Introduction
Nicotiana Tabacum, L. Tobacco Nat. Ord., Solanaceae.
Provings
I. LEMBKE from Feb. 4th to 28th took repeated doses of tinct. of from 5 to 20 dr. The only effect noticed was smarting and scraping feeling in tongue and fauces soon after each dose, lasting for nearly 1 hour. Also soon after taking each dose heat of head and face, burning of cheeks. Occasional feeling of sickness. During the whole proving had occasionally, not often, pains in several joints and long bones at various times of day and night, and he had one or two (once three) soft stools, sometimes even diarrhoea, every d. He also tested the sq. nicotiana (Rademach.), but though he took as much as 270 dr. in 1 dr. he observed no effect. (N. Z. f. h. Kl., xii, 97.)
2. S – a, medical student aet 24, was not a user of tobacco of coffee. In 10 days took 3j tinct. and in 8 days 3ij tinct. He had beat in fauces, constrictive pain in larynx, increased appetite; nausea rising up from precordial region, borborygmus in transverse colon, increased flow of urine of reddish colour and ammoniacal and foetid odour; hoarseness, discrete papulous eruption on face, itching on thighs, pulse slower and full, pressive pain from occiput to temporal bones, tendency to vertigo, occasional feeling of heat throughout whole body, great lassitude and prostration of body, somnolence, sleep disturbed by frequent waking; morose and disinclined to work. (RIEMSCHNEIDER, De Herba Nicotianae, 25.)
3. S. -, medical student, aet 23, did not use coffee or tobacco. In 8 days took 4ij tinct. He had burning pain in fauces, increased appetite, eructations, urine more copious and frequent (passed once at n. involuntarily), nocturnal emissions, slight irritation in upper part of trachea with tickling sensation followed each time the medicine is taken by hawking; pressive pain in forehead, slight lassitude and uneasy dreams. (Ibid.,
26)
4. K -, medical student, aet. 25, abstains from tobacco. Took in 10 day 3j tinct. He observed scraping and burning feeling in fauces, stools more frequent and loose, urine more copious, full; pulse quick full, large; head confused more or less for 3 days, restless sleep, wild dreams, followed by great lassitude, moroseness, and disinclination for work. ((Ibid.)
5. K – medical student, aet 24, addicted to smoking and drinking beer and coffee. In 8 days took 3 iv tinct. He had sensation of scraping and pressing in pharynx and larynx, oppression in epigastrium, feeling of heat in stomach, nausea retching, more frequent stools, which are of a pasty consistence(usually had a stool every other day) with itching at anus, urine not increased in quantity but passed more frequently, and once dribbled away involuntarily, with slight itching in urethra, pressive and formicating sensation in Schneiderian membrane; oppression of chest with anxiety (such as used to precede attack of fainting which he had when a child), slight horripilation, general lassitude and laziness, which went off on the occurrence of copious sweat all over body, accompanied by slight tremor of limbs, drawing pains throughout the body, pulse small, hard, quick; dull pressive pain deep in frontal region, pressure on eyes, moroseness and disinclination for work. All the symptoms went off in 1 hour except the confusion of head and pressure on eyes and stomach. (Ibid.)
6. S -, medical student aet. 22, accustomed to smoke and drink coffee. In 8 day took 3ij tinct. Symptoms: scraping, burning and heat in pharynx, oesophagus and stomach, slight oppression in epigastrium, which symptoms soon went off, nausea, retching, stools softer but not more frequent, urine pale, increased, had to pass several times at night, almost amounting to incontinence of urine; pustular eruption on neck and upper extremities; pulse small, quick, irregular feeling as of the anterior lobes of the brain were equally compressed from frontal region backwards, moroseness and indisposition for work. ( Ibid., 27.)
7. G -, surgeon, aet 28, accustomed to snuff and to drink coffee. In 10 days took 3ij tinct. Symptoms: heat in fauces, appetite increased to voracity, with great thirst; slight catarrhal affection of tonsils; stools increased and pappy or sometimes slimy, preceded by flatus; urine much increased, once at night burning and tickling pain in urethra, nocturnal emission, respiration freer and lighter, increased cutaneous turgor with violent itching, slight general perspiration, papulous eruption, wounds and scratches on skin burn, inflame, and are long of healing; pulse normal, head very confused, pupils greatly contracted, feeling of malaise, great lassitude of body, restless sleep disturbed by anxious dreams, great moroseness and disinclination for work. (Ibid., 28.)
