Painful tearing in the thigh, during the menses. When walking quickly, the muscles of left upper thigh (inner side, rather posteriorly) felt tight for a few minutes, in morning (eighteenth day). Cramp in the thighs all day. Knees. Stiffness in the knees and ankles. Stiffness of the knees and legs. Stiffness in the hollows of the knees and in the legs (after nine days). Painful weakness in the knees, in the morning, immediately after rising from bed. Weakness of the right knee while walking, disappearing on continuing to walk. Cracking in the knee, as if a cartilage slipped, with pain on moving it. Tension in the knee on the first step after sitting. Tension and burning in the hollows of the knees. Tearing in the left knee, in the evening; she could not stretch it out. Sticking in the right knee-joint, as from a sprain, in the evening, while walking and lying down, not while sitting. Stitches in the knees. Cramp in the left knee, while walking. Cramp like pain in the knee-joint. Pulling pain, with tickling, in the knee-joints. Bruised pain in the knees and tibiae. Pain in the patella, as after a blow. Frequently a cold spot on the knee, from which a cold stream extended through the whole extremity. Leg and Ankle. Places on the lower legs painful to touch, during the menses. Tearing, sticking, and pressure on the leg, in a spot formerly ulcerated. The lower leg, and especially the ankle, seemed surrounded by an iron band. Jerking in the right leg, from the knee-joint down, painful only when walking. Paralytic pressive drawing in the left tibia and forearm, along the extensor surfaces (after twenty-four hours).
Cramp like drawing in the right tibia. Violent cramp in the legs, immediately. Cramp in the calves, at night. Pain in the tibiae, on walking. Pain, when walking, in muscles on outer side of right lower leg, very near the ankle; to-day, also pain there on flexing and extending right foot or leg (thirteenth and fourteenth days). Cracking in the ankle on moving the foot. Cramp in the tendo Achilles, at night. Foot and Toes. Swelling of the feet for several days. Stiffness of the foot and, on moving it, cramp in the sole. Heaviness of the feet and whole body. Pressive pain on the foot, and a weakness below the external malleolus.
Violent drawing and jerking in the feet (after nine days).
Drawing in the foot, for a moment, while walking. Cramp in the feet, with tension of the tendons of the dorsal surface (after three weeks). Tension in the foot, when walking (after seven days). Swollen sensation in the feet. Swelling and heat in the anterior portion of the sole of the foot, two evenings in succession, lasting an hour, with burning. Cramp in the soles, at night (after eight, and eleven days). Tearing in the heels, in the morning, on waking. Throbbing in the soles of the feet, worse when he became quiet. Tearing drawing in the ball of the right great toe. Pressure in the right heel. Stitches, as from a splinter, in the heel. The toes are drawn inward by a cramp, in the evening. Pressure in the ball of the great toe as if it had been frozen, or as if an iron band were bout it. Burning pain in the corn. Stitches in the corns. Pain, as from a sprain, in the first joints of the toes, on stepping. Stitching, as from needles, crossing in different directions through the toes.
Generalities
Visible emaciation, with good appetite. Loss of flesh (in chronic cases). The parts of the body upon which he was lying became very red. General convulsive movements (after two hours). Violent tetanic spasms; the patient suffered frightful pains, at times followed by general rigidity, accompanied by incessant cries; after ten minutes’ quiet, the paroxysms would return with renewed violence; during this no liquid could be taken, and six men were unable to hold the patient on account of the violence of the paroxysms. Twitchings in sleep at noon and at night. Trembling, in the morning, on rising. After riding, descending from a carriage, and walking up and down in the open air, sudden violent nausea and so great weakness that she sank down, with inclination to stool, very cold sweat on the head, throat, and chest, and complete paleness of the face and blue rings around the eyes; after a stool violent chill, and afterwards, in the evening, some heat. Restless (after half an hour). Very restless (after two hours). Patient very restless, tossing to and fro, with constant cries (second day). Restless; he does not know what to do with himself. Constant desire to change the position (after two hours). Night restless (first night). Very weary, in the morning, in bed; the limbs feel bruised (after eleven days). Overpowering weariness. Weariness and bruised sensation in the limbs, especially in the evening, on lying down. Great weakness, without any cause (after fifteen days). Great weakness, after a walk (after eleven days). Great weakness and dizziness after a stool; the vision vanishes, and he is obliged to close his eyes in order to recover himself. Very weak, in the morning, on rising; she was obliged to sit still for half an hour to collect herself. So weak that the limbs were painful on account of weariness. So weak that she was obliged to sleep while sitting. A kind of nervous weakness of the whole body, after a short walk. Weakness of the body, and heaviness of the lower extremities. He easily became weary from a slight exertion. The weakness that he had frequently experienced disappeared after eating. Physical weakness and prostration, during the menses. Exhaustion of the whole body, in the morning; he could only with effort walk about the room, and was obliged to lie down again. Powerlessness (after seven days).
