Introduction
An alkaloid obtained from opium, C23H29NO9. Preparation: Triturations.
Stomach
Loss of appetite (in some cases). Nausea (in some cases). Vomiting is rare.
Stool
In small doses it is a gentle aperient; in larger doses it causes diarrhoea. The repeated use of internal doses often produces from one to two stools, sometimes even diarrhoea.
Urinary Organs
Passed, without the least difficulty z3ivss. of normal urine, sp. gr. 1020; this had been secreted since the injection (after two hours and a quarter). When the dose exceeds 3/4 of a grain, it causes some dysuria. Anuria, to a greater or less extent, particularly after rather large doses.
Sexual Organs
It retards the appearance of the menses.
Respiratory Organs
Respiration 20 (before taking); 19 (after forty-five minutes); 17 (after two hours and a quarter).
Heart and Pulse
Diminution of the pulse, succeeded some time after by an acceleration; in rare cases, the pulse is accelerated during its employment by 12 to 16 strokes in a minute. Pulse 72 (before taking); unchanged (after forty-five minutes); 70 (after two hours and a quarter).
General Symptoms
A calm, comfortable feeling, with a slight tendency to sleep, continued for four or five hours (after a quarter of an hour). The same comfortable tranquillizing effect, and at the end of an hour a little sleepiness, which soon passed off. A pleasant quieting effect, hardly amounting to sleepiness.
Skin
A tender swelling at the seat of puncture. Its action on the cutaneous nerve system appears to resemble that of other narcotics, and produces its effects directly when used hypodermically, and indirectly, by acting on the center, when given internally. The hypodermic tumor soon disappeared; the injected part remained tender and a little puffy, for two days. When used hypodermically it produced a sensation of burning at the place of puncture, but of little intensity and duration, a sensation in every case less evident than that caused by every other alkaloid (morphia, quinia, etc.); in patients with sensitive skins, when the injection was made on the face, it produced an oedematous swelling without redness at the place of puncture, which disappeared in from one to two days, leaving a somewhat sensitive and limited induration.
Sleep
A slight narcotic effect. Of all alkaloids contained in opium, Narcein possesses hypnotic power to the greatest extent; in the great majority of cases, neither Morphia nor Codeine produced so long or so profound a sleep. The sleep is calm and interrupted by the least noise; but one goes to sleep again immediately; on awaking there is freedom from the heaviness of the head experienced after the use of Morphia, and there is less liability to vomiting and constipation; the whole of the effect is limited to a somniferous influence, and its calming and hypnotic effects are superior to those of Codeia, and almost equal to those of Morphia. Felt comfortable and sleepy (after fifteen minutes); very sleepy, but had not slept (after forty-five minutes); the same kind of sleepiness as after Morphia; had slept a quarter of an hour, and was still sleepy (after two hours and a quarter); he walked home, a distance of two miles, and as it was 11 P.M., went to bed and slept soundly. When given internally or externally for pain, it often produces a sleep of four, five, or even nine hours, a sleep which is soft, tranquil, uninterrupted, and followed by a quiet waking. Narcein causes, only a very feeble degree, the physiological phenomena consequent upon the sleep produced by Morphia and the salts of that base.
Fever
Perspiration is much less abundant than after the use of opiates.
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.