Introduction
Spurred rye; Ergot of rye. The fungus Claviceps purpurea, Tulasne, is the cause of this disease in the rye (and in other grasses), see Lolium. Moisture favors the development of this fungus; epidemics, known as Raphani., Kriebelkrankheit, etc., are traced to the users of rye flour poisoned by this fungus.
Preparation for use, Tincture.
Mind
Delirium. Delirium; she abandons her relatives and does absurd things. Delirium; he makes no answer (in a child eight years old). Muttering delirium, very restless, agitated, and fearful of death (first day). Muttering delirium (in six hours). Delirium with violence. Confusion of mind, with delirium bordering on mania; every patient raved and could be restrained only with great difficulty; followed after some hours by violent involuntary vomiting, and by continued deep sleep; after this there remained excessive vertigo, as after intoxication, with a feeling of exhaustion and powerlessness. Rage. Raving, etc.
Raving, with an attempt to jump into the water. Raving, so that she must be restrained. In two hours delirium came on, succeeded by heavy sleep and snoring. She could be roused, not to consciousness, but to low muttering, wanderings. Extreme excitement, with wild look and impaired vision. Excited and confused. Transient delirium with the headache (second and third days). Slight attacks of delirium. Mild delirium. A considerable degree of exhilaration, with preternatural wakefulness, both of them lying awake, with a very pleasant train of sensations and thoughts, through nearly the whole succeeding night. Sensorium disturbed in the night; could not get rid of the impression that there were two sick persons in the bed, one of whom recovered and the other did not (fifth night). She was conscious, but the room presented to her the impression of water excessively agitated on its surface. She could compare it only to the “foaming of a troubled sea.” Illusions of sense. Imbecility. Mind weak for a long time. Foolishness. Those usually sad become jolly and even foolish. Cheerful and constant joyous mood. Strong desire to recover (eighth day). Constant moaning and fear of death, with strong desire to live (eleventh day). Constant moaning and swaying of the arms to and from the head (first day). Moaning, sighing (tenth day). Extreme sadness; (after one hour). Sad mood.
Loathing of life; despair (tenth day). Desire to be left undisturbed (first day). Great depression. The greatest depression of mind and loss of strength, a very sick feeling.
Depression of spirits. Constant despondency and fearfulness.
Increased despondency. Anxiety. Great anxiety. Frightful anxiety.
Anxiety and difficult respiration. Anxiety, obstinacy (tenth day). Anxiety and fear of death (tenth day). Melancholia.
Hypochondria; patient says she must have something to relieve her or she must die (ninth day). Excessively nervous and irritable.
Obstinacy, in a boy eight years old. Indifference to everything.
Disinclination for work. Disinclined to answer. Great weakness of thought. Thought disturbed. Thought and speech difficult.
Intellectual languor (after three hours). The only expression that he gave utterance to was a stupid kind of “I am hungry.” Forgetful, weak-minded. Weakness of memory (first day). Memory lost, forgot what he had just said. Diminution and loss of the senses, sight, hearing, etc. All the senses benumbed. Great dulness of sense. Gradually became insensible and died without struggling (eleventh day). Consciousness seems to continue till the last breath, and just before death it seems as though the patient would improve. Apathy. Felt ill at ease, stupid, sleepy (after one hour). Mind stupid. Stupor, with dilated pupils.
Stupefaction. Stupor. Chronic stupor. Complete loss of senses.
Loss of consciousness. Incomplete coma (in six hours). Coma.
Head
Confusion and Vertigo. Confusion of the head. Confused feeling in the head. Vertigo. Chronic vertigo. Vertigo and reeling, so that the patients could not stand upon their feet. Vertigo and reeling as if intoxicated. Vertigo for twenty-four hours after a dose.
Reeling as from intoxication. Vertigo, that often lasts more than a month, sometimes disappearing for a short time, at other times more violent than ever, especially after eating bread. Constantly increasing vertigo. Vertigo. Vertigo (after half an hour), lasting twelve to twenty hours, and even obliging the patient to remain in bed several days. Vertigo, and stupefaction. Vertigo and heaviness of the head. Reeling, with inability to stand upright. Dizziness and weakness (after two hours). Dizziness of the head, on moving (sixth and seventh days). Head dizzy and heavy (ninth day). Dizziness and heaviness of head (tenth day).
