Introduction
Preparation, Infusion of the well roasted berries. A decoction of raw Coffea furnishes a preparation very rich in Coffeinum; an infusion of the roasted Coffea contains some Coffeinum (the amount varying with the roasting), but much of the alkaloid is changed into “Coffeone” (to which the aroma is due). This Coffeone is obtained free from the alkaloid by distilling an infusion of roasted Coffea; some effects of this distillate are here included.
Mind.
Emotional.
An agreeable mental excitement, causing wakefulness.
Completely developed delirium tremens. (* Following a rheumatic attack, with great prostration and weakness. *) Great loquacity.
Love for family. Desire to perform good deeds intensified (Benevolence excited). Veneration for Supreme Being. Anxiety. A kind of fearfulness, which seems unendurable. Timidity, and fear of sudden death; this fear sometimes occasions trembling from head to foot (secondary effect).
Intellectual.
Brain feels clear, and is very active. The intellectual faculties chiefly stipulated are the imagination and the memory. The power of judgment is increased. Attention is more alive. Feels impelled to push things; wants to keep going ahead and doing something. It gives rise to a need of creative activity, a vivacity of thought, a versatility and ardor of desire, more favorable to the exaggerated expression of ideas previously formed, than to the quiet examination of new conceptions (Moleschott). Symptoms would come suddenly; and took away all mental energy. Somewhat unconscious (after two hours).
Head.
Vertigo.
Vertigo. (after half an hour). Vertigo so that she was unable to stand. Vertigo, with whirling sensation in head, occasioning a general faint feeling, with aggravation, when thinking; has to banish reflection; with vertigo, burning in stomach;vertigo partially relieved by a change of position (secondary effect).
Swimming or vertiginous feeling. Sensation as if everything in the head were going in slow circles, now in one direction, now in another; with incessant noises in the ears.
General Head.
Rush of blood to the head. Violent headache.
Forehead.
Sensation of heaviness in forehead over eyes (secondary effect)..
Parietals.
Sensation as though a piece of lead were nailed to the parietal bones, which every motion of the head aggravates.
Occiput.
Stinging pain into locality of amativeness on left side.
Eye.
Blue rings around the eyes.
Lids.
Conjunctiva of the lids slightly red, especially towards the margin; conjunctiva of the bulb slightly injected in the canthi and corners.
Pupil.
Iris contracted but sensitive.
Vision.
Intolerance of the candlelight; it seems surrounded by a dim broad halo, causing painful pressure in the eyebrows. Sensation as though a fog were before the eyes. Muscae volitantes.
Aggravation of the myopia.
Ear.
Every step and every loud word is painfully felt in the ears.
Incessant noises in the ears. Ringing in the ears. Roaring, buzzing, and singing in the ears. Sounds as of pounding or bell ringing in the distance.
Face.
Paleness of face. Countenance very pale, and had an anxious expression (after two hours). Pale as a corpse. Face waxy pale.
Face very puffy, as if dropsical, waxy, pale yellow.
Mouth.
He was seized with such an intense pain in the teeth of the right lower jaw (not decayed) that it drove him nearly crazy. He came to my office after midnight to get relief. He had already observed that no application relieved the pain but cold water.
So soon as the water became warm in the mouth, the pain returned.
Lips and tongue pale and dry.
Throat.
Spasmodic contraction of the throat.
Stomach.
Appetite.
Aversion to all food; she is able to take only small quantities of water.
Nausea and Vomiting.
Nausea, with faintness. Nausea in the stomach, and ineffectual efforts to vomit. Vomiting with difficulty (soon).
Stomach.
Distension in the epigastric region, tympanitic, extremely sensitive to touch, less so to pressure. Tension in the stomach, so that she is obliged to loosen the clothes. Sensation of heaviness in cardiac region (secondary effect). Great fullness in epigastrium, and partial loss of appetite (secondary effect).
Cold water and cold food aggravate the distress in epigastrium and left chest (secondary effect).
Abdomen.
Hypochondria.
Painfulness of the hypochondria. Extreme sensitiveness of the hepatic region.
General Abdomen.
Abdomen swollen and hard, especially in the region of the bladder, which was very sensitive to touch (fifth day).
Painful tympanitic distension of the abdomen. Rumbling in the bowels causing warmth, painful, obliging her to bend up and press with the hands. Pain in the left upper portion of the abdomen, just below the spleen, not affected by pressure. Sticking pains in the abdomen (second day).
Rectum and Anus.
Hemorrhoids. Discharge of exceedingly bright blood, every morning with the regular stool.
Stool.
Diarrhoea.
Frequent stools, with tenesmus (after two hours).
Copious evacuations of the bowels, after the first dose, followed by constipation.
Constipation.
