18b. 17th. – 10 p. m., took 5 gr. 3rd trit. Felt no desire for sleep; sat up and wrote and read until 1:30 a. m., did not sleep for 1/2 hours after going to bed; dreamed continually but not so vividly’ woke 1/4 before 8, dry throat and thirst, feeling as if he had not had any refreshing sleep, although he had been nearly 6 hours under influence of sleeping dreams. No particular sensations this day; moral and metal symptoms not so prominent; rather better mentally. From first time he took med. felt as if pimples were coming out on body, and had general uneasy sensations and itching. (Prover had had this feeling for some time, but thinks it has been worse since beginning proving.) Since first taking drug, he has with great difficulty read any medical work; it is quite difficult to get his mind fixed on any subject long; he also cannot fix his attention on lectures so well as before (the open air relieves this sensation); cannot think long, deeply, or clearly on any subject; appears to be altogether disturbed. 19th – 12, m., took 5 gr. 3x trit. 5, strange congestive sensation about head, principally forehead. 8:30 to 10:15, sensitive pressure in forehead. 10:15, sensation as of water in left eye, soon passing off; pain and tired feeling in right, then in left hip, and tired feeling in all lower joints, better from rising and walking, did not return on sitting; general feeling as of having taken cold, and of not being fit for any mental labour; depressed, melancholy, and rather cynical state of mind; nervous system excited. 21st. – 8 a. m., took 40 globules of 6th dil. Observed no symptoms until 7 p. m. left check flushed, and in left eye watery sensation, – soon passed off; congested sensation over whole head, particularly forehead; great difficulty to collect ideas and study usefully, and even aversion to close study; after retiring did not sleep for over an hours, but tossed about very nervous and mentally vexed. 22nd – Symptoms of head and mind much the same as oyster – eve. Eruption on posterior cervical region, and soreness from right ear thither as if glands were affected; this soreness increased, and on evening of 23rd became very severe. left eye watered several times to day, passing off each time in a few m. Soreness of glands of neck continued until m. of 27th, but gradually decreased in degree. Occasional fever and fulness of blood in forehead still. (Ibid).
19. Mrs. H – took 6th dil., and experienced great increase of flow of urine and saliva, lasting 1 hours, with shooting pain in left head from occiput to forehead, and lachrymation. (Ibid)
20. Miss F – took one dose of 6th, and had dizziness and lightness of head, soreness in stomach, with tightness in temples. (Ibid).
21. Mrs. F – took 20 dr. of 5th at 8 a. m. At 8:30, sense of fulness and weight across temples, with sometimes throbbing over right temple, worse on motion. These symptoms disappeared before noon. Aching in small of back as if bruised. On another occasion took 10 dr. of same at 8 a. m. Aching in both ears, lasting about 15 m. 11, unusual drowsiness and heaviness over eyes. From 1 gr. of 5x trit., unusual drowsiness in m. P. m., 2 stools, last with straining. (Ibid.).
Poisonings
1. A sanguine, active man, aet.68, wore for several months a lower set of artificial teeth, on a vulcanized rubber plate, coloured with cinnabar. After having for months symptoms of cinnabar poisoning, without having found the cause of his disease, he had also made for him an upper set of the same material, and used both five months longer before its relation to his complaint was discovered. The symptoms are reported in the order in which he gave them. “I suddenly,” says he, “found myself unable to attend to my usual duties, on account of fatigue. When making extraordinary mental or physical exertion, the exhaustion which followed was so extreme that I had to lie down. At the same time I was troubled with palpitation, worse when lying on the left side or with the head low. Violent pain in the head from front to back, and down the spinal cord to a little below the shoulder – blades. If the exertion was continued, there followed nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and severe pain in the right hypochondrium. These symptoms varied in intensity. Soon after using the complete set, there followed violent aggravation of all the symptoms, burning pain and soreness in the liver; at times, suppression of bile; total loss of appetite; white coating on the tongue; bitter metallic taste; high fever at n.” Finally, he had to take to his bed for six weeks. For three weeks of this period there was very high fever, followed by copious, sticky, stinking sweat, as thick as mucus, lasting 24 h. Afterwards, the fever abated for a week, when the same symptoms recurred in a more violent form. Finally, when the