Tlie Black Hellebore. 139 



drachm of the dried leaves in half a pint of water ; this repeated 

 for two or three days in succession will generally effect the ex- 

 pulsion of taenia, for which it has been highly recommended. 



This reputed specific for the cure of melancholy and madness, 

 was an inmate of the English gardens prior to 1597, as Gerard 

 tells us that it was then growing in his own. Like the snow- 

 drop, the Black Hellebore should be planted in considerable 

 quantities to produce an effect ; it loves a pure air, and will not 

 therefore flourish in the precincts of very large cities, especially 

 where much coal is used as fuel. It blossoms, with a yellow- 

 flower, in February, in cold seasons a little later, and is there- 

 fore a proper plant to give contrast to the snow-drop, either in 

 wilderness walks or under trees in the shrubbery. It grows wild 

 in mountainous situations in Lombardy, Italy, Austria, Siberia and 

 Switzerland. It is called indiscriminately wolf's bane, aconite, 

 &c. ; and should never be allowed a place in the kitchen garden, 

 since fatal accidents have arisen in mistaking this root for that 

 of horse-radish. They may be propagated by parting the roots 

 at any time between the months of June and October. In the 

 neighborhood of Paris it is quite common to cultivate them in 

 pots, as an ornament for the house. With every desire to caution 

 the ignorant against the use of these dangerous plants, we can- 

 not avoid recommending the faculty to turn their attention to 

 this herb formerly so celebrated. Mr. Walker tells us " he re- 

 members in the depot for French prisoners of war in England, 

 in 1806, that a peculiar disease, called Nyctalopia, was preva- 

 lent among them. The symptoms which distinguish the disease 

 are, that the patient becomes by degrees perfectly blind from 

 the moment of sunset till the re-appearance of the sun next 

 morning. This affected a great number of the prisoners, who 

 were obliged to be led about by their comrades immediately 

 after sunset, and all of them at the time were laboring under 

 symptoms of extreme dyspepsia. After a variety of treatment 

 had been ineffectually applied, the powder of Black Hellebore 

 was given them as snuff; as most of them were attached to the 

 use of this article, and had for a long time been deprived of it, 

 they took the Hellebore with avidity, and generally recovered 

 from their Nyctalopia in the course of a very few days, and the 

 dyspepsia symptoms were at the same time greatly relieved. 

 There is no doubt that in many affections of the head the 