8. E -, medical student, aet 26. In 14 days took in increasing doses 3v tinct. Symptoms: – roughness and scraping in fauces, flow of saliva, increased appetite, followed by nausea, retching, borborygmus, colic, increased and more liquid stools, increased urine, the discharge of urine often preceded by pressive pain in renal region and itching in urethra, cutaneous turgor increased with itching and slight sweat, pulse slow, small, great confusion of head, pressive pain in forehead as though the brain was pressed against the skull there, pain increased by leaning the head to that side, pupils contracted, constant feeling of malaise, great lassitude and relaxation of whole body, sleep disturbed by disgusting dreams, moroseness and great disinclination for work. (Ibid.)
9. SEIDEL took tinct. in various doses.
9 a. 10 dr. Some stitches in left ear after a few morning. When swallowing food pressive pain in lower part of oesophagus after 3 hours. Burning in throat and mouth immediately. Inclination to vomit and eructation, soon. The stool, which usually occurred m., not till evening and harder than usual. Dull pain in middle of spine with bruised feeling of body, especially upper extremities. Pain in loins and sacrum, especially when sitting. Throbbing pain in sacral region. 1st day,, evening general relaxation of whole body with sore feeling and warm palms, soon. Feeling of increase of strength in muscles without the slightest wish to move, soon. Pulse quickened.
9 b. 20dr. Dazedness and bruised feeling of body, soon. Boring in eyes on reading evening. Drawing in ears, increased by loud noise and by going into open air, lasting several day. Roaring in ears, especially morning for several day. Ears feel as if stopped up, especially right. 3rd and 4th days, pressure and flow of saliva, soon. Spasmodic pressure in mouth and stomach, soon. Pressure when eating in mouth of stomach after 2 hours Cramp in single fingers after 2 hours and when washing, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th days. Increased heat, especially on palms, after a few morning.
9 c. 30 dr. Very hypochondriacal humour 1st day. After dinner dull headache, especially in forehead, increased by movement. Weak, trembling movement of hand when reading after 1/2 hour. Twitching in left upper eyelid after 1 hour. Pressure in eyeballs after 2 hours. Repeated eructation after 1/2 hour. Slight pressure in scrob. cordis during and after dreams. Pulse 10 beats quicker and fuller, soon. Stool after 30 hours harder and darker than usual. urine clear, lemon coloured and more copious. Throbbing pains above and in left gluteus, 1st day. Increased heat externally and disinclination to the slightest occupation, soon.
9d. 40 dr. Vertigo and no steadfastness in body. Confusion of head and dull pressure out towards root of nose, and feeling as if ears were stopped up. Violent pains in head, especially drawing in left half of forehead an through left eye. A transient feeling through middle of face as if the parts were dead, after 8 hours. Tensive pain in submaxillary glands with feeling as if they were swollen and the lower jaw deprived of its motility, soon. Pricking in tongue, soon. Flat taste, morning. Eructation. Repeated twitching movement in scrob. cordis with inclination to vomit, lachrymation, and flow of saliva for 1/4 hour. Rumbling in colon and desire for stool. During dinner some stitches under right short ribs with tightness of chest. Pain and pressure on right gluteus, 2nd days. Pain and tension in nates and muscles of thigh as after a long walk, 3rd days. Feeling as if the blood circulated quicker and stronger in body, soon.
9 e. 60 dr. Violent digging drawing pains in eyeballs and temporal regions, increased by movement, with distended blood vessels and throbbing in them. Burning in throat and mouth, immediately. After several ineffectual efforts to stool a hard evacuation several hours after usual time. intolerable sacral pains felt both in sitting and lying. Violent rigor with inclination to stretch body, 1st day, evening Before midnight profuse sweat, as if soaked with water, with odour of tobacco. ( A h. Z xii, 150.)
10. A girl took 5 dr. tinct. Immediately violent toothache with heat of face and giddiness. Slight burning in gastric region and repeated eructation. Frequent urging to urinate. (Ibid.)
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.