[H] FIND THE REMEDY'S NAME (107)

[Wendy Howard]

Teste's proving:

As I have no other results to offer than those obtained upon my own person,
they have, of course, an exclusive relation to my particular constitution,
and present an extremely incomplete picture of the drug; such as they are,
however, I have thought them of sufficient interest to merit publication, in
the hope that some of our colleagues will be induced to contribute to the
proving and enrich our Materia Medica with a new remedy. I have preserved
the chronological order of the symptoms, which, though in some respects
inconvenient, presents the inestimable advantage of displaying the primitive
action, while it leaves every one at liberty to group the phenomena as best
suits his own particular views.
Symptoms. - Almost immediately, increase of general heat. Itching in
different parts of the body, more especially on the anterior surface of the
thighs (after two hours).
A kind of indefinable agitation, beginning in the extremities and
proceeding from the periphery to the centre, that is to say, seeming to be
propagated from the muscular apparatus to the nervous centres.
Marked increase of disposition for intellectual labor without special
excitement of the imagination. He feels more disposition for study, and his
mind is capable of sustained attention.
Digestion perceptibly stimulated without notable disturbance. Appetite
returns two hours sooner than ordinary. Feeling of emptiness in the stomach
and a kind of faintness at the usual dinner hour, * although breakfast was
as substantial as customary. Two stools during the day instead of one.
At night, sleep slow in coming on, with anxiety in the limbs, (slight)
acceleration of the beats of the heart, sweat on the praecordial region, dry
heat in other parts of the body.
Nocturnal frights, melancholy thoughts, irresistible propensity to
analyse his life, regard it on its darkest side, and reduce it to its most
desperate realities.
Illusions of the sense of hearing. Fifteen nights in succession, I
thought I distinctly heard my bell ring. This illusion returns at different
hours, pursues me even in my sleep, and wakes me several times with a start.
Horrible dreams. I coolly cut the throats of young men and women,
without causing me any emotion of horror or any excitement, and after
waking, I dwell for a long time without complacency upon the hideous
remembrance of it.
2d day. The feeling of emptiness in the stomach is more decided than
yesterday, at dinner time. Three natural stools to - day. The itching of the
thighs extends to the legs, and is especially perceptible in the ankles.
3d to 5th day. Neuralgic pain, with feeling of moist cold in the
occiput. The fixed seat of this pain, which consists in very acute and rapid
lancinations, resembling electric shocks, is in the right occipital
protuberance. It afterwards extended to the nucha, the right shoulder, and
even to the arm of the same side. It was relieved by the application of the
hand or of a warm cloth.
Little isolated lancinations, exactly simulating the sensation caused
by electric sparks, in different parts of the body, especially on the
forearms, hands and joints of the fingers.
Eruption of red pimples, indolent or very slightly painful, appearing
sometimes in groups, sometimes singly on the neck, shoulders, and especially
on the thighs. Some of them are of the size of a large pea. They are easily
torn, bleed a little and dry up very fast.
6th day. Continuance of the above symptoms. The stools have become very
irregular, partly dry and hard, the remainder scarcely moulded. The appetite
on longer so good. I think myself sometimes excessively hungry, but the
slightest thing satisfies me, and I am instantly satiated. My nights are
bad; almost completely sleepless. Sleepiness in the day time; aversion to
movement.
8th day. An enormous tumor, almost as large as a man's fist, is
developed in the lumbar region. This tumor is pretty well circumscribed, and
almost insensible even to pressure; moveable and apparently contained in the
thickness of the skin; the cuticle over it is of a lively rose color. The
integuments are felt tense as far as the hips, and there is a continual
itching. The tumor was almost gone after forty - eight hours, passed without
taking any medicine.
11th day. A similar tumor, a little less prominent but broader, in the
superior external part of the right thigh.
12th day. A third tumor on the palmar face of the right hand. The
mobility of the skin in this region permits me to satisfy myself positively
that the ganglionic enlargement exists in the thickness of the integuments.
For twenty - four hours my hand was so completely stiffened that I could not
by any possibility use it for writing.
13th day. Simultaneous appearance of a similar symptom in the scrotum,
penis and prepuce, so as to present the appearance of an enormous co -
existing hydrocele and phimosis. Swellings not in the least painful; they
took like the others, two days to resolve.
6th to 12th day. Scraping in the larynx. Hoarseness amounting almost to
aphonia. Painless swelling of the mucous membrane of the pharynx. Dry cough
for a day. Sibilant rale from time to time. Sensation of inconvenience in
the pharynx, as though it were obstructed by a foreign body.
Swelling of the lower end of the rectum, with very slight itching.
Three or four stools a day, of natural consistence, but slender moulded.
In fine, all the signs of an oedematous swelling, perhaps general, but
more probably partial, of the mucous membranes of the respiratory and
digestive passages: Phenomena evidently analogous to those which I
experienced in the skin, and which are the characteristic actions of the tea
so far as my constitution is concerned.

Regards
Wendy Howard