Introduction
Magnesiac carbonate (Mg Co3)3 MgO. 5H2O.
Provings
1. HAHNEMANN, Chronic Diseases, part iv of original, vol. of translation. Contains 890 symptoms from self, Nenning, and 2 others.
2. In full doses it acts as a laxative; but it occasions very little serous discharge. (PEREIRA, op. cit.)
3a. It is very rarely that it causes nausea; and the stools it excites are not, in general, accompanied or preceded by more than slight griping. They are feculent, not serous as with the sulphate. They are slow to appear, rarely before 6 hours after ingestion, sometimes delaying 16-36 hours, and the laxative effect is often prolonged for some time. b. If M. be given several day in succession, it sets up a true inflammatory condition, as proved by the mucous evacuations, sometimes stained with blood and by the tenesmus which dose not fail to follow. ( TROUSSEAU and PIDOUX, op, cit.)
4. Some observers have attributed to M. an alternative action, and Grange, Bouchardat, and others state that its habitual use, as in drinking water, will cause goiter. Some support is given to this idea by the fact that enlargement of the thyroid gland in mice has followed after mixing magnesia with their food (Gubler). ( PHILIPS, op. cit.).
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.