MEADOW SAFFRON. 373 



Could wc divest the tales of anti(|uity of their 

 fabulous dress, we should find them all explanatory 

 of real events, and not the mere ideas of poetical 

 imaginations : perhaps we should then discover 

 that ]\Iedea having relieved JEsou from a fit of the 

 gout, his subjects celebrated her praise as having 

 restored this monarch to youth and sprightliness. 

 As Medea is sometimes called Colchis, we will sur- 

 mise, for the consolation of our gouty friends, that 

 it was the Colchicura that relieved yEson from his 

 infirmities ; and we will also hope tliat they may 

 derive similar benefit through the aid of their me- 

 dical friend, assisted by the virtues of this powerful 

 plant. Most of our superstitious notions, how - 

 ever ridiculous they now appear, originated, in the 

 first instance, from some reasonable opinion ; and 

 thus, because the Colchicum was a remedy against 

 one complaint, credulity magnified its powers as a 

 sovereign antidote. The Swiss peasants tie the 

 flower of this plant around the necks of their 

 children, with a firm belief that it will render them 

 invulnerable to all diseases. 



The Colchicum is thought to be the same root 

 as the Hermodactylus of the ancient physicians, 

 which, after having been entirely diregarded for 

 many generations, is now again become an important 

 article in the Materia Medica. It was for some 

 time employed in the form of a concealed medicine 



