_White Hellebore Root._
QUALITIES. _Odour_, strong, and disagreeable; _Taste_, bitter, and very
acrid; by drying, the odour is dissipated, and in this state it is found
in the shops. SOLUBILITY. Its active principles are soluble in water,
alcohol, and the alkalies. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Pelletier and Caventou
have lately discovered in this vegetable a new alkaline principle,
white, crystalline, and acrid, to which they have given the name of
_Veratria:_ it appears to exist in combination with gallic acid. MED.
USES. The effects of this root are extremely violent and poisonous; the
ancients employed it in various obstinate cases, but they generally
regarded it as their last resource; it acts as a violent emetic and
cathartic, producing bloody stools, great anxiety, tremors, and
convulsions. Etmuller says, that the external application of the root to
the abdomen, will produce vomiting; and Schroeder observed the same
phenomenon to take place in a case where it was used as a suppository,
and its juice has been applied to the purpose of poisoning arrows;
notwithstanding these effects however the veratrum has been very safely
and successfully administered in cases of mania, epilepsy, lepra, and
gout:[696] but the most ordinary use of white hellebore is as a local
stimulant; as an adjunct to errhine powders; or in the form of
decoction, as a lotion; or mixed with a lard, as an ointment in
scabies,[697] and herpetic eruptions: great caution however is required
in its application, for several authors affirm that as an errhine, it
has caused abortions, floodings which could not be restrained, and fatal
hemorrhages from the nose. DOSE, gr. iij to v, obtunded by the addition
of twelve times its weight of starch, a pinch of which may be taken for
several successive evenings; for internal administration it ought not to
exceed gr. ij. OFFICINAL PREP. _Decoct. Veratri._ L. _Tinct. Veratri
albi._ E. _Unguent. Veratri._ L. _Unguent. Sulphur. comp._ L.