Common names: Poison ivy, Poison oak, Mercury vine, Three- leaved ivy, etc.; (G.), Gift-sumac, Wurzel-sumach.
Introduction
Rhus toxicodendron, Linn. (including its variety R. radicans, L.). Natural order: Anacardiacae. Preparation: Tincture of the plant.
Mind
Emotional. Delirium. Though naturally inclined to melancholy, she felt merry and disposed for work as soon as she swallowed the infusion. Grief; inclination to weep; melancholy; extreme irritability even from his own thoughts, or from the slightest cares. Full of sad thoughts, anxious and fearful, wherewith she gradually lost strength, and was obliged to lie down for hours in order to region vigor. (Melancholy, ill-humor, and anxiety, as if a misfortune would happen, or as if she were alone and all about her were dead and still, or as if she had been forsaken by a near friend; worse in the house, relieved by walking in the open air. Sad, begins to weep without knowing why. Sadness; loved to be alone (after ten hours). She seldom had a joyful thought. Satiety of life, with desire to die without sadness.
Involuntary weeping without a weeping mood, with rumbling in the abdomen. Great despondency, for eight years. Feels despondent; don’t like to be spoken to; nervousness; starts suddenly at every slight noise (after seventy-two hours). If disagreeable thoughts came into her mind she could not free herself from them. Extremely low-spirited, with sense of great prostration; she could not prevent herself from crying, every morning after the dose (after some days). Depression and discouragement and dissatisfaction, with the world, in the evening (eight day).
Depression of spirits and indisposition to conversation, with the pain above superciliary ridges (sixteenth day). Depression of spirits with the aching over left eyebrow (twenty-second day). Discouragement and apprehension, followed by short cough, from severe tickling and irritation behind the upper half of the sternum after a siesta, from non to 3 P.M. (sixth day).
Apprehensive, anxious, and tremulous (from tenth to twenty- seventh day). Inexpressible anxiety, with pressure at the heart and tearing in the small of the back. Frightful anxiety with mental uneasiness, with dryness in the throat. Real anxiety at the heart, more in the afternoon than in the forenoon; she did not sleep more than half the night on account of great apprehension, and was so anxious that she perspired (after twelve days). Anxiety; while sitting she was obliged to take hold of something because she did not think he could keep up on account of the pain (beating and drawing pains in the limbs).
Very restless mood, with anxiety and apprehension, that constantly clawed at her heart (at the pit of the stomach), with difficult breathing. Anxiety and hot skin (after eighteen hours).
Anxiety at night; he would flee from bed and seek help on account of an indescribable distressing sensation. Anxiety, with loss of strength, as if he would die, more after midnight then before. Anxiety and apprehension as if he wished to take his own life, for an hour in the twilight, towards evening. Great apprehension at night; cannot remain in bed. (The anxiety which she had before taking the drug disappeared, but at times she was obliged to weep). Fear and despair on account of sad thoughts, which she could not get rid of. He thought an enemy wished to poison him. He is frightened by a trifle (on falling asleep) as if he had dreaded the greatest misfortune. Ill- humored, depressed; could easily begin to weep. Ill-humored, depressed, and in despair. Fretfulness in the open air, he could fall asleep while walking. Fretful. Disposition to criticize and find fault, from 7 to 9 P.M. (seventeenth day).
Impatient and vexed at every trifle; she does not endure being talked to. Intellectual. Impatient desire to accomplish several kind of business, chiefly intellectual, with the fullness and pain in the forehead (twenty-third day). Confusion of mind, he thought he would die. Great aversion to any kind of labor, for eight years. He was averse to every, even slight occupation.
Inaptitude to mental labor, at 9 and 10 P.M., preceding an itching from the middle of left leg to the ankle, more on the skin and outside of it (fourth day). Very slow ideas. Can not satisfied, is indifferent to business. He could control the flow of ideas and un impededly think of whatever he wished without being disturbed by any distracting thoughts. He is able to control his thoughts, and can reflect quietly as long as he wishes upon any subject that pleases him, and then can change to another train of thought, with quiet slow respiration.
