His sight was unimpaired, his gait firm and confident. At times, he was silent and quiet, although he never closed eyes. On the eighth day of delirium, he was quiet, but, in conversation, more decidedly irrational than on the day before. He spoke to others with a smiling face; he was silent and looked very thoughtful. He spoke to others with a smiling face; he was silent and looked very thoughtful. Now and then, he perceived that he had used a wrong word, as was shown by his impatient gestures, and he tried to recall the proper one; he talked to himself about all sorts of things. If he was spoken to so as to attract his attention strongly, and the questions were simple, and easily answered, his replies were rational. He talked no more sensibly about one thing than another. Even to-day, although not so apparent as yesterday, there was always, amid his delirious ravings, a certain semblance of good sense. The utterance is, as it were, spasmodic; more abrupt and jerky than on the day before; words are pronounced rapidly and incompletely. Out of his head, at time; at night, quite delirious, talked almost constantly; got out of bed; looked for his clothes, in order to dress himself; ran all about the room, trying to get into the other patients’ beds; at last, after he had gone on in this way a good white, it was found necessary to put him in a strait-waistcoat, to which he submitted quietly. Next day, his eyes were wide open; his expression was rather while. When alone, he talked much to himself, sometimes calmly, sometimes violently; generally about wine, which he would not take part in smuggling into the hospital. Sometimes he fancied himself at his foundry, at home, or in the street, etc. His conversation was a mixture of sense and extravagance. When his attention was strongly attracted to anything, what he said was at first rational, then he would suddenly drop the subject, and begin to talk about something quite different, mixing together in this way a great many ideas and incoherent words. But, on peremptorily recalling his thoughts to the topic gambolled from, he would again answer pertinently and sensibly for awhile. After trying in vain to find his clothes, he got up and walked the room, but with hesitating step, and feeling about with his hands, like one groping in the dark; runs against the stove, the beds, etc.; sometimes uttered incoherent words, or called for his wife, or his friends; wanted to talk about his business; often said “My wife! my wife!” more frequently was silent. At last he became quiet, soon got into bed again, and seemed to fall into a deep sleep. After awhile, would rouse up and begin to act in the same way again. Once he was about to urinate upon the stand which held the patient’s diet-drink.
Sometimes he spoke rationally, but generally poured forth unintelligible words in a trembling and hurried voice. He talked to those about him, and made the most incongruous demands upon them. He was not violent, and threatened nobody. Now and then he put his hands to his forehead or abdomen, his face contracted, he groaned, and exclaimed “My God! my God!” then began to cry like a child. Sometimes he was observed to lie down on his abdomen. Constant sleeplessness. Delirium and restlessness, worse at night. Recognized those about him, and maintained a long conversation tolerably well; but, when a drunken patient happened to say to him, in an offensive tone, “They will put you in a strait-waistcoat, you old lunatic!” he became furious, stamped his feet, shook his feet, shook his fists, wept, etc.; poured forth a multitude of words. In a quarter of an hour, he became quiet again, and soon after slept a little. Being visited by his wife, he at first received her roughly, and loaded her with abuse; then suddenly began to caress her, and seemed greatly pleased with the visit. His facial expression does not at all times correspond with the character of the conversation he is engaged in, nor with the other external influences which surround him. Thus, he will sometimes burst out laughing, while speaking of some very ordinary matter, or look serious and thoughtful while answering the most simple question. Yet quite often his face wears its natural expression. At first he would not be taken for a victim of cerebral disease;he is very quiet, and seems quite rational. But gradually as the conversation proceeds, he loses the thread of his ideas, and talks mere nonsense, or keeps contradicting himself most shockingly. When alone, he does not talk to himself. He eats, drinks, urinates, and goes to stool, as properly as anybody; sometimes he gets up to visit other patients in the next ward; the latter do not at first perceive that his intellect is at all affected, but when the hint is given them by the physicians, they soon declare that he talks wildly. Rose from bed in the night, and tried to get into his neighbor’s bed’ took a cravat from me; a pair of trousers from another; walked as if groping in the dark, and bruised himself against to stove, washstand, etc.; talked to himself; at last the warden managed to get him into bed again. Quiet during the rest of the night; but every now and then wanted his neighbors to give him “his drop.” Next day, face wild; eyes wide open; by turns fixed and wandering. Abdomen nowhere painful on pressure. Kept trying to get up in order to take his “drop,” and called to the other patients,” Make haste and get up.” His limbs were tremulous. His constant efforts to get out of bed made it necessary to put his in a strait-waistcoat; he struggled hard against it, screamed, howled, uttered threats; became red with passion, and tried in every way to break loose; called out to the passers by and begged them to set him free. During the day, he was sometimes quiet and silent; sometimes furious at the thought of being tied. He was never sleepy. Fancied, at times, that he heard delightful music, which soothed his sorrows. His utterance is drawling, difficult, and