Colchicum  Seed. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharra. 
Sept.,  1877. 
evaporation,  in  deep  vessels,  of  its  solutions  in  fusel  oil  and  benzol,  and 
found  to  be  insoluble  in  pure  ether,  carbon  bisulphide  and  petroleum 
benzin. 
It  having  been  asserted  that  the  active  principle  resided  chiefly  in  the 
outer  integuments  of  the  seed,  and  that  for  this  reason  they  could  be 
almost  completely  exhausted  without  being  ground,  the  author  experi- 
mented with  5,000  grains  of  unbroken  seeds,  macerated  them  in  diluted 
alcohol  in  a  warm  place  for  ten  days,  and  washed  them  well  with  diluted 
alcohol ;  the  tincture  and  washings  were  used  for  preparing  colchicin 
by  Carter's  process  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1858,  p.  205),  of  which  five 
grains  was  obtained.  The  same  seeds  afterwards  crushed  to  an  uniform 
powder  yielded  eleven  grains  colchicin.  5,000  grains  of  seeds  of  the 
same  lot  were  ground,  and  yielded  sixteen  grains  ;  and  14,000  grains 
of  the  same  seeds,  rolled  and  crushed,  yielded  forty-five  grains  of  col- 
chicin. It  follows,  therefore,  that  only  less  than  one-third  of  the 
colchicin  present  can  be  exhausted  from  the  unbroken  seeds.  In  pre- 
paring colchicin,  particularly  in  warm  weather,  it  is  found  unnecessary 
to  remove  the  fixed  oil  by  filtration  previous  to  precipitating  the  colchicin 
by  tannin  ;  it  is  better  to  collect  the  precipitate,  dry  it  carefully  by 
means  of  a  water  bath,  and  then  exhaust  the  oil  by  gasolin.  For  the 
decomposition  of  the  tannate,  aluminium  hydrate  seems  to  possess 
decided  advantages  over  ferric  or  plumbic  hydrate,  it  serving  at  the 
same  time  as  a  decolorizing  agent. 
When  distilling  the  alcohol  from  the  tincture,  the  odor  of  the  ground 
seed  was  distinctly  recognized  in  the  distillate,  which  turned  milky  upon 
the  addition  of  water.  On  distilling  a  pound  of  the  ground  seeds  with 
water,  an  aromatic  distillate  was  obtained,  but  a  volatile  oil,  which 
probably  exists  in  minute  quantity,  could  not  be  separated.  The  dis- 
tillate was  tested  for  alkaloids  with  a  negative  result. 
Fluckiger  and  Hanbury  give  6*6  per  cent,  as  the  amount  of  fixed  oil 
present  in  the  seeds;  the  author  obtained  14  drachms  (8*4  per  cent.) 
from  10,000  grains  of  the  seeds.  After  purifying  it  by  treatment  with 
benzin  and  animal  charcoal,  it  had  a  light-brown  color  and  a  bland 
taste."   It  was  found  to  be  readily  saponifiable. 
