HELLEBORUS FCETIPUS. 7 
Essent. Gen. Char. : Calyx, none ; corolla, six-petalled; stamina, 
six ; pistils, three ; capsules three, many-seeded. 
Spec. Char. : Raceme, more than decomposed ; corollas, erect. 
Description. This plant rises four feet. The leaves are nu- 
merous, very large, oval, ribbed, entire, plaited, sessile, vaginans. 
Flowers bi-sexual; also male flowers, of a greenish colour, on 
very long branched terminal spikes. 
History. Native of Italy, Switzerland, and Austria, flowering 
from June to August. 
Medical Virtues. White hellebore root is a nauseous, hot, acrid 
substance, which, administered to the horse internally, if not. nar- 
rowly watched, produces great nausea, efforts to vomit, and acts 
violently as a cathartic, accompanied with most distressing tenesmus. 
I saw a case at the London College painful to behold, where, by 
way of experiment, it had been given in large doses. If pushed 
further death must be the inevitable result. From its nauseating 
effects, our late worthy Professor of the London Veterinary College, 
Mr. Coleman, recommended its administration in small doses, par- 
ticularly in inflammation of the lungs, for the purpose of lowering 
arterial action, and consequently the pulse. However plausible 
the theory might be upon which its administration was based, there 
is no doubt in those cases where there was extensive inflammation 
of the mucous membranes of the bronchial tubes and air-cells of the 
lungs, and consequently from sympathy involving the mucous mem- 
brane of the stomach and bowels, it killed its thousands ; and I fear 
tottered and tilted many a young practitioner in and out of his 
saddle, who had come out of the College walls flushed with an idea 
that it was a panacea in all those varied and chequered cases in- 
volving the thoracic viscera. I do consider, when practitioners 
have safe and controllable remedial measures at their disposal, they 
are never justified in employing others except in extreme cases ; 
as they thereby not only risk the property of their employers, but 
likewise their own reputation and standing in the profession ; and 
if the latter is of short duration, they are regularly put hors de 
combat for that locality. The white hellebore may be equally 
employed in combination as the foetid hellebore for the cure of 
mange. 
