After the experiment I walked two kilometers without fatigue, and had a very good appetite; I had lost none of my activity during the remainder of the walk, only at night I felt more fatigued than usual. After the third or fourth inspiration I experienced a heaviness of the head and a little general muscular fatigue. My vision was affected, and objects placed in front of me seemed to have a constant indistinct motion. After one or two more inspirations I experienced a noise like that of a railroad train passing through a tunnel; at this moment my consciousness was perfect; I was still master of my will, although feebly so; I noticed that I was not lying straight upon the couch, and by a voluntary movement I rectified the position of my limbs.
Immediately after this my vision disappeared, and I completely lost consciousness, but for an instant only I was able to analyze my sensations; I seemed more lucid and exalted, as if separated from the world. This state seemed to last for some seconds. When under the influence of a new inspiration of the gas, I lost all recollection, and seemed to pass into a state of sleep. I was afterwards conscious of a noise in my ears, and of a vague impression of something touching my tooth, not at all resembling pain. On inspiring atmospheric air I returned to myself, without excitement, and the recollection of the whole experiment was agreeable rather than painful. The feelings experienced during each stage of the operation of the gas, up till the power of communicating them failed him, were described as they occurred, and written down at the time. He first felt a difficulty in moving the extensors of the left arm, then the flexors became affected in like manner. The feeling next spread to the right arm and hand, and immediately afterwards to the lower extremities, and there was a sense of tingling all over the body, accompanied by a sort of vibrating agitation of the muscles generally. He then said, with great emphasis, “Intoxication,” and ceased further communicating his feelings, though he seemed to know and be able to appreciate what was taking place about him. There seemed no disposition to laughter. He soon fell into a partly anesthetic condition; but on an attempt being made to touch the conjunctiva, he seemed to be roused to perfect consciousness again, and tried to remove the face-piece, saying he had something to tell us. Inhalation was then discontinued; he had breathed the gas a little over two minutes. He imagined that he had made a very important discovery, showing the manner in which Nitrous oxide acted, but on endeavoring to recall it no trace of it remained, beyond a confident feeling that such a discovery had flashed across his mind. Whole body throbs after the paroxysms of semi-unconsciousness. She seemed to herself to pass through a dream. Spells of semi-consciousness, preceded by a numb feeling in head, spreading thence over the body; she falls backwards to the ground; if she can get to the open air the spells are postponed, but are all the harder when they do come when busy at her work they will not appear, but as soon as she goes to bed, or sits down unoccupied, she is at once attacked; partially conscious; knows she is sick, but cannot help herself; like one in nightmare; afterwards her whole body throbs. Complete loss of consciousness, and a kind of ecstasy, with violent involuntary muscular movements. On April 17th, having previously closed my nostrils and exhausted my lungs, I breathed four quarts of the gas from and into a silk bag. The first feelings were similar to those produced in the last experiment; but in less than half a minute, the respiration being continued, they diminished gradually, and were succeeded by a sensation analogous to gentle pressure in all the muscles, attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling, particularly in the chest and in the extremities. The objects around me became dazzling, and my hearing more acute.
Towards the last inspirations, the thrilling increased, the sense of muscular power became greater, and, at last, an irresistible propensity to action was indulged in; I recollect but indistinctly what followed; I know that my motions were various and violent. These effects very soon ceased after the respiration of the gas. In ten minutes I had recovered my natural state of mind. The thrilling in the extremities continued longer than the other sensations. This experiment was made in the morning; no languor or exhaustion was consequent; my feelings throughout the day were as usual, and I passed the night in undisturbed repose.
