WHITE HELLEBORE. 



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whitish coloured petals. They appear in April 

 and May. The capsule is oblong, and contains 

 numerous rounded seeds. 



This plant is a native of 

 Spain, Sicily, and Syria, where 

 it grows in sandy situations on 

 the sea coast. 



It was first cultivated in 

 England in 1648, in the Oxford 

 botanic garden. The red rooted 

 variety has been supposed to 

 possess gi-eater strength than 

 the white, and is preferred 

 for medical use. The root 

 has little smell, but to the taste 

 is very nauseous, and intensely 

 bitter and acrimonious. It imparts its virtues to 

 both spirits, vinegar, and water. 



This root was known to the ancient Greeks, 

 and has ever since been employed by physicians. 

 In large doses it proves poisonous to many ani- 

 mals; and in man excites violent action of the 

 stomach, intestines, kidneys, and bladder. In 

 moderate doses, however, of a few grains, it is 

 a perfectly safe and efficacious medicine, and is 

 used in coughs, asthma, and dropsy. To prevent 

 its too great action on the stomach, it is fre- 

 quently combined with a portion of opium. 

 With calomel it forms a powerful stimulant of 

 the urinary organs. 



The root to be preserved should be slowly 

 dried, but not overmuch, and then reduced to 

 powder. It may be given in doses of from two 

 to five grains in this way, or as a tincture in 

 Bi>irits or vinegar. 



White Hellebore (iieratrum album) . Natural 

 family KKac«(B/ polygamia, moncecia, of Linnteus. 



213. 



Hellebore. 



The root is perennial, about an inch thick, with 

 numerous strong fibres. The stalk is thick, 

 strong, round, hairy, and about four feet high. 

 The leaves are large, oval, ribbed, plaited, and 

 of a yellowish green colour. The corolla is six- 

 petalled. The flowers are both hermaphrodite 

 and male. 



This plant is a native of Italy, Switzerland, 

 Austria, and Russia. Gerard is supposed to be 

 the first who introduced it into Britain, about 

 the year 1696. 



Two kinds of hellebore, the white and the 

 black, were held in much esteem by the ancients, 

 although it is difficult exactly to trace which 

 kind is described by Dioscorides. Hippocrates 

 frequently mentions hellebore, simply or gen- 

 erally, by Vfliich we are told the white is to be 

 understood, as he adds, the words black, or purg- 

 ing when the other species is meant; and as the 

 purgative powers of white hellebore are known 

 to be weaker than those of the black, the dis- 

 tinction is so far applicable to the eff^ect now 

 experienced of the two roots now known. 



The famous Anticyrian hellebore is supposed 

 to be the black. Pausanias says, that both the 

 white and black hellebore grew at Anticyra; but 

 the latter was accounted safer, and therefore 

 more commonly employed. 



Not only the roots, but every other part of the 

 plant of white hellebore, is acrid and poisonous, 

 and is shunned by most animals. The dried 

 root has no peculiar smell, but a nauseous, acrid, 

 and bitter taste. When applied to open sores 

 and ulcers, it produces its purging effect; and if 

 snuffed up the nose, gives rise to violent sneez- 

 ing. In large doses, it produces violent action 

 on the intestines, followed by inflammation and 

 death. 



The ancients, though sufficiently acquainted 

 with the powerful and dangerous effects of white 

 hellebore, yet frequently prescribed it internally, 

 especially in cases of melancholymadness, dropsy, 

 epilepsy, and leprosy. Hippocrates gave it for 

 the purpose of exciting vomiting, and deemed 

 it safer when this action took place. To those 

 of infirm and weak habits, to women, children, 

 old men, and the consumptive, it was deemed 

 inadmissible; and even when given to the robust, 

 it was thought necessary to moderate its violence 

 by different combinations and preparations; for 

 it was frequently observed to effect a cure not 

 only by its immediate action on the stomach 

 and bowels, but when no sensible action was 

 manifested. 



Hellebore has not, however, kept its ground 

 among the moderns, as a cure of madness; nor, 

 indeed, is it now very much employed in any 

 disease. Its violent action as a purgative, in 

 which capacity alone it is looked to as a means 

 of cure by modem practitioners, has perhaps 

 been the cause of its disuse. The powdered 

 bark of the root collected in spring, has been 

 given in cases of melancholy madness, beginning 

 with a grain, and increasing it to eight grains, 

 and even to twenty; nausea, vomiting, purging, 

 and increase of cutaneous and urinary secretions 

 followed its use, together with redness of face, 

 and efflorescence of the skin. 

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