The first and third provers of this drug, on a voyage to Brazil, in 1842, had both been attacked with the lepra. Under homœopathic treatment they seemed both to have got well, though one might have inferred from the gravity of their symptoms, that they had been palliated rather than cured. The frightful symptoms of compression of the spinal marrow, which supervened in the case of one of the provers, point to the Assacù as a powerful remedy for various forms of myelitis. The symptoms of nervous excitement, the twitching, the irritability of the temperament exhibited by all the provers, favor the doctrine that the lepra is a particular lesion of the nervous system. If the exanthems and the insensibility of the skin characteristic of the lepra, have been less marked in our provings, it is undoubtedly because these phenomena belong to some chronic form which a continued use of the drug and a real poisoning are alone capable of producing.
These four provings have been instituted with a single drop of the fifth attenuation. It is our rule to avoid repeating the dose lest the chronological succession of the symptoms which we regard as important, should be disturbed. We do not believe that repeated doses can do much good, and if a prover should not experience any effects from one dose, we should prefer dropping this proving, and resort to some other drug, to which his organism should be more sensible.
First prover: Aug. Joly, 29 years of age, bilious-nervous temperament, healthy constitution.
First day.—Took one drop of the 5th attenuation at ten o’clock at night.
1. One hour after, itching at the ribs and sternum, at the biceps and the posterior parts of the right arm. Doughy mouth, in the morning, on waking. Dreams about a ball, about houses in process of erection. In the morning, itching at the arms, legs, outer parts of the tibia. 5. The upper and lower eyelids are inflamed and blueish. Itching at the right arm, at the lower and inner portion of the humerus, owing to a little pimple which is forming. Taste of blood in the mouth. Whizzing in the ears, especially the right. Clusters of miliary pimples on the back, arms, legs and chest. 10. Irritated by the least contrariety. Desire to vomit, sick stomach. Rheumatic pain at the left arm. He looks weary as if he had been carousing all night, though he slept well all night. Pinching at the right side of the tongue. 15. Lancination in the canal of the urethra. Prickling around the eyes, and especially around the right one. Sensation as if small pimples would break out on the inside of the eyelids. Nervous beating in the eyelids. Rheumatic pain at the sacrum, especially when stooping. 20. Contusive pain at the lumbar region. Miliary eruption in the joints.
Second day.—Dry mouth in the morning. Acute pain in the lumbar region and at the sacrum, as from a fall. Smoky taste of the water which is drank at breakfast. 25. Pain in the ileo-femoral articulation. Pain all along the left thigh. Sneezing, and frequent blowing, as when a catarrh is about setting in, followed by involuntary discharge from the nose of a lemon-colored mucus, with tickling. Constant pain in the lower part of the lumbar regions, worse when stooping or sitting down. Lancinating pain at the top of the head. 30. Slight desire to vomit at eleven o’clock in the morning. Dizziness. He dreams that he was swimming in a river with warm and dark-green water; afterwards that he was on a plantation in Brazil, where men drew water from a yellow pond. Moist, intermittent heat, mounting every fifteen minutes from the feet to the face. Prickling at the right eye. 35. Sense of heat mounting to the clavicles. (At a quarter of ten o’clock:) Dry nose, he cannot blow it; with itching at the interior of the nose.
Third day.—In the morning, the pain at the sacrum had disappeared. (At ten o’clock and a half:) The pain at the sacrum returns worse, after moving a box. Burning at the right index-finger, a red spot extending from the nail to the second phalanx. Numbness; almost amounting to insensibility. 40. (At half past twelve:) Pain as from a splinter under the thumb-nail. In the evening, tickling under the arms and along the dorsal spine. No sleep at night, frequent waking, feverish agitation.
Fourth day.—Heat in the hands, in the morning. At two o’clock, a small vesicular pimple on the back of the left hand; for four hours. 45. Stiffness in the trapezoid muscle, near its attachment at the occiput. Pain at the left forearm as from a blow. Small vesicular pimples, and itching at the ribs, arms, and at every prominent process of the bones.
Fifth day.—In the morning, the pimples on the arms have almost disappeared; there remains only a little itching at the sternum. Heat at the tips of the right fingers. 50. Sensation as if a small portion of the nail of the right index-finger had become detached. At half past six in the evening, heat and passing sweat. At half past seven in the evening, sensation of burning, smarting on the left side of the chin, in the beard, as from an incipient tetter. Sensation under the masseter muscle, as from a recent blow on the parotid. At eight o’clock in the evening, the spot becomes sensible to contact; a small swelling is observed extending below the zygomatic arch. 55. Sensation at the supinator muscle of the forearm, as from an incipient tetter. Small pimples on the inner surface of the lower lip. Stiffness of the trapezoid muscle and the neck. Prickling as from dust, at the border of the lower lid of the right eye. 60. Itching at the back, legs, arms, at the same time.
Sixth day.—Fleshy excrescenses on the inner surface of the lips. At four o’clock, weariness in the legs, in going up-stairs. At eight o’clock in the evening, painful stiffness of the neck. The pain in the masseter muscle, which had already decreased in the morning, disappeared entirely in the evening. Weight in the testicles in walking, at five o’clock in the evening. 65. Taste of blood in the throat before breakfast.