Veratrum Album

[white hellebore, natural order, junci.]

This plant is a hardy perennial, flowering from June to August. Stem from two to five feet high, erect, simple, and hairy. Flowers greenish-white, forming a large downy panicle. Leaves large, ellip- tical, entire, ovate oblong, striated, of a flue green color.

It is a native of the mountainous districts of Europe ; it is found in great abundance on the Alps of Switzerland. We use the root of this plant, a single, double or many-headed rhizoma having the form of a cylinder, or truncated cone ; from two to four inches long, about one inch in diameter, rough, wrinkled, grayish or blackish-brown externally, whitish internally. At the upper extremity of the rhizo- ma we frequently observe the cut edges of numerous concentric, woody or membranous scales ; they are portions of the dried leaf- sheaths.

When cut transversely, the rhizoma presents a large cen- tral portion which varies in its qualities, being woody, farinaceous, or spongy, in different specimens. The odor of the dried rhizoma is feeble, the taste at first bitter, then acrid ; by keeping the rhizoma it is apt to become mouldy.

From this root we obtaiu a deep brown-red tincture.

Veratrum acts upon the cerebro-spinal system and, through it, affects profoundly the vegetative sphere, causing extreme torpor, characterized by disorganization of the fluids of the body, copious serous vomitings and diarrhoeas, profuse cold, clammy sweats. Ex- haustion of nerve-power is frequently present, and is shown by that complete prostration, which, in connection with the action of vera- trum upon the vegetative sphere, makes it so valuable a remedy in cholera. The action of veratrum upon the sensorium is worthy of attention.

The drug causes a peculiar state of great mental depression with sad imaginings and weeping, which is liable to terminate in a condition of frenzy, with cursing and scolding, and with violent demonstrations of anger. In quite large doses veratrum acts as a violent, acrid irritant.

Horn, in his Archive of Practical Medicine, relates the poisoning of three people who took the root by mistake. The symptoms were : in about an hour, burning in the throat, gullet and stomach, followed by nausea, dysuria and vomiting ; weakness and stiffness of the limbs ; giddiness, blindness, and dilated pupils ; great faint-

868 VEKATRUM ALBUM.

ness, convulsive breathing, and small pulse. In the case of one of the poisoned people the pulse became imperceptible, the breathing stertorous, and a total insensibility set in, even to ammonia when held under her nose. Next day this person became lethargic ; she complained of headache, and had an eruption similar to flea bites. They all recovered.

Hahnemann relates the following case of poisoning in his Lesser Writings : I had the greatest difficulty in restoring two children, the one a year and three-quarters old, the other five years old, who had both taken white hellebore by mistake, the former four grains, the latter seven grains. But few minutes elapsed before the greatest changes were observable in both children. They became quite cold, fell down, their eyes projecting like those of a person in a state of suffocation, the saliva ran continually from their mouths, and they seemed devoid of consciousness.

I saw them half an hour after the accident. The parents had tried to incite vomiting by means of a feather, but without success. Milk administered by the bowels, and poured down the throat in large quantities, had had no effect except the production of scanty vomiting which did no good, but only increased the faintness.

" When I arriyed, both seemed at the point at death ; distorted, projecting eyes ; disfigured cold countenance ; relaxed muscles ; closed jaws ; imperceptible respiration. The infant was the worst. The impending death by apoplexy, the failing irritability, at once induced me to combat the symptoms, if possible, with strong coffee. I introduced, as far as the clenched jaws would allow me, warm coffee into the mouth, but I chiefly sought to give it in large quan- tities by means of an enema ; in the course of an hour all the danger was gone, and the natural temperature, consciousness and respira- tion had returned."

Buchner relates the following experiment with veratrnm : Waltl macerated 40 grains of the root of veratrnm in an ounce of water, of which he took a teaspoonful without experiencing any effect. A tablespooful of the solution caused in three hours a burning heat in the whole body which lasted half an hour, after which a copious perspiration broke out for five hours. Six hours after swallowing the drug, the room seemed darkened ; he was unable to bear the light of day or to hold his head erect, which he had to press against his chest, otherwise he experienced a violent headache and an intol- erable distress in the occiput ; the pulse Avas accelerated ; at times

VERATKUM ALBUM. 869

he felt cold, and at other times hot ; his strength was very much reduced; finally, he vomited ten times, had a number of discharges from the bowels ; the face was sunken, pale, altered, covered with a cold sweat. Next day he was well again.

