VERATRINE

n. Ver'a2t-ren. Lat., veratrin a. veratria. A poisonous alkaloid, C38H49NO9, or mixture of alkaloids, obtained from the seeds of Schoenocaulon offlcinale. Commercial v. occurs as a yellowish-white or grayish-white amorphous powder. Though it has no odor, it produces violent sneezing. The crystalline v. of Merck (identical with the pure v. of Fliickiger and the cevadine of Wright and Luff) occurs as anhydrous, transparent crystals becoming opaque in the air. A soluble variety, the amorphous v. of Fliickiger and the veratridine of Bosetti, is known as a yellow white resinous ma soluble in cold water but pa ing into the insoluble crystalline form when its solution is heated. Schmidt and Koppen recognize a third modification of v., but this seems to be a mixture similar to commercial v. V. is used externally in neuralgia. [B, 95, 270 (a, 38).] [s. 704]