Heart and Pulse
Praecordium. Nervous sensation about the heart (fifth day). Feeling of depression and lowness about the heart (eighth day). For three days past has felt a want of something about the precordia; several days ago tried to sing, but had no power to throw out the voice (eighth day). Uneasiness about the heart while walking (after three hours, fourth day). After riding some distance had considerable pain at the heart, extending through the left scapula; pain in the chest is not affected by deep inspiration; the above pain lasted some hours, and was very marked (after twelve hours, twelfth day). Complained of great pain near the heart. Heat and uneasy aching about the heart, towards evening (tenth day). A peculiar oppression about the heart, soon (second day). Half an hour after breakfast felt twice, for a minute or two each time, a slight shooting pain in the praecordial region; never felt this pain before (fifth day); it has never returned since (after two months and a half). Heart’s Action. Fluttering of the heart attended the headache (sixth day). Whilst writing, had a sudden attack of fluttering at the heart, with rising in the throat (after six hours, first day). Slight palpitation of the heart, soon (second day). Unusual beating of the heart, audible to myself (after three quarters of an hour). Audible beating of the heart (soon, first day). Pulse. Pulse 120, regular in rhythm, but unequal in force, most of the beats, however, being tolerably full and strong (after thirty five minutes); 32, remarkably irregular both in rhythm and in force, some of the beats being strikingly full and bounding (after forty minutes). Pulse 98 (natural 60), at 11 P.M. (sixth day). Pulse about 96, full (second day). Pulse weak and thready. Pulse hardly perceptible. No pulsation could be felt at the wrist, nor could the beating of the heart be distinguished through the parietes of the chest; the action of the heart could only be recognized by pushing the hand up behind the sternum, and then a faint thrill could alone be recognized, much resembling the cardiac thrill felt in the same way on a new born infant. Neither pulse nor breathing.
Neck and Back
Neck. Tired feel in the cervical and dorsal vertebrae, with the peculiar burning often attendant on exhaustion, all day (first day). Dull aching pains in nape of neck (after second powder, sixth day). Cutting pains in nape of neck (fifth day). Back. Rheumatism all night in bed, which has not troubled me for six weeks, feeling in middle of back as if bruised (first night); rheumatism of shoulders again all night (second night); rheumatism (third night). Dorsal. Pain between the shoulders, as if in the spine, involving afterwards the scapulae. Pains between the shoulders in the morning on waking, and continuing all day (third day); the pain continued to get worse; it is aggravated by moving the arms (fourth day); till yesterday it continued; it was worse in moving the shoulder-blades, and felt like rheumatism of the muscles of the scapula (seventh day); in the course of the afternoon, felt a dull pain in the region of the spine between the shoulders, much the same in kind and degree as on the fourth day (eighth day). In the course of the day, when busily occupied, my attention was arrested by a heavy dragging sensation in spine between the shoulders; it lasted about half an hour, and was very uneasy (first day). Lumbar. Weakness of loins (third day). Slight pain in loins, in the morning (fifth day). Pain in right lumbar region, similar to what I have often felt after running a distance shortly after a meal, somewhat like that caused by pressing on the testicle, with occasional shootings; a similar feeling spread over the whole abdomen, and to right groin, easier by bending forward (soon after second powder, third day). Severe aching contractive pain in loins and abdomen on going to bed (third night). Aching in loins (seventh day). Aching in loins, continuous for an hour, and going on now (four hours and a half after second powder, fourth day). Acute pain in the small of the back, lasting for two or three hours, in the evening (first day). Severe gnawing pain in lower part of back, which kept me awake for some time; worse after going to bed (third day).
Extremities in General
Felt sudden prostration of strength in limbs, for a quarter of an hour, while walking in the evening (second day). Occasional rheumatic-like pains in thighs and arms, and like those yesterday, best marked in shoulder-joints, in the afternoon (second day). Awoke with aching in all parts of limbs; two hours after rising all pains in limbs ceased, and a warm glow all over body succeeded (thirteenth day). Awoke with the bruised sensation in the limbs before felt on the thirteenth day of former proving; all passed off in the course of an hour after rising (third day). Dull aching pains in ankle-joints, lower part of thighs, wrist joints, and shoulder-joints (after second powder, sixth day). Occasional shifting rheumatic-like (drawing-aching) pains in arms, shoulders, and legs, worst on left side, in the course of three hours (immediately after second powder, second day). Right side, drawing, lacerating, for a few minutes at a time, in various parts of limbs, worse by motion passing off altogether (first day).
