Eye
Eyes full and some what suffused. Eyes injected (blood-shot). Lids. Eyes half open and turned upwards (after third day). Eyelids closed. Eyes sometimes open, sometimes shut (during operations). Eyelids begin to tremble in a manner very characteristic. Conjunctiva. Vessels of the conjunctiva injected. Slight injection of the conjunctivae. Conjunctivae much injected. Conjunctiva of eye was sensible. Ball. Rolling of the eyeballs during the spasms. She complained of difficulty in turning her eyes downward, but rolled them about in an unnatural manner (after third day). Pupil. Pupils dilated. Pupils dilated and fixed, the eyes turned upwards (after ten minutes). Pupils dilated, fixed, and did not act during the whole time. The pupils became widely dilated, this state being apparently not preceded by contraction (in seven minutes, when 150 cubic centimeters (about four ounces) of Ether had been used). Pupil oscillates, with a tendency to turn upwards and inwards. Contracted pupil. The iris seems to be generally expanded, sometimes contracted. Vision. Impaired vision (after third day). Dimness of sight. She complained of obscure vision, describing it as a mist or thin cloud before her eyes.
Ear
Hearing was obtuse. Sounds are indistinct and seem far off, yet them resound violently in the ears. Deafness.
Face
Countenance was wild and a little vacant at intervals, sometimes indicating slight surprise. At first, an expression of extraordinary pleasure on his face, and he inhaled the Ether- vapor with real eagerness; he afterwards assured us that he had had a pleasant narcosis. Face flushed. The expression is sometimes calm, but generally the face is flushed and animated. Face injected. The countenance is livid. Face pallid. The face often becomes either pale or morbidly flushed. Distortion of the features. Cheeks. Cheeks flushed; after half an hour they resembled two pieces of scarlet velvet. Lips. The lips often swell and become blue. Lips slightly congested. Lip and tongue are blue. His lips became purple.
Mouth
Mouth often opened. Mouth was slightly dry, and she was observed to drink oftener than usual. Some heat in the mouth. Saliva. Profuse salivation (after a few days). Slight frothing at the mouth. Taste. Bad taste in mouth. Disagreeable taste of Ether in her mouth in the evening. Speech. Evident difficulty in using the organs of speech; the pronunciation was indistinct, and performed with some apparent effort; afterwards speechless.
Throat
Pricking in the throat.
Stomach
Appetite. Loss of appetite. The appetite for solids is visibly diminished when any considerable amount has been inhaled shortly before a meal. Loathing of ether. Hiccough. Violent hiccough set in after twenty-five minutes, but ceased, as did also the dilatation of pupils, as soon as the inhalation was discontinued. Nausea and Vomiting. Nausea. Nausea and sickness. Nausea and vomiting in the evening. Sickness. She complained of sickness and distress of the stomach. Vomiting. Vomiting, soon after return of consciousness, although no food had been allowed for seven hours; stimulants were immediately rejected by the stomach.
Respiratory organs
Slight bronchial irritation. Inhalation is accompanied by a sensation of stinging or heat in the bronchia, which excites coughing. Cough. Violent coughing. Violent cough and spitting. Spitting of blood. She raised blood from her lungs, it was supposed about a pint; bleeding soon ceased (second morning). Breathing rapid for a short time, when effect first produced, and then became natural. Respiration is quickened, and the face becomes red; then the inspirations slacken, but are extremely deep; finally, they becomes imperceptible; the face then regains its quiet expression and natural color. Respiration was hurried (after five minutes); deep and slow, but free from stertor (after ten minutes). Full and frequent respirations. The respirations were deep, and increased from eighteen to twenty- five in a minute. Respirations short; the expirations prolonged and forcible. Respiration becomes slow and labored. Sonorous breathing. Stertorous breathing. Sighing, groaning. Each expiration was accompanied by a loud hah! The air expired by the patient, at the end of eight days after the last experiment, still had a strong smell of Ether. Laborious breathing. Breathing laborious two or three times. The respiration, bearing a due relation to the frequency of the pulse, becomes labored and stertorous. Difficulty of breathing. Difficulty of breathing for several days (after two days). Breathing became very difficult, so exceedingly labored, that it would have been almost impossible to perform any operation. Dyspnoea.
Chest
Pulmonary and cerebral congestion. With some difficulty I led him to the outer door, when he exclaimed, “Cover my chest; cold,”. Tightness across the chest. Irritation and pain in the chest (after twenty-five inhalations in two days).
