Therapeutics. As veratrum, but much more powerful; sometimes it is used as a topical irritant in lieu of aconite; it has a less benumbing effect.

Dose. 1/12 gr. to 1/6 gr. It should be exhibited with great care if used internally.

Colchici Cormus. [Radix. U. S.] Colchicum Corm. The recent and dried Corm of the wild herb Colchicum autumnale; Lin. Syst., Hexandria trigynia; indigenous.

Colchici Semen. The Seeds, fully ripe, of the Colchicum autumnale.

The Pharmacopoeia directs that the corm should be dug up about the end of June, or before the autumnal bud is developed; and for the drying, it directs that the dry tunics being first removed, the corm should be cut transversely into thin slices, and dried at first with a gentle heat, gradually increasing to a temperature not exceeding 150° Fah.

Description. The corm is about the size of a chestnut, and of a somewhat similar shape, being convex on one side, and flattened or slightly concave on the other, where it has an undeveloped bud. When recent, it is solid and fleshy with an external brown membranous coat, internally white, and yielding a milky juice on section. There is often a small lateral projection from its base.

When dried and deprived of its outer coat, it is of an ash-grey colour; it is generally met with in transverse slices forming a somewhat oval plane, about a line thick, firm, flat, whitish, and amylaceous; one border convex, the other concave or slightly hollowed out. The taste is bitter and acrid. The seeds are spherical, externally of a reddish-brown colour, white within, rather more than a line in diameter, and about the size of black mustard seed.

Prop. & Comp. The corm, and also the seeds, contain fatty matters, gum, starch, lignip, with a peculiar acid - the Cevadic acid - and a crystalline principle, Colchicine, more soluble in water than veratria, soluble also in alcohol; it has very seldom been isolated.

Off. Prep. - Of the Corm. Extractum Colchici. Extract of Colchicum. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (The expressed juice, heated to 212°, strained and evaporated at a temperature not exceeding 160°, to the proper consistence.)

Extractum Colchici Aceticum. Acetic Extract of Colchicum. (As the above, with the use of six fluid ounces of acetic acid to seven pounds of corms deprived of their coats.) [Twelve troy ounces of powdered colchicum root, are mixed with four fluid ounces of acetic acid, diluted with a pint of water, the mixture placed in a glass percolator and water poured on gradually until it passes with little or no taste. The filtrate is then evaporated to the consistence of an extract. U. S.]

Vinum Colchici. Wine of Colchicum. [Vinum Colchici Radicis. Wine of Colchicum Root. U. S.] Colchicum corm, dried and sliced, four ounces; sherry, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration.) [Two pints of wine of colchicum root are obtained by percolating twelve troy ounces of the root in fine powder, by a sufficient quantity of sherry wine.]

[Vinum Colchici Seminis. Wine of Colchicum Seed. U. S. Colchicum seed, in coarse powder, four troy ounces; sherry wine, two pints. Prepared by maceration.]

Of the Seeds. Tinctura Colchici Seminis. Tincture of Colchicum Seed. (Colchicum seed, bruised, two ounces and a half; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.)

Therapeutics. Colchicum in medicinal doses produces increased action of some of the secreting organs; the bile appears to be thrown out in larger quantities, and the faeces become more coloured, and often give evidence of containing the real organic portion of that fluid as well as the colouring matter.

The urine is sometimes increased in quantity, and it is generally asserted that the urea and uric acid are also augmented, but from numerous trials the author is inclined to question the accuracy of the last assertion; at times, also, the action of the skin is increased.

The heart's action is diminished, and in some patients, intermission of the pulse is produced by the drug; in large doses, vomiting and purging, accompanied by intense prostration, ensue.

In gout, when colchicum is administered to patients suffering from inflammation and pain, these symptoms are usually greatly relieved, and to such an extent does this occur, that the drug is regarded as almost a specific in an acute attack of the disease Colchicum is employed very extensively in the different forms of gout; sometimes given in small doses short of inducing purging, at other times to act freely on the bowels; it certainly possesses a power of controlling the pain and inflammation in gout, independent of all evident increase of the secretions; in what way this effect is produced is at present unknown.

In acute rheumatism and other inflammatory affections, colchicum often relieves, probably rather by its controlling power over the heart's action, than by any specific effect of the medicine.

Colchicum may also be very advantageously given, in cases of imperfect action of the liver, as a cholagogue, combined with other purgatives; and it may be often substituted for mercurials. It has occasionally been prescribed in dropsies and skin affections.

Some practitioners prefer the seeds, some the corm, some again the flowers; it appears however most probable, that the same principle gives activity to all parts of the plant, and that any difference is in degree rather than in character.

Dose. Of pulvis cormi colchici, 2 gr. to 8 gr.; of extractum colchici, 1/2 gr. to 2 gr.; of extractum colchici aceticum, 1/2 gr. to 2 gr.; of tinctura colchici, 10 min. to 1/2. drm.; of vinum colchici, 10 min. to 1/2 fl. drm.