350 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



Mexican vanilla had about doubled, and that no other 

 bean is capable of making high-grade extract. The 

 quoted prices of vanilla in 1897, per pound, were as fol- 

 lows: Best Mexican, $16; Bourbon, $12; South Amer- 

 ican, $6; Tahiti, $5; Brazil, $5. (Amer. Druggist, 1897, 

 p. 214). 



PHYSIOLOGICAL NOTES AND PHARMACOPEIAL 

 RECORD. A disease to which the name "vanillism" is 

 given has been observed to afflict persons profession- 

 ally engaged in the handling of vanilla. Humboldt 

 states that the Spaniards abstained from the use of va- 

 nilla, as they ascribed to it a harmful influence upon the 

 nervous system. Its use as a medicine has become 

 obsolete in most countries. 



The plant was official in the Spanish Pharmacopeia 

 of 1817, but was not official in the edition of 1885. The 

 Pharmacopeia Portugueza of 1876, however, carried it 

 under the name of baunilha. The London Pharma- 

 copeia adopted vanilla in 1721, but soon discarded it. 

 It does not appear in recent British Pharmacopeias. 

 Vanilla, from Vanilla planifolia, Andrews, is official in 

 various editions of German, French and U. S. Pharma- 

 copeias. 



VERATRUM VIRIDE 



(Veratrum, American Hellebore) 



Mentipned in all editions of the U. S. P., from 1820 to 1910. 

 In all editions preceding 1880, Veratrum album (White Helle- 

 bore), is given equal prominence with Veratrum viride. 



Veratrum viride is an American plant, known under 

 the common names itch-weed, Indian poke, American 

 hellebore and swamp hellebore. It is found in swampy 

 soil and meadows East and South, and along streams, 

 coming up among the earliest swamp plants. It often 



