COLCHICUM 627 



mild fixed oil or in mucilage. For external application, 

 infusions and ointments are used. Equal parts of savin and 

 verdigris ointments form a popular stimulant dressing for 

 foot- rot in sheep. An infusion, of one of savin to one hundred 

 of water, is sometimes injected into the uterus to promote 

 expulsion of retained fcetal membranes. 



COLCHICUM 



COLCHICI CORMUS. Colchicum Corm. The fresh corm of 

 Colchicum autumnale. Meadow Saffron. Collected in 

 early summer ; and the same, stripped of its coats, 

 sliced transversely, and dried at a temperature not 

 exceeding 150 Fahr. 



COLCHICI SEMINA. The dried, ripe seeds of C. autumnale 

 (B.P.). Nat. Ord. Colchicacese. 



The meadow saffron grows wild throughout Middle and 

 Southern Europe, and on English lawns and coarse, wet 

 pastures, in mild, moist localities, and is cultivated in 

 gardens. It has an annual stem ; lilac or purple flowers, 

 numerous round, red-brown, bitter, acrid seeds about the 

 size of millet ; and a bulbous root, which, when about 

 a year old, reaches the size of a walnut, and matures in 

 July. 



The corms are used both fresh and dried. Dried slices are 

 kidney-shaped, about one and a half inch long, and an inch 

 broad, are greyish- white, dry, firm, and starchy, with a 

 bitter, acrid taste. They yield their active principles to 

 alcohol and vinegar. They contain about 70 per cent, of 

 water, and 18 of starch and gum, with j^th of 1 per cent, 

 of a bitter, crystallisable, poisonous alkaloid, colchicine 

 (C 17 H 19 N0 5 ). It is conjoined with gallic acid, is present in 

 other parts of the plant, and is nearly a hundred times more 

 active than the fresh bulb. Soluble in water and alcohol, 

 slightly soluble in glycerin ; with acids, it forms crystalline 

 salts. 



ACTIONS AND USES. Colchicum irritates most textures 

 with which it comes into contact. Large doses are gastro- 

 intestinal irritants and nervous depressants. Medicinal 