Superior Extremities
Hand and arm of the same side began to swell, and were even mottled (after a few minutes). Complained of great aching all up the arm to the shoulder, all day (first day). He felt instantly a sharp pain in the part bitten, which soon spread on the palm and upwards on the arm; in less than an hour the hand and wrist-bone considerably swelled, the pain extended nearer the shoulder; the next morning the hand and arm were monstrously swelled, and he complained of pain in the arm; the parts about the punctures mortified first, the gangrene then spread over the back and palm of the hand and the part of the wrist, laying the tendons, bare, and forming an ulcer of considerable extent, which, however, healed favorably under the usual treatment; it was several months before he recovered the use of his hand. Violent acute pain bitten part, which soon extended to top of arm (immediately). Shoulder. Shoulder painful (after one hour). Rheumatism of shoulders, at night in bed, pain extending to fingers of right hand (first night); slight rheumatism, pains in bed (sixth day). Slight rheumatic pains in shoulders, for some time past (fifth night). Rheumatic drawing in left shoulder, in the morning (third day). Elbow. Severe drawing-shooting pain in left elbow-joint, in the afternoon (second day). Wrist. Complained of burning pain in wrist; hung down his arm, from which a few drops of blood fell. Hand. Hand and thumb considerably swollen (after one hour). Numb pain in hands, and sometimes a feeling like as if ether had been dropped and allowed to evaporate (after second powder, fourth day). Crampy pains in palm of left hand and numbness, and shifting rheumatic-like (aching pains), felt especially in shoulder joints; numbness in hands, as if “sleeping” (after nine hours and a half). Fingers. Slight aching in fourth and little finger of right hand, followed in a quarter of an hour by peculiar sensation as of thumbing (fouillement) in the middle of triceps, left arm (after one hour and three-quarters). Most acute pain under the nail of the left thumb; this pain also ran up the arm.
Inferior Extremities
Began to stagger in walking (after twenty minutes). After first dose, felt a dragging and weariness in the limbs, while walking, with slight frontal headache, which went off after the second dose. Pressive and drawing sensation on points in lower limbs and feet, several times (first day). Thigh. Slight pain in the anterior part of the right thigh, which soon passed off (soon, first day). Slight aching in the back part of thighs, in the afternoon. Leg. Slight vague pain about the muscles of the calf of one leg (sixth day). Painful drawing pain in the lower part of tendo Achillis, worse by motion (after half an hour), increased to a lameness in a few hours, and passed off in evening. Shoots down legs, and tingling in feet (eighth day). Foot. Chilblains have appeared on both feet within the last three days, very painful, cannot suffer boots on; have not had them for three or four years (sixth day).