Mathematical and mechanical calculations (thirteenth night). Loss of thought; it seems as though he were thinking, yet he has no thoughts. Loss of thought; for example, if he wished to write twelve he put down one, but could not think of the two; when he held the paper in his hand he was first obliged to recall to mind what he really had in his hand. Loss of thought, like a swimming of the eyes, frequently like a vanishing of all thoughts, while walking, after a meal (after twenty-eight hours). He was exhausted, thought was difficult, and talking irksome, or he was quite averse to it. Mental exhaustion for several days, he could not at all collect his thoughts, and was almost stupid. Forgetfulness; he could not recollect what had just taken place. Memory is very dull; he can with difficulty recall things and names, even the most familiar, though sometimes the memory is quite clear and distinct, if he has no chill. Weakness of memory. Considerable coma.
Head
Confusion and Vertigo. Confusion of the head without definite pain. Head confused and dull. Excessive vertigo on lying down, with fear that he would die (after ten hours). Very violent vertigo. Vertigo and dulness of the head. Vertigo while sitting, as if he were elevated. Vertigo soon after eating. Vertigo, as if everything were whirling around with her; worse while walking and standing, also when sitting, but less severe (but not at all while lying down). Reeling, tottering, and staggering of the body while walking, without dizziness of the head. Reeling and staggering while walking, without vertigo. A whirling on walking or stooping, not at other times. He staggers while walking always to the right. She seemed intoxicated, and thought that she would fall, on rising from bed. Her heard was so much affected that she would fall, on rising from bed.
Her head was so much affected that she could not easily stand; could not hold herself up. Dizzy while walking, so that he did not see men immediately in front of him. Dizziness of the head. Dizzy, as if she would fall forward, while walking. Quite dizzy in the morning on rising; he is scarcely able to keep on his feet. Dizziness in the head in the morning on waking, while in bed, disappearing after rising. Dizziness, in the morning. More or less dizziness. General Head. Swelling about the head (fifth day). Swelling of the head in some. Swelling of the head, neck, and chest as far down as the umbilicus. Dulness of the head (immediately); (after half an hour). Dulness of the head, pressure in the right temple, and just above and behind the right orbit a pressing downward, as from a weight. Dulness of the head and disinclination for literary work. Dulness in the head and an intoxicated feeling, in the morning (after twelve hours). Dulness of the head, as if intoxicated, while sitting; on rising, such dizziness that it seemed as if she were going to fall forward and backward. Heaviness and dulness of the head on turning the eyes; even the eyeball hurts. Some constant heaviness in the head, and on stooping a sensation a if a weight fell forward into the forehead and dragged the head downward, whereby the face became hot. The head is full and heavy, with a sensation on stooping as if the brain fell forward. Heat so heavy that she was obliged to hold it upright in order to relieve the weight pressing forward into the forehead. The head seems too full and heavy (with ringing in the ears), with at times stitches from within outward in the left temple. Heaviness in the upper part of the head after walking. Weakness of the head; whenever she turned the head she quite lost consciousness; on stooping, it seemed as though she could never rise again. A stupid feeling; weakness of the head. Sudden weakness in the head and vertigo, so that he thought he would fall forward, while standing after dinner. On shaking the head, a sensation as if the brain were loose and hit against the skull. Sensation as if something were turning around in the head, though without vertigo, while walking in the open air. A swashing in the whole brain at times. Sensation of flapping in the brain while walking. On ascending, it seemed as if the head were affected; she felt every step in it. Feeling of unsteadiness in the head (after six and seven days).
Immediately on opening the eyes after sleep a sudden violent headache, at first in the forehead behind the eyes, as if the brain were torn to pieces, as after intoxication by brandy, aggravated by moving the eyes, then in the occiput, as if the cerebellum were bruised, with a pressing outward in the temples.
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.