98 
ON  COLCHICTA. 
but  also  the  active  principles  of  Convallaria  polygonatum,  Paris 
quadrifolia,  Triglochin  palustre,  Alisma  plantago,  Arum  macu- 
la turn.  &c,  even  'the  common  onion,  give  more  or  less  quite  the 
same  reactions  which  the  experts  observed  during  their  investi- 
gation." 
Reithner  (Wittstein's  Vierteljahresschrift,  iv.  481)  examined 
the  flowers  of  colchicum  autumnale  and  found  colchicia  combined 
with  tannin. 
Professor  K.  Schroff,  of  Vienna,  experimented  with  various 
parts  of  colchicum  and  with  colchicia  prepared  by  Merk,  of 
Darmstadt,  by  Geiger's  process  ;  the  seeds  had  yielded  him  from 
four  to  six  drachms  of  alkaloid  per  hundred  weight ;  it  was  a 
light  yellow  crystalline  powder,  possessing  otherwise  the  proper- 
ties and  reactions  given  by  Geiger,  among  the  latter  particularly 
the  reaction  by  concentrated  sulphuric  (yellowish-brown  color,) 
and  nitric  acid  (violet,  indigo-blue,  green  and  yellow  color,) 
(Oesterr.  Zeitschr.  f.  prakt.  Heilkunde,  1856  ;  see  also  Amer. 
Journ.  of  Pharmacy,  1857,  824.) 
In  Comptes  rendus,  Dec,  1856,  (see  Am.  Journ.  Ph.,  1857, 
235,)  L.  Oberlin  denied  the  existence  of  an  alkaloid  in  colchicum 
autumnale,  and  announces  the  discovery  of  colchiceine  C^H^ 
NOn  a  neutral  poisonous  principle,  not  precipitated  by  tincture 
of  galls  or  bichloride  of  platinum,  nearly  insoluble  in  water, 
soluble  in  dilute  acids  with  yellow  color,  and  turning  yellow, 
violet,  deep  red,  light  red  and  yellow  with  concentrated  nitric 
acid. 
Previous  to  the  publication  of  this  paper,  four  essays  had  been 
lianded  in  to  the  officers  of  the  North  German  Apothecaries' 
Association,  in  answer  to  a  prize  query  on  colchicia,  propounded 
for  the  year  1855-56.  The  first  prize  was  awarded  to  Albrecht 
Aschoff,  the  second  to  Gust.  Bley.  The  results  of  these  investi- 
gations were  reported  on  in  Archiv  der  Pharmacie,  1857,  Jan. 
1-27.  A  condensed  account  of  Aschoff's  process  for  preparing 
the  alkaloid  from  the  corms  is  found  in  Parrish's  Pharmacy,  2d 
edit.  p.  414,  3d  edit.  659.  The  cold  infusion  is  precipitated  by 
subacetate  of  lead,  from  the  filtrate  the  lead  is  separated  by  carbo- 
nate of  soda,  the  filtrate  is  precipitated  by  tannin,  the  precipitate 
washed,  pressed,  dissolved  in  alcohol,  decomposed  by  freshly 
