‘yg TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACES, 
ascribed to white hellebore, sabadilla seeds, and colchicum, by Scha- 
bel, Orfila, Sir Everard Home, and other observers. Unfortunately, 
however, these properties appeared to be of such a nature as almost 
to preclude the possibility of Veratria ever being employed in me- 
dicine. From M. Andral’s experiments on animals, it was proved 
‘that when applied directly to any of the tissues, it produced rapid 
inflammation of the part ; and that when introduced in small doses 
into the system, either through the medium of the veins or intes- 
tines, it occasioned violent vomiting aud purging; and in larger 
doses, tetanus and death. 
M. Magendie administered it internally in the human subject, and 
found that,in the dose of a quarter ofa grain, it acted powerfully upon 
the intestines, and produced very copious dejections ; and he recom- 
mends its employment on this account, as a convenient remedy in 
‘cases requiring a speedy action upon the bowels, particularly in old 
men, in whom he states his having used it with much advantage ; 
he also advises its substitution for the preparations of colchicum, in 
the treatment of those diseases in which they had been employed. 
‘Such, however, was the dread inspired by the observed properties 
of the new alealoid, that few practitioners ventured upon a trial of 
it; and much surprise was expressed that, with these before his 
eyes, M. Magendie should have ventured upon such a dangerous 
recommendation. 7 
Veratria has hitherto been little employed internally in this 
country ; but where it has been used, the effects produced have 
been nearly similar to those already recorded by practitioners on 
the Continent ; and agree with them in proving it to be possessed 
of great activity as a purgative and emetic : so much so, indeed, that 
its administration appears to have been very generally abandoned, 
as being fraught with greater danger, from this circumstance, than 
_ could have been counterbalanced by any good effect that might have 
arisen from it. This was also the author’s opinion at the time his 
work on Veratria was published ; and as the impressions he had 
received from the writings of others had to a certain extent been 
confirmed by his own experience, he considered it his duty to lay 
them before the public. Since then, however, he has employed 
pure Veratria internally to a. considerable extent, in consequence of 
having observed that its salts produced none of those effects which 
_ had been ascribed to it, and in very few cases out of a great many in 
which it has been employed, eyen when given to the extent of four 
or SIX grains in twenty-four hours, has it produced the slightest 
purgative effect : it has often occasioned a degree of nausea, but this 
may easily be obviated by taking care that too large a dose be not 
given at one time, . 
To what are we to ascribe this great discrepancy in the operation 
of so powerful a substance? It may arise from one of two causes, 
or perhaps from both. Veratria, when first used, appears to have 
been obtained in part from the colchicum autumnale, and on this, 
account differed in some material points from the alcaloid, as it is, 