CEREBRO-SPINAL GROUP.

Veratrum has caused : Vertigo. Painful dullness of the head. Dull pressure in the vertex. Paroxysms of pain in various parts of the brain, partly as if bruised, partly as from pressure.

Pressing pain in the vertex, as if the head were pressed flat, changed to a beating pain by motion. Dull pressure in the vertex, attended with pain in the stomach, relieved by pressing on the vertex with the hand. Also sadness, grief, despondency; anxiety, as if he had com- mitted an evil deed, or as if he were fearful of some misfortune. Wild mania, with screaming, running about, coldness of the body and pallor of the face.

Great dizziness ; contraction of the pupils and obscuration of sight.

MANIA. — We use veratrum album in the treatment of mania and cerebral irritations, characterized by dizziness, obscuration of vision, loss of power to control the movements of the body, compression of the pulse, coldness of the body, complete extinction of nerve power. Hahnemann found it an indication for veratrum if various kinds of pain were accompanied, now and then, by a kind of temporary or transient delirium or mania.

A woman of thirty years of age was taken with acute mania about two weeks after her confinement, so that she had to be tied. Symptoms : The patient did not sleep, but chatted constantly. When she heard the ringing of the church-bells, or her senses were otherwise acted upon, she became very silly and danced about, until she had to be forced to become quiet. There was very little sleep, and she awakened in a fright.

There was a wild look in the eye, and a peculiar, irregular haste in her conversation. She was cured by veratrum.

VERTIGO, characterized by obscuration of vision, collapse of pulse, fainting, prostration. Confirmed brandy-drinkers, opium- eaters, persons who use tobacco to excess or who exhaust their cere- bral energies by sexual abuse, may become constitutionally liable to such attacks. Miasmatic atmospheric influences, in times of pre- vailing epidemics, may beget a predisposition for such attacks.

APOPLEXY. — In certain forms of apoplexy we shall find vera- trum an indispensable agent. During the attack, the extremities become cold, the pulse collapses, the breathing becomes stertorous, the face has a bluish, hippocratic appearance, the lips look blue, the pupil is dilated, violent retching may exist at the commencement of

870 VERATRUM ALBUM.

the attack, resulting in the expulsion of small quantities of white, tenacious phlegm. Persons who have ruined their stomachs by the abuse of brandy are exposed to the danger of such attacks.

HEMICRAN IA. — We may find veratrum adapted to certain forms of hemicrania of nervous persons with a pale face, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea ; the pain is pressive, beating, as if the head would burst, frequently so severe that the patient becomes fairly crazed with it ; or there is complete prostration, even to fainting ; cold, clammy perspiration ; chilliness ; thirst ; gastralgia.

PROSOPALGIA — It is also an excellent remedy in prosopalgia, when the pain is tearing, beating and intolerably severe, accompanied by chilliness and characteristic gastric disturbances. In

HYDROCEPHALUS veratrum is indicated by a peculiar train of symptoms : the child lies in a state of sopor, cries out suddenly, bores its head into the pillow ; the pupils are contracted ; the head feels hot while the rest of the body is cool ; the least attempt to raise the head causes the little patient to gag and vomit.

FAINTING FITS. — Veratrum may be prescribed in fainting fits, trembling, and even in convulsions, where these conditions occur incidental to such depressions of the cerebral innervations as we have alluded to. In all such cases the general aspect of the case will always appear the same : cold extremities, collapse of pulse, hippocratic countenance, loss of vision, partial insensibility to external stimuli. The convulsions may be symptomatic of a primary derangement of the abdominal nervous centres, more particularly of the coeliac plexus, and will always be accompanied with the previously described signs of cerebral irritation, aud paroxysms of violent retch- ing, vomiting of tenacious mucus, or even of green bile and blood.

ORBITAL GROUP.

Veratrum causes loss of vision, but we have seen that this effect is subordinate to a more deep-seated, more universal depression of the ganglionic system and of the cerebral system of nerves. In pre- scribing veratrum for amaurosis it will therefore be important to enquire whether the co-existing symptoms of cerebral irritation justify its use. With these reservations we may commend veratrum to your attention in partial amaurosis, hemeralopia and nyctalopia, and in paralytic conditions of the motor power of the lids and recti muscles, particularly in blepharoptosis, or falling of the lids, and in strabismus, or squinting, attended with weakness of the eyes, after an operation. Even for weak and sore eyes, with heat in the eyes, and

VERATRUM ALBUM. 871

swelling of the lids, veratrum has been found useful. Here it is particularly adapted to persons with impoverished or ricketty con- stitutions, who are habitually cold and generally deficient in vital reaction, with a thin pulse and impaired digestion.

