COMMON MEADOW SAFFRON.

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^i'om this experiment it appears that the action of colchicum on theAlimentary canal is of a specific kind.

In opposition to the above statements it deserves notice that Orfila\* oncol. Gen.) has frequently given to dogs, in the month of June, twoor three corrni without perceiving any sensible effects ; from which heinfers, that climate and season of the year have great influence on theirdeleterious properties.

It is said in several works that horses eat colchicum with impunity ;nt it is probable that this statement is erroneous. Withering (Brit,lants , ii. 462, 7th ed. 1830) states, on the authority of Mr. Woodward,at “ in a pasture in which were several horses, and eaten down nearlydare, the grass was closely cropped, even under the leaves, but not a leaf

Some further information on the effects of colchicum on dogs will be°nnd in Sir C. Scudamore’s Treatise on Gout and Rheumatism, 3d ed.P- 477, 1819.

(e.) On man.—In small and repeated doses colchicum has a tendency0 promote the action of the secreting organs, especially of the intestinalJdacous membrane. The kidneys, the skin, and the liver, are less cer-ainly and obviously affected by it. The most constant effects observed°tti the use of larger doses are nausea, vomiting, and purging. Reduc-dr* of the frequency of the pulse is a common, though not an invariable^'dct. Mr. Haden ( Pract. Observ. on the Colchicum Autumnale , 1820)f as > I believe, the first to direct attention to the advantages to be takenoils effect in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In some expe-j tll dots made on healthy individuals by Dr. Lewins (Ed. Med. and Surg.

vol. xlvii. p. 345, 1837), debility, a feeling of illness, and head-r Wer e experienced. This feeling of debility is not, however, to beyj er red to the evacuations produced, for, as Dr. Barlow ( Cyclop. ofrac^. M e g art Gout, vol . ii. p. 371) has observed, the number of0 y ll ons is sometimes considerable without any proportionate depressiono str ongth ensuing. “ I have known,” says Dr. B. “ even twenty stoolsth ^ Sl0nc( I by a single dose of colchicum, the patient not complaining ofis eas ^ debility.” The action of colchicum on the secretory apparatusconfined to that of the alimentary canal: after the use of three or' f u ll doses of this medicine copious sweating is often produced,Are Cla ^ when the skin is kept warm. On other occasions the kidneysijj. P°werfully acted on. In one case, mentioned by Dr. Lewins, seventyhjjg f °I Vinum Colchici caused the discharge of upwards of a pint of,y vomiting. Violent salivation resulted in a case recorded in an(jj dean journal (Wood and Bache’s United States Dispensatory, 3d ed.)g 0u ^ lUs > of Heidelberg (hand. Med. Gaz. vol. ii. p. 830), asserts, that in( lUa • ail( ^ rheumatism colchicum occasions a striking increase in thedouhi ty -°f ur * c ac id contained in the urine: in one case it was nearlyc 0n e d in the space of twelve days. But this effect is by no meanso ut a ®b a s Dr. Graves (Land. Med. Gaz. vol. vii. p. 584) has pointedth e .deed, it not unfrequently happens, in acute rheumatism, whendi mi is loaded with uric acid or the urates, that the use of colchicumls bes the quantity of these matters in the urine; so that it wouldHoy [ al ! le r to prevent the formation of uric acid in the system than topj°ke its elimination.

e r some circumstances colchicum acts as an anodyne: thus in