American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

HELLEBORUS. Helleborus niger.
Synonym—Black Hellebore.
CONSTITUENTS—
Helleborin, helleborein, gum, resin, fat.
PREPARATIONS—
Vinum Hellebori Compositum, Compound Wine of Hellebore. Dose,
one-half ounce to two ounces.
Specific Medicine Hellebore. Dose, one-tenth to three minims.
Physiological Action—Black Hellebore, when locally applied, causes
irritation of mucous membranes and of the conjunctiva, inducing
redness, swelling and increased secretion. A moderate dose taken
internally produces no effect, but a considerable quantity causes loss of
appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain and inflammation of the stomach and
bowels. Medicinal doses strengthen the heart and increase the force of
the pulse; while toxic doses cause paralysis with rapid pulse and sudden
arrest of the heart. The effect on the nervous system is partial paralysis
with tremors, followed by violent convulsions.
The agent in its maximum dosage is a drastic hydragogue cathartic in its
fresh active form. It is emetic also and emmenagogue. In overdoses it
readily produces hyper-catharsis and hyper-emesis. it is a constituent of
proprietary pills, but is not widely used in general medicine. In small
doses it acts as a stimulant to the liver and to the secretory glands of the
gastro-intestinal tract.
Therapy—In hysteria, melancholy, mania and other mental conditions
in which the abdominal organs are seriously at fault, it is prescribed with
benefit.
The agent is prescribed in dropsical conditions where there is great
inactivity on the part of the liver, with torpidity of bowels, with general
anasarca or pericarditis or hydrothorax. It is not always the best remedy
even in these conditions.
The agent is a local anesthetic, especially to the conjunctiva.
Helleborein, a crystalline glucoside, in solution dropped into the eye,
will produce anethesia of the structures through the cornea while the
sensibility of the contiguous structures is not impaired. It is not in
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 246