FACIAL GROUP.

Veratrum affects the ears, nose and face in a marked manner, but not independently of its more general action upon the brain or ganglionic system. It causes deafness, alternate feelings of heat and coldness in the ears. This group of symptoms may occur in hydro- cephalus and cholera. It causes icy coldness of the nose, excessive irritation and flow of water from the nose, soreness and ulceration of the nose.

These symptoms may occur as incidental to deep- seated irritations or depraved conditions of the intestinal mucous lining, occasioned by, or resulting in, the formation of worms. It causes a pale, cold and collapsed face, with a pinched-up, bluish nose, dry and cracked lips, lock-jaw, gritting of the teeth. All these symptoms may occur, some in cholera, others in hydrocephalus and worm-diseases.

BUCCAL GROUP.

We have seen that veratrum causes ptyalism, soreness of the mouth, swelling of the tongue ; it has also been known to cause coldness of the tongue, a croaking voice, and even a complete loss of voice.

CHTLO-POIETIC . GROUP.

The action of veratrum upon the chylo-poietic organs is dis- tinguished by a variety of characteristic and remarkable effects. It causes a suffocative constriction of the fauces, with a dry and cold feeling in the throat ; loss of taste ; unquenchable desire for cold drinks ; nausea, retching and vomiting of mucus, bile and blood ; vomiting, attended with fainting and prostration ; vomiting accom- panied with diarrhoea and burning in the epigastric region ; singult- us ; a feeling of oppression and burning in the epigastrium ; painfulness of the abdominal walls ; burning in the bowels as from hot coal ; flatulent colic, with rumbling in the bowels ; diarrhoea, also involuntary, bloody stools and watery discharges.

VOMITING Veratrum is indicated in vomiting of mucus, then

"bile, with decidedly bitter taste, accompanied with diarrhoea ; aggra- vated or brought on by motion. Also vomiting of the ingesta. Gastralgia. Vomiting in the morning. The vomiting is always

872 VEEATRUM ALBUM.

profuse, gushing, and accompanied by coldness of the surface and sinking of nerve power. The following are cases in hand :

A man suffered often from vomiting. Symptoms : The vomiting is at first " gush- ing " and very copious, grass-green and acrid ; later, the amount is smaller, there is much retching and choking, and finally it consists of tough phlegm, like the white of an egg. At first these attacks recur every ten to fifteen minutes and are provoked by eating and by drinking water, which he craves. With it, there is oppressed breath- ing, which oppression seems to come from the stomach and is increased from external pressure ; the epigastric region is bloated, the lower abdomen collapsed ; there is frequent hiccough ; the pulse is quick, light, intermitting ; the entire body is covered by sticky, clammy perspiration.

Great thirst. Sometimes the patient is delirious, falls into a light sleep with muscular twitching, from which he wakes to vomit again. Prescribed veratrum1, six drops in three ounces of water, a dose every half-hour to one hour. The attack passed off during twenty-four hours, the appetite returned, the patient left his bed and went to work.

(Schmid.)

A woman, about forty years old, has suffered for four weeks with vomiting, having from ten to fourteen spells each day. She does not only vomit the larger part of her food, but vomits also when her stomach is empty, then throwing up tough phlegm. Long-continued allceopathic treatment and nux vomica, in large and small doses, did no good. She is now constipated and sore and bruised in her limbs. Six drops of veratrum2, twice each day, cured her in a few days. (Elwert in the Hygea, xx., 99-)

VOMITING OF PREGNANCY In the vomiting of pregnancy

veratrum album is an important remedy when there are present : bitter taste in the mouth, pressure in the stomach after eating ; bilious or mucous vomiting, especially in the morning, brought on or increased by motion ; great physical exhaustion ; mental depres- sion or anxious restlessness; cold feet and body; the patient is hardly ever comfortably warm, but has occasional flashes of heat with thirst.

DYSPEPSIA with characteristic vomiting; great thirst for cold water; aversion to, and heaviness in the stomach after taking, warm drinks; burning distress in the stomach ; spitting up of food, a mouthful at a time.