Constipation (secondary effect). It sometimes accelerates the peristaltic motion, but in many cases (especially in weak persons) constipation follows. No stool during the first two days.
Urinary Organs.
Urethra.
At close of micturition, a slight milky discharge (probably prostatic), attended with a smarting or burning sensation at orifice of urethra; afterwards, cutting pains below the bladder (in sphincter vesicae, or region of prostate gland), (secondary effect).
Constant tickling in the urethra, which was very annoying.
Frequent desire to urinate, with passage of scanty pale urine.
Excessive urging, with inability to urinate.
Micturition.
Frequent micturition (secondary effect). Increased secretion and discharge of urine, with diminished specific gravity (after two hours). Profuse and colorless urine (secondary effect).
Amount of urine increased 68 c. c. per day;urea diminished 6.5 grammes; phosphates diminished 1 gramme; sodium chloride diminished 2.4 grammes. Amount of urine increased 355 c. c.; urea diminished 7.1 grammes, c. c.; phosphoric acid diminished 1.6 grammes; sodium chloride increased 1 gramme. (Coffeone). Amount of urine increased 370 c. c. per day; urea diminished 9.4 grammes; phosphoric acid diminished 1.3 grammes; sodium chloride diminished 1 gramme.
Normal Urine. a Coffee diet.
Amount in twenty four hours. 1364, 500 grs. 1739.750 Urea. 22.275 ” 12.585 Uric acid. 0.578 ” 0.402 Phosphoric acid. 1.291 ” 0.854 (Boecker and Lehman, average from numerous experiments).
Ischuria for many days; she was almost unable to urinate, and could only evacuate the bladder after frequent attempts, and with passage of a few drops at a time, with much burning and pressure in the region of the bladder. It diminishes all the solid constituents of the urine except the earthy phosphates. (* Conclusions from a large number of detailed observations and analyses. *).
Sexual Organs.
Male.
Weakness of the sexual power in men.
Female.
Spasmodic sensation deep in the uterine region; it seems as if something tried to press outward and could not, because it constantly gave rise to spasms. Menstruation increased and prolonged.
Respiratory Organs.
Objective.
Rattling respiration. Diminution of the expired water.
Diminution of the amount of expired carbonic acid takes place soon after drinking Coffee, and is especially noticed after long continued use of it. (* Wibmer calls attention to the fact, that this is the reverse of the condition after taking Senega, in which the amount of carbonic acid is increased. *). The amount of expired carbonic acid is 195, 593.6 cubic centimeters less than normal during twenty four hours; this amount seemed really astounding, but is not so remarkable, seeing that a real dyspnoea follows the use of strong coffee.
Subjective.
Much subjective dyspnoea, with quick, labored respiration (after two hours). A real asthma, with oppression of the chest (after half an hour).
Heart and Pulse.
Precordium.
Precordial symptoms.
Heart’s Action.
Greatly increased vigor of the action of the heart.
Palpitation. Diminished action of heart.
Pulse.
Rapid pulse. Pulse full and frequent. Very frequent and tense pulse (after two hours). Pulse increased from 75 to 82 (half a litre), (Trousseau, Montegazza, et al). Before the proving, pulse 69; after the fifth cup, it fell to 61.
Pulse variable; often weak and almost imperceptible; sometimes intermitting (secondary effect).
Extremities in General.
Trembling of the limbs. Trembling of all the limbs (after half an hour). Trembling of the arms and legs.
Considerable tremor in limbs (after two hours). Jerking of limbs (secondary effect).
General Symptoms.
Restlessness.
Objective.
General excitement. General agreeable excitement, with slight sweat. (Coffeone). The preceding tracings plainly indicate quite a marked decrease of the pulse, with diminished extent of oscillation, and a consequent increase of arterial tension. They are similar to the tracings taken by Meplain ten or fifteen minutes after drinking the cold infusion; but are still more strongly marked under the action of a simple decoction of the unroasted berry. When, however, the tracings are taken a few moments after drinking an infusion of black coffee, especially when well roasted and of a strong aromatic odor, the peculiarities of the pulse are directly opposed to those presented above. In this case, they indicate more or less excitement of the circulation, as shown in the tracings by the more extended oscillations, by the greater abruptness and height of the ascending line, by its sharp angle at the top, and by the jerking contour of the descending line. This important fact, first noticed by Meplain, is accounted for by him as follows. He distilled a litre of a strong infusion of roasted coffee, and obtained therefrom about 200 grammes of a liquid which, in addition to the aromatic small and taste of coffee, possessed a slightly acrid taste and decided empyreumatic odor. After taking this, he observed the pulse to rise from 64 to 72.
Born in 1837in Westminster, Vermont. . He was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy
Dr. Allen compiled the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica over the course of 10 years.
In 1881 Allen published A Critical Revision of the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica.