_The Root of Black Hellebore._ _Melampodium._[518]
_Christmas Rose._
QUALITIES. The fibres of the root are the parts employed; they are about
the thickness of a straw, corrugated, externally of a deep dark colour,
hence the epithet _black_; internally white, or of a yellowish hue.
_Odour_, unpleasant; _Taste_, bitter and acrid. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. An
analysis of this root has lately been effected by M. M. Feneulle and
Capron, from which it appears that its active principle, unlike that of
the White Hellebore (_Veratrum_) is not an alkali; the following
substances enter into its composition, viz. 1. A Volatile Oil.—2. A
Fatty matter.—3. A Resin.—4. Wax.—5. A Volatile Acid.—6. A bitter
principle.—7. Mucus.—8. Alumina.—9. Gallate of Potass.—10. Acidulous
Gallate of Lime.—11. A Salt, with an Ammoniacal base. SOLUBILITY. Both
water and alcohol extract its virtues, but the spirituous solution is
the most active; long coction diminishes its powers, hence the watery
extract acts more mildly than the root. MEDICINAL USES. This is one of
the most ancient articles of the materia medica. Ctesias, who lived in
the time of Plato, and anterior to Hippocrates, speaks of it as a
medicine of important virtues. By the Greek and Roman physicians it was
highly esteemed as a remedy in Mania (_see p. 8._) The extraordinary
cures performed at the island of Anticyrus, famous for its Hellebore,
are celebrated by the poets and historians of antiquity. It is a drastic
cathartic, and may prove therefore emmenagogue, and hydragogue, but in
this country, its reputation has been destroyed by the decided manner in
which Dr. Cullen reprobated its use. FORMS OF EXHIBITION. It is seldom
given in substance, but in the form of tincture or extract; or in that
of decoction, made with two drachms of the root to a pint of water. DOSE
of the powdered root, grs. x to ℈j; of the decoction, f℥j. OFFICINAL
PREPARATIONS. _Tinct. Hellebori Nigri._ L.E.D. _Extractum Hellebori
Nigri._ E.D. ADULTERATIONS. The roots of the poisonous aconites are
often fraudulently substituted; this is easily discovered, for the
aconite is lighter coloured than the palest specimens of black
hellebore; it is safe therefore to choose the darkest.