Finally, colchicum has been employed against the tapeworm, and not without supposed success.

There is one great rule, in the application of this remedy, which will often be of practical advantage; namely, whenever no obvious contraindication to its use is presented, to have recourse to it, in persons suspected of a gouty diathesis, whenever any peculiar obstinacy in any affection whatever, not clearly incurable, may lead to the probable inference that gout may have something to do with its inveteracy. Thus, in a gentleman affected with a most obstinate chronic laryngitis and angina, which had resisted treatment for months, the disease yielded very speedily to a blue pill taken at bedtime, and a dose of wine of colchicum and magnesia in the morning. The mercurial, previously to this addition, had been of little or no obvious advantage.

3. Administration

The dried cormus or seeds may be given in powder, in the dose of from two to eight grains every four, six, or eight hours, until the effects of the medicine are obtained, and gradually increased if necessary; but colchicum is at present almost never used in this form. The common forms of administration are the wines, tincture, or extract. I almost always employ preferably the wine of the root; because, being a saturated solution of the soluble matter of the cormus, it may, if properly prepared, be confidently relied on, so far as mere activity in the medicine is concerned. Should it be desirable, from any cause, to administer the remedy in the solid state, the officinal acetous extract may be used. The doses of these preparations are given below. The medicine is sometimes employed externally in the form of wine or tincture.

1. Wine of Colchicum Boot ( Vinum Colchici Radicis, U. S.; Vinum Colchici, Br.) is best prepared, according to the directions of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, by means of percolation. A preparation is secured by this process, in which all the virtues that two pints of wine can extract from a troypound of the dried cormus are contained. The wine is saturated, and consequently, though duly filtered, is apt to become turbid on exposure. The dose is from ten minims to a fluidrachm. The full medium dose, when it is desirable to avoid nausea, is about twenty minims; and some individuals cannot bear this quantity. A fluidrachm will often vomit. Two and a half fluidrachms are said to have proved fatal.

2. Wine of Colchicum Seed (Vinum Colchici Seminis, U. S.) is made in the proportion of four troyounces of the seeds to two pints of sherry wine. This ought, if properly prepared, to be of equable strength, as the seeds keep well. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms. Two fluidounces have destroyed life.

3. Tincture of Colchicum (Tinctura Colchici, U. S.; Tinctura Colchici Seminis, Br., U. S. 1850) is made in the same proportions as the wine of the seeds; diluted alcohol being used as the menstruum. The objection to it, as an internal remedy, is the large proportion of spirit it contains. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms. it may be used externally, either alone or in combination with the camphorated tincture of soap, in gouty, rheumatic, syphilitic, and neuralgic pains.

4. Compound Tincture of Colchicum (Tinctura Colchici Composita, Lond.) is a preparation of the late London Pharmacopoeia, differing from the preceding only in the use of aromatic spirit of ammonia as the menstruum. it is consequently more stimulant than the simple tincture, and is somewhat antacid; but these properties can scarcely be considered as advantages. it is little used, and has been omitted in the British Pharmacopoeia.

5. Vinegar of Colchicum (Acetum Colchici, U. S.) is an infusion of colchicum root in diluted acetic acid; the proportions being a troyounce of the former to a pint of the latter. Vinegar or diluted acetic acid is an excellent solvent of the active matter of colchicum; and the preparation was at one time considerably used in dropsy. At present, however, it is little employed. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms.

6. An Extract of Colchicum (Extractum Colchici, Br.) is directed in the British Pharmacopoeia to be prepared by evaporating the expressed juice of the fresh bulbs; the juice having been first heated to the boiling point to coagulate the albumen, and then strained before concentration. This preparation is not recognized in our national code, probably because the fresh bulbs are not to be readily obtained. The dose is one or two grains.

1. Acetic Extract of Colchicum (Extractum Colchici Aceticum, U. S.) is prepared by first treating the colchicum root with cold diluted acetic acid, and afterwards evaporating the acetous infusion. This is an excellent preparation, containing all the virtues of the root, and much prescribed when it is desired to exhibit colchicum in the form of pill. The dose is from one to three grains.

8. Two Fluid Extracts are directed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia; one of the root (Extractum Colchici Radicis Fluidum, U. S.); the other of the seed (Extractum Colchici Seminis Fluidum, U. S.). They are nothing more nor less than highly concentrated tinctures, of which a fluidounce is intended to represent the virtues of a troyounce of the cormus or seed. The dose is from two to eight minims.