282 Journal of an Aerial Voyage. [Oct. 



the recent seed only. In a dried state, when made into hay, it 

 loses its deleterious property. Whether if taken in any large 

 quantity it would be attended with danger I have not been able to 

 ascertain. It seems very probable that the difference in effect be- 

 tween the recent and dried seed may be owing to the latter having 

 lost its property of adhering to the membrane of the stomach, by 

 which it is enabled to mix with, and is diluted by, the food. I 

 have thought it incumbent on me to furnish you with this informa- 

 tion, as the account is generally supposed to have been framed for 

 the purpose of bringing into disrepute the meadow saffron, which I 

 have discovered to be an important auxiliary in the treatment of 

 gout ; being in fact the basis of the eau medicinale. That this 

 drug possesses poisonous powers to a high degree is unquestionable : 

 one of the names given to it by the French is hie chien, from its 

 killing dogs ; and the Greek writer Dioscorides describes it as being 

 the Ephemerum, supposed to be so called from its property of pro- 

 ducing death in one day. It is to those only who find they can take 

 the eau medicinale with impunity that I recommend this medicine 

 to be taken without professional advice. 



As many of your readers are unacquainted with the mode of pre- 

 paring this remedy, I subjoin the formula for their information : — 

 Take two ounces of the root of colchicum autumnale, cut it into 

 very thin slices, and put it into a bottle with four ounces of proof spi- 

 rits of wine ; let them stand together till the virtues of the root are 

 extracted, when the liquor is to be strained for use. This is the 

 exact composition of the eau medicinale, the truth of which I have 

 proved in a vast number of cases. It may be procured at a che- 

 mist's at a very moderate price ; the intrinsic value of the bottle sold 

 for eight and eleven shillings not being threepence. 



It is proper the public should be informed that I am prepared to 

 prove, that the greater part of the eau medicinale sold in this 

 country has been manufactured here, and not imported, as alleged 

 by the venders. 



Article X. 



Journal kept ly Henry Beaufoy, Esq. during an Aerial Voyage 

 vith Mr. James Sadler, sen. from Hackney, Middlesex, to East 

 Thorpe, Essex, five Miles from Colchester, August 29, 1811. 



As the balloon ascended I was totally unconscious of the motion : 

 it appeared as if the balloon was the only point stationary, and that 

 the earth and the people were suddenly sinking away. The rapi- 

 dity with which it ascended was such that it prevented every sensa- 

 tion of giddiness, the whole country appearing in the course of a 

 few seconds as one prodigious map. The almost instantaneous 

 transition from the shouts of the spectators, and from the absolute 



