Common name: Night-blooming cereus.
Introduction
Cereus grandiflorus, Haw. (Cactus grandiflorus, Linn). Natural order: Cactaceae. Preparation: Tincture of the flowers and young twigs.
Mind
Slight delirium at night; on waking up, it ceases for a time, but begins again as soon as he goes to sleep (seventh day). Talking nonsense while asleep at night; on awaking, he talks unconnectedly (tenth day). Love of solitude; he avoids those around him who wish to comfort him (ninth day). Felt decided impulses to swallow large and unwholesome portions of medicine (first day). Continued taciturnity; he will not answer repeated interrogations (third day). Decided repugnance to take any more medicine (first day). Was affected with impulses to do something facetious, which were repelled (first day). Impulses to do something bordering on the grotesque (first day). Depression and languor during the whole day. Sadness, taciturnity, and irresistible inclination to weep (first six days). Hypochondriasis and invincible sadness (first six days). Profound hypochondria; he is unwilling to speak a word (fourth day). Unusual melancholy, for which he himself can give no reasons (first four days). Anxiety returning in the evening (first fifteen days). Extraordinary irritability; the smallest contrariety puts him into a passion (fifteenth day). Feeling of semi-remorse at having done something wrong (first day). Feeling of having done violence to myself (first day). Fear of death extreme and continuous; he believes his disease to be incurable (seventh day). Disposition to do deliberately whatever was undertaken (first day). Felt a considerable degree of difficulty in fixing upon anything settled or fixed in what he was pursuing; when conclusion were arrived at, however, they were to the mind quite satisfactory (first day).
Head
Vertigo, from sanguineous congestions to the head (after ten days). On retiring to his room, felt some unsteadiness of gait, almost amounting to staggering, a reeling sensation. At night, sensation as if the brain was attached to the skull, grown fast (first day). Feeling of emptiness in the head (second day). Violent pain in the head, insufferable, from congestion to the head (fourth day). Excessive pain in the head, which causes such anxiety that he cannot stay in bed (first day). Pain in the head, with great prostration and weariness. Dull frontal headache (after four hours), (600 drops). Pressing pain in the forehead, day and night, for two consecutive days. In the evening, a constant pressing pain in the left side of the forehead, lasting until he went to sleep, and felt at night on waking twice (first day). Pressing pain in the forehead, increased by bright light, and on hearing loud voices or noises. Pressure in the forehead during the whole day, at intervals; worse in the room than in the open air (first day). Jerking-tearing in the forehead, and throughout the limbs (first day). Sensation of heavy weight in the right temple and on the right eyebrow, diminished by pressure. Strong pulsations in the temples, as if the skull would burst. Continued and tormenting pulsation in the temples and ears, which is exceedingly annoying, and causes hypochondriasis (first eight days). Pulsating pain in the temples, becoming intolerable at night (second day). Tensive pain in the vertex, which returns periodically every two days (in the first twenty days). Pressing pain in the head, as if a great weight lay on the vertex. Sensation of weight on the vertex, with dull pain, increased by the sound of talking and by any noise. Heavy pain, like a weight, on the vertex, which diminishes by pressure. Very severe pain in the right side of the head, which increases to a great degree when raising the head from the pillow, for many days in succession (after three days). Very severe pain in the right side of the head, which is increased by the sound of talking and by a bright light (first five days). A troublesome pressure on the right parietal bone (3D dil)., (second day). Pressure in the left parietal bone (first day). Pressive pain in the left parietal bone, in the morning, after rising (second day). Pressive pain in the left parietal bone, in the forenoon, more internally (6th dil)., (first day). Pulsating pain, with sensation of weight in the right side of the head, continuing day and night, so severe as to make him cry out with a loud voice (after four days). On retiring, felt some heaviness and pain, not severe, however, affecting the posterior region of the brain, increased by lying on the back with the head touching the pillow. Instantly relieved by lying on the side, so that the occipital portion of the skull did not come into contact with anything hard or otherwise (first day). Complained most bitterly of its producing constant dull pain in the cerebellum; if the remedy was omitted, the pain would cease, but would return as soon as its use was resumed. Pain and drawing in the occiput, increased by the motion of the head. Painful drawing in the aponeurotic covering of the occiput, ameliorated by bending the head backward. Felt at times pressure in the occiput, not severe, and relieved by quick exercise or mental activity (first day).