The next morning the recollection of the effects of the gas was very indistinct; and had not remarks written immediately after the experiment recalled them to my mind, I should even have questioned their reality. The first marked effect is a quickening of respiratory movements, which effect continually increases up to the period of insensibility. In some cases the breathing is very rapid and laborious, two or three inspirations being made per second. Another effect, that seems to be common to all cases, is that during the period of unconsciousness, so called, there is left scarcely more than a bare idea of existence; all other ideas seem to be obliterated. Another common effect is, that before the period of unconsciousness there is a confusion of ideas. The appearance of a person who has become unconscious from the inhalation of Nitrous oxide is evidently that of asphyxia or suffocation. The countenance assumes a leaden hue; the eyes lose their luster and have, instead, a vacant stare. The phenomena usually observed in the human subject when the gas is inhaled are as follows; when it has been inspired two or three times, there is an increase in the force and frequency of the pulse. In about twenty seconds, if the breathing has been steady and regular to begin with, it is also noticed to increase in frequency. This, however, from the commencement is often irregular, shallow, and rapid, from the nervous condition of the patient. In about thirty seconds, the patient’s color begins to turn livid. When the gas has been continued for about one minute the pulse is almost invariably noticed to fall in force and frequency, the breathing is often labored, sometimes stertorous, though I have several times seen cases where it became feebler until the expiring valve was hardly raised; it was then either the case that the patient was completely anesthetized, or, if not, the breathing commenced to improve in character. In the majority of cases, in one minute and thirty seconds the patient is over. This is known by different signs, the one which is least open to mistake is a sudden change in the patient’s appearance, which is difficult to describe, but readily recognized; another is a nervous twitching of the hands. It is not by any means necessary to carry the administration the length of this in every case, but when it is present for a few seconds the patient is quite insensible. In one case to which I gave the gas, this muscular twitching affected the whole body, resembling almost an epileptic convulsion; the patient was quite unconscious. It occasionally happens about the period of the removal of the face-piece that the pulse intermits a beat or two, and I have repeatedly seen the breathing stop, during a period equal to four or five respirations, at the time when the operation was commenced. It is very curious, and a fact which I have not seen noticed by others, that the hearing remains acute frequently after the other senses are in abeyance; thus patients are able to repeat remarks made in their presence after they are apparently unconscious, and one young lady was able to repeat a hasty remark, made by the operator, Mr. Warwick Hele, when a tooth broke under the forceps, although she did not feel its subsequent removal, and the observation was made in so low a voice that I did not catch what it was, though I was standing beside him. There often exists considerable muscular rigidity during the latter stages of the administration. In thirty-seven cases, the time taken to produce insensibility was as follows: Up to 1 minute, inclusive….. 9 ” 1 ” 20 seconds, inclusive…17 ” 1 ” 40 ” “… 5 ” 2 minutes – ” “… 5 ” 2 ” 20 ” “… 1 The shortest time was forty-five seconds, the longest two minutes thirteen seconds. Recovery is usually rapid and complete, the patient waking up as from a sleep. But it does sometimes happen, usually in young ladies between the ages of fourteen and twenty, that there is an intermediate stage between that of complete unconsciousness and recovery, when some excitement is exhibited, such as tossing about restlessly in the chair and weeping, they, on recovery, being generally very much surprised to find themselves so doing. Out of the above-mentioned cases, we have noted seven to have been affected in this manner in a greater or less degree; three complained of slight giddiness or faintness, and one was a little sick. One patient, a boy, urinated, his father having declined to indulge his expressed wish to do it before the operation. In several cases the removal of teeth was felt, but unattended with pain. The longest period during which we have noticed a patient to be insensible is one minute. In regard to the sensations experienced by patients, the majority are able only to say that they have been unconscious, save that they have been asleep and dreaming, the dreams being often pleasant, sometimes more like nightmare; and lastly, some complain that they have had considerable annoyance from rushing or singing noises in the head. One little girl was immensely pleased with it; she said that “she felt as if she was being tickled all over.” Unconscious reflex screaming is not uncommon with children during the operation, but it does not seem to be connected with any particular from of dreaming. Soon became insensible to physical pain. A peculiar sensation of expansion.
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.