Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/327

 YERATKINE in December, 1861, and was restored to Mex- ico in 1867. VERATRINE, or Veratria, an organic base dis- covered in 1818 byMeissner in sabadilla seeds, teratrum sabadilla, and soon afterward by Pel- letier and Caventou in white hellebore, vera- trum album. It probably exists also in other species of veratrum. It is prepared by dissolv- ing the alcoholic extract of the seeds in sul- phuric acid. The solution is then treated with animal charcoal, and the veratrine, together with sabadilline, precipitated by. an alkali. The precipitate is then again dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, and nitric acid is added as long as it produces a black pitchy precipitate. To the filtrate dilute potash solution is added, again precipitating the veratrine, which is then washed and dried and dissolved in absolute alcohol. The alcoholic solution is then evapo- rated ; the residue is boiled in water, the im- pure veratrine which remains is dissolved out by ether, and the ethereal solution on evapo- ration leaves the pure base veratrine. Delon- dre prepares veratrine by treating the crushed sabadilla seeds with very dilute hydrochloric acid in a displacement apparatus, precipita- ting the solution with slight excess of potash, and slightly heating the washed and dried pre- cipitate with twice its weight of ether for four hours in a closed vessel provided with a safe- ty tube. The ethereal solution on evaporation leaves pure veratrine. Veratrine is ordinarily a white or whitish green crystalline powder, but by slow evaporation of its alcoholic solu- tion it may be obtained in long prisms with a rhombic base. It is inodorous, but a minute quantity inhaled by the nostrils produces vio- lent sneezing and headache. It is very acrid and poisonous, producing vomiting and purg- ing when taken internally. It has a peculiar influence on the nervous system. Dr. J. L. Van Praag, in extensive experiments on the lower animals, found that it lowered the circu- lation and respiration, diminished the irrita- bility of many of the nerves, and produced muscular relaxation, and in larger doses vom- iting and purging. The secretion of saliva was much increased, but the urine was little af- fected. In poisonous doses the depressing ef- fects were preceded by an accelerated pulse and respiration, and tetanic muscular spasms, followed by a characteristic dancing movement. It is used in medicine, both externally and in- ternally. The diseases in which it has been employed are chiefly gout, rheumatism, neural- gia, dropsy, and functional diseases of the heart. Prof. Vogt of Bern employs it in pneumonia, in doses of about -^ of a grain every two hours, gradually increased to ten times that quantity. It has also been employed in various nervous affections, as whooping cough, epilepsy, hys- teria, and disorders caused by spinal irritation. From -fa to | of a grain may be given in the form of a pill, repeated every three or four hours, till its effects are produced. The tar- trate, sulphate, or acetate may be used. Vera- VERBENA 307 trine is much more employed externally than by the stomach, and is applicable in this way to all the complaints already mentioned. It is used as a local application in chronic swellings and indurations of the joints, whether from rheumatism, scrofula, or sprains. It may be used dissolved in alcohol, or rubbed up with a little lard in the proportion of from 5 to 20 grains to the ounce. VERATRUM. See HELLEBOKE. VERBENA (Lat. verbenaca, vervain, from ver- bena, sacred boughs), the botanical and com- mon name of a very large genus of herbs and shrubs, abundant in tropical countries; also called vervain, and in France verveine. The genus gives its name to a family, the verlenacece, which is closely related to the labiates, the most important difference being that in this the ovary is entire with the style attached at the top; the plants are generally without the aromatic qualities of the labiates. The teak tree (tectona) is an important member of the family. The verbenas have opposite, often much divided leaves ; the flowers sessile, in Verbena. Garden Hybrids. bracted spikes, or in a flat cluster which elon- gates after flowering ; calyx five-toothed ; co- rolla tubular, often curved, with a spreading, rather unequally five-cleft limb ; the included stamens four ;. the fruit when ripe splitting into four one-seeded nutlets. Formerly some of the species were regarded as medicinal, and several are said to be emetics. There are less than a dozen species in the United States, some of which in the wild state hybridize remark- ably, and produce puzzling intermediate forms. The most common are coarse, weed-like, un- attractive plants, found in old fields, along road- sides, and in waste places. The nettle-leaved verbena ( V. urticifolia) is 4 to 6 ft. high, with coarsely toothed leaves, and long slender spikes of small white flowers; the blue verbena ( V. hastata) is about as tall, with dense spikes of blue flowers ; both are very common, and are often found together. The narrow-leaved, hoary, and bracted verbenas are mostly west- ern and southern species; the European ver- bena ( V. officinalid), a coarse inelegant species about 2 ft. high, is sparingly naturalized, es- pecially in the southern states. The only one of our native verbenas sufficiently showy to be