Introduction
Mercuric cyanide, Hg (CN)2.
Provings
1. A partial proving of the cyanide gave great prostration and weakness, a low febrile condition, a whitish – grey deposit upon the tonsils and mouth, extending along the right side of the tongue, with slightly swollen tonsils and difficult deglutition. These symptoms are given as communicated to me by the prover. These symptoms are given as communicated to me by the prover. The prostration and other symptoms were so severe that he ceased taking the drug, – the second potency had been used, – and rapidly recovered by the use of baptisia. (W. A. ALLEN, Hom. Times, Oct., 1877.).
Poisonings
1a. A strong healthy, man, in April, 1823, after futile attempts to take a preparation of prussic acid, swallowed about 23 1/2 gr. of cyanide of mercury. Immediately, repeated vomiting mixed with blood ensued, frequent and copious stools, and terrible pains in the whole abdomen. The patient drank mucilaginous drinks. After 4 d. Dr. Kapeler was called. The patient’s face was grave, the eyes fixed, and the conjunctiva injected. He confessed, at last, to having poisoned himself in the above – mentioned way. The exterior of the body showed nothing remarkable, except a dark blue discoloration of the scrotum and of the semi – erected penis. Terrible headache; strong heart – beat; rather slow, but full, hard and even pulse; free respiration; slight cough; normal resonance of the chest. Lips, tongue, and inner surface of cheeks studded with numerous ulcers covered with a grayish pulp; salivary glands swollen; ptyalism; swallowing difficult, continued nausea, and frequent vomiting after drinking; great thirst. Abdomen soft, not sensitive to pressure; frequent urgent to stool, with tenesmus; stools infrequent and mixed with blood; suppressed urination. (twenty leeches to the anus; veal – broth as a drink; injection of bran – water; boiled barely and honey for gargling.) On the following day the condition was the same. (Thirty leeches and poultices to the abdomen.) On the 6th day none of the symptoms had abated; the condition of the mouth was the same; vomiting, tenesmus, and suppression of urine continued; the abdomen soft, not painful on pressure; the heart – beats violent and strong; the pulse unchanged. (Venesection.) Restless, sleepless night; when in a warm bath the anxiety ceases. On the 7th day the heart – beat not so strong; pulse a little weaker; salivation less profuse; the condition of mouth and other symptoms unchanged. (Thirty leeches.) During day the patient is quiet, and only complains of pain in the mouth; slight convulsions in the extremities. On the 8th day general weakness, frequent fainting, somnolency, vomiting less frequent, suppression of urine; the semi – erected state of the penis also continues, and the purplish hue. In the evening slow contracted pulse, cold extremities, hiccough. On the 9th day condition the same. Extreme weakness, and fainting attacks. Continued hiccough. At 2:30 died in a fainting attack. 1b. Post – mortem examination 20 hours after death. External condition: Well developed body, dull pallor of the skin, upper and lower extremities rigid and contracted so that the body only rests upon the back; the muscles red, very large, nd covered with a thick layer of fat. Larynx, trachea and bronchial contain much whitish phlegm, a part of which flowed from the nose; the pleural cavities contain several grammes of pinkish serum; the lungs somewhat pink, healthy, and crepitating; wherever a cut is made, much serum flows out. Circulatory system: On making a cut into the skin, muscles, or blood – vessels, pale and very fluid blood flows out. The inferior vena cava is filled with a very large, elastic and tough coagulum; the heart, embedded in fat, appears a little larger than normal, without having hypertrophied walls; but little blood in either ventricle; fibrous coagula in the right auricle. Digestive organs: Peculiar stinking odour from the mouth. Inner surface of cheeks and the gums are covered with ulcers, having a grayish coating; the tongue thicker than normal, ulcerated on its edges, and covered with a very thick dry coating, hard to remove. The pharynx is normal; in the middle of the oesophagus an ecchymosed pink spot the size of a thaler. The peritoneal cavity contains some yellowish serum. The stomach is of moderate size, and externally normal; the intestines distended by gas. The mucous membrane is bluish red in the small curvature; in the cardiac portion and large curvature dark red, exceedingly tumefied, and covered with ramifications of blood – vessels. In the duodenum and jejunum it is very much tumefied, dark red, in some spots quite black, and in