ON VERATRUM VIRIDE. 
93 
MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. 
Under this head much might be said in favor of this article 
by one whose pursuits were connected with the study of 
medicines in other besides their chemical and pharmaceu- 
tical relations; but as a lengthy medical history would be 
incompatable with the object in view, I shall make but a few 
remarks on its more evident properties and uses, and con- 
fine myself more particularly to the limits of an analytical 
essay. 
The therapeutic properties of this plant, as established by 
Drs. Osgood {American Journal of Pharmacy ', vol. vii., p. 
202) and Ware — {Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. ii., p. 
127-132) — who each instituted a course of experiments on 
its remedial powers, seems sufficient inducement for its more 
frequent application by the physician to the cure of disease. 
We are informed that the white hellebore was known to, and 
included in the Materia Medica of the aborigines of this coun- 
try, and it seems it was known to the Indians more on account 
of its toxicological properties, than as an agent in the restora- 
tion of health, and the purposes for which they employed it 
seem to entitle it to a prominent place in their catalogue. 
For an account of the domestic uses to which it is sometimes 
put, reference can be made to the paper of Dr. Osgood. 
It has been stated to differ considerably in its medicinal 
characters from the veratrum of Europe; the latter acting as 
a hydragogue cathartic, while the American species has not, 
in any instance, been found to produce such an effect. As an 
emetic it has been employed by the gentleman before men- 
tioned, whose testimony we have also in favor of its beneficial 
effects in cases of rheumatism and gout; in which diseases 
they have used it with much success. When applied exter- 
nally, in the form of decoction or ointment, its effects are said 
to be the same on the stomach as when taken internally; 
and an instance is recorded (Bigelow's Medical Botany, 
vol. ii., p. 135) where a patient was nauseated, and subse- 
