50 
COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 
produces violent sickness, vomiting and purging; accompanied with 
burning pain and heat in the stomach and bowels, colic pains, tenes- 
mus, urgent stranguary, hiccup, and death. It is stated, that two boys, 
after eating this plant, which they found growing in a meadow, died 
in great agony ;* and violent symptoms have been produced by taking 
a few flowers.t The seeds have also the same deleterious effects. 
When Colchicum, or any of its preparations have been taken in an 
over" dose, post mortem examinations have almost universally dis- 
covered some traces of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the 
bowels. 
From the experiments of Magendie it appears that Veratrine, ex- 
hibited in small doses, produces the same effects upon men and 
animals,! as the plant from which it is prepared. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The chief virtues of Col- 
chicum are its diuretic properties; and according to Storck, and 
many continental practitioners § it is superior to most other medi- 
cines as a diuretic. 
From Baron Storck's account of his successful treatment of hy- 
dropic disorders in the hospital at Vienna, we should be led to con- 
sider it a medicine of superior efficacy ; but we believe that (in this 
country at least) it is not deserving of those high encomiums that 
have been lavished upon it. Of late various preparations of Col- 
chicum have been much used in Gout 1| and Rheumatism ; and we 
believe, with many practitioners, it has succeeded in relieving pain, 
and reducing the inflammatory symptoms ; it is, however, an uncertain 
remedy, ocasionally operating with extreme violence, as an emetic, 
cathartic, or diuretic ; although with these powerful operations, it 
generally combines some anodyne effects. Colchicum is usually ex- 
hibited in the form of oxymel, prepared by digesting the fresh roots 
(sliced) in vinegar, straining the liquor, and forming it into a syrup 
with sugar or honey;** it is also given intincture,wine,andpowder.tt 
* To. Agricola Ammonias, Medic, herbar. lib. i. p. 90. 
+ Garidel, Plantes d'Aix, p. 123. 
X Veratrine, in doses of one or two grains, when injected into the veins, thrown 
into the pleura or tunica vaginalis of dogs, proves fatal in less than ten minutes, pre- 
ceded by tetanic convulsions. Magendie. 
§ Zack, Plenck, Ehrmann, Krapt, and others. 
II A .saturated viuum Colchici has been recommended bj Sir E. Home as a substitute 
for the celebrated gout specific, the Eau Medicinale d'Husson. 
** Baron Storck recommends the oxymel in preference to any other preparation. 
l-f Mr. Haden, who gives the powdered Colcliicum in many inflammatory disorders, 
" recommends, the roots to be cut in thin slices, spread out on perforated trays, and 
" driedjR: a temperature of at least 130o." Obs. on Colchicum. p. 77. 
