192 COLCHICUM. 



quantity of the bulb proved fatal to dogs in a very short time. 



The old French name, Tue-chien, woidd seem to intimate that 



dogs are especially obnoxious to this poison. 



In spring, when the seeds are ripe, they are liable to be sw^al- 



lowed by animals, and by adhering to the coats of the stomach, 



produce inflammation, which may terminate in death. 



To the human frame colchicum is very deleterious. Several 



children have lost their lives in consequence of having eaten 

 'the seeds*, but only in the sprmg--!", when the seed vessel is 



fully matured. 



Respecting the properties of the bulb, authors have given 



very different reports. Haller ;J; informs us that he found 



the root perfectly void of taste and acrimony. Krapf likewise 

 says (as observed before) that he ate whole bulbs without 

 feeling any inconvenience, except that of an ungrateful bitterish 

 taste ; and Kratochvill § gave it with impunity to several 

 patients, in doses of two, three, and even four drachms. Storck ||, 

 on the other hand, tells us, that by gently rubbing the root 

 against the tip of his tongue, it rendered the part rigid, and 

 almost void of sensation, for several hours. Ehrmann^, Marges **, 

 Murray f-f-, and several other writers ;|:j, also bear testimony 

 to the great acrimony of the colchicum, so that we can only 

 reconcile these contradictory accounts by supposing the roots to 

 vary according to their age, the soil in which they grow, the 

 season of gathering them, and the manner in which they are pre- 

 served. The effects may also depend on the constitution of the 

 person to whom it is administered §§. 



Some well attested cases of the fatal effects of preparations of 

 colchicum are related by observers worthy of confidence ; among 



• Orfila's Toxicology, vol. ii. p. 81, also Bressl. Samml. 1723, p. 679. 



■f Beck's Medical Jurisprudence, 5th edit. p. 923. 



+ Hist, stirp. Helv. n. 1256. 



§ Kratochvill, Diss, de radice Colchici, Franc, ad Bloen. 1764, p. 34. 



II Storck, Lib. de Colch. p. 8, 9. 



51 Ehrmann, Diss, de Colchico, Basil, 1772, § 5. 



** Marges in Journ. de Med. torn, xxiii. p. 32. sq. 



-|-f- Murray, Appar. Med. vol. v. p. 196. 



*X Woodville's Med. Bot. vol. iii. p, 484. 



§§ Murray, Appar. Med. vol. v. p. 195. 



