Wasting of the muscles of the hand, accompanied with great contraction of the flexor tendons and rigidity of the joints of the fingers. The hand has been stiff and useless every since stopping the Goulard lotion. Phlegmonous swelling of the back of the hand and forearm, followed by an abscess, after the opening of which the patient improved. Shortly after the occurrence of the paralysis, a circumscribed swelling of the extensor tendons was observed, extending from the wrist to the middle or two-thirds of the metacarpus. The swelling was hard and nodose, but was formed without pain, although this was produced in a slight degree by pressure. The sheath of the tendon participated in the tumefaction, and on the back of the hand a series of three or four rounded and cylindrical digitations were observable, which caused a projection of the skin to the extent of two or three millimeters. In one of the patients, as the paralysis of the muscles gradually disappeared in the course of two months, so did this deformity of the tendons. Paralysis of both hands; they hang from the forearms quite relaxed; they are dry and deathly pale, constantly cold; the backs of the hands are raised by scabs under which cavities are formed. Four days after the use of the water had been stopped, she was suddenly seized with loss of power in her hands, one morning (she had awoke in the night with a feeling of numbness in them). Incipient motor paralysis of the right hand; with special weakness of the index and middle fingers; their complete extension has been impossible for several years. Paralysis of the extensor muscles of the hands. Paralysis of the extensors of the hands and wrist. Paralysis of hands and forearms, worse on the right side. Complete paralysis of the extensor muscles of the right hand. Lost the use of his hands three years ago, so that he could not grasp anything, nor button his clothing. The hands were paralyzed to about the same extent as the feet. They hung down at right angles from the forearms, and could not be raised at the will of the patient. The wrist-joints looked flaccid and powerless like the ankles. When the forearms were placed in the supine position, and then pronated, the hands dropped down into their hanging position, as if they had been attached to the forearms by hinges. The flexors, seemed to be somewhat paralyzed, but not nearly so much as the extensors. There was no well-marked emaciation, except of the bundle of muscles composing the ball of the thumb. These were wasted almost entirely away, so that the shape of the metacarpal bone of the thumb could not distinctly traced through the integument. Paralysis of the hands, especially of the right. Paralysis of both hands. Paralysis of the extensors of the right hand. He cannot stretch out the fingers horizontally; they are always semi flexed. Having soon satisfied myself that these fingers were completely insensible when pinched, I made him stretch out his right hand was far as possible, when, despite all his efforts, the little and ring fingers hung down semi flexed on the palm, while the other fingers were fully extended. He could bend the two paralyzed fingers somewhat further, but not completely. Impressed by this peculiar attitude of the hand, which at once brought to my mind that rare affection, local lead poisoning, I mentioned my suspicions to my colleagues and the students in attendance. I questioned the patient concerning his occupation. He said he was employed in the manufacturing of certain chemical compounds, where the rinsed bottles, etc., but distinctly denied that any preparation of lead was among the ingredients used, and insisted that the same was the case as to mercury. He had never had colic, and his gums showed not the slightest trace of a lead line; but this was not inconsistent showed not the slightest trace of a lead line; but this was not inconsistent with my view of the case, under the supposition that the paralysis was due to the local and direct action of the metal. I asked him if he was right-handed. He answered in the affirmative. I then asked him to compress my hand in his right hand. He tried to comply; but that hand had no grasping power, being especially weak at its inner border; a trial with his left hand, however, gave me severe pain. The right little and ring fingers, also the inner border of the right hand and the inner half of the palm and back of the same, were completely insensible to touch, pricking, pinching, cold, and tickling; the other fingers, and the rest of the right hand, retained their natural sensibility. In spite of the patient’s denial that he had been in the habit of touching lead, or of using a leaden tool, I assured him that he had been poisoned by that metal, which he had frequently handled with the last two fingers of his right hand. In order to convince him, I told him to take a sulphur bath, which, if it should have the effect of blackening the paralyzed hand only, especially its affected parts, would show, beyond doubt, the presence of lead in his system, and the propriety of his following my advice. If otherwise, then I would confess myself mistaken. I prescribed for him 1 gram of Iodium Potass. daily; and Iodide ointment to be rubbed with the right hand. Just as he was leaving the dispensary, he turned around and remarked, that “perhaps it was capping the vials which had done the mischief.” Now, if I had not stuck to my theory, this case would certainly have slipped through my fingers. Seizing the cue thus presented, we got him to explain to us the mode in which he fitted on the leaden capsules. He applied the sheet-lead smoothly over the neck of the vial, by clasping the latter between the inner half of the palm and the last two fingers of his right hand; after working in this way for awhile, these parts became covered with a grayish- black discoloration derived from contact with the metal. On re- examining the palm of the hand, we found two callosities on the inside of the knuckle-joints of the two paralyzed fingers, and none elsewhere. These sufficed to show that the patient told the truth, since these were the precise points most subject to friction during the process he had described to us.
