Introduction
Caladium seguinum, Vert. (Arum seguinum, L.) Dumb-cane. Nat. Ord., Araceae.
Provings
1 a. HERING proved single doses of 1/2 dr. or more of tinct. Soon after ingestion, or during day, appeared following symptoms:- He must lie down and close eyes, feeling then as if being rocked (4 h.); confusion and whirling in head; pressive headache after midday sleep, or after lying on side, going off on sitting up; heat ascends from below into head; biting, burning stitches in cheek; burning in eyes; something seems put before ears which makes him deaf; extremely sensitive to noise, especially when he wishes to sleep; mouth sticky and herby (krauterig); drawing through back teeth, from above downwards; dryness in fauces and pharynx, not in mouth, without thirst, with aversion to cold water (which he was not able to drink throughout proving); longing for beer, without decided thirst; after meals he drank only to relieve a sense of dryness in stomach, there was no real thirst, which, indeed, he never felt; he eats also only because stomach seems hollow (not because hungry), and then hastily and with speedy satiety; frequent eructations of very little wind, as if stomach were full of dry food; incomplete eructations, hindered by burning pressure in abdomen; nausea, with confusion in head; burning in stomach after tea and chocolate drinking, not relieved by water; dull internal burning in stomach and upper abdomen, [ When burning extends into abdomen, it leaves behind a deadened feeling] which then becomes a very severe pressure, and finally a gnawing at cardiac orifice, hindering deep breathing and causing cough; pain deep within when pressing on epigastrium; cuttings, as with glass, across epigastrium; stitches as with needles deep in epigastrium; stitches in scrobiculus cordis, which is drawn inwards at every one, they make him faint and sick (worse when sitting); strong pulsations in upper abdomen and above navel to right; abdomen pains when touched, especially in hypogastric region; sudden twisting pain in abdomen (e.); spasmodic cuttings about navel, obliging him to bend double; stitches, jerking, and pressure in splenic region; very scanty pappy stool; 7 motions, the first watery, the rest pappy; no motion Ist day, with diarrhoeic feeling in e.; region of bladder painful; bladder feels full without desire to micturate, then moderate urination; spasmodic drawing sideways, from bladder to penis, or deep behind and close to bladder; sexual organs seem larger, as if puffed, relaxed, and sweating; penis remains relaxed during excitement and sexual desire, or undergoes incomplete erection, semen escaping too soon- former alternates one m. with painful erections, without sexual desire; during connection, no orgasm and no emission; sore corrosive pain on prepuce; after coition it remains drawn back, will not cover glans, with pain and swelling; it is swollen, sore on margin, with biting on urinating, obliging him to rub it frequently; glans is very red, covered with fine and still redder points, and very dry (after 2nd d.). The symptoms of prepuce soon disappear after merc. 6, but return after coition for two months.
1 b. Sudden burning in upper nares, as from pepper, then sneezing and coryza (e.); irritative toneless cough in short slight paroxysms, with expectoration of small lumps of mucus, after which chest seems hollow and empty; larynx and trachea seem constricted, so that deep breathing is hindered, and the attacks of cough seem to originate above larynx; he would cough, but the weight at scrobiculus cordis hinders it; throbbing in precordia after walking, making him soon tired; stitches on chest (e.), also on small spot between left nipple and shoulder, going very deep, but uninfluenced by motion or breathing; on straightening body, cracking under last ribs, as if put out of place and snapped back again; under heart peculiar throbbing, not palpitation, perceptible only when hand is applied; bruised feeling in sacrum and ribs on rising in morning; sudden violent pain in left knee, as if it would be torn asunder, it cracks on stepping, hindering walking, frequent and sudden violent burning in small spots on skin, cheeks, nose, toes, compelling him to touch them; eruption on inner forearm of large red pimples, itching and burning very much (4 d.); when this disappears, immediately great oppression of chest, so that he can hardly breathe, as if mucus would suffocate him, but without anxietas, especially after meals and the midday sleep; the same eruption on chest, alternating with similar dyspnoea for several weeks, — the “asthma” at last removed by ginger; dislike to movement, wants to lie down whole time; after writing or reflecting, and on rising up after lying, feeling as if he would become faint; drawing pains between bones of forearm and behind tendo Achillis; compelled to lie down during d., but cannot sleep, shivers, and head is very confused; in a confused sleep he remembers what he had forgotten while awake; restless sleep, with confused dreams; very clear vivid dreams; everything troubles him in sleep; he groans and moans with much anguish in sleep, several times in I n., and for several n., so that he wakes his neighbors; violent starting in sleep; cramp at n. in soles; before midnight, heat of hands, face, and abdomen, with cold feet; after midnight, belly cold, feet hot, without thirst; thirst, with dry lips, wakes him at n.; internal fever, exhausting sweat, as from oppressive heat; fever goes off during sleep, but perspiration is so great as to attract flies annoyingly; hard, jerking pulse (6 h.); after midday sleep, heat, then sweat, and coldness on going into open air; chilly in e. without thirst, coldness extends from abdomen to feet, which, and the fingers, are icy cold; apprehensiveness before going to sleep; violent irritation at everything. (Archiv, xi, 2, 160.)
