204 FLORA HOMCOPATHICA. 
dried on clean, white paper, without artificial heat; the only 
objection to this is the time required. 
According to Dr. Lindley (Flora Med., p. 589), a quantity of 
the cormi come to market which have already pushed forth 
flowers, but which have been broken off, and yet have found a 
ready sale at the best price. 
Quin (Pharm. Hom.) and Jahr (Hom. Pharm. and Posol.) 
advise the gathering of the cormi in the spring; but Pereira 
recommends July as the period of their greatest activity, and 
objects to Dr. Christison’s plan of gathering in October. 
The juice is to be expressed from the cormi, and then pre- 
pared in the same manner as directed for all fresh plants. 
PuystotoeicaL Errects.—On Animals. Colchicum acts on 
many animals as a violent poison. Cattle feeding in mea- 
dows where this plant grows are said to be affected in the 
spring by the seeds which adhere to the coats of the stomach, 
producing at the several points of their adhesion inflammation, 
which occasions death; and several pigs having eaten plenti- 
fully of the bulbs which had been grubbed up and placed in a 
yard, died in excruciating agonies, and on dissection the stomach 
of each was found burst (Zaylor on Poisons, art. Colchicum). 
Sir Everard Home (Phil. Trans., 1816) experimented on 
some dogs. He injected 160 drops of the vinous infusion into 
the jugular vein of a dog; all power of motion was instantly 
lost, and the effect on the pulse was remarkable; at first it 
could not be felt, in ten minutes it was 84, in twenty minutes 
60, in one hour 115, and in two hours 150. The respiration 
was at one time very slow, at another, on the rise of the pulse, 
so quick it could hardly be counted. There was much purging 
and vomiting, and death ensued in five hours. After death the 
stomach was found universally inflamed. 
Orfila ( Toxicol. Gén., 3rd edit., vol. ii. p. 257) has constantly 
given the bulbs of Colchicum, collected in June, to dogs, with- 
out perceiving any sensible effect. He therefore considers that 
