Introduction
Morphia, an alkaloid from opium, C17H19NO3. Including the various salts, to which reference is made in the list of authorities. Preparation: Triturations, or solutions in alcohol.
Mind
Emotional. Conscious of a certain amount of stimulating influence upon the brain; a sensation not unlike the early physiological effects of Quinine (almost immediately). General condition of excitement; the patient seems exceedingly lively and wide awake, with a certain uneasiness, unsteadiness, and haste, and glistening of the eyes. Great excitement, without sleepiness. Violent cerebral excitement, so that the patient had to be isolated. Delirium (after two hours). Hallucinations for may days. Hallucinations and delirium. There is great similarity in the intoxication of Morphine and that of alcohol; but the delirium of alcohol is more joyous; that of Morphine is almost gloomy and melancholy. When she tried to describe her symptoms, and ask for an explanation from her friends, she could not for her tears and sobs, which she could not repress. (Since she has used it she enjoys a great deal of calm happiness, her mind is active and clear, though her emotions are still very easily excited). Low-spirited (after two hours, eighteen minutes). Complete melancholy, so that he is desired to commit suicide. Some patients sit in mute despair, casting about for some opportunity to free themselves from their suffering. Some individuals endure their troubles with resignation; they remain quietly in bed, scarcely speaking a word, others, but very few, pass the time in a soporous condition; others have no rest at all, get out of bed, anxiously run about the room, howl and cry; they either gradually become quiet or rarely their excitement increases. Anxious condition, with hallucinations and illusions of almost all the organs of sense, seeming to comprise the whole, somewhat analogous to that caused by alcohol. A few hours after the last injection the patient begins to feel uncomfortable and restless, and becomes exceedingly depressed; slight paroxysms of cough, with a condition of anxiety. Anxiety. Internal anxiety and restlessness. Felt strangely, a kind of overpowering her (before half an hour). The patient cried out with an expression of great alarm (immediately). Ill-humor. Intellectual. There is a certain similarity in Morphine poisoning and cerebral paralysis, especially as regards the motor symptoms; the essential difference consists in that Morphine poisoning has complete consciousness of the condition and memory, and the ability to concentrate the mind is unimpaired, at least as long as there is not a condition of actual mania. Flow of ideas become more rapid and pleasant. While engaged in undressing my mind was very active, but seemingly without control of the will; thoughts followed each other in quick succession, and the mind jumped rapidly from one subject to another; the condition seemed to be analogous to that which exists when a dream, seeming to involve days and weeks, will be known to occupy but a few seconds or minutes of time. The clearness of the mind and the memory suffered very greatly. Dulness of mind. Impossible to study or to fix mind on any one subject (second morning). She seemed incapable of thinking or recognizing anyone in the room (after four hours). For an hour after rising, in talking, would have to stop in the midst of the simplest sentence to think what word to say next (second morning). Loss of consciousness. Flagellation, pinching, etc., failed to elicit signs of cognition. Stupefaction; (after twenty minutes). Stupefaction, bordering on faintness. In a half comatose state (after eight hours). Complete comatose insensibility (after two hours). Profound coma; (after nine hours and a half).
Head
Confusion and Vertigo. After a nap, the head continued dull and confused for some time, as from a disordered stomach; he then took a swallow of vinegar, after which the nausea and headache increased, and after eating, the heaviness and stupefaction of the head increased, so that he was obliged to lie down. Vertigo, etc. Much vertigo, on rising (second morning). Excessive vertigo. Violent vertigo. Disagreeable vertigo and nausea (after six hours). Spells of dizziness and loss of sight, all day (third day). Frequent dizzy spells, with momentary loss of sight (second day). Felt giddy, and walked cautiously (after two hours and a half). Some giddiness and drowsiness (fifty minutes after 1/4 grain). Giddy and drowsy (one hour after 1/15th grain); giddiness and drowsiness passed off (two hours after 1/15th grain). Giddiness and somnolency (after ten minutes); complained of being very giddy, and said that everything was turning round (after one hour). Slight giddiness. Felt a little giddy (after one hour and twenty minutes). Felt “dreadfully tipsy” (after forty minutes). General Head. Head drawn backward. Congestion of the head. Began to feel light-headed and sleepy (after one hour and a quarter after 1/4 grain). Dulness of the head. Dulness and heat of the head. Dulness of the head, for several days. Some dulness of the head, with difficult thought (after half an hour). General dulness of the head, especially in the frontal region (after ten minutes). Heaviness of the head; (after first day, 1/4 grain); (after fifty minutes). Head heavy, hot. Head heavy, with a tensive sensation in it, like a pressing asunder at both parietal bones; this sensation made thinking and writing difficult. Something shot to the head like lightning, the instant the injection took place. Pain in the head (after seven hours). Dull pain in the head, with stupefaction. Head painful on waking, disappearing on moving about. Headache, etc. Headache, on waking from sleep. Headache, after eating. Headache, more on the right side than on the left, lasting half an hour, leaving behind a painful sensation. Sudden headache. Violent headache; (after half an hour). Intense cephalalgia. Tensive sensation in the head, as if the skull were too small for the brain; reading writing, or thinking were very difficult; was obliged to stop at times (after half an hour). Pressive headache, with inclination to sleep (after two hours and a half). Pressive headache, with inclination to sleep; reading and thinking increased the headache (after two hours and a half). Throbbing like a pulse; the head threatened to burst. Forehead. Heaviness in the frontal region; (after one hour and a half). Pain in the frontal region (after half an hour). Pain in the frontal region, on waking from sleep; (after two hours and a half). Violent pain in the forehead (after half an hour). Violent pain in the right side of the forehead (second morning). Violent pain in the forehead, as if the frontal bone would press outward. Dull pain in the frontal region, especially on the right side. Dull frontal headache, in the morning (fifth day). Throbbing pain in the forehead (after fifty minutes). Temples. Right temporal artery beating full and quick (after one hour and a half). Parietals. Pain in the right side of the head (immediately). Intolerable pain in the right side of the head (after thirty-five minutes). Occiput. Pain in the occiput (after fifty minutes).
