426 _ WERATRUM VIRIDE. ~ 
ly resembles: the, Veratrum album in its external 
habitudes.. The. result of such trials as have been 
made, establishes beyound a doubt the medicinal 
similarity, of, these.two. vegetables. I have em- 
ployed the American. plant in dispensary practice 
in‘ the treatment of obstinate cases of chronic 
rheumatism.) ) Other practitioners have applied it 
to the treatment.of gout, and of cutaneous and oth- 
er affections. .From the sum of my observations 
and knowledge respecting it, I am satisfied that 
the root, when not impaired by long exposure and 
age, is in sufficient doses a strong emetic, com- 
mencing its operation. tardily, but. continuing in 
many instances fora long time; in large doses 
affecting the functions of the. brain and nervous 
ness, impaired: vision, prostration of strength and 
diminution of the, vital, powers, Like the Vera- 
trum. album and:Colchicum antunmale, the violent 
impression which it makes upon the system has 
arrested the paroxysms of gout and given relief in 
some unyielding cases.of protracted rheumatism. 
Like those substances, it requires to be given with 
great caution and under vigilant restrictions. The 
solutions of this.article have appeared to me more 
powerful in proportion to their quantity than. the 
substance, probably in. consequence of a ‘part of 