Giddiness and whirling of the head (tenth day). Could scarcely walk, owing to the giddiness which had succeeded to the confusion of the head (fourth day). Giddiness and sensation as if about to fall, on the slightest movement (first day). Intoxication.
General Head. Pendulum-like movements of the head. Pendulum-like movements of the head, from side to side. Head sometimes heavy and throbbing, and again so light and giddy that she could scarcely stand. Weight of head (after one hour). Uneasiness and heaviness in the head. Heaviness of the head (after one hour), (seventh day). Head heavy and dizzy (eleventh day). Stupefaction of the head. Congestion to the head. Great dulness of the head.
Great dulness of the head and vertigo, so that they could not keep erect, and either fell to the ground or were obliged to hold to something. Great oppression in the head, with incapacity for any mental exertion. Dulness and stupefaction of the head.
Dulness of the head. Dull headache. Headache, etc. Violent headache, etc. Excruciating pain in head. Left-sided headache.
Burning headache. Slight headache. Pain in the head (first day); became intense, with transient delirium (second and third days).
Peculiar feeling of lightness of the head, particularly of the occiput (after a quarter of an hour); on the following morning, the confusion of the head continued. An agreeable sensation in the head (seven minutes after first two doses), followed by an unpleasant, heavy, confused feeling, particularly in the posterior part of the head, and a slight general exhilaration (after each dose). Head seemed perfectly empty, and the sense of hearing had become so heightened that every word spoken in the lowest tone reverberated through the head, and passed through every nerve of the whole body. Unpleasant sensation in the head, but no pain (fifth day). Head vacant, with feeling as if something whirled round in it (ninth day). Sharp pain in the head, with dizziness after the chill, relieved by the diarrhoea; the pain returned the next morning, after the diarrhoea had ceased. Throbbing in the head (sixth day). Biting sensation on the head. Forehead. Violent burning pain in the frontal region, so that he would willingly die, with a sad expression, mouth drawn and constantly filled with saliva from the submaxillary glands, which were swollen. Burning pain in the frontal region, day and night. Throbbing frontal headache (after one hour).
Vertex. Heaviness in the sinciput (after two hours). Occiput.
Dull headache in the occiput. Headache in the occipital region (ninth day). Severe pain in the back of the head (first day).
Pressive pain in the occiput. Lightning-like pain in the occiput, extending down the nape of the neck. External Head. The hair fell out, became dry and gray. Falling of the hair. Sensation as if the hair was pulled.
Eyes
After the epidemic an unusually large number of cataracts occurred in young people, twenty three of whom gradually became blind (fifteen men and eight women), associated with headache, vertigo, and roaring in the ears; of the cataracts two were hard, twelve soft, and nine mixed. Eyes sunken and surrounded with a blue margin (fifth day). Eyes lay deep in the head (fourth day).
Eyes staring and wild, with dilatation of pupils (second day).
Eyes wild and distorted, with pupils much dilated (first and second days). Staring look. Wild staring look; face red; inarticulate moans and movements of the head to and fro; arms rigid and immovable; the hands drawn over to the chest. Eyes wild, distorted. Staring and blindness. Spasmodic distortion of the eyes. Fixedness of the eye (soon after second dose).
Glistening eyes. Right disk decidedly paler, with retina also of a paler tint. Left also pale (in one hour). Right disk paler; on apparent inner side decidedly; on outer side also a little. Left eye altogether a little paler (in one hour and twenty minutes).
Retina and disks of both eyes decidedly pale, and this is especially observable in the right eye (in one hour). Retinae not quite so pale; disks the same as before (in one hour and a half).
Eyes very yellow (sixth day). Rolling of the eyes about the orbits. Squinting. Light painful to the eyes (eleventh day). Pain in the eyes (first day). Conjunctiva. Conjunctiva and sclerotic coat yellow and injected (second day); conjunctiva bright yellow (fifth day). Ball. Pressure in the eyeball. Pupil. Remarkable dilatation of the pupils, in a boy eight years old. Remarkable dilatation of the pupils. Pupils much dilated. Dilatation of the pupils, during the remission. Dilatation of the pupils, etc.
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.