Eyes
Objective. Eyes staring, and unaffected by light (after two hours). Glistening eyes (after fifty minutes). Eyes very glistening (after one hour). Eyes sparkling. Eyes injected; (one hour after 1/2 grain). Cornea injected (after half an hour). Eyes sunken, especially the right. Eyes sunken, half open, not turned upward, but staring right ahead, with the axes of vision parallel. Eyes fixed, and insensible to light (after two hours). The eyes are frequently lusterless, having a look of weakness, exhaustion, and fear, becoming after a new injection lively, fiery, or like those of a person in delirium. The look becomes unsteady. Subjective. Pain over and at side of left eye all day, with some pain in left ear (fifth day). Eyes early in course were hot and lame; bits of ice were laid on them with relief. Eyes felt small, too small for sockets (second morning). Brow and Orbit. Pressure above the eyes (after fifty minutes). Paresis of the recti interni. Feeling of fullness in the orbits (after one hour). Lids. Lids bluish, drooping. Slight ptosis. Upper lids paralyzed. Conjunctiva. Conjunctiva injected; (after fifty minutes). The conjunctivae of both eyeballs were very red, much injected, especially the sub conjunctivae tissue, with a rosy red circle, in the anterior ciliary region, like that frequently seen in iritis. Lachrymal Apparatus. Eyes suffused (ten minutes after 1/2 grain). Ball. The eyes looked as though they would protrude from their orbits. Eyeballs prominent (immediately). Eyes protruding from their orbits; (after two hours). Convulsive motions of the eyeballs. Eyes convulsively turned upward and outward. Eyes rigid, turned upward. Diverging strabismus of both eyes. Pupil. Pupils dilated; (immediately); (after twenty minutes); (after half an hour); (after fifty minutes). Pupils continued dilated through the night (first night). Pupils somewhat dilated (soon). Pupils greatly dilated (after twenty minutes). Pupils greatly dilated, even on looking at the sun (soon). Contraction of pupils, etc.; (after eight hours); (second day). Pupils contracted, insensible. Pupils contracted habitually. Very slight contraction of pupil observable during two or three hours after the injection. Strongly contracted pupils (after nine hours and a half); and insensible to light (after eleven hours and a half). Pupil very much contracted (after four hours). Pupils very much contracted; would not respond to light (second morning). Pupils very much contracted, not beings as large as a pin’s head, and she saw red and black spots floating before the eyes (after four hours). Pupils extremely contracted, insensible. Pupil of minimum size; eyes imperfectly closed. Pupils contracted to mere points. Pupils contracted to such a degree as is only seen after large doses of Calabar; the pupils, indeed, showed but a minute point, and were entirely insensible. Pupils, unequal. Pupils at light 1/7″, aside, barely 1/5 (before the injection); at light 1/8″, aside 1/6 (after one hour); at light 1/9″, aside 1/7″ (after two hours). Pupils 1/8″ (before the experiment); 1/12 (after two hours and a half). Pupils 1/10 (before the injection); 1/12 (after forty minutes). Pupils 1/10″ at the light, 1/6″ towards the dark side of the room (before the injection); 1/12 at light, from the light 1/8 (three-quarters of an hour and two hours after 1/15th grain). Pupils at light 1/10″, sideways 1/7; at dark side of room 1/6 (before the injection); 1/12, sideways; 1/10 at dark side of room; 1/7 (after thirty minutes and four hours). Pupils 1/10″ diameter at light, towards the dark side of the room dilating to 1/6″ (before the experiment); dilate from 1/12 to 1/8 (after thirty minutes, and after two hours and eighteen minutes). Pupils at light 1/9″, sideways 1/6 (before the injection); 1/12″ (two hours after 1/6 grain); 1/10 (thirty minutes after 1/4 grain); 1/12″ (three-quarters of an hour after 1/4 grain); 1/10 (two hours and a quarter after 1/4 grain); 1/12, sideways 1/9 (ten minutes after 1/2 grain); 1/12, sideways 1/10 (one hour after 1/2 grain); 1/10, sideways 1/8 (three hours after 1/2 grain). Pupil 1/6″ (before the experiments); 1/7″ (one hour and a half after 1/4 grain); 1/7 (three hours after 1/4 grain); continued to read the newspapers for one hour and a quarter after the injection of 1/4 grain; 1/8; vision for near and distant objects unimpaired; in reading the newspapers he could detect no change in his vision, and he clearly discerned an inconspicuous lightning conductor, a rod of the thickness of the little finger, by the side of a chimney-pot, at a distance of about seventy yards (one hour and a quarter after 1/4 grain). Vision. Weakness of vision. Slight impaired and feeble. The eyes formerly only moderately far-sighted, became very hypermetropic. Vision at times seemed obscured by a fog. Could not see (after two hours). Vision distorted and impaired. She can only distinguish one vertical half of the objects before her (as one eye, one arm, etc.). Double vision and diminished range of accommodation are frequently observed; the pupils are usually contracted often unequally, seldom dilated. Double vision, disappeared at the end of the week, but the inequality of the pupils remained during the whole time she was under treatment; sometimes one, sometimes the other, pupil being dilated. Double vision and disturbance of accommodation, often accompanied by lachrymation.
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.