patient had worn the entire plate for five months, the case was very carefully re – examined, and the following combination of symptoms found: Aversion to mental occupation; feeling as from over – exertion of the mind. Cannot follow one idea without great exertion and exhausting fatigue; cannot collect his thoughts; irritability; dissatisfied with himself and everyone else. Cannot sleep in the daytime; restless and sleepless at n., or else sleep with anxious dreams; heaviness and dullness in the head; can scarcely lift it from the pillow Occasionally, shooting pains through the head from without inwards, and from front to back. Feeling as of rush of blood to the head, with violent vertigo and great weakness, particularly in the m. Vertigo and feeling of weakness in the head; frequently staggers when walking. Often feels as if he had taken cold; symptoms of coryza; running at the nose; throbbing of the temples, and rush of blood to the head all day and all n. Rushing sound in the ears; deafness. Eyes red and painful; feeling as of sand in them. Conjunctiva of the lower lid injected, and covered with small granulations. Sore mouth, white tongue; bitter, metallic, disgusting taste. Sore throat and pharynx; great irritation in the larynx. Frequent oedema of the epiglottis; frequent attacks of suffocation on swallowing; hoarseness and loss of voice for several weeks. Cough worse at night; expectoration at first clear, then opaque, after several weeks consisting of grey, pus – like, occasionally blood – streaked sputa, smelling very offensively in the m. Pain beneath the sternum; pain in the heart, worse when lying on the left side; palpitation during frightful dreams; pulse 90 to 100. Pain in upper right lung in cardiac region, extending into left arm, which often feels numb. Throbbing in hypochondria. Very severe pain, extending from the region of the short ribs to the right kidney and the left hypochondrium; swelling and heat in the right hypochondrium. Burning pain in the right lobe of the liver, with soreness and sensation of great heaviness there; these hepatic symptoms are very severe and continuous. Capricious appetite; loss of appetite; nausea with vomiting, about once a week; the matter vomited is bitter and sour. Enlargement, pain, and soreness of the abdomen; it feels distended, and he wants to loosen the clothes. Stool hard and copious, or sudden diarrhoea, consisting of white or dark passages. Urine frequent and increased in quantity, with sediment at first whitish; later, reddish. Limbs and joints painful, especially the knees; hands and feet very cold each m., and hot at n. Hot skin in the evening, heat at n. in bed. Foetid sweat between the thighs at night; feeling of lameness in all the limbs, with great fatigue, particularly in the m.; feels too weak to stand, and all bodily and mental exertion is too much of an effort. The pains and fever are worse in the evening, and in the cold; pains in the head and eyes worse after sleep. The pains are generally relieved by continuous rest, warm bathing, galvanism, and heat; and aggravated by cold. (OEHME, N. Z.F. HOM, Klinik, XVII, 125.)
2. A patient of light complexion, who took 1st trit, for phimosis, soon complained of following symptoms, which he never felt before. Intense headache, relieved by external pressure, pain was so severe he could hardly endure it, much worse after sleep; head excessively sore to every touch; pain darted through from sides of head (most frequently r.) and temples, and thence to occiput. Excessive lachrymation. Noises in ears after eating. Dryness in mouth, with desire for cold water; bad taste in mouth, with phlegm and ptyalism; loss of appetite, eats very little; constipation, only one passage in a week. Soreness under right breast, particularly on drawing breath. Feeling of coldness and sensation of inertia; drowsiness; nightly sleeplessness, hears clock strike every h. Redness of skin, like a chronic eruption. He took drug for 2 weeks, with constant improvement in phimosis. After discontinuing it for 10 day he still had severe headache, which was finally relieved by iodine. (NEIDHARD, Ioc. cit.).
Experiments on animals.
1. a. Two to four grms. of powdered cinnabar applied to the thigh of a dog cause death in 3 – 4 day, size of dose not seeming to have any influence on rapidity with which death ensues. P. M. – Mucous membrane in some parts is pale, in others blackish; in others the folds are yellow, surrounded with a whitish border. In other cases there are found spots similar to gangrenous ulcers, the bases of which are covered with clotted blood. In small intestines no change is observed; in rectum there are occasionally found black streaks. The lungs, particularly the left lobe, are sometimes filled with black blood.
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.