64 
HELLEBORUS NIGER. 
Neumann got from 2880 grains of the root of biack hellebore, 
380 alcoholic, and 181 watery extract; and inversely, 362 watery, 
and 181 alcoholic. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Black hellebore was highly 
esteemed among the ancients as a powerful remedy in maniacal dis- 
orders ; but whether our hellebore be the same species as that said to 
grow in the island of Anticyra and about Mount Olympus, and so 
frequently alluded to by the Latin poets, is no easy matter to deter- 
mine. Orfila supposes the Veratrum Album or white hellebore, a 
plant of the Monoecia order, to have been the hellebore of the an- 
cients. Tournefort, however, who botanized Mount Olympus and 
Anticyra, discovered another species, which he supposes to have 
been the hellebore of Hippocrates, and to which he gave the name 
of Helleborus Niger Orientalis ; it differs fi'om the species here 
figured by having a large branched stem, the leaf broader, and the 
flower of a purple hue: it differs also in its effects, for he found that 
9i. of the extract, brought on violent spasms and convulsions. The 
properties of many plants, however, are known to vary considerably 
by difference of soil, climate, &c. In some parts of Germany a 
species of black hellebore has been made use of, which frequently 
produced violent, and sometimes deleterious effects. It appears to 
be the kind known here as settlewort, or bastard hellebore. What- 
ever may have been the hellebore of the ancients, it was principally 
for its action as a drastic purge, that it was esteemed as a powerful 
antimaniacal remedy ; at present, it is looked upon chiefly as an 
alterative, and for this purpose is frequently given in small doses, 
for promoting the uterine and urinary discharges. It proves a 
powerful emmenagogue in plethoric habits, where steel is ineffectual, 
or improper; it is also recommended in dropsies, and some cuta- 
neous diseases, especially Lepra Grjecorum.* As a purgative medi- 
cine, it is chiefly used in cases of mania, melancholy, coma, worms, 
and psora ; but its use requires great caution. The watery extract 
of the root, as directed by the Colleges, is perhaps one of the best 
and safest preparations ; the irritating power of its active mat- 
ter being considerably abated by the boiling : of this extract, from 
gr. X. to 9i. or more may be given for a dose. The tincture is 
preferred as an alterative and deobstruent : one tea-spoonful may 
be considered as a dose. Dr. Duncan recommends the infusion and 
tincture, as promising to be medicines of more uniform power than 
the extract. 
* By Gesner, Kleim, Milmau, Bacher, &c. Vide Aretcei, Opera, ed. Bo'trk. p. 136. 
