A tincture is prepared by digesting one part of the pulverized dried Spanish flies (Cantharis vesicatoria) in five parts of Alcohol.
General Action
Spanish flies applied to the skin produce blisters (vesication, with inflammation and even sloughing). It produces (taken internally) the most violent inflammation of the whole gastro- intestinal canal, especially of the lower bowel. It is eliminated by the kidneys, and causes acute inflammation of that organ, and of the entire urinary tract. In some cases it produces sexual excitement. Delirium and convulsions occasionally result from large doses.
Allies. Merc-cor., Terebinth., Caps., Arsenicum, Apis, nitricum acidum
Generalities
Marasmus. Emaciation. Bent almost double, with arms folded across hypogastrium. Increased plasticity of blood drawn from veins. Trembling. Throwing herself about as if on fire. Twitching of tendons; intermittent, painful twitching, now on r. side of occiput, now on external surface of l. knee. Catalepsy. Epilepsy; complicated with hysterical symptoms. Convulsions; with horror of liquids; in paroxysms, with priapism.
Convulsions almost constantly, sometimes he tossed about in despair, sometimes he got up, rushed like a madman to another bed in the same room, bent the curtain rods like reeds, screamed, eight men could scarcely hold him sometimes emprosthotonos, sometimes mouth open, sometimes trismus, with grinding of teeth, running of frothy, at times blood-streaked saliva, face expressive of fright and despair, in the convulsions the hair bristled, the gaze fixed, eyes sparkled, then rolled frightfully,
pulse full and slow, abdominal muscles contracted when pressing on umbilical region, that part of abdomen seemed glued to spine, especially recti, which were like tightened cords (Plumbum), then spasms became general and head was thrown back, on attempting to make applications to most painful part of abdomen, he broke away like a madman, frothing at the mouth more than ever, eyes became fiercer, the constriction of throat almost choked him, howled like the barking of a dog, then general convulsions, which ended in fainting and stupor, renewal of these attacks on pressure upon painful places in hypogastrium and at sight of liquids.
Stitches over whole body; now here, now there in body, in afternoon; now here, now there, with tearing; all extend inward; are generally combined with tearing; in l. lower ribs, then tearing near r. wrist, then S. in l. upper arm; in afternoon, in r. side of chest, then tearing between scapulae, then S. in r. shoulder, then in r. hypochondrium, then in r. scapula, whence it passes into r. hypochondrium. Tearing in affected parts, for example, in ulcers; in forehead, then in region of r. ear, then in lower jaw, then on ear again. Violent pains. Raw and sore pain internally and externally. Crushed feeling, with sensitiveness of every part, internally and externally, and weakness.
General tension, with dryness in mouth, thirst, anxiety and pains in limbs. Pulsation in whole body, so that the limbs tremble. Restlessness; with heat in head; walking the room screaming; seeming to originate in stomach, with prostration, shiverings and nausea. Feeling as if dying. Indefinable illness. General discomfort. Weakness; in morning after sweat at night; in morning after emission, then restless, unrefreshing sleep, (>) wine with emptiness in stomach and hunger; progressive ((>) drinking freely of alcoholic liquors, which produced no intoxication); as in beginning of nervous fever; restless, at night; so that muscles were almost unable to contract; (<) on r. side of body; so that she could hold nothing in her hands; W., especially in legs. Faintness.
Stiffness, with open mouth, showing the teeth; stiff feeling in whole body, with heaviness, ascending steps is very troublesome, legs feel as if filled with lead. Paraplegia, with cramps and itching. Reappearance every seven days of attacks, excepting urinary symptoms. Aggravation sometimes from coffee. Amelioration in morning in bed; in evening, of all other symptoms when the urinary difficulties appear; at night of all pains except in abdomen; from eructations; after emission of flatus; when lying from warm applications; from warmth; from severe motion, even to perspiration.
Clinical Violent spasms reproduced by touching larynx.
Mind
Screaming, with legs drawn upon thighs; S., with frequent loss of consciousness. Delirium; in evening; at night; with convulsions; furious; talking disconnectedly of his business and of people who long had been dead. Frenzy. Excitement; they rose from bed, ran about the room, racked by vomiting and copious stools. Insolent and contradictory mood in afternoon. Anger. Instability.