OAEDIALGIA with severe, pressive .pain in the pit of the stomach, with vomiting of bile or of tough mucus, spitting of food by the mouthful, colicky pains in the bowels, diarrhoea, general chilliness and great coldness of the extremities, exhaustion. Thirst for cold drinks. In

COLICODYNIA veratrum may manifest great curative powers. In one of our cases of poisoning I stated that the patients com- plained of a distress as though the bowels were tied up in a knot. This symptom constitutes an important curative indication.

Hahnemann effected a splendid cure of this disease in the earlier years of his pro- fessional career. The patient was a printer who had been afflicted for several years.. The attacks set in with a feeling of constriction in the bowels as if flatulence had be- come incarcerated; the bowels swelled up and became excessively painlul, cold sweat broke out and the patient became nearly stupefied and exhausted, with his face

VERATKUM ALBUM. 873

swollen and his eyes protruded. You may find this case fully described in Hahne- mann's Lesser Writings. The patient was completely cured with four doses of veratrum, each consisting of four grains of the pulverized root. This dose was enormous, producing unnecessary medicinal complications ; but the cure was com- plete and lasting, and created a sensation at the time it was first reported in Hufe- lana's yournal.

DIARRHCEA. — Veratrum is also an effective remedy in diarrhoea with frequent, large, watery stools, with flakes, preceded and accom- panied by pinching colic and followed by a condition of collapse, foreshadowed by the shuddering, chilliness, nausea and vomiting and cold perspiration which appear during the stool. Violent thirst for very cold or for sour drinks. Cold breath. Suppression of urine. Involuntary stools.

A girl, four years old, drank much cold water in very hot weather and was taken with repeated vomiting of bilious matter and, at the same time, very painful, watery diarrhoea. Great precordial anxiety with continued, sickening nausea; pallor of the skin; coldness of the limbs. Veratrum2, one dose every fifteen minutes, cured in two hours. (Kafka, Prager Mon. Schrift., iii., 119.)

CHOLERA with similar symptoms and cramps in the extremities.

A man, fifty years old, thin in flesh, has been sick for three days, in consequence of taking cold and of fright, with the following symptoms: During twenty-four hours he has had from ten to twenty watery, greenish stools, preceded by severe um- bilical colic, causing him to cry out and producing copious perspiration ; tenderness of the lower abdomen to touch ; tense state of the epigastrium and of the right hypo- chondrium, sensitive, cannot bear pressure ; frequent and bitter vomiting alter drink- ing; dryness of the mouth; yellowish, somewhat moist coating of the tongue; hoarseness ; roaring in the ears : vertigo ; violent cramps in the calves of the legs ; moderately frequent, hard and pretty full pulse ; rather cool state of the skin. Pre- scribed veratrum3, one drop. The vomiting and diarrhoea ceased within a couple of hours, the other symtoms disappeared in twenty-four hours and he was discharged cured. (Schnieber in Archiv., iii., 112.)

A woman was taken with an attack of sporadic cholera some twenty-four hours ago. Symptoms: Disfigured, hippocratic countenance, constant groaning; anxious, restless tumbling about ; cramps in the hands and feet ; moaning with pain in the bowels ; speechless ; vomiting of watery, yellowish liquid, even on the empty stomach, but especially after drinking, with violent retching, preceded by increased restlessness ; involuntary evacuations of watery stools ; death-like coldness of the entire body; cold perspiration on the face.

The pulse cannot be examined on account of her restlessness. Veratrum12, one drop in water, produced an improve- ment within three days. (Rummel in Archiv., vi., 2, 55.)

ASIATIC CHOLERA with violent nausea and vomiting of large amounts of serous fluid, great thirst for cold water and for sour drinks, anxious restlessness or, more frequently, apathy ; coldness of the body, especially of the extremities, cramps in the calves of the legs, scantiness or suppression of urine. Large, watery evacuations which are expelled with a "gush," with occasional bits of stool in them. The vomiting and diarrhoea are provoked by drinking, and come on very suddenly. The desire for stool is preceded by pinch- ing colic with rumbling in the bowels ; the stools are followed by great prostration.

874 VERATRUM ALBUM.

B. R., aged fifty-eight years, had been quite well until last night, when he was suddenly taken with nausea, vomiting of ingesta, followed by vomiting of white, watery fluid, with slight admixture of bile and violent diarrhoea. The writer found him in the following condition : Nearly constant nausea, frequent vomiting ; evacu- ations of rice-water discharges every few minutes, preceded by violent pinching colic, accompanied by cold perspiration, faintness, chilliness, anxiety, and followed by utter exhaustion.

