2. A young man ate a whole bean. In 1/4 hours he complained of violent epigastric oppression, inclination to vomit, and attacks of faintness. After copious draughts of water and mechanical irritation, he produced vomiting, with great retching, followed by collapse, with cold sweat in drops over whole body, and complete muscular relaxation, with continued fibrillary twitchings of the muscles. Pulse was small and frequent; pupils not contracted; vision not affected; consciousness perfect. (LINDEN, Petersb. Medorrhinum Zeit., vi, 244. 1864.)
3. Two boys, aet. 6 and 3 respectively, broke a bean (weighing 65 gr.) in pieces, and swallowed these between them. At 7 p. m. the parents saw them playing with the beans. At 7:45 they entered the house. The younger child’s head drooped listlessly, his eyes looked “sleepy – like,” his hands were powerless. He staggered, and was scarcely able to walk. He complained of severe pain in epigastric region, and asked to be put to bed. His pupils were slightly contracted, his pulse feeble and slow, and he appeared thoroughly prostrate. A small dose of ipecacuanha wine was administered, and then some lukewarm water. He vomited freely, and four pieces of the nut were found in the vomited matter. Of the other boy, his father stated that “his eyes were working,” or, as his mother said, “as if the nerves were upon him.” He complained of severe pain in umbilical region; looked sleepy, listless and depressed; and wished to go to bed. In a few m. copious vomiting ensued. He was so feeble as to be unable completely to eject the vomited matter, and a neighbour, on putting his finger in his mouth removed 4 or 5 pieces of the nut. He then requested to be taken to the closet, but could neither stand nor walk. He was freely purged. Face was pale, eyes heavy, pupils and pulse natural. On the day following the children complained of sickness and declined their food. On the 3rd day they were quite well. (YOUNG, Ed. Medorrhinum Journ., x, 1192.)
4. A crowd of children ate of beans found among sweepings of a ship from Africa. Forty – six of them were brought to Southern Hospital (Liverpool). Their most prominent symptom was loss of muscular power, and a state of prostration, characterised by feeble slow pulse, cold perspiring skin, and cold extremities. Vomiting was present in nearly all the cases, and diarrhoea in 1/3 of them. Pain like that of colic was said to have been felt at the commencement of the illness, but subsequently there was remarkable freedom from suffering. In a proportion, not stated, the pupils were contracted; in one case they were observed to be contracted during sleep, but dilated when patient was aroused. In no case was there any form of convulsion. Only one case proved fatal, and that was a boy of 7 already weakened by phthisis, and who was stated to have eaten 6 beans on an empty stomach. He staggered as he walked, and then fell, kicking and rolling as if in pain, but afterwards became quiet. He could not hold up his head, and complained of a heavy weight at chest. His pupils were not contracted. He was much purged; pulse barely perceptible; respiration rattling; skin cold and face livid. He was quite conscious, and able to swallow water. Directly after drinking he died without a struggle, some froth at the time issuing from nose and mouth. On dissection the body presented no peculiar appearances belonging to the poisoning, except a fluid condition of the blood, which also distended the heart, whose muscular substance was very flaccid. The mucous membrane of the stomach was of a pale pink colour. (Medorrhinum Times and Gaz., 1864, ii, 406.).
Experiments on animals
1. a. After a small fatal dose a slight tremor seizes the animal, beginning posteriorly and advancing forwards. The posterior limbs soon grow powerless, next the anterior extremities, and then the trunk, till muscular movement ceases, and the whole frame becomes limp and flaccid. The bowels and bladder are often evacuated, and the pupils generally contract. At this stage all reflex action of the cord is destroyed. Respiration grows stertorous in inspiration as well as expiration, and also slow and irregular. Consciousness is preserved as long as life lasts, and while paralysis remains incomplete signs of sensibility may be elicited. Immediately after death the pupils dilate. After death the muscles are found unaffected; they contract when cut, and respond to the irritation of their nerves. The heart continues to beat the usual time after death, its parts ceasing to contract in their regular order. The intestines exhibit their vermicular action. The large veins of the thorax are distended, as well as those upon the surface of the brain; the lungs, liver, and kidneys are engorged; cord normal.
1b. After a large fatal dose, death occurs sooner, and the symptoms follow each other in quicker succession, but they are substantially the same. After a very large dose, death may be almost instantaneous, and it appears to be due to syncope; for when the body is opened, the heart is motionless, dilated, and flaccid, and contracts but languidly on stimulation. The vermicular movements of the intestines are also more sluggish. (FRASER, loc. cit.)
2. A great number of other experiments have been made upon the lower animals. Their results are on the whole so uniform that it seems needless to present them separately; and the following may be stated as the result: – 2a. The normal poisonous action of the bean is to cause speedy general paralysis, and death from failure of respiration – consciousness being unaffected. The seat of the paralysis is the spinal cord self the vital properties of the nerve – trunks and muscles being found intact. Reflex action is abolished, and also sensibility so far as pain is concerned; but tactile impressions are perceived, and the muscular sense seems perfect. The muscles themselves are the seat of tremors and fibrillary contractions of a very persistent character, which seem due to a direct action of the drug upon them. In those of the involuntary class this excitation goes on to active movements, so that stomach, bowels and bladder expel their contents with frequency, – the intestines being often twisted up in knots. All the secretions – sweat, tears, saliva, faeces, urine – are somewhat increased.
2b. In moderate doses the bean simply retards the heart’s action, not regularly, but by prolonging the diastole, in which – when fatal poisoning is induced – the organ stops. The retardation seems due to an exaltation of the inhibitory power of the terminal extremities (not of the central origin) of the vagi. It is accompanied by heightened arterial tension, and the power of the heart is not diminished. But a larger dose perceptibly weakens the cardiac impulse, and a very large one may paralyze the organ at once.
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.