The vesicular eruption characteristic of Rhus showed itself on the forehead in the morning; during the day the eruption spread over the body and extremities, with a desire to scratch that was irresistible; the scrotum, prepuce, and glans penis covered with vesicles (twelfth day). The itching continued more than two weeks. The scrotum is very much swollen, of a deep-red color, and covered with vesicles. Back becomes covered with blotches; itching is excited or brought on by exposure to cold air; gentle scratching relieves the burning and itching on the back; later, the blotches disappear, the back becomes covered with ridges, and a fine pale- red rash appears (second day). Itching on back is brought on in a moment by cold air blowing on it (second night). Pimples like commencing boils on the scapulae and neck (seventeenth day). Twenty-four hours after the first application of the juice, I perceived a slight inflammation and swelling where the application was made; on pressing this part there was slight soreness, apparently near the bone; these symptoms increased steadily but slowly during the next eleven days, with occasional itching and burning on the place of application. On the fourteenth day the arm presented the following appearance: The epidermis, on the place of the application, can be easily removed with the finger nail, and then little scabs form in a short time; the whole place inflamed, very much swollen, and red, almost three inches broad, and a little more than three and a half inches long; the center redder and harder than its surroundings; a fold of the skin on the affected part at least six times thicker than one on a corresponding place on the other arm; when uncovered there is little itching and burning, but very violent when covered by the shirt-sleeve (linen); slight rubbing causes a pleasant sensation, a kind of satisfaction; scratching is painful, but both increase the itching and inflammation; a slight impression only is produced by severe pressure with the finger; the redness is not circumscribed, but passes over into an eruption, like measles; the arm measures on the affected place, in circumference, almost an inch more than the other arm; the surrounding parts itch more than the place of application, although the latter is the chief seat of disease. On the sixteenth day, at dawn, I was awakened by violent itching; the swelling is five and a half inches long; considerable oedema, especially on the side of the ulna, and a half inch above the affected part; when covered by the shirt- sleeve, very violent itching; on scratching, I removed a part of the epidermis, which was followed by a secretion of a little serum and a very slow formation of scabs; the remaining epidermis, for the last two or three days, adhered closer than before. On the seventeenth day I was awakened at 3.30 A.M. by a violent itching and burning, the arm looking very much worse; presented the appearance of a severe phlegmonous inflammation; the part affected has a livid color, and the inflammation extends from two to three inches each way, so that the whole inflamed part is six and a half inches long and six inches wide; the inflammation is not circumscribed, but passes over into an eruption, like measles, which varies from one-half to two inches in width; the inflamed skin feels very hot, and is (though uncovered) eight and a half degrees warmer than the corresponding place on the other (I held the thermometer on the arm, slightly pressing, but without covering it); small scabs of dried serum on the inflamed surface; the swollen part of the arm is hard, like board, but without pain; after dinner, disagreeable drawing sensation in the arm, extending into the hand, and a feeling of tightness; towards evening, reappearance of the pain; the swelling and inflammation increased through the day in violence and extent, towards the elbow, a whole inch, not so much in other directions; the nerves in the armpit sore and sensitive to pressure; late in the evening, red irregular spots on the left cheek. On the eighteenth day the swelling extends from the elbow to the hand; the spots on the face larger and redder, elevated a little above the surface of the skin, and slightly burning; some swelling above the left eye; two red spots and a blotch under the right corner of the mouth; the arm, on waking, was not so red and swollen as soon after, when the itching and burning commenced; on waking, the redness and inflamed part passed over very gradually into healthy-looking skin towards the elbow, less so towards the other sides, but soon after rising the burning and itching reappeared, which was presently followed (without scratching) by increased redness, inflammation, and an eruption of blotches, vesicles, small pimples, and spots like measles; the efflorescence were around the evenly-inflamed part (which was about seven inches long and six inches wide), forming a border between that and the skin, most numerous near the former, and especially on the side of the ulna and around the wrist; this border itched most; the swelling was of greater extent than the inflammation, and continued so through the whole proving. All these symptoms, although they on the whole had grown daily worse, were periodically better; this periodicity, however, was the same when the disease decreased, every attack, from six to eight a day, commenced with itching, then increased inflammation, after which, red spots of various sizes. like measles, appeared on the border, finally blotches, vesicles, and little pimples; the three later eruptions were particularly full, and the inflammation of the whole arm vastly increased when the itching caused me to scratch, which I sometimes could not possibly avoid; this itching was perfectly intolerable; at such times I would put the arm in very cold water, which gave immediate relief, and if I kept it in about eight or ten minutes, it would gradually subdue the inflammation and eruption and bring the arm to its usual appearance; I could at any time cause at attack by the slightest rubbing; they were also brought on by heat or violent bodily exercise, but especially by close study; they were least frequent during conversation, light bodily exercise, or when in a cool atmosphere; for this reason I commenced bathing the arm, occasionally in cold water; these general remarks pertain to the whole proving. On severe external pressure, pain deep in the arm, as if one the bone; an eruption, like measles, over the third, fourth, and fifth metacarpal bones, and vesicles on the fingers of the left hand; the latter appear and disappear very sickly, causing most violent itching;t he affected part is painful, like a sore spot; transient itching on different parts of the body; the left arm measures one inch more in circumference than the other; in the afternoon, vesicles on different parts of the body, with violent itching; the swelling to the middle of the metacarpal bones; at noon, drawing pain in the large nerves of the arm, from the armpit downward; during the night I keep, against my habit the arm outside the bed cover, as the heat in the bed quickly causes itching. On awaking on the nineteenth day, a severe attack of itching; the swelling reaches upward two inches above the elbow, and downward almost to the fingers; almost the whole forearm is violently inflamed, strikingly like a phlegmonous inflammation, and is, at the inflamed part (uncovered), nine degrees hotter than the other arm; the temperature was not taken during an attack of itching and eruptive outbreak; when there is none the skin looks smooth, tight, and shining, at times painful, as if from a sore or wound, which looks as if the skin would peel; itching on different parts of the body; to-day very few blotches and vesicles on the arm, probably on account of the occasional bathing in cold water, thought the swelling and inflammation are of greater extent than on any previous day; towards evening the inflammation not circumscribed, but is very gradually passing over into healthy skin; as the affection of the anus does not seem to have increased during the day, it appears to have come to its height. On the twentieth day, after 7 A.M., a severe attack of itching;the skin of affected part peels off, and the new skin looks healthy, but inflamed, and is very sensitive; directly on this two pustules, with six or seven very small ones near them, filled with matter, and the larger ones with an inflamed halo around them; oedema on the back of the hand; itching on different parts of the body, but on attempting to rub the spot the sensation immediately passes to another place near by; in the evening the swelling as large as on the seventeenth day; about two-thirds of the skin at the place of application has peeled off. On the twenty-first day the itching is most around the wrist and elbow and on t he inside of the arm, none on the place where the poison was applied, which has peeled entirely; the arm, has pretty nearly the normal temperature; the skin looks normal, only a little redder, and not shining in appearance. On the twenty-second morning another eruption of small pustules on the same place, but a little larger than yesterday; the skin peels off again on the affected spot, and still looks red, as well as the skin about it, though the latter is not so red as the former; the arm still somewhat swollen; the thickness of a fold of skin in not sufficient to account for the comparatively large circumference of the arm, consequently the parts under the skin must also have been affected and swollen, and are still somewhat so; when the affection was the worst, it was absolutely impossible to form a fold of the skin on account of its thickness and hardness.
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.