Heart and Pulse
Precordium. Heart and lungs greatly oppressed. Heart’s Action. Excitement and invigoration of the action of the heart, which seems to continue throughout. Protracted failure of the heart’s action. Pulse. Rapid pulse. The pulse is at first accelerated, and afterward falls, but rarely to the natural standard; respiration seems to follow the same rule. The circulation at first became rapid, then slow and feeble. First effect upon the circulation is to accelerate it; the pulse subsequently falls, and in the third period loses power as well as frequency. Small, frequent pulse. Pulse full, hard, and bounding. The pulse, hitherto weak and low, became full and strong, and remained so as long as the narcosis continued, increasing in frequency at the same time from 72 to 80. Pulse commenced sinking rapidly. Pulse very feeble and weak in the evening. When felt, the pulse was found to be soft, full, and very slow; it suddenly ceased to heat, and the patient was dead. The pulse, as we ascertained by the sphygmograph, was not once changed, nor was there any alteration in the urine. Pulse rose to 150 while inhaling.
Pulse 100, with much throbbing of the carotids (third day); 140 (tenth day). Pulse natural in the morning, 76; rose to 84 previous to inhalation (probably from the appearance of the surgeons and expectation of operation); during inhalation, rapidly increased to 140, but before inhalation ceased, it became small and feeble. Being much excited, her pulse rose to 130 (before inhalation); 70 (after inhalation). Pulse 120. Pulse 98, small and tense. Pulse 90 (before the operation); 75 (in the ethereal state). Pulse 84 (before the operation); varied from 60 to 70 (during the ethereal process).
Extremities in General
Frequent trembling of the limbs. Convulsive movements of the limbs. Spasmodic rigidity of the limbs.
Superior Extremities
His arms were stretched; his fingers extended. Arms fall relaxed.
Inferior Extremities
A slight imperfection in her gait terminated in paralysis of the lower extremities, after some time, and she became helpless. Severe cramps in the legs.
General Symptoms.
His whole aspect was so indicative of misery, that he would have been put down as one of the wretchedly poor, were it not for the unusual contrast between his aspect and his distinctly formed speech, and for the fact that (as was at first thought) there was remarkably strong smell of alcohol in his breath; the patient, however, explained that he did not smell of alcohol but of ether, and the peculiar sweetness and mildness of Ether vapor was then easily recognized, notwithstanding its strength. His appearance altogether was so distressing, as to excite great alarm in the minds of the bystanders. General appearance like one going into a state of epilepsy. To appearance, the energies of mind and body were nearly extinct. The individual, to the common eye, seems to be sinking into the sleep of death. Perfect quiet. Agitation of the system. An affection of the nervous system approaching apoplexy. Hysterical excitement in women for some hours, and even for a day or two. In the evening (after several hours) he complained of some difficulty about his chest, when, all at once, he fell from his chair, exhibited great restlessness, tossing about of the arms and legs, with great difficulty of breathing, but no loss of consciousness, declaring all the time he could not get his breath for the Ether, and that he should die; his hands and feet were said to be cold; various restoratives were applied in vain; it was evident that it was a case of violent hysterics, unusually well marked in a male; he would laugh and joke, then express fears of impending suffocation, with jactitation, declaring that as vapor of Ether was heavier than air, he ought to be held up and allow it to run out of his lungs; several doses of Morphine had no effect; it was only after several hours that he could be quieted; he had never previously exhibited any tendency to hysteria. She was in a state of unconsciousness, and became quite unmanageable; she required two persons to hold her; I lanced her gum, without any sign of pain, and she recovered her sensibility immediately; she again inhaled, and, when under the influence of the Ether, some excitement returned, and on drawing the tooth with the claw, she cried “Oh!” but, on coming to herself, stated she had had no pain. He appeared to have much suffering, throwing his body almost out of the chair. Muscular tremors. Trembling of the whole frame when consciousness returned. Subsultus till twelve hours before death (after three days). General shocks, involving all the muscles of the trunk. Violent nervous attack. Convulsions. Convulsions supervened, attended with slight stertorous breathing, and other symptoms of an alarming character; he gradually recovered, but suffered from the effects for some time afterwards. Limbs and trunk were strongly convulsed for five minutes; limbs relaxed (after ten minutes). Incipient convulsions. After the operation, she bent her body backwards and sank out of the chair; she began to cry, and consciousness returned, but in a short time she again lapsed into a state of unconsciousness, with convulsive movements of the muscles; she again got better and attempted to walk, but could not; the convulsions returned; there were convulsive movements of the muscles of the left side of the face; the angle of the mouth was drawn upward; after half an hour the convulsions became stronger, spasmodic twitchings of the muscles of the face more frequent and more violent. Slight spasm (tenth day). Opisthotonos. He was perfectly cataleptic; after applications of cold, and administering brandy and water, these cataleptic symptoms were succeeded by severe hysteria, with