Pinched, bluish appearance of the countenance ; coldness of the tongue and of the extremities ; coolness of the surface of the body ; constant and intense craving for cold drink ; greatly depressed state of the pulse ; restlessness ; fear of approaching death ; suppression of urine since the attack commenced. Veratrum album2, one drop every half hour, cured the case in twenty-four hours.

SEXUAL AND URINARY GEOUP.

Veratrum causes dysuria and involuntary discharges of urine, as from paralysis of the sphincters. These symptoms are of value mainly in connection with other symptom-groups.

METRORRHAGIA. — Veratrum is of service in a few diseases of the sexual apparatus of women. It has been used in metrorrhagia, preceded and accompanied by headache, with an occasional feeling as if a lump of ice were lying on the top of the head ; buzzing in the ears ; nosebleed ; nausea ; vomiting ; pains in the limbs, gritting of the teeth, coldness of the face and of the extremities ; bluish face ; delirium.

METRITIS. — It is an important remedy in metritis with sup- pressed lochial discharge, nymphomania, vomiting, diarrhoea, cold- ness of the body, delirium, and the usual, characteristic symptoms of this remedy.

NYMPHOMANIA. — It is indicated in nymphomania, where mania itself is a prominent symptom, showing that the mind has lost its balance, frequently caused by unrequited love ; also in nympho- mania of lying-in women.

An unmarried woman conceived a violent passion for a man, which could not be gratified. She became demented in consequence of it, sang and laughed constantly and fancied herself pregnant. She was radically and permanently cured by the use of veratrum. (Frank's Magazine.)

PUERPERAL MANIA and puerperal convulsions come within the curative range of veratrum. The mania is characterized by wild shrieks, possibly by mirthfuluess, bloated face, protrusion of the eyes. The convulsions are accompanied by violent cerebral conges- tions, bluish and bloated face, protruded eyes, expression of fright and anxiety in the features, hard and stertorous breathing, collapse.

THORACIC GROUP.

The action of veratrum upon the respiratory organs is in the main characterized by the following symptoms : Aphonia, loss of

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voice ; titillation in the throat-pit, with dry cough ; spasmodic cough, with blue face, suffocation, retching ; spasmodic constriction of the chest, with suffocative breathing and excessive precordial anguish.

SPASMODIC ASTHMA — These symptoms suggest the use of veratrum in spasmodic asthma with dreadful paroxysms of suffo- cation, especially when this disease was caused by the violent sup- pression of an inflammatory eruption upon the chest or neck, an acute rash, for instance ; and in

ANGINA PECTOEIS with dreadful anguish and oppression in the region of the heart.

WHOOPING COUGH, with vomiting of thin mucus, attacks of convulsive cough, provoked by drinking cold water, entering a warm room, accompanied by dizziness, feeling of fulness in the head, cold clammy sweat on face and body, and extreme exhaustion.

EXANTHEMATOUS GROUP.

Veratrum has caused an eruption of red spots. This is purely symptomatic, and is of service only in so far as it may confirm the use of the remedy in some other condition.

FEVER GROUP.

Yawning, shuddering, cold and chilliness in the skin, for instance of the face. Coldness of the whole body. Heat and redness of the face, with slight chills. Internal cold thrill from the head to the toes of either foot, with thirst.

Constant chills over the back and anus. Chill in the morning, and coldness with thirst for half an hour, without subsequent heat, with weakness in the limbs, especially the thighs. Great desire for cold drinks. As soon as he rises, a cold sweat breaks out on his forehead.

Cold sweat all over. Sour sweat, with burning skin. The pulse collapses, almost. There is the usual number of pulsations of the pulse, but it is weak and almost imperceptible.

INTEPtMITTENT FEVER. — Veratrum is indicated in inter- mittent fever, when the cold stage is particularly marked. There is no violent chill, but the entire body feels cold, objectively and subjectively. It is accompanied by giddiness, nausea, vomiting; great thirst for cold water; cold, clammy perspiration; occasional flashes of heat. The hot stage is usually short, the temperature of the body is but slightly increased ; the thirst and gastric symptoms, with vomiting of bilious matter, may continue; they are often

87 G VERATRUM ALBUM.

absent. The countenance looks purplish. There is copious, clam- my perspiration during all the stages, especially on the forehead. The pulse is frequently depressed ; the urine is turbid and is voided in small quantities. There may be diarrhoea, at times constipation. Apathy ; drowsiness ; fever-blisters.