2. COWPERTHWAITE. [This physician, having undertaken a proving of the drug for American Institute of Homoeopathy, caused 20 provers to take the 30x dil. Of these only 3 reported symptoms. He next caused 15 provers to take the 6x, and at the same time 15 others to take the 3x: of the former, 9 reported effects, of the latter 7. He then instituted provings with the mother tincture, 20 provers taking doses varying from 10 to 1000 drops, but obtaining no effects whatever, not a single symptom having been reported. Dr. Farrington also administered the drug (manner not stated) to 25 provers, but 6 only (mostly taking the 6x) reported satisfactorily. The result is a schema of 144 symptoms.
In view of the inertness here of even large doses of the mother tincture, as contrasted with the effects ascribed to half- drop doses of it by Hering, and especially with the extreme acridity of the plant as displayed in poisonings by it, we are compelled to doubt the genuineness of the specimen employed in these provings. Dr. Cowperthwaite, indeed, tells us that he obtained expressly for them a supply of the fresh bark and leaves from Jamaica; but the ineffectiveness of what was sent remains. Under this grave suspicion, and in the absence of test experiments to determine whether the symptoms ascribed to the dilutions were really produced by them, we must, for the present at least, refrain from admitting them to our pages. -EDS.] (Trans. of Amer. Inst. of Hom. for 1881, p.146).
Poisonings
1. Dr. E. CHAIRON was called one night to see a stove-setter. He lay in bed in a state of extreme excitement, breathing oppressed, gasped frequently at his throat. Constant cough of hoarse sound. The cough was not in fits, no expectoration, and was aggravated every time he attempted to speak. On asking him where he suffered he always pointed to his larynx, then to his mouth, and lastly to his stomach. He could not speak a single word. Pulse 72, regular; breathing quick, incompletely jerking. When inspiring the sinking-in of stomach region was very obvious; abdomen hard, distended, painful when pressed. M. m. of mouth very red, but not swollen, velum palati more intensely red, uvula slightly swollen. Epiglottis and its lateral folds swollen and very sensitive to touch. This state lasted 36 hours; then the cough gradually subsided and he could speak a few words, but his voice did not resume its tone for 3 to 4 d., and the feeling of burning in mouth and fauces lasted longer. He had eaten a radish rubbed with root of Caladium. [It seems to be commonly known that a trick of this kind will cause subject to lose voice.] (L’Union Medorrhinum, 1862, xvi, 538.)
2. Two children ate a few pieces of stalk. They had delirium, occasional tendency to stupor, from which they would rouse up, cry and talk incoherently, then perhaps drop off into stupor again; intense headache; eyes injected and watering; face flushed scarlet; lips swollen to even three times normal size; mucous membrane of mouth and fauces greatly inflamed, saliva flowing profusely, with choking sensation and desire to swallow, which could only be accomplished with difficulty; saliva as it poured from mouth copiously streaked with blood; difficult articulation, patients talked as if they had filled their mouths with mush; intense burning pain in stomach, with frequent retching, but no vomiting; breathing laboured, irregular, and quickened; jactitation of limbs; pulse 120, very weak; temp. 103. (J. C. BISHOP, M. D., The Clinic, vii, 306: from Allen.)
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.