CHAPTER 1 



The Parent Plant 



1.1: The Knowledge of Colchicum in Ancient Civilizations 



The history of Cvlcliiciim, the drug of ancient and modern materia 

 medica, is rooted in the myths and the written records of ancient 

 Egypt, India, and Greece, and runs its course through the ages into 

 the world of today. Not only do modern formularies admit Colchi- 

 cum, the producer of the pure substance colchicine, but this plant is 

 probably one of those mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus. This Egyp- 

 tian document was prepared al:)out 1550 b.c.^ and is our oldest medical 

 text. Colchician could be one of the saffron plants of the Papyrus. 

 From this early age through thirty-five centuries of medical history to 

 the compilation of the modern pharmacopeias, very few drug plants 

 have survived. In fact, only eighteen, among seven hundred plants^^ 

 originally listed as material for ancient Egyptian practitioners, 

 achieved such historical fame. 



The Egyptian civilization developed a code for practicing medi- 

 cine in which plant products played an important role, and the Ebers 

 Papyrus summarized this accinnulation of knowledge. Egyptian doc- 

 tors were advised in the Papyrus to give various seeds to their patients 

 for relief from aches and pains. The seeds were administered on 

 bread. ^ While pure colchicine was not given in these doses, we can 

 assume that the drug was used in treating rheumatism and gout, ail- 

 ments which then and even yet afflict the human race. It is probable 

 also that, if seeds were used, a large quantity would have been ad- 

 ministered to the patient. 



A danger associated with using colchicine in the crude form is 

 the poisonous projicrty of the drug. Enough active substance can be 

 given to cause death in warm-blooded animals. Dry seeds may have 

 as much as four parts of the drug j^er thousand of dry raw material. 

 Perhaps some patients died from the colchicine prescription, for 

 severe piuiishments were said to be meted out to ancient doctors when 

 a patient succumbed. In some instances the jjhysician even paid with 



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