Veratrum is particularly useful in pernicious cases, after the abuse of china, during epidemics of cholera ; great prostration of the vegetative system is the most important indication for the remedy.

A boy, ten years old, had tertian intermittent for six months. It had been repeat- edly suppressed by quinine. During the paroxysms the cold stage only was marked, without being followed by heat ; it was followed by warm sweat, which soon changed to cold sweat. There were no symptoms, except that he had become cachectic and feeble. Veratrum12 cured him permanently in a short time. (Gross in Archiv.fuer d. Horn. Heilkunst, vii., 3, 52.)

A strong man, fifty-five years old, had tertian intermittent. Symptoms : Slight, long-continued, cold drawing throughout the body, especially through the back ; heat with thirst, retching and vomiting of a bitter, green fluid with constant faintness, cold perspiration on the forehead. Stupor. The thirst could hardly be satisfied, since the smallest amount of water increased the retching and vomiting.

The apyrexia was characterized by constant sleep, profuse cold sweat, stupor, spasmodic eructa- tions, nausea, pressure and fulness at the pit of the stomach, with sensitiveness to pressure ; obstinate constipation. A few doses of veratrum3 cured permanently. (Theuerkauf in Allg. Horn.

Zeitg., lviii., 85. j

TYPHOID FEVER. — The indications for veratrum resemble those given under intermittent fever, but they present a higher degree of intensity. We find, above all, the same marked prostra- tion of the vegetative system, accompanied by a sluggish circulation of the blood, cyanosis, suppression of urine, profuse vomiting of watery substance, and similar evacuations per anurn. The tempera- ture becomes lowered, the skin loses its firmness and elasticity and assumes a relaxed condition ; the eyes are sunken ; the countenance looks stupid, at times hippocratic, and the brain becomes involved, as is shown by the gritting of the teeth, loss of consciousness, delirium.

YELLOW FEVER has been treated with veratrum. It can be of use only in exceptional cases, where the symptoms call for the remedy with remarkable clearness.

MENTAL GROUP.

The veratrum-patient combines the wildest vagaries of the religious enthusiast, the amorous frenzies of the nymphomaniac, and the execrative passions of the infuriated demon, each of these manifestations struggling for the ascendency, and causing the unfor- tunate victim to writhe and struggle with his mental and physical

VERATRUM VIRIDE. 877

agonies, * * * like the dying Laocoon wrestling with the ser- pents of Minerva. This anguish is short-lived. The patient soon passes from this exalted and frenzied condition into one of deepest melancholia, abject despair of salvation, imbecile taciturnity, and complete prostration both of mind and body. The extremities become cold and blue, the heart's action weak and irregular, the respiration hurried, and all the objective symptoms are those of utter collapse.

At the same time the mind passes into a Stygian gloom, from which it very slowly emerges. (Dr. S. H.

Talcott in Horn. Times, April, 1879.)

A girl, thirty-three years old, is sleepless ; her countenance is distorted; she weeps, prays and says, " it is a secret, a misfortune "; does not converse; she points with her hands, describes a circle with them, says she must strengthen herself and makes increasingly violent motions with her hands. She complains about dust, which troubles her throat; drinks much water. She imagines herself in heaven, conversing with God. Prescribed veratrum'2, improvement in half an hour; discharged cured in four weeks.

(Schreter in Allg. Horn. Zeitg., xlii., 86.)

A miller, sixty years old, of a retired, melancholy temperament, had from one to two attacks of mania each year. Symptoms : He drives his family out of the house ; claims that the sun turns around the earth. Has anticipations of death; groaning; restlessness ; despair. Confusion of intellect and of the reasoning-powers, which causes him to do the most senseless things. One drop of veratrum alb.12 restored him to his senses. (Rueckert's Clinics.)

A woman, who had just recovered from febr. gastr. nerv. fell into a state of pro- found melancholy. She was sad because of the death of a grown daughter, which had occurred a year before ; she reproached herself, because her melancholy made her family miserable. She attempted to drown herself, but was prevented. Vera- trum6, in repeated doses, cured her. ( Engelhardt. )

ANTIDOTAL TREATMENT.— In cases of poisoning with vera- trum album we use strong coffee, both as a drink and a clyster. Camphor, also, is of value. The use of stimulants must be resorted to, if collapse threatens.