Alarm and agitation. Fright at night, with dreams of falling. Despondency, saying that she must die. Distrust of himself in afternoon, like a hypochondriac. Melancholy after dinner, with anxiety. Anxiety; with general trembling, the later continuing while walking in open air; in morning, as if he expected something important; as if he had committed murder, seeming to arise from stomach. Discontented; and absorbed in thought. Morose, anxious and lachrymose mood in forenoon. Churlish mood. Fretful; in morning when rising; in evening during the pains. Brawling, nobody does anything to suit her. Cheerful, talkative; C., merry, feeling as if newly born, and the room and all objects appeared clearer and more pleasant. Apathetic as if stupefied. Indolent, indifferent, pensive.
Confusion. Distraction in forenoon and many ideas of various kinds running through his mind, which he cannot keep away. Depression of powers in morning. Dullness of perception, then stupidity and loss of reflecting faculty. Loss of thoughts as soon as he wishes to think of anything, gaze fixed in silence on one object (which he scarcely notices), and trouble in recollecting himself in order to express a few words coherently. Forgetful. Comatose. Unconscious.
Clinical Acute mania, generally of a sexual type, amorous frenzy, fiery desire for sexual intercourse, with persistent painful erections, paroxysms of rage, crying and barking, even convulsions. Acute mania after erysipelas. (Mania in a woman, with occasional spasms, attempts to bite, with strangury, which seemed to have resulted from applying turpentine to the feet, immediately (>) Canthar.)
Head
Sinking in every direction, from heaviness. Stitches in forenoon and evening, (>) walking; with soreness and sensation as if the pains would extend through eyes; cutting, waking him. Dragging and tearing, only on motion, on stooping and turning head a sensation starting from neck and pressing head forward. Boring, with drawing, tearing throbbing and pressing pain. Aching; (>) breakfast; sometimes with delirium; with vertigo; with internal and external heat in forehead; with shivering; with dull heavy feeling around eyes; with trembling and universal spasms, then coma; as if sore internally. Oppression. Confusion; in morning, with pulsation in forehead; with heaviness in vertex. Heaviness; (<) motion, with aching. Congestion of brain. Vertigo; on walking in open air, with unconsciousness and fog before eyes; with weakness in head; with staggering; with faintness.
Forehead. Stitches in r.; in l. eminence on standing; above root of nose. Tearing; and in nape; in sinciput. Aching; and in supraorbital regions; above nose; extending to temples; pressing out, waking him at night, (>) sitting up in bed; like a heaviness. Deepseated heaviness, with Dullness and sensation as if head were pressed forward. Confusion, with pain and drawing.
Temple. Stitches in l.; in r. in afternoon; in r., becoming a painful throbbing, (>) rubbing. Shooting darting pain in r., and in r. eye. Tearing; in r.; in r. after a meal. Gnawing in periosteum of r. bone. Throbbing externally in r., with painful drawing in bone. Compression towards each other. Forcing out pain in r., passing towards teeth.
Vertex. Tearing in forenoon, with sensation as if a lock of hair were drawn upward. Pressing on V. and in temples, with stitches in temple, (<) r.; P. alternating with throbbing, at 8.P.M., (<) every motion.
Sides. Stitches in l. in morning; in r. in afternoon; in r. in evening when sitting and standing, with throbbing in l. parietal bone, then boring in l. ear; in l. parietal bone after dinner, with tearing in l. jaw while speaking; in upper part of r. parietal bone. Tearing in r., with stitches; T. in r. parietal bone; in l. side (<) touch. Aching in l. half; sudden, in r. side, with chilliness, trembling and spasms, then coma, then alternately lethargy, coma, rational condition and convulsions; drawing, in l. and in forehead. Painful throbbing deep internally in r.
Occiput. Stitches in evening on lying down; in l. after dinner; in afternoon, extending into sinciput; deep into brain on r. bone in afternoon, more in upper part, from both sides inward, with tearing. Tearing from l. side into l. side of forehead, with vertigo, which lasted longer than the pain. Painful twitching externally in r. bone
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.