Sudden, almost momentary, loss of power, even a faintness, with paleness of the face and sudden nausea, quickly coming and going, lasting a quarter of an hour (after four, and five days). Feeling of faintness, in the morning, on entering the house after going out; he felt sick, heat mounted into the face, and a veil seemed to come before the eyes, with a feeling of compression in the temples; he was near fainting, but he gathered himself up, and everything passed off in three minutes. Feeling of faintness before an approaching storm. A slight vexation affects her very much; the taste becomes bitter; the appetite is lost; a short walk then affects her; she has frequent diarrhoea, orgasm of blood on falling asleep, eructations and nausea, restless sleep, and the next morning a trembling and waving through the whole body, diarrhea, and an internal misery, so that tears constantly stand in her eyes (after nine days). Everything seems too hard to her, while sitting and lying. Takes cold easily; she becomes faint on account of it. The open air affected him, while walking; he was averse to it. Dread of the open air. Dared not repeat the dose; patient could not leave the bed until 11 A.M.; at 12, noon, symptoms all gone (third day). (The chilblains and the cold feet, for which the Petroleum had been given, disappeared), (after three days). Sick, fearful, weeping at trifles. An indescribable feeling of sickness, with great anxiety (after half an hour).
Tremulous tension through the whole body, with apprehension and ill-humor and cracking in the joints. A general intolerable sensation, as if severe illness were impending, with a tremulous condition and great weakness (after three days). Taking cold causes headache, lachrymation, inflammation of the throat, cough, and coryza (after two days). Pain, as from a sprain, in the arm, chest, and back, in the afternoon (after eighteen days). Felt the least pain when lying down. Weary pain in the shoulders, spine, and loins. Sharp jerking pressure in one or another part (after sixteen days). Drawing pressure here and there in the bones, not relieved by walking in the open air (after three days). Frequent drawing in the trunk. The whole body jerked together, in the evening, in bed, while still awake. Stitches here and there in the body (second and third days).
Skin.
Cyanosis and marble-like coldness of the whole body, especially of the extremities. Unhealthy skin; even slight wounds suppurate and spread. Eruptions, Dry. Yellow spots on the right arm (after six days). Skin of the hands fissured (after thirteen days). Skin of the hands cracked and rough. Redness and moist soreness on the upper and inner portion of the lower extremities (after twelve days). A large red spot on the left knee, afterwards with pressive pain. Papular eruption about the eyes. Papular eruption on the eyelids. Eruption on the outer ear, lasting thirty days.
