HEL′LEBORE. Syn. Black hellebore; Helleborus (Ph. L.), L. “The rhizome and root” of “Helleborus niger” (Ph. L.) or black hellebore. It is alterative and emmenagogue, in small doses (2 to 8 gr.); and a drastic hydragogue purgative and anthelmintic in larger ones (10 to 20 gr.) See White Hellebore.
HELLEBOR′IE. Syn. Soft resin of hellebore. An odourless, acrid substance, extracted by alcohol from black hellebore, and on which, according to Vauquelin, the activity of that drug depends.
HEM′LOCK. Syn. Conii Folia (B. P.); Conium (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. In pharmacy, “the fresh and dried leaf of the wild herb Conium maculatum,” or spotted hemlock. The first is used to make the extract; the last, the tincture and powder.
Hemlock is a powerful narcotic acrid poison, occasioning stupor, delirium, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and death. In small doses it is anodyne, alterative, resolvent, antispasmodic, and anaphrodisiac, and has been exhibited in cancer, dropsy, epilepsy, rheumatism, scrofula, syphilis, and other diseases.—Dose, 3 or 4 gr. of the powder, twice or thrice daily, until some obvious effect is produced.
Hemlock, whether in leaf (conii folia) or powder (pulvis conii) rapidly deteriorates by keeping. When good, the powder, triturated with solution of potassa, exhales a powerful odour of conia.
In cases of poisoning by hemlock, the treatment is similar to that noticed under Aconite. See Conia, Extract, Tincture, &c.
HEMP. Syn. Cannabis, L. In botany the typical genus of the natural order Cannabinaceæ. The common hemp, from the fibres of which cordage is made, is the species Cannabis sativa. The fruit of this plant (hemp seed) is demulcent and oleaginous. It is said that the plumage of bullfinches and goldfinches fed on it for too long a time, or in too large a quantity, changes from red and yellow to black.[346]
[346] Burnett, ‘Outlines of Botany.’
Hemp, Indian. Syn. Hashish, Cannabis Indica. This plant, now so largely used in medicine, is a variety of Cannabis sativa, or, perhaps, the same simply rendered more active by climate. The parts employed in Asia for the purposes of intoxication, and in Europe as medicine, are the herb or leaves and the resin. The ‘gunjah’ sold in the bazaars in the East Indies is the plant, just after flowering, dried, and pressed together. ‘Bang,’ ‘bhang,’ ‘subjee,’ or ‘sidhee,’ consists of the larger leaves and capsules without the stalk. The concrete resinous exudation from the leaves, stems, and flowers, is called ‘churrus,’ and in this country ‘resin of Indian hemp.’ ‘Hashish’ seems
to be a general term for the preparation of hemp.