about the same degree of consciousness as is usual in that disease. Muscles universally relaxed. General muscular relaxation, affecting the limbs, also the eye, the ball moving about the evading the needle or the cataract knife; also the muscles of the perinaeum during labor. The voluntary muscles become relaxed; the jaw falls down; the arms hang down; the eyes roll upward under the upper lid. The muscles lose their power of retraction (during amputation); they are also pale and discolored. Temporary depression of the vital powers. Weakness. Weakness, and disposition to faint on the slightest attempt to walk, lasting several days (after two days). General prostration. Felt nothing for several minutes, but on a sudden appeared to lose all muscular power. He attempted to rise, but tottered like a drunken man, and suffered a degree of exhaustion and giddiness which lasted until he was taken to bed. Objective. Staggered about the room (soon). Disposition to faint and fall down. They exhibit all the marks of intoxication; they fall, without the power of raising themselves, become insensible to all operations performed on them, and either recover soon when the experiment ceases, or sink if it be prolonged. Syncope. The state of the brain during this period was peculiarly distressing; there were alternate manifestations of excitement and depression of the sensorial powers, at boy died. M. Jobert and others have attempted to indicate three stages in its effects: first, that of incoherence, agitation of delirium, as the case may be; second, acceleration of the pulse, with loss of sensibility and loss of voluntary power; third, exhaustion and coldness of the surface. The average duration of the state of sleep or insensibility may be stated to be about the same as the period required to induce it, or a little less, say from two to four minutes; the period, however, occasionally exceeds this, extending sometimes to half an hour or even an hour; the awakening is sudden and complete. Several persons who were to be operated on next day, were subjected to preparatory inhalations, by which they were completely narcotized; sensation, voluntary motion, and consciousness were abolished, yet, when repeated at the operating time, the experiment was a failure. Great uneasiness. Remarkable restlessness, in the period of reaction, ceasing in twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Evident restlessness, mostly of the head and upper extremities. So much restlessness, that it was impossible to perform the indented operation. Subjective. In some refractory subjects, sensibility was heightened instead of being depressed. The next day she inhaled it ten minutes prior to the operation, which lasted half an hour, and during which she manifested great pain, declaring afterwards that she felt every cut made; she was conscious from this time until her decease forty hours afterwards, but spoke in a low, faint voice. Perception of external objects fails. Skin was not sensible on being sharply pinched. Complete and instantaneous abolition of tactile sensibility; this effect is not constant, but is pretty general; it is accompanied by a diminution of voluntary contractility; it affects the most deeply seated parts of the nervous system. The functions of the brain and nervous system are suspended, sensation is annihilated, and the patient, to all intents and purposes, for the time being, is a senseless corpse. Loss of sensibility; but drunkenness, attended by vomiting and other symptoms not consequent on inhalation, supervened in both cases. The instant the knife touched her, she cried out, put her hands down to the part, and betrayed other marks of uneasiness; after half a minute to a minute, the operation was proceeded with, and signs of apparent suffering were not to be mistaken, so much so, that it induced some gentlemen present to imagine that the operation was felt, and the patient was aware of it; after the operation was completed, and on awakening to a state of consciousness, and being asked if she suffered any pain, she expressed no knowledge of any. One person becomes as impassible as the subject on the dissecting-room table; another talks incoherently or mirthfully, replies to questions or obeys instructions; others utter exclamations of pain, which they afterwards retain no retain no reminiscence of having felt; and others, again, declare they have suffered pain, but felt themselves powerless for its expression; finally, in not a few, ungovernable, violent convulsive actions, quite adverse to the performance of any delicate operation, take place; with some, an utter oblivion is induced; while others, whilst undergoing all the apparent tortures of a prolonged dissection, are revelling in the realms of memory and the fields of imagination. Ill, and much dejected (third evening). General malaise. After repeated experiments, a general malaise replaces the agreeable feeling experienced at first. His sensations were so dreadful, that he would rather undergo any amount of pain than submit to the same again, which he could compare only to a state of utter helplessness and impending dissolution. He felt irresistibly disposed to lie down and get his head upon the ground. He seemed to take leave of the external world, but experienced a dreadful sensation of universal tremor, and yet a perfect fixedness of the limbs. Sensation of numbness, beginning at the toes, and affecting, in succession, the legs, arms, loins, and genitals; it extends to the head, and is then accompanied with a sense of heat, as from intoxication. By a few, a sense of great oppression, resembling nightmare. The distressing symptoms continued for more than an hour.
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.