Hand flailed on forearm and on the phalanges, Stiffness of the entire right hand; in the left hand, of the fingers only. Left hand much enfeebled, but the right hand still more paralyzed, being unable to grasp an object. Lower limbs still quite strong, Her hands and arms presented all the characteristic symptoms of lead palsy; the wrists were dropped, and the power of extending the fingers almost lost, while the muscles composing the thenar and hypothenar eminences were remarkably atrophied, Some inability to extend the hand, or open the fingers, from want of power or control over the muscles of the wrist. Weakness of the hands. Right hand weaker than the left. Weakness of the hands, especially the right. The right hand is too weak to grasp anything; the left, on the contrary, is an strong as ever. Great difficulty in closing the left hand entirely. After his first attack of colic, he began to perceive a difficulty in extending his fingers and hand; drawings in the arms and legs, His right hand is weak; he can extend it, but not completely. When extended as far as possible, the ring and little fingers are less extended than the other fingers, and form a curve whose concavity is directed towards the palm. Loss of strength in the right hand; it is bent upon the forearm and cannot be straightened. Weakness and trembling of the hands. The hands, the left especially, have a weak grasp of anything, Muscular weakness and paresis of the extensor muscles of the hand, especially the right. The right hand does not grasp as strongly as the left. The extensor muscles of the right hand no longer contract under the influence of electricity; those of the left hand react readily, Grasp of right hand evidently weaker than that of the left, Either hand exerts a force of 180 by the dynamometer. The compressive force exerted by the right hand is not great; it is registered at 5 kilograms by Duchenne’s dynamometer; the left hand is stronger, marking 5-1/2 kilograms. The right hand is used with much difficulty; he cannot button his clothes with it, but can still employ it in conveying food and drink to his mouth. Movements are performed quite easily with the left hand. There is not the least paralysis of the extensor muscles; their muscular contractility is practically unimpaired. Compressive force of the right hand, as estimated by the dynamometer, 11 kilograms; of the left hand, 9-1/2 kilograms; pulling strength, 50 kilograms, Entire loss of electro- contractility in the extensors of either hand. Evident muscular Weakness of the parts; compressive force of the right hand equal to 10 kilograms; that of the left hand to 9-1/2 kilograms; pulling strength much reduced; only equal to 14 kilograms. The muscular sense of the right hand is weakened, Skin of left palm entirely insensible to pinching or any other stimulus; superficial pricking was unfelt; a pin caused pain only when thrust into the subcutaneous tissues. Strong pressure upon all this region; a forced extension of the fingers was painful. The backs of the hands and sides of the fingers retain their sensibility. Loss of sensitiveness to tickling in the right palm; less sensitiveness in the right sole than in the left. On applying to the skin the lighted end of a match, a certain space is found to be insensible to the heat. This space includes the right hand and wrist, extending as far as the lower half of the dorsal surface of the forearm, but only 3 or 4 centimeters above the wrist, on its palmar aspect, so that it is shaped like a wrist-bandage, which is cut away slopingly from its posterior or dorsal portion. The transition from the total insensibility of this space to the normal sensitiveness of surrounding parts is gradual. Right hand, especially the fingers, insensible to pricking and burning. The latter only causes a sensation of warmth. Anaesthesia of the hands, wrists, and forearms; only partial insensibility of the lower half of the arms, Diminished sensitiveness to tickling of the palm of the right hand. Diminished sensibility to pain, tickling, and changes of temperature, in the right hand, Sensibility to tickling is somewhat increased in the right hand, Diminished sensibility t temperature of the right hand. Diminished sensibility of the right hand, most marked on its dorsal surface, Diminished tactile sensibility of the right hand, Sensibility to tickling lost in the right hand; diminished in the left hand, Diminished sensibility to tickling in the hands, especially the right hand, Diminished sensibility to tickling and temperature on the palm of the right hand, Diminution of sensibility and of sensitiveness, to pricking and burning, of