Eyes
Weakness of sight recurring periodically; objects appear to be obscured. Weakness of sight for many days in succession; objects appear as if clouded (first four days). Dimness of sight; at a few paces’ distance he does not recognize his friends. At a short distance he does not recognize any one, not even a friend. Momentary loss of sight (first day). Loss of sight; there appear circles of red light before the eyes, which dim the sight (sixth day).
Ears
Pulsations in the ears, continuing day and night (first six days). Hearing diminished by the buzzing in the ears; it is necessary to speak in a loud voice to be understood (first day). Noise in the ear, like the running of a river, continuing all night (first day).
Nose
Dry and very unpleasant coryza; he must breathe, during the night, with his mouth open. Fluent and very acrid coryza, which makes the nostrils sore. Profuse epistaxis, which ceases in a short time.
Face
Paleness of the face and emaciation (first six days). Face flushed (after four hours), (600 drops). Face bloated and red, with pulsating pain in the head (twelfth day).
Mouth
Fetid breath in the morning (third day). Scraping in the palate for an hour after taking (first day). Sensation of having swallowed something unpleasant (after quarter of an hour). For some minutes a soapy taste in the mouth (after one hour). Slimy, weedy taste, not so distinctly soapy as the night before (second day).
Throat
Felt an accumulation of mucus in the throat, which was expectorated (immediately). Constriction of the throat, which excites the frequent swallowing of saliva (eight day). Scraping on the soft palate (6th dil.), (first day). Constriction of the oesophagus which prevents swallowing; he must drink a great quantity of water to force anything down into the stomach (sixth day).
Stomach
Appetite good, better than usual. At breakfast, appetite better than usual (second day). Great appetite, but weak and slow digestion (twentieth day). Complete loss of appetite; he cannot take the least morsel of food (third day). Want of appetite and loss of the taste of food, which disappears after a few hours (second day). Want of appetite and nausea for many days; it is only by an effort than he can swallow a few mouthfuls (first days). Great thirst, which causes him to drink much water (first day). Nausea in the morning and all day long (seventh day). Copious vomiting of blood. Severe gastroenteritis, cured in five days. Bad digestion; all food causes weight in the stomach, and so much suffering that he prefers to remain fasting. Very slow digestion; even after eight or ten hours the taste of the food rises up in the throat. Acrid acid in the stomach, which rises in the throat and mouth, and makes everything he attempts to eat taste acid (fourth day). A feeling of emptiness in the stomach, with good appetite and natural stool (fifth, sixth days). Sensation of something disagreeable at the stomach (second day). Sensation of violent burning in the stomach (first five days). Sensation of great constriction in the scrobiculus, which extends to the hypochondria, constricts them, and impedes respiration (fourth day). Sensation of heaviness in the stomach. Sensation of great weight in the stomach, which continues many days (during the first eight days). Sensation of weight in the stomach, which soon goes off, but reappears every time the medicine is taken (first fifteen days). Oppression and weight in the stomach (fourth day). Strong pulsation in the scrobiculus (first eight days). Continuous and annoying pulsation in the stomach. Very troublesome pulsation of the coeliac artery, after dinner, which lasts three hours, and corresponds with the pulsation of the right temporal artery.
Abdomen
Wandering pains in the umbilical region, which cease and recur periodically (fifth day). Sharp, cutting pains in the umbilicus (after half an hour), continuing about one hour after stool. Severe cutting pains in the lower umbilical and hypogastric region, lasting about an hour (after thirty-five minutes). The abdominal parietes, when touched with the hand, impart a burning sensation, and are much hotter than the other parts of the body (third day). Borborygmus in the bowels, before the alvine evacuations. Slight pain in bowels (after four hours), (600 drops). Very violent pains in the bowels, almost causing him to faint, which continue, more or less, during the day (seventh day). Soreness, with distension of the abdomen (third day). Distressing sensation in the bowels, as if a serpent was turning round, here and there, in the bowels (fourth day). Sensation of painful constriction in the groins, extending around the pelvis.
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.