Osgood's Observations on the Veratrum Viride. 213 
from the light. I am inclined to think this extract will, to a 
considerable extent, supersede the other preparations. Its ac- 
tivity in this form, and the facility with which it may be ad- 
ministered, certainly favour this supposition. The extract by 
decoction is an inferior article, possessing but little medicinal 
power. Heat appears to injure it very materially. The oint- 
ment is the only preparation which has been made officinal in 
the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. The following are 
its directions : " Take American hellebore in powder, gij- j oil 
of lemons, 20 vci ; lard, Jviij. and mix them." For this pur- 
pose I have found the pulverized extract far preferable to the 
powder of the root. The following is the formula I have 
usually adopted : R. Extract in fine powder, 3j. ; oil of le- 
mons, 3 til ; simple cerate, gj. ; to be thoroughly incorporated 
without heat. Cerate is preferable to lard, as the latter is 
melted by the warmth of the body. The greater activity and 
fineness of the powder of the extract make it more eligible 
than the powder of the root. 
It is unnecessary fully to enter upon a therapeutic applica- 
tion of this article, or to enumerate all the diseases in which 
it has been employed. Among those, in which it stands fore- 
most in our list of remedial agents, are the arthritic inflam- 
mations. In this class of diseases, it should be given in such 
doses as at first fall short of producing disturbance of the 
stomach, as one-third of a grain of the extract, or 3ss. of the 
tincture, regularly repeated every three or four hours, and 
gradually increasing to the extent of producing narcosis or 
vomiting on the one hand, or resolution of the disease on the 
other. To ensure it best effects, opium in moderate quanti- 
ties should be conjoined. A combination of the wine, with 
the tincture of opium, in the proportion of three parts of the 
former to one of the latter, cannot it is said be distinguished 
in its operation from the celebrated Eau medicinale, except- 
ing by the catharsis which sometimes ensues from the use of 
the latter. This combination is much more efficient than the 
wine or tincture alone, producing less disturbance of the sto- 
mach, and can be employed in larger quantities without in- 
convenience from its narcotic effects. In gout, of the regular 
