Common names; Wormwood.
Introduction.
Artemisia absinthium, Linn.
Nat. order Composite.
Preparation: Tincture from the fresh young leaves and flowers.
The Swiss “Extrait d’Absinthe” (from the effects of which a few toxicological symptoms are obtained) is prepared from various species of Artemisia, viz. rupestris, mutillina, glacialis, valeriaca, spicata, etc.
Mind.
Intoxication. Frightful visions. Soothed, as if going into a beautiful dream. Very tranquil, as if brain were rounded and symmetrical. Wants nothing to do with anybody. Idiotic manner; don’t care whether she dies or not. After recovering, he had no recollection of taking the poison, nor of the cause of his doing so. Sudden loss of consciousness. Stupor. Idiocy.
Kleptomania. Insensibility (with convulsions).
Head.
Vertigo. Frequent vertigo. Headache. Dizzy when she rises up.
Wants to lie with the head low.
Eyes.
Injected conjunctiva. Pain in the eyes. Eyes itch. Eyelids heavy.
Face.
Looks foolish.
Mouth.
Jaws firmly fixed. Tongue protrudes, feels thick; can’t talk distinctly, Complains that tongue (and larynx) are paralyzed.
Foaming at the mouth.
Throat.
Scalded feeling in throat.
Stomach.
No appetite; loathed food (next day). Eructations; stomach and bowels distended. Sick in stomach and liver. Tendency to vomit.
Nausea, apparently in region of gall bladder. Food lies heavy.
Stomach feels cold and oppressed; thinks it would not absorb much. Uncomfortable, irritated feeling of stomach.
Abdomen.
Thinks liver and spleen thickened. Thinks liver and spleen have become thin and pale. Bloated around the waist and in the abdomen, as after ague. Bowels distended. Very much bloated.
Immense accumulation of flatulence; wind colic.
Urinary Organs.
Constant desire to urinate, Urine of a deep yellow orange color, and strong, horse like smell.
Sexual Organs.
Darting pain in right ovary.
Heart and Pulse.
Tremor of the heart, felt towards the back. Heart thumps; can be heard in the scapular region.
Lower Extremities.
Feet very cold.
Generalities.
Falling down, as in epilepsy, with distortion of the features, spasms of the limbs, bloody foam at mouth and biting of the tongue. Epileptiform convulsions. Next day very weak. No muscle; great lassitude. Very rapid prostration.
Pathological Appearances.
The autopsies of animals poisoned by absinthe showed, besides a penetrating odor of wormwood in various organs of the body, great congestion of the cerebrospinal vessels, of the meninges of the brain, and extreme hyperaemia of the medulla oblongata. The brain and spinal cord presented, upon transverse section, a uniform rosy coloring, with injection of the vessels; occasionally the stomach, more frequently the endocardium and pericardium, showed small ecchymoses. (Journ. of Psychology. Medorrhinum, 9,525).
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.