The Parent Plant 73 



Dioscorides, discouraged its uses. While reliel was obtained quickly, 

 the dangers associated with treatment were always present. As some 

 writers believe, the chance ol death was so great the gamble wasn't 

 "worth the candle." 



A German writer, Wirtzimg (1500-1571) , revived interest in l)itter 

 hermodactyl by his discussions <jn treating gout, and about this time 

 joined in the call lor retinn to ColcJiicum as a treatment tor gout.-^'-' 

 Later John Quincy pid^lished a Complete EngJisJt Dispensatory and 

 called attention to hermodactyls, identifying these drugs with ColcJii- 

 cunt. Accordingly, the British iormularies carried both Hermodactyl 

 and Colchiciim in the 1618 edition. •*'• This practice was continued 

 in subsequent editions of the London Pharniacopoeia: 1627, 1632, 

 1639; but both j>lants were dropped in 1650. The omissions con- 

 tinued for 149 years— until 1788, when Colchicinn was admitted as 

 official. Hermodactyl was droj>j:)ed, never to be heard from again in 

 materia medica."''' This revival, after such a long period without 

 recognition, requires some explanation. 



Without doid^t the renewal in the eighteenth century was largely 

 due to the thorough studies by Baron Anton von Storck^'^ (1731- 

 1803) . who experimented with Colchiciim in a Vienna hos]:)ital. His 

 own body was used for testing sensations as well as bodily changes 

 intluced by Colcliicinn. Students joined him in experiments that in- 

 volved rubbing the tongue with some of the drug to experience the 

 numbness, then recording the time necessary to render the tongue 

 "void of sensation." 



Dr. \on Storck determined lethal doses for dogs, observing that 

 "two chams killed the animal in 13 hotirs." Post-mortem studies es- 

 tablished the changes induced t)y the drug, particularly among the 

 internal organs. These tests aided in formidating correct dosages such 

 as the oxymel colchici, used by many practitioners throughout Britain, 

 France, and Germany. Undoubtedly the place gained for Colchiciim 

 in materia medica by the middle eighteenth ccntiny ^vas a direct re- 

 sult of \on Storck's eifort. 



While debates were going on as to the elficacy of Colchiciim, 

 Husson,-'-' a military officer in the pay of the French king, gave out 

 a vinous prej^aration called "Eau Medicinale," especially useful for 

 gout. The identity of the effective ingredient was kept secret, known 

 only to Husson. There arose quack preparations, i.e., Wilsons Tinc- 

 ture, Reynolds Specific, and others. Their true nature \vas always 

 kept secret, but an English pharmacist discovered in 181 1 that the 

 active ingredient in Husson's preparation was Colchiciim. 



The combined research by I^r. von Storck and the popular suc- 

 cess achieved by the "Eau Medicinale" preparations established 

 Colchiciim in modern materia medica as a spetidc for gout. 



