Verat. v. is the American White Hellebore. Growing side by side, Verat. a. and Verat. v. are scarcely distinguishable when not in flower. Millspaugh, however, says that though much like Ver. alb. in its minor points, Ver. v. is strikingly different in general appearance, having a much more pointed leaf, panicles looser and more compound; the racemes of Ver. a. being more compact and as a whole cylindrical, those of Ver. v. scattered, compound, and scraggy. Ver. a. flourishes in mountain meadows, Ver. v. grows in swamps, and wet meadows, and along mountain creeks from Canada to the Carolinas. Cooper has pointed out (H. W., xxxvi. 153) a confusion which exists through the Veratrums being also called Hellebores. Ver. v. is "American White Hellebore" and not "Green Hellebore" (which is Helleborus viridis). Through this confusion an accidental proving of the latter (G. C. Edwards, No. 11. in Allen) has been included in the pathogenesis of Ver. v. The plants belong to different orders, though it must be admitted there is a close resemblance in their effects. The root of Ver. v. contains Veratrin, and the other alkaloids found in the root of Ver. a., but in different proportions. Hale was chiefly instrumental in introducing Ver. v. to homoeopathy, using it in fevers and particularly in pneumonia. Burt made a heroic proving of the liquid extract; and his infant daughter (twenty-one months) very nearly died from taking a few drops of the tincture from a phial. In two minutes she began vomiting. Coffee and Camphor were given as antidotes. In five minutes her jaws were rigid; pupils widely dilated; face blue; hands and feet cold; no pulse at wrist. Abdomen and back were rubbed with Camphor, when she went into spasms with violent shrieks. These spasms were frequently repeated, a hot bath being most effective in relaxing the muscles. Vomiting ropy mucus kept up for three hours. Pulseless; hands and feet shrivelled. After three and a half hours she slept quietly and soundly and next morning was well but a little weak. Burt recalls his own symptom, "constant aching pains in back of neck and shoulders," and concludes that Ver. v. acts on the cervical portion of the spinal cord and base of brain. He also regards it as acting on the vagus, and paralysing the circulatory apparatus. The great keynote of Ver. v. is congestion, and it is in resolving congestive states that its chief successes have been scored. The correspondence is rough and the lower potencies have been mostly used. D. McLellan told me of a case of his. He was sent for in the middle of the night to see an old lady whom he found sitting up in bed gasping for breath, and blue. Rapid congestion of the lungs had occurred. The attack had come on suddenly. Ver. v. quickly rescued the patient from a condition of imminent peril. The concomitance of congestive symptoms, and also of nausea and vomiting, form one of the leading indications of Ver. v. in a great variety of cases. Sensations of fulness ("Head feels full and heavy;" "rush of blood to the head;" "face flushed;" "buzzing in the ears;" "chest constricted;" or "oppressed as from a heavy load;" point to the congestive tendency. The localities most congested by Ver. v. are: Base of brain; chest; spine; stomach. Slowing of the heart's action is a leading effect of the provings (from its action on the heart muscle and cardiac ganglia—Dig. on the pneumogastric); and Ver. v. has been used to "knock down" fever in the same way as Acon. Nash points out that there is some risk in this. When Ver. v. was first introduced he used it largely and successfully in a number of cases; but in one case which appeared to be going on favourably, the patient died suddenly. This he attributes to the Ver. v. In chorea Ver. v. has had many successes: "twitchings during sleep" was a characteristic of some cases. "Constant jerking or nodding of the head," "jerking and trembling, threatened with convulsions," are other leading symptoms. In puerperal convulsions Ver. v. has only succeeded when nauseating doses have been given. In muscular and articular rheumatism it has been used locally as well as internally; and in chorea an application to the spine of the tincture, diluted with spirit, has proved a serviceable adjunct. Among other indications for Ver. v. are: "Violent pains attending inflammation." "Head full, throbbing of arteries, sensitive to sound double or partial vision." Suddenness: Sudden fainting; prostration nausea. A keynote symptom is: Red streak down the centre of the tongue. Ver. v. has a pronounced action on the oesophagus; it causes a sort of ruminating action or reversed peristalsis. Numbness is prominent among the effects of Ver. v. With the 30th I cured a man, 56, of these symptoms: Dim sight as if scales over it; numbness; pain in head as if a tight band were round it; rush of blood to head; sleeplessness. Peculiar Sensations are: Confused feeling in head as if head would burst. As if boiling water poured over parts. Tongue as if scalded. As if a ball rising into oesophagus. As if stomach tightly drawn against spine. As of a load on chest. As if ankles distorted. As of galvanic shocks in limbs. As if damp clothing on arms and legs. Ver. v. is Suited to full-blooded, plethoric persons. Dreaming about water is a characteristic which I have confirmed. The symptoms are: > By rubbing. > By pressure (pain in head). Motion <. Sudden motion = faintness and blindness. Rising <. Walking <; = blindness. Lying < (headache, breathing, &c.); > faintness and blindness. Closing eyes and resting head > vertigo. < Going from warm to cold. < After exposure. The least food vomiting. < Morning on waking; also evening.