COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 203 
milky juice; it is very feculent, and has an acrid, bitter taste 
(Pereira, Elem. Mat. Med., 3rd edit., pt. 1, vol. ii.) 
Collection of the Cormi (bulbs)—The cormus is biennial. 
It first appears about the end of June or beginning of July; it 
flowers in the autumn, and produces its leaves in the spring, 
and its seeds in the June of the following year; it then begins 
to shrivel, becomes leathery, and finally disappears in the suc- 
ceeding spring or summer. ‘The activity of the cormus varies 
at different seasons of the year. It is usually considered to be 
greatest when the cormus is about a year old; that is, about 
the month of July, between the withering of the leaves and the 
sprouting forth of the flowers of the young cormus; at this 
period the cormus is fully developed, and has not exhausted 
itself by the production of the young one (id., 1. ¢.) 
Dr. Christison has expressed some doubts as to the propriety 
of collecting the cormi in July; for though they are plumpest, 
firmest, and abound most in starch at this period, yet he has 
found the shrivelled cormi in the succeeding cormi in the 
following April, to be equally, if not more bitter; and he 
quotes the analyses of Stoltze to show that while the October 
cormus yields two per cent., the March cormus yields six per 
cent, of bitter extract. But there is an error in the quotation, 
which vitiates the inference intended to be drawn from it. 
Stoltze found that the October cormus contains 2.17 per cent. 
of bitter extractive, and that the March cormus contained 
5.91 per cent. of sweet extractive matter, combined with some 
bitter extractive; and he concludes that the October cormus is 
much more active, and contains more bitter extractive than the 
spring cormus (Jd., 1. c.) 
Before drying the cormus, it should be cut transversely into 
thin slices, the dry coats being previously removed. ‘The slices 
are to be quickly dried in a dark, airy place, the heat not to 
exceed 170° Fahr. (Batiley, Lond. Med. Repos., xiv. 429). 
The late Dr. A. T. Thompson recommends the slices to be 
