OCR Text |
Show HELLEBORE, OR VERATRUM. 857 MEDICAL VIRTUE. White hellébore root is a nauseous, hot, acrid substance, which, taken internally, is a very strong emetic andcathartic, and has sometimes operated so violently as to occasion convulsions, and death; on which account it is now laid aside, though it is still used as an external application in some cutaneous disorders, Its powder, mixed with oily substances, or a strong decoction of it, applied to the affected parts, cures the itch as effectually as sulphureous ointmentsdo. Wehad a tincture of it in our dispensatory, called tinctura veratri, drawn with a proofspirit, which proved a violent emetic and cathartic, taken from half a drachm to two drachms ; it was sometimes used as an alterative, the length of a few drops; but it has been thrown out of the new dispensatory, having never been used of late, on account of its virulence. Nevertheless the ancients are high in their encomiums on this plant in cases of mania and epilepsy, andsimilar observations have been made of veratrum by authors of later times. Mayerne* gave from two to three grains of an extract of this root with considerable advantage in maniacal cases, where no re. markable evacuation took place; and Con. Gesner +, who in- WHITE HELLEBORE, or VERATRUM. VERATRUM ALBUM. ener Class 111. Polygamia. Essent, Gen, Cuar. Calyx none: Order I. Moneecia. Corolla six-petalled: Stamina six: Pistils three: Capsules three, many-seeded. Spec. CHAR. Racemc more than decomposed: Corollaserect. at DESCRIPTION. Tus plant rises four feet. The leaves are numerous, very large, oval, ribbed, entire, plaited, sessile, vaginant. Flowers bisexual ; also male flowers, ofa greenish colour, on verylong, branched, terminal spikes. HISTORY. Native of Ftaly, Switzerland, and Austria, flowering from June to August, vestigated the qualities of veratrum by repeated experiments, and whose encomiums onits efficacy seemed for a while to re. store it to the ancient character of hellebore, expressly declares that he did not give it as an evacuant, but to produce the more gradual effects of those medicines termedalteratives. Gesner’s account of veratrum was followed by those of several other au« thors {, in whichit is said to have been serviceable in various chronic diseases. But the fullest trial which seems to have been lately made of the efficacy of veratrum is by Greding §, who * tPrax. Med. hb. i. ¢.1. p. 69: sq. } + He says, Nonad purgandum, sed ad reserandos meatus et crassos hu- mores attenuandum, eosquea centro et interioribus corporis ad superficie m et vias excretionum variarum educendum.” Adding, “ recreat et roborat, et hilariorem facit, et acuit ingenium: quodin meet aliis seepissime expertus scribo.’’ Had Gesnerlived long enough, he hadstill more to say on this subject. “ Ego, si vixero, in Hellebori historia multa proferam, quia medici admirentur.”? L. c. { Hannemann, Quercetanus, Screta, Wepfer, Muralto, Linder. § Vermischte Med. u. Chirurg. Schristen. Altenb. 1781, top. 30. Wendt relates a case of mania, brought on by taking pepper and spirits. |