Veratrum Album.
Related entry: Veratrum viride
The rhizome and roots of Veratrum album, Linné (Nat. Ord. Liliaceae). Europe, especially in the Alpine and Pyrenean districts.
Common Names: White Hellebore, White Veratrum.
Principal Constituents.—Protoveratrine (C32H51NO11), intensely poisonous; protoveratridine, jervine (the most abundant principle), pseudo-jervine, and rubijervine. No cevadine (veratrine) is present.
Preparation.—Homeopathic Mother Tincture of Veratrum Album. Dose, fractional (see below).
Specific Indications.—Gushing, watery diarrhea, with spasmodic or cramp-like action of the intestines and belly-walls; cold face, sunken eyes, and body covered with a cold sweat.
Action and Therapy.—Though closely resembling Veratrum viride in effects, this agent is used for entirely different purposes, based upon Homeopathic usage. These are choleraic diarrhea, cholera morbus, cholera infantum, and Asiatic cholera, to control the gushing discharges and check vomiting. The Homeopathic mother tincture in 3x dilution in the proportion of thirty drops in four ounces of water is the usual form of administration, the dose being a teaspoonful of this mixture every fifteen to thirty minutes. It is not often used in this country.
