696 MELANTHACEiE. 



The American Veratrum is common in swamps and low grounds from 

 Canada to Georgia. 



History — The aborigines of North America were acquainted with 

 the active properties of this plant before their intercourse with Euro- 

 peans, using it according to Josselyn/ who visited the country in 1638- 

 1G71, as a vomit in a sort of ordeal. He calls it White Hellebore, and 

 states that it is employed by the colonists as a purgative, antiscorbutic 

 and insecticide. 



Kalm (1749) states" that the early settlers used a decoction of the 

 roots to render their seed-maize poisonous to birds, which were made 

 " delirious " by eating the grain, but not killed ; and this custom was 

 still practised in New England in 1835 (Osgood). 



The effects of the drug have been repeatedly tried in the United 

 States during the present century ; and about 1862, in consequence of 

 the strong recommendations of Drs. Osgood, Norwood, Cutter, and 

 others, it began to be prescribed in this country. 



Description — In form, internal structure, odour and taste, the 

 rhizome and roots accord with those of Veratrum album ; yet owing to 

 the method of drying and preparing for the market, the American vera- 

 trum is immediately distinguishable from the White Hellebore of Euro- 

 pean commerce. We have met with it in three forms : — 



1. The rhizome wdth roots attached, usually cut lengthwise into 

 quarters, sometimes transversely also, densely beset with the pale brown 

 roots, which towards their extremities are clothed with slender fibrous 

 rootlets. 



2. Rhizome and roots compressed into solid rectangular cakes, an 

 inch in thickness. 



3. The rhizome per se, sliced transversely and dried. It forms 

 whitish, buff", or brownish discs, | to 1 inch or more in diameter, much 

 shrunken and curled by drying. This is the fonn in which the drug is 

 required by the United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Chemical Composition — No chemical difference between VeixUrum 

 viride and V. album, has yet been ascertained. The presence of vera- 

 trine, suspected by previous chemists, was asserted by Worthington^ in 

 1839, J. G. Eichardson of Philadelphia in 1857, and S. R. Percy in 1864. 

 Scattergood^ obtained from the American drug 04 per cent, of this 

 alkaloid, which however, in consequence of some observations of Dra- 

 gendorff" (p. 694), we must hold to be not identical with that of cebadilla. 

 As stated in a previous page jervine and veratroidine are present as in 

 the White Hellebore of Europe. Robbins^ further isolated Veratridine, 

 a crystallized alkaloid possessed of a similar physiological action to that 

 of veratrine, though in a less degree. Veratridine is readily soluble in 

 ether; its solution in concentrated sulphuric acid is at first yellow, 

 changing quickly to a pink-red, and, after several hours' standing, 

 assumes a clear indigo-blue colour, much the same as that displayed by 

 veratrine if mixed with sugar (Weppen's test, 1874). The resin of the 



^ New EnglandsBarities discovered, hond. ^ Am. Journ. of Pharm. iv. (1839) 89. 



1672. 43; also Account of two Voyages to * Proc. of Am. Pharm. Ansoc. 1862. 226. 



New Ewjland, Lontl., 1674, 60. 76. '• Ibid, 1877. 439. 523. 



^ Travels iii North America, vol. ii. (1771) 

 91. 



