MONOCOTYLEDONS 1 75 



out the young seeds and eat them, as they so often 

 do with the Laburnum and other dangerous plants, 

 it is advisable to caution them against such a 

 practice. 



Thus it is recorded that in the village of 

 Schorren, in the Canton of Berne, a number of 

 children died from eating the seeds, and fowls 

 died from the same cause. The Colchicum is very 

 abundant in some of the meadows in Switzerland. 



Boys have been fatally poisoned after eating 

 the bulbs in the field where they found them. 



The Turks are said to infuse the flowers in wine 

 to add to its inebriating effects. 



Unfortunate results have followed from misuse 

 of Colchicum wine for gout and rheumatism, in 

 which the principle Colchicine was too strong ; but 

 only two cases are recorded of deaths in ten 

 years. Mr. Blyth observes that he has seen cattle 

 die from the effects of eating the Meadow-Saffron, 

 and that farmers have had, in certain parts of the 

 country, extensive losses from want of care and 

 knowledge with regard to Colchicum poisoning. 



Mr. Blyth records also a case of a man, aged 

 fifty, who died after taking twenty-eight Blair's 

 gout-pills. They consisted of finely-ground Col- 

 chicum corms, but were so hard that the poison 

 accumulated, as they remained undigested. 



An instance is recorded of a poor woman who 

 picked up some bulbs of the Colchicum thrown 