others gangrenous. The redness the same in the caecum; pale in the ascending colon, more red in the transverse colon, less in the descending colon, and again darker in the rectum. The mucous membrane throughout the intestines is swollen, and in some portions, particularly in the small intestines, granulated. In all places where the membrane is raised in this manner, there is marked infiltration of serum into the submucous connective tissue. The pancreas is very large, hard, dry, easily torn, and creaks under the scalpel. The liver is enlarged, but the substance shows very little change. The gall – bladder contains a blackish – green, stingy, pitchy fluid. The spleen is small, otherwise normal. Uropoietic organs: The right kidney is a third larger than normal, its substance is pale; the left is a little smaller and less pale than the r. The bladder is small, contracted, containing a very small quantity of milky urine. The penis semi – erected, and, like the scrotum, of a purplish hue. The skull and spinal column were not opened. Neither in the blood nor in the excrements could M. be found chemically. (ORFILA, Toxicologie.) 2. A student took at 10. p. m. on Dec. 3rd, after drinking 3 glasses of beer, 2 gr. of cyanide of mercury in a fourth of another glass. He had not taken solid food for 7 or 8 h. Immediately, nausea followed by vomiting. In about 10 m. continuous vomiting was added, violent urging to stool, soon followed by evacuations. Vomiting and diarrhoea now alternated until 10 a. m. During this time he may have bad 30 to 40 attacks of vomiting and diarrhoea. To these symptoms were added bitter taste, violent colic increased with every evacuation, vertigo, headache, and great chilliness. 4th, 11 a. m. – The patient’s face cyanotic; pupils widely dilated; extremities cold; pulse weak, 130; tongue clean; abdomen not distended, and not painful to the touch. Lungs and heart unaffected, only the heart’s impulse and sounds very weak. Urine not passed with the stools. Prescription: milk, mucilaginous drinks, cold applications to head. In evening vomiting had completely stopped. There were two thin evacuations tinged with blood; these were without urination. Pulse 132, small; cyanosis somewhat less. 5th. – Patient slept all n. On waking violent headache; increased nausea and thirst; difficulty in swallowing; entire lining of the fauces highly inflamed; evacuations had ceased; bladder empty. Pulse 102, irregular; pupils somewhat more contracted. Same prescription patient slept much during evening; had no evacuation. Pulse 92. 6th. – Had a good sleep; pulse 90; tongue thickly coated, but no vomiting and evacuations; otherwise the same. 7th. – In n. vomited 20 or 30 times, with increased bitter taste. The matter vomited consisted of a whitish, turbid, slimy mass, of alkaline reaction, without any marked odour. Tongue moist and coated; no evacuation; bladder empty. Pulse 88; profuse nose – bleed. Headache and vertigo continued. Ice pill and an injection. After first spoonful of med. vomiting again; the injection was followed by two dark faecal evacuations slightly tinged with blood; no urine. Pulse 90. Slight nose – bleed, otherwise the same. 8th. – In n. violent vomiting twice of much dark blood, a dark faecal stool; slight thirst, no appetite; tongue thickly coated; formation of vesicles on left border of tongue, also on left side of soft palate; swallowing remains difficult; pulse 90, and regular; but little nose – bleed; no urine, no sweats. There was no urination up to the 10th, when, during an attack of nose – bleed, there was urging to micturate, and the urine passed in bed. The urine, which was collected on the 11th day, had an acid reaction; the quantity was too small to take the specific gravity. Microscopical examination showed numerous straight and twisted tubuli covered with finely grained detritus; no blood – corpuscles. A chemical analysis disclosed much albumen. Once or twice a day, attacks of nose – bleed, alternating with vomiting, up to the 17th; also a daily increase of urine. On the 18th no nose – bleed, and no more albumen in tubuli of urine, which was now copious. Pulse 54; tongue still thickly coated. On 20th and 21st no nose – bleed; the tongue, for the first time, moist and clean; taste and appetite improved; pulse 88, intermitting. On 22nd, no more vomiting, but also no evacuation in spite of three injections. Same condition on 23rd. Another injection on 24th brought a copious normal evacuation. Soup and gruel were well received. On 25th decidedly convalescent, with a remaining tendency to constipation for several day (MOOSE, Virchow’s Archiv, 1864.)
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.