POISONING BY VERATRUM. VIRIDE. AMERICAN HELEBORE.
Used in the early days by New England farmers to destroy birds in the cornfields (Osgood). Taken internally it reduces the fullness and frequency of the pulse, and if the dose be large excites nausea, vomiting and purging with great prostration. In the horse I have found anorexia, irritability of the bowels, and frequent retching. The action is primarily on the heart and nervous system and incidentally as an irritant on the gastro-intestinal mucosa. Treatment consists in evacuation of the stomach and the free use of mucilaginous drinks and diffusible stimulants. Helleborus Niger, viridus and fœtidus have analogous effects.