HELLEBORE

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) In Pharmacy, this term is applied to the roots of the black and white hellebore. The root of black hellebore (Helleborus niger), called also Me lamp odium, has a bitterish acrid taste, and is a drastic purge and emetic: the root of the white hellebore is similar, but more active in its operation. (SfeVERAxniA.) It was formerly used in the cure of gout, and in some maniacal cases where no effect is produced except by very powerful means; but tliese remedies h.ave now fallen into disuse. The leaves of the Helleborus fcetidus, or stinking hellebore, have also been used to evacuate worms from the intestines -, but they are dangerously active. [s. 561]