The veterinary pharmacopoeia, and manual of comparative therapy / by George Gresswell and Charles Gresswell ; with physiological actions of medicines, by Albert Gresswell.
- Gresswell, George, 1858-1914.
- Date:
- 1903
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The veterinary pharmacopoeia, and manual of comparative therapy / by George Gresswell and Charles Gresswell ; with physiological actions of medicines, by Albert Gresswell. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![-Cat l to \ drachm. Dog i to i Pig | to 2 drachms. Horse \ to i\ ounces. Ox i to 2 ,, VAPOR CREASOTI. Inhalation of Creasote. Mode of Preparation.—Mix \ fluid drachm of creasote with io fluid ounces of boiling water for inhalation. VERATRI VIRIDIS RHIZOME (A.] and B.). Green Hellebore Rhizome. Synonym.—Veratri Viridis Radix. Natural Order.—Melanthaceae. Characters.—The dried rhizome of Veratrum viride, Solander—Nat, Ord., Liliaceae—is entire, or transversely or longitudinally divided, and may or may not have attached rootlets. When entire, the rhizome is from i inch to 2 inches or more in length, and § inch or more in diameter, erect, obconical, obtuse or truncated at the apex, dark brown externally, whitish within. The rhizome frequently bears at its upper end the concentrically arranged remains of leaves, and gives off on all sides numerous shrivelled yellowish-white rootlets several inches in length. The rootlets may have been broken off, and the rhizome marked with corresponding scars. The rhizome and rootlets are odourless, but when powdered excite sneezing. The taste is bitterish and very acrid. Therapeutics.—Externally, green hellebore and its alkaloid veratrine act firstly as powerful irritants, and then as depressants, on the nerves and vessels, owing to the fact that when used for local purposes, they are liable to be absorbed and produce constitutional effects. For the destruction of pediculi, more safe preparations are to be recommended. Internally, green hellebore and veratrine are powerful vaso-motor depres- sants. The heart’s action, after primary acceleration, becomes reduced in frequency. If large doses be taken, the action becomes irregular, feeble, and accelerated, and finally paralysis of the cardiac muscle ensues. The blood- pressure rises at first under the influence of these agents. It then falls, and becomes much lowered. The effects on the heart are to be attributed to the action of the drug on the centres in the medulla. The respiration is first accelerated, and finally arrested, when large doses are taken. There is a fall of temperature in animals affected with fever, when these agents are adminis- tered, and this is to be assigned to cardiac and circulatory depression. On the digestive tract these agents act as irritants. The chief action, however, of veratrine is on the muscles, the periods of the contractions of which are greatly lengthened, and the strength thereof increased. If large doses are 1 Known in the United States Pharmacopoeia as Veratrum Viride.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28062814_0466.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