Papular eruption on the right ear, disappearing in the evening (after five days). Papular eruption on the face. On left cheek, at anterior border of whiskers, a pimple, painful to touch (eleventh day). Papular eruption at the corner of the mouth, with a sticking pain. Scabby pimples above the upper lip, with sticking pain when not touched. Eruption on the lips. Papular eruption on the abdomen, burning when touched. Small itching pimples on the angle between the scrotum and thigh. Pimples, that itch very much, on both legs. Greatly inflamed papular eruption above the knee. Eruption between the toes. Eruption of nodules and pimples on the exposed skin, speedily breaking out on those who are, for the first time, engaged in the manufacture, lasting for a few weeks or months, an then generally diminishing or disappearing. In a few exceptional individuals the eruption does not disappear, but, assuming a chronic character, produces so marked and prolonged an affection of the skin that the general health becomes impaired, and the cessation of this employment becomes a necessity. In the acute form of the eruption, which soon appears in those exposed to the influence of crude paraffin, the skin of the hands, wrists, arms, feet, and legs becomes covered with a rash of bright-red nodules, closely approximate to each other, and usually largest and most numerous on the wrists, or wherever the dress tightly embraces the skin; the dorsal aspects of the part being most severely affected, and the palms of the hands and soles of the feet enjoying a complete immunity; similar nodules arise, though to a less extent, on the face, neck, and other parts of the body to which the oily matters find access; on examining minutely the skin of those affected in this way, the following are the leading peculiarities of the eruption: the bright-red nodules, hard to the touch, tender on pressure, varying little in size, which is about equal to that of a grain of barley, are of a rounded form, and consist each of a single hair-follicle with the parts immediately surrounding it, which are inflamed, indurated, and reddened; the hair emerges from the very summit of the nodule, and the orifice of the hair-follicle is much enlarged and easily visible to the naked eye as an aperture of a magnitude similar to that of a pinhole in a card; the dilatation extends to the deeper part of the follicle, which forms the kernel of the inflamed knot, the retention of its contents evidently contributing to the inflammatory induration around; the gaping mouth of the follicle exhibits masses of cast- off epithelial scales, dry and friable instead of greasy and tenacious; the nodule has little of the tendency to run on to suppuration observable in an ordinary comedone, and its contents cannot be squeezed out; on the contrary, the redness and induration, after remaining for some little time, gradually diminish, and finally disappear, leaving the hair-follicle enlarged, and its mouth gaping so as to exhibit the retained epithelial masses, there latter being rendered more distinct by continued retention and accumulation of dirt; in fact, the acute form of the eruption consists of successive crops of these nodules, which are at the same time seen in all stages of their; growth, full development, and subsidence; while the skin between them, studded with the black gaping mouths of such follicles as have already passed through or are about to undergo the process, retains, contrary to what is observed in the chronic form of the malady, its natural pliancy and elasticity. In all paraffin- workers patency an enlargement of the hair- follicles continue, to some extent, so long as they are engaged in this manufacture, and the black dots in the skin of their hands and face strike the eye of the observer at once; men with dark complexions and strong hair being especially deformed in this way, while fair complexions and light or reddish hair escape comparatively unaffected; a few exceptional individuals, with swarthy complexions and hairy skins, suffer so much from an exaggerated patency of the follicles that they are compelled to quit their occupation and seek a more suitable calling. When the disease assumes a chronic from it exhibits the following characteristics; the backs of the feet and toes, the dorsum of the hand, and the backs of the fingers between, but not over, the joints, exhibit a peculiar honeycombed appearance of the skin, which is elevated, thickened, and inelastic, so as to prevent or render difficult and painful the flexion on the fingers and hands; these elevated honeycombed patches are of natural color, and not inflamed (except where the isolated papule exhibits the appearance described under the acute form), but consists of densely grouped arrays of hair-follicles, with the indurated cutis between and around them, the follicles packed with dry brittle accumulation of epithelial scales, so extensive as to be easily visible through the dilated mouths of the follicles, these latter being large enough to admit the extremity of an ordinary probe; the hairs themselves have disappeared from these patches, having probably become atrophic from the pressure of the epidermic masses, while cracks and bleeding fissures traverse the indurated parts, and in rare instances a follicular abscess gives variety to the picture; the knuckles of the fingers and toes, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet remain unaffected by the disease; in the subjects of the chronic malady the complexion is pale and the tongue foul, while the loss of flesh betrays the effects of the sleepless nights caused by the constant irritation and pain of the skin of the affected extremities. Eruptions, Moist. On the front of the thighs and legs, and the backs of the forearms, there is a vesicular eruption; it is everywhere similar in character; on the thighs there are some thickened patches of cuticle and sordes covering part of the eruption; the vesicles are aggravate in places and isolated at the margins; there is no itching in the affected parts, but some irritation is complained of (after three weeks); two days later, has had two baths; some of the cuticle and sordid matter is removed from the thigh, and the nature of the disease is better seen; some of the vesicles seem inclined to be pustular at their summits; a hair is seen in the center of each of them. Blisters on the heel. Eruptions, Pustular. The patient was unable to bend the head forward or to turn it on account of the pain, caused by the development of abscesses on the nape of the neck; these furuncles were associated with a moist eruption on the margin of the hair of the occiput, like eczema; one boil after another opened and discharged, and the vertigo and other head symptoms disappeared.
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.