THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
SEPTEMBER,  1877. 
THE  RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  COLCHICUM  ROOT. 
By  Theodore  F.  Beckert,  Ph.G. 
[From  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
This  subject  was  suggested  by  several  pharmacists,  who  of  late  have 
found  it  a  difficult  matter  to  obtain  colchicum  root  which  on  breaking 
presented  a  clear  white  color.  The  recently  imported  article,  as  obtained 
from  the  wholesale  druggists,  consisted  of  tubers  which  had  been  sliced 
very  irregularly.  Out  of  a  one  pound  lot  not  less  than  seven  whole 
tubers  were  taken,  the  remainder  varying  from  one-sixth  to  one-half 
inch  in  thickness.  These  pieces,  when  broken,  presented  quite  a 
varied  appearance,  their  color  being  all  shades  between  white  and  black  j 
and  it  was  noticed  that  the  lighter  colored  roots  were  mostly  easy  to 
break,  and  many  of  them  of  a  mealy  character,  whereas  the  darker 
ones  were  difficult  to  break,  and  had  a  somewhat  resinous  appear- 
ance. A  quantity  of  the  root  was  broken  piece  by  piece,  and  then 
separated  into  three  grades,  according  to  color,  white,  slate-colored  and 
brown  or  blackish,  particular  care  being  taken  in  the  sorting.  Upon 
weighing,  it  was  found  that  the  white  root  constituted  only  one-sixth, 
while  the  gray  root  comprised  not  quite  two- sixths,  and  the  black  root 
a  little  over  three-sixths  of  the  article  examined.  These  results  also 
agree  with  the  observations  of  several  resident  pharmacists. 
The  methods  used  to  determine  were  as  follows :  Two  troyounces 
of  each  of  the  three  grades  of  roots  were  exhausted  by  means  of  alcohol, 
yielding  in  each  case  about  twelve  fluidounces  of  tincture  ;  these  tinc- 
tures varied  in  color  according  to  the  grade  of  root  used,  that  from  the 
white  root  being  lightest.  This  indicates  the  solubility  in  the  alcohol 
of  the  foreign  coloring  matter  present  in  the  gray  and  black  roots.  In 
preparing  these  tinctures,  care  was  taken  to  percolate  them  under  as 
similar  circumstances  as  possible. 
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