the right hand, right wrist, and lower third of the back of the right forearm. The right hand is less sensible to changes of temperature than the left; this is still more the case, correspondingly, with the feet. Slight diminution of tactile sensibility, and of sensibility to pain, in the right hand and lower part of the right forearm. Slight degree of anaesthesia in the right hand and forearm; rather diminished sensitiveness when burnt on the right limb, Slight anaesthesia, especially of the right hand; on applying the aesthesiometer to the middle part of the anterior surface of the forearms, a difference of 8 mm. was observed in the distance at which the separated points could be felt. Of the right hand, only the palm is deprived of sensibility, Numbness in hands and arms, Cramps only of the right hand, Jerking in the back of the left hand (after two hours and a half), Pains in the left hand, with loss of power, on moving it, Sudden pain in hands and arms, followed by inability to use the hands. Fine sticking, extending inward, in the back of the right hand (after two hours and a half) Tearing in the right hand at the point where the pulse is felt (after two hours). Fingers. Spasmodic flexion of the last phalanx of the thumb and in the third finger, The finger-nails become bluish- gray, Slight spasms of the fingers; these attacks were frequently repeated in the course of the next three days; then paralysis set in, Paralysis and atrophy of the extensor digitorum communis set in, Paralysis and atrophy of the extensor digitorum communis indicator, extensores digiti quinti et pollicis, extensor carpi (except the left extensor carpi ulnaris), abductor pollicis longus and brevis, interosseous muscle, deltoid muscles, biceps, branchiales interni, and the supinators, Atrophy of the halls of the thumbs. About three months ago, he lost the power of the middle and ring fingers of the right hand; and after the last attack the index and little fingers of the same hand became similarly affected, Paralysis of the flexors, and especially of the extensors of the fingers, chiefly on the right side; he cannot grasp anything. Weak contraction of these muscles under the stimulus of electricity, Shortly after the admittance of the painter, in case twenty-nine, were consulted by a young man who stated that, a few days before, the last two fingers only of his right hand had become benumbed and paralyzed. What astonished him was, that his health otherwise was good, Paralysis of the extensor muscles of the right fingers. Hand semiflexed upon the forearm. Fingers bent into the hand. Unable to extend the fingers of either hand, If his fist is clenched and he wishes to unclench it, he has merely to stop trying to contract the flexor muscles, when the fingers at once return to their state of semiflexion, the extensors taking no part in the movement, The two left middle fingers are firmly flexed upon the metacarpus; the other fingers are similarly bent, but to a much less degree, and can be extended almost completely, which is not the case with the former. When the hand is shut, the two middle fingers reach only to the upper portion of the thenar and hypothenar regions; the other fingers touch the palm, but fall short of the lower metacarpus. The left middle fingers can only be separated when flexing them. The left thumb can be abducted, adducted, and brought into apposition. The left wrist, When at rest, is less bent than the right, and can be straightened out without previously shutting the hand. The right fingers are bent almost to a right angle with the metacarpus; when the hand is shut, their tips only reach the upper portion of the thenar and hypothenar regions. When the hand is opened, and the flexors cease their contraction, the fingers return to their semiflexed condition by a purely mechanical movement, in which the extensors take no part. The right fingers can only be separated partially, and when flexing them. The right thumb cannot be abducted or brought into opposition, but is still capable of adduction. The right wrist is kept somewhat flexed; it can be straightened out only when the hand has been previously shut; it is then capable of adduction and abduction. The left middle and ring fingers are bent at a right angle with the metacarpus, and cannot be in the least extended; the thumb, index, and little fingers can be extended pretty well, but not completely; the dorsal surfaces of the latter describe a slight curve, and the superior extremities of the index and little finger form a considerable angle with those of the middle and ring fingers.
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.