resisted it violently, and soon fell into a state of hallucination, in which countenance assumed a menacing expression, and he called various persons by name with who, he imagined himself to be conversing. When let alone he relapsed into lethargic sleep. After 5 gr. of tart. em. recovered rapidly. (St. AUGE, Journ. de Pharm., xxxix, 383.)
16. An old gentleman, who since a paralytic stroke in his 75th year had habitually taken opium or morphia to obtain sleep, was now just able to walk with assistance from one room to another. He was unable to rest without taking 1-2 gr. of morphia in the 24 hours, and even then failed to obtained sound sleep. for some weeks previously, and since the morphia had been increased, muscular twitchings, which were at first slight and partial, became severe and general, and in the fingers, arms, or legs constant. When dozing under influence of the morphia the twitchings increased; and once or twice, as he sat in a chair, the whole body was jerked forwards, and raised into the bright position. Fearing that the morphia, if it did not actually generate this excitation, greatly increased it, I prescribed on a certain occasion 8 gr. of xtr. of hours instead of the customary 1 1/2 gr. of acetate of morphia. After an hours, busy delirium, with constant muttering or talking and meddling with the hands, set in. These symptoms having cottoned, with complete insomnia, for 12 hours, I gave him 1/2 gr. or morphia, and, as this did not produce much effect, 1/2 gr. more 12 hour later on. Still less soporific effect followed this last dose, and during the next 24 hours, night and day, there was complete insomnia, great mental vivacity, such as he had not exhibited for years, perpetual taking, and occasional catching at surrounding objects. During the whole night he engaged the nurse’s attention and interest by recounting the adventures of a friend in the Peninsular campaigns. Throughout the next day he was intent upon taking a journey, but if any incident of his past life was suggested, he entered minutely into every particular, talking incessantly, with unwonted rapidity and emphasis. He used the simplest and most descriptive language; and he was quite independent of conversation, for it was necessary, in order to avoid any increase of excitement, to heat him with silence. Once a subject was named, no matter whether the attendant circumstances occurred the previous day of 50 years ago, it immediately engaged his attention until some incidental remark or an illusion suggested other idea. If a subject with which he was not wholly familiar happened to be mentioned, he spoke of it rapidly and coherently as far as his knowledge extended, but then became confused, incoherent, and a little irritable and impatient. The connecting links in a particular train of thought were weakened and occasionally broken by illusions and fusions. The sight of a white napkin suggested, through milk, his former breakfast in India, the milking of the cow at the door of the house, the appearance of the frothed milk in the silver basin. His white handkerchief lying crumpled on the dark sofa-covered recalled the ivory nut, and he entered into a minute and faithful description not only of this plant, its habits and fruit, but of the characters of several other tropical vegetables. Then he wandered into the county, and suddenly pulling up a leg exclaimed, “Take care, give me your hand, that is a very deep step. ” The next morning he introduced himself with a loud voice in a friend’s house at Torquay, and, while engaged in imaginary conversation, suddenly raised the eyelids, and looking across the empty space in the direction of the bare wall, said with much emphasis, “That’s a fine dahlia!’ A few morning afterwards he was engaged in Bristol. Several times he directed the carriage to be sent for, and supposing that it was at the door made attempts to rise from his cough. After 48 hours of this I gave the usual 1 1/2 gr. of morphia; 4 hours afterwards he fell asleep, and slept tranquilly and almost continuously for the next 26 hours. During the action of the hours the twitchings continued unabated, but after the refreshing sleep they began to subside. During the next fortnight he slept without any sedative. The twitchings meantime disappeared; and though it has been necessary to give as much as 1 1/2 gr. of powdered opium during the 24 hours, they have not returned after an absence of three months. (HARLEY, op. cit., p.330.)
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.