Introduction
Scrophularia nodosa, L, knotted fig-wort, and S. marilandica, fever – weed. Nat Ord., Scrophulariaceae.
Provings
I. Dr. W. H. BLAKELEY proved S. marilandica, taking 10 dr. of tinct. increasing to a teaspoonful several times a d. Took in all about 3ij.
1 a. Vertigo with severe aching in supra-orbital region. Dizziness, fulness and pressure in vertex. Miserable and sluggish feeling of mind when moving about. Desponding, much troubled about the past, and very apprehensive of the future; passed off after a few day, and left intellect clear.
1 b. Severe lancinating pain in forehead; vertex and temples; dull and throbbing and returning periodically; worse on resting or being in open air, also when leaning forwards or applying oneself to study. Severe headache through temples, appearing in m., extending to vertex and occiput. Fullness of head with vertigo. Cutting pain in eyes, with partial loss of power of moving them, passing off in a few hours after profuse perspiration. Pain in left temple. Darting pain at exit of facial nerve from stylo-mastoid foramen on right side to right eye. On rising 2nd m., indescribable pain and fulness in whole head, followed by epistaxis and congested state of conjunctiva, with puffiness. Black spots, &c., before eyes; afterwards a film appeared to come in front of them, in e. Dry coryza with sternutation.
1 c. Teeth feel as though loose, with pain in carious teeth, worse in upper than lower jaw. Gums bleed very freely. Mouth dry after Ist day; but on ist day great increase in flow of saliva, great thirst, and constant effort at deglutition. Great increase of appetite during first days, but afterwards correspondingly less, with nausea lasting for several day, and weakness and oppression in epigastrium. Feeling in stomach as if regular mealtime had been missed. Twisting, pinching pain in region of umbilicus l. Dull heavy pain, worse when abdomen is compressed or legs extended. Severe colic. Several stools per day, with tenesmus. Pain in sigmoid flexure. Pain in right hypochondrium, worse on drawing deep breath or lying on that side, with sallow appearance of skin, and bitter taste in mouth. Upon turning on either side violent dyspnoea, worse on right than on left, with cutting in liver on pressure. Increased secretion of urine, with burning in urethra.
1 d. Slight pain in chest with accelerated inspiration. Feeling of constriction in chest, making him feel very uneasy. Palpitation, with heart beating so loud that it could be heard several feet off. Severe stitches in right side, about 6th rib, with shivering and slight irritation of bronchiae, and general lassitude. Cutting pain in superior part of right lung, increased by breathing cold air. Pain in whole of right lung, which causes cough without expectoration. Pain about bifurcation of trachea.
1 e. Drawing rheumatic pain in all flexors of legs and arms. Cutting pains in articulations, worse while resting in open air and relieved by being in a warm room, darting in knee-and ankle- joints, which feel stiff. Prickly itching all over as from flea- bites, without any change of colour or raising of vesicles; worse on back of hands and on inside of wrists, also along fingers. Tingling in the extremities as though a nerve had been struck. Deep-seated cutting pain in all muscles of arms. Burning all over surface when rubbed.
1 f. Pulse very full but regular, ranging from 65 – 100 during proving. Peculiar sense of anguish in praecordia, worse after taking food. Chilliness in m., passing off in several hours with profuse sweat, which was followed by stupor. Inclination to sleep, with bad dreams, waking without relief. Whole body, after Ist day, feels very hot. Great bodily weakness; unable to walk a short distance. Chilliness on moving about in cold air.
1 g. Stiffness in neck with contraction of right sterno- mastoid. Pain in whole of spinal column, with slight opisthotonos. Pain in small of back
1 h. Disagreeable feeling of languor, with inclination to lie down; upon closing eyes, objects would make their appearance. Symptoms worse on right side, aggravated by rest in open air, and relieved in warm room. Muscular debility. (N. Amer. Journ of Hom.,1866, p. 187.)
2. (No information). When standing vertigo on top of head (after 2 h.). Heaviness and confusion of head as after eating too much. Slight pressure in forehead, 7 a. m. Pains in forehead, m. When walking headache above eyebrows (after 3 h.). Pulsating stitches in right eyebrow. Painfulness of eyeball. Pleasant warmth of cheeks. Tinnitus and sudden closure of ear (after 4 1/2 h.). Collection of water on a small spot of tip of tongue and sweetish taste there. Viscid, thick ill-tasting mucus in throat, a. m. Scrapy feeling in throat with great exhaustion and stiffness of houghs. Several times a nauseous and sticky taste in throat just above its pit, lasting 1 hours, with feeling as if a soft body stuck there, like a plug of mucus. Pain in abdomen below navel and some pinching in side. Pinching anteriorly in abdomen below navel, 7 a. m. Forcing and tearing as if in left ureter, at same time wandering from anterior inferior spinous process of ilium down to pudendum. Frequent discharge of a little urine. Cramp pain across chest inferiorly as after much weeping (after 4 h.). When walking violent pinching stitches in region of last two right ribs; as if in liver when at rest,-after 10 hours, the same I hours later. Oppression of chest with trembling motions as from much weeping. Burning in arms and hands (after 1/2 h.). Shooting and drawing in right palm from finger-joints to middle of hand and to wrist, a kind of spasm in muscles of palm, 4 p. m. Great drowsiness, weariness and fulness in whole body, in forenoon. Before and 1 hours after dinner irresistible desire for sleep and long afternoon siesta. (FRANZ, Archiv, xvii, 184.).
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.