ALKALOIDS OF THE VERATRUMS. 
415 
§§ 494, 495-] 
to frogs, sugar and lactic acid appear in the urinary excretion. 1 The alka- , 
loids exercise a peculiar influence on voluntary muscle ; the contractility 
is changed, so that, when excited, there is a long-continuing contraction, 
and from a single stimulus more heat is disengaged than with healthy 
muscle ; the motor nerves are also affected. The respiration, at first 
quickened, is then slowed, and finally paralysed. The heart’s action 
is also first quickened, the blood-pressure at the same time is raised, and 
the small arteries narrowed in calibre ; later follow sinking of the 
pressure, slowing of the heart, and dilatation of the vessels, and the 
heart becomes finally paralysed. 
§ 494. Effects on Man. —Poisoning by veratrum, sabadilla, or phar¬ 
maceutical preparations containing veratrine is not common. Plenk 
witnessed a case in which the external application of sabadilla powder 
to the head caused delirium, and Lentin also relates a case in which an 
infant at the breast seems to have died from an external application 
made for the purpose of destroying lice. In both instances, however, 
there is a possibility that some of the medicament was swallowed. 
Bias recorded, in 1861, the case of two children who drank a decoc¬ 
tion of white hellebore, the liquid being intended as an external applica¬ 
tion to an animal. They showed serious symptoms, but ultimately 
recovered. 
A scientific chemist took 3*8 grms. (58 grains) of the tincture of 
green hellebore for the purpose of experiment. There followed violent 
symptoms of gastric irritation, vomiting, and diarrhoea, but he also 
recovered. 2 
Casper relates the poisoning of a whole family by veratrum ; from 
the stomach of the mother (who died) and the remains of the repast 
(a porridge of lentils) veratrine was separated. 
Faber 3 recorded the poisoning of thirty cows by veratrum ; eight 
died, and it is noteworthy that violent poisonous symptoms were pro¬ 
duced in animals partaking of their flesh and milk. 
§ 495. The symptoms appear soon after the ingestion, and consist of 
a feeling of burning in the mouth, spreading downwards to the stomach, 
increased secretion of saliva, and difficulty of swallowing ; then follow 
violent vomiting and diarrhoea, with great pain in the bowels, often 
tenesmus ; there is also headache, giddiness, a feeling of anxiety, and 
the pupils are dilated. The consciousness is ordinarily intact; the pulse 
is weak and slow, and the breathing embarrassed ; the skin is benumbed. 
There may be also formicating feelings, and twitchings in the muscles, 
with occasionally the tetanic cramps which are constantly seen in frogs. 
In cases which end fatally, the disturbance of the breathing and circula¬ 
tion increases, and death takes place in collapse. 
1 Zeit. Phys. Chem., xvi. 453-459. 
2 Med. Tivies and Gazette, Jan. 3, 1863. 
3 Zeitschr. f. Staatsarzneik., 1862. 