frequently broken; so that he talks like a child who has not learned to speak plainly; instead of “oui,” for example, he says “ui”. Sometimes he cannot get hold of the right word; then he frets and worries himself, and now and then becomes quite desperate. This difficulty seems to be met with chiefly in the case of substantives; with adjectives, the intellect and organs of speech deal more easily. His colic was almost cured, when the nurses and his fellow-patients observed that his intellect was affected, and that he wandered in his speech, but to so slight an extent, that the aberration escaped the notice of the medical attendants. He lay quiet, with closed eyes, as if in a peaceful sleep; when pinched as hard as possible he showed no sign of sensibility. When the fingers, hands, forearms, or arms were placed in any position, and left unsupported, they remained there for a few seconds, then oscillated a little, and fell back on the bed. This experiment was repeated several times, with the same result. The body was rigid, so that he could not be made to sit upright, and his attention could not be aroused for a moment. Suddenly he began to make a great variety of the most expressive gestures, at first with one arm, only, but soon the other arm, the legs, trunk, head and face, all took part in these movements, which were performed in co-ordination, and seemed to express the same idea. Every moment he appeared to be possessed by the most dissimilar and grotesque conceptions, which he embodied in this way. At the same time he cried out, and tried to spoke, but was prevented by the liquid in his mouth. If, at this time, he was gently pinched, he showed by an abrupt movement, that he felt acutely. The upper limbs no longer remained fixed in any position they were placed in; they were too stiff to be moved at all. After the movements had lasted some minutes, they were succeeded by a state of absolute quietude, and he lay just as he done before they commenced; then they began again, to be again followed by a period of repose, and so on, in alternation. Now, he indicated, by a significant gesture, that he desired to eat and drink; now he suddenly spouted the pitsan, which he had been holding in his mouth, all over the surgeon in attendance. Then came an interval of quiet and unconsciousness, during which his limbs remained in any position they were made to assume. Next was witnessed a series of the most expressive gestures, although he kept his eyes shut, and uttered not a single word. Their significance is constantly varying; sometimes they seem to indicate rage, sometimes despair, sometimes entreaty, sometimes the most profound meditation. At last he suddenly opened his eyes, called for drink; then seemed to fall asleep again while swallowing his pitsan, but is easily aroused by being spoken to; then he opened his eyes, called for drink; then seemed to fall asleep to fall asleep again while swallowing his pitsan, but is easily aroused by being spoken to; then he opened his eyes fully, began to talk about his mother, and while volubly from one incoherent idea to another, still answered questions rationally. Left to himself, he talked incessantly, followed up an idea for a minute or two, and then left it for another. At one time he became much agitated, tried to get up, addressed the doctors, abused them, tried to strike and bite the nurses when restrained, and at last, shouting and struggling, was put into a strait-waistcoat. On the second day of the delirium, he was lying quiet, with eyes half open. Soon he aroused completely, began to talk very fast, and at first answered questions rationally. But after conversing a few minutes, his thoughts became confused, and he began to ramble and talk to himself. By attracting his attention again, he could be brought back to the original topic, then got off the track again, and so forth; so that his talk was a mixture of sense of nonsense. He was frequently influenced by the most grotesque delusions; he fancied that a cavalry regiment was about to fall upon him; or that he was in the presence of his employer, who was finding fault with him. His face looked rather wild; at times he bursts out laughing. His head was full of notions. He recollected very well what happened a month or more ago; but could not call to mind things that occurred only a few days before his delirium set in. He seems to recognize familiar acquaintances; sometimes he talks unintelligibly to himself; more frequently is silent. When his attention is strongly attracted, he at first answers rationally; then suddenly utters some words without meaning or connection; afterwards takes up again the thread of logical thought. He usually waits some time before answering a question; it seems as if it required great mental exertion for him to understand what is said. During the evening of the seventh day, suddenly great restlessness;he hears everywhere threatening voices, officers come to arrest him, to seize his furniture, and to expel him from his lodgings; the voices come from the pillow, the mattress; they enter by the window, where he sees people, and they consult about him with closed doors; he gets up, looks for his clothing, wants to run away, to his lodge, etc. The next morning he sits at the edge of his bed, the eyes fixed steadily to the window, or looking about in a restless manner; he recognizes all persons around him, replies correctly to all questions, but cannot recollect what he ate yesterday, whether his bowels moved or not, and looks to his wife in an interrogating manner insists, though as if afraid to acknowledge it, on the reality of his hallucinations. He had, some time back, illusions of vision; saw castles, palaces, but these have ceased since he entered the hospital. Has a cachectic look; cheeks hollow and pale; yellow complexion; no signs of lead poisoning, aside from the cerebral symptoms.
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.