General Symptoms
Objective. His body became swollen. Slight local inflammation. He appeared as if much intoxicated (after ten minutes). Movements, apparently convulsive, of the mouth and of the limbs were observed (after twenty minutes). He moaned, grasped his throat with some eagerness of action, tossed his head from side to side, and moved his arms and legs in an uneasy, restless manner, not apparently convulsive (after thirty-five minutes). Quite stiff and insensible, apparently dying. He kept very quiet, staring at his drooping hand. He did not get up, but remained where he had been sleeping, groaning, complaining of slight pain in the arm bitten, but altogether unnaturally quiet. Considerable depression of mental and physical powers, anxious to do very many things, but not inclined to move about them; feel inclined to huddle up near the fire, and brood over one’s business (fourteenth and fifteenth days). During the whole day, depression of vital energies to an unusual degree (first day). Languor (next morning). Languid and indifferent during the last few days (ninth day); great languor (tenth and eleventh days). Very languid, all morning (eighth day). He continued many days in a very languid state. Did not recover from the fatigue for some days. Unable to support himself in a sitting posture (after thirty-five minutes). One natural stool; he was then sufficiently conscious to attempt to sit on a pan, and he was supported by two men even during defecation. She remained weakly eight or ten days. Became weaker and weaker, and then suddenly almost insensible; I found him perfectly insensible (second night). Sudden prostration of strength, at night; incapable of either mental or physical exertion for an hour, at 8.30 P.M., then passed off, and became as usual (second day). Rolled about as if very faint and weak. She was suffering from a succession of swooning fits, having already had eight (after two hours). Every vital motion seemed at a stand. Very little sign of life remained (after a quarter of an hour). Life to all appearance extinct. Senselessness (after a few minutes). Insensible (after ten minutes). Insensible almost immediately, and never recovered. Subjective. Began to feel restless and fidgety, though I could assign no reason for it (had entirely forgotten having taken the powder); felt as though there was a necessity for my remaining at home, but could not comply with it; felt extremely restless, in the afternoon (third day). Excessive sensitiveness to draught of air about head and face (nineteenth day). Loss of sense of feeling (after ten hours). Torpor (after a few minutes). Torpor and listlessness pervaded the whole system, and from the moment of the bite gradually increased (after ten hours). Torpid, senseless state (after ten minutes). Four large punctures were visible on the ankle, to which eau de luce being applied, the man gave marks of sensibility by drawing up his leg (after a quarter of an hour) totally without any sense of feeling whatever, had it not been for a gentle heave of the breast every two or three minutes I should have thought him dead (after three hours and a quarter); he remained in this torpid state forty hours, and then began to show signs of returning life. Great desire for an power of walking (tenth day); reaction (eleventh day). Complains of a sensation of wasting away (fourth day). Inclination to lie in bed, in the morning. Feeling of weariness (sixth day); (seventeenth day); with dull frontal headache (fourth day). Feeling of prostration (twelfth, fifteenth and sixteenth days). Feeling of prostration and restlessness (third day). Felt peculiarly prostrate and miserable in body and mind (sixth day). Indefinable sensation of all overishness (sorte d’enrahissement), with a lightness in the head (enterprise generale), slight, lasting perhaps half an hour (first day); the same all overishness, lasting half an hour (immediately), (third day). Felt “out of sorts,” without any special complaint (after eleven days). General malaise (fifteenth day). General feeling of being unwell, at 8 P.M. (sixth day). Towards evening, complains of feeling generally very unwell, as though about to have a fever (third day). Felt the pain descend from the body down the leg, till it ceased exactly at the spot where he was bitten. He was sensible instantly of pain; pain had advanced from the toe as high as the joint of the knee (after half an hour); it had got to the top of his thigh and became much more severe (after forty minutes); soon complained of severe pains in his belly, which, upon examination, appeared tense and much swelled; after he had recovered a little, he told me “he felt the pain descending retrograde in the same track in which it had risen. He suffered intensely, and his life was despaired of. Occasional Crampy pains in the thighs and shoulders and nape of neck (after second powder, fourth day). Occasional dull shooting (astounding, Scottice) in upper part of chest, in ankle-joints, and lower third of thighs, not in the knee-joint (after second powder, third day). Frequent cutting pains, shifting about, not lasting long anywhere (fourth and fifth days). I had not walked a hundred yards before all of a sudden I felt just as if somebody had come behind me and struck me with a severe blow on the head and neck, and at the same time I experienced a most acute pain and sense of oppression at the chest, as though a hot iron had been run in and a hundred weight put on top of it; soon I forgot everything for several minutes, and rolled about as if very faint and weak; my face was of a greenish-yellow color; after walking, or rather staggering, along for some minutes, I gradually recovered my senses; I poured a large quantity of hartshorn into a little water and drank it, instantly I felt relief from the pain at the chest and head; after a second draught at the hartshorn bottle. I proceeded on my way feeling very stupid and confused, afterwards I drank four large wine glasses of brandy, but did not feel the least tipsy after the operation; feeling nearly well I started on my way home, and then, for the first time, I experienced a most acute pain under the nail of the left thumb; this pain also ran up the arm.
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.