Vinum Colchici. Lond. Wine of Colchicum

"Take of the dried cormus of colchicum, sliced, eight ounces; sherry wine, two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter."

The medicinal power of the bulb of colchicum depends on veratria. It is combined, in the cormus of colchicum, with a large quantity of starch, some mucilage and gluten, gallic acid, and much water, the proportion of which differs considerably in different bulbs, according to the moist or dry nature of the soil in which they have grown, and the season of the year in which they are dug up for use.

When the dried bulb, taken up at a proper season, is employed, the strength of the preparation is likely to be uniform.

The London formula is a modification of the following process, recommended for the preparation of the wine of colchicum : - Take of the bulbs of colchicum (dug up in July or August), sliced transversely and dried without heat, or at a temperature not exceeding 110°, two ounces and a half; pulverize them, and pour upon the powder put into a glass bottle twelve ounces of good sherry wine. Agitate the mixture twice a day for seven days, and then filter for use.

Medical properties and uses. - Wine of colchicum is a powerful sedative and purgative. It is administered with great advantage in inflammatory and painful nervous affections connected with a disordered state of the liver; as, for example, gout and acute rheumatism; diminishing the force and frequency of the pulse, allaying the pain, and cutting short the paroxysm; but it rarely produces a permanently favourable result without stimulating the duodenum and biliary ducts, and producing a copious discharge of bilious stools. It is apt to nauseate the stomach; a property which is subdued by combining it with magnesia: but in some habits even this does not correct its nauseating qualities, and its use is followed by great faintness and depression of nervous power. The dose of wine of colchicum is from xxx. to f 3 jss. given in conjunction with magnesia in water or in the infusion of cinchona bark, of gentian root, or any other bitter.

Vinum Gentianae Compositum. Edin. Compound of Wine of Gentian

"Take of gentian root, half an ounce; cinchona bark, one ounce; orange peel, dried, two drachms; canella alba, one drachm; proof spirit, four ounces; Spanish white wine, two pounds and a half First pour the proof spirit on the root and the bark sliced and bruised, and after twenty-four hours add the wine; then macerate for seven days, and strain."

Syn. Vin de Gentiane compost (F.), Vino di Genziana composto (I.).

This wine, when newly prepared, is stomachic and tonic; but, by keeping, it is very apt to become acescent. The dose is from f 3 iv. to f 3 vj., given two or three times a day.

Vinum Ipecacuanhae. Lond. Wine of Ipecacuanha

"Take of ipecacuanha, bruised, two ounces and a half; sherry wine, two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter."

Edinburgh.

"Take of the root of ipecacuanha, bruised, one part; Spanish white wine, fifteen parts. Macerate for seven days, and filter through paper."

Dublin.

"Take of the root of ipecacuanha, bruised, two ounces; Spanish white wine, two pints. Digest for seven days, then filter."

Syn. Vin d'Ipecacuanha (F.), Vino con Ipecacuana (I.).

From my trials, I find that a pint of sherry wine takes up 100 grains of ipecacuanha, which is the larger proportion of the soluble matter contained in an ounce of the root; and as the active part of the root, or emetina1, is more soluble in acetic acid than in any other menstruum, the acescency of the wine is no objection. Dr. Irvine says, that 30 grains of the root administered in f ij. of vinegar produced only some loose stools: but, if acetate of emetina produces vomiting, what is the cause of the inertness of this mixture? Does the solution

1 Emetina was discovered by MM. Dumas, and Pelletier; and, according to their analysis, it consists of carbon 64.57, azote 4.30, hydrogen 7.77, and oxygen 22.95, in 100 parts.

of the starch and the gum in the acid form a substance which obtunds the action of the acetate of emetina? As an emetic, ipecacuanha wine is equally efficacious with antimonial wine, and at the same time milder in its operation, and is, therefore, better adapted for infants. For this purpose a tea-spoonful, or f 3 ss., is given for a dose, and repeated every ten minutes till it operate. In smaller doses, from x. to xx., it answers the same purposes as the powder, and is given in coughs, diarrhoea, dysentery, and other complaints in which a determination of the skin is indicated.