VERATRUM VIRIDE 443 



purging, abdominal pain, muscular weakness, difficulty in 

 progression, loss of power and general paralysis, muscular 

 tremors and spasms, and occasionally convulsions. The 

 pulse is unaltered in rate at first, but later becomes infrequent 

 and compressible and finally rapid, thread-like and running. 

 The respiration is shallow, the temperature reduced, the 

 skin is cold and clammy ; there is semi-consciousness, loss 

 of sight and death from asphyxia. 



Treatment should be pursued with cardiac and respira- 

 tory stimulants, as amyl nitrite (by inhalation), alcohol, 

 strychnine and atropine ; tannic acid as a chemical antidote ; 

 opium to subdue pain ; and demulcents to relieve local irrita- 

 tion of the digestive tract. Warm water should be given the 

 smaller animals to wash out the stomach and to assist vomi- 

 tion, and quietude should be enforced. In man, fatal poison- 

 ing is rare, since the drug is spontaneously vomited. The 

 same would probably apply to dogs. Recovery has ensued 

 in horses after ingestion of two ounces of veratrum album 

 root. 



Administration. — It is advisable to give small doses of 

 the tincture or fluid extract hourly. In the case of the 

 smaller patients the dose should be preceded by the ad- 

 ministration of a correspondingly small dose of laudanum 

 (1T[v,-x.) to prevent vomiting. 



Uses Internal. — The alkaloids of veratrum viride are 

 difficult to obtain in their purity, and are not used in practice. 



The drug is applicable as a circulatory sedative at the 

 outset of sthenic diseases afflicting strong, plethoric animals. 

 Veratrum viride bleeds an animal into its own vessels by 

 causing vascular dilatation. The indications are similar 

 to those applying to venesection, and are therefore limited. 

 In some cases of acute diseases, included within the limits 

 defined above, it may prove of the utmost service to cut 

 short or even abort the attack. 



In this list may be placed sthenic pneumonia, cerebritis, 

 laminitis, puerperal fever, and, when veratrum is combined 

 with opium to obviate stimulation of peristaltic action. 



