606 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



internally whitish ; very hard and tough ; inodorous ; taste 

 bitter and somewhat acrid. 



Constituents. — 1, colchicine, 3 per cent.; 2, colchiceine; 

 3, a fixed oil, 6-8 per cent. ; 4, starch ; 5, sugar ; 6, gum. 



Dose. — Same as root, or a little larger. 



PREPARATIONS. 



Extractum Colchici Seminis Fluiduvi. Fluid Extract of Colchicum 

 Seed. (U.S. P.) 



Made by maceration and percolation with alcohol and water, and 

 evaporation, so that 1 Cc. = 1 Gm. of colchicum seeds. 

 Dose. — Same as fluid extract of root. 



Vinum Colchici Seminis. Wine of Colchicum Seed. (U. S. P.) 



Made by maceration of colchicum seed, 150 ; alcohol, 150; and 

 white wine to make 1000. 



Dose.—U. &C., 3iii.-!i. (12.-30.); D., mx.-xxx. (.6-2.). 



Tinctura Colchici Seminis. Tincture of Colchictun Seed. 

 (U. S. &B. P.) 

 Made by maceration and percolation of colchicum seed, 150; with 

 alcohol and water to make 1000. (U. S. P.) 



Dose.— H. &C., 3iii.-3i. (12..30.); D., mx.-xxx. (.6-2.). 



Action External. — Colchicum is an irritant to the skin 

 and mucous membranes. 



Action Internal. — Digestive Organs. — Colchicum and 

 colchicine are identical in action without regard to their 

 method of introduction into the system. Colchicum is 

 essentially a gastto-intestinal irritant in large doses. Small 

 therapeutic quantities are cholagogue and increase the flow 

 of bile. Full medicinal doses occasion anorexia, nausea, 

 colicky pains, loud intestinal rumblings (borborygmi), and 

 purging. Colchiceine appears to closely resemble colchicine 

 physiologically. Neither the circulation, nervous system, 

 respiration, nor temperature are affected by colchicum save 

 in poisonous doses. 



Circulation. — Toxic doses reflexly influence the circula- 

 tion, but colchicum does not appear to affect it directly until 

 late in poisoning, when the vagus endings become depressed 



