A series of experiments made upon the dog with several gout nostrums of the present day, and different preparations of colchicum ... to demonstrate the agency of these substances on the animal oeconomy; and to furnish ... conclusions in reference to the employment of colchicum as a medicine in gout / [Charles Scudamore].

  • Charles Scudamore
Date:
[1819]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A series of experiments made upon the dog with several gout nostrums of the present day, and different preparations of colchicum ... to demonstrate the agency of these substances on the animal oeconomy; and to furnish ... conclusions in reference to the employment of colchicum as a medicine in gout / [Charles Scudamore]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Exp. 32.—The large proportions in which the acetic preparation can be used with impunity, as shewn in Exp. 19, 24, and 25, would naturally suggest the ques¬ tion, Does the acetic acid really extract the virtues of colchicum; for otherwise little praise would be due to it tor the mildness of its operation ? The present experi¬ ment answers this question most satisfactorily; and ap¬ pears to me to lend a full support to the preference which I have assigned to the acetum colchici, over every other preparation of this medicine. Exp. 33.—The result of Exp. 28 having been so di¬ rectly opposite to what I expected, I was desirous to ascertain the comparative activity of clear and turbid portions of the infusion of colchicum, prepared according to the formula of Sir Everard Home. It appears that II drachms of the clear infusion were administered in four doses, and that death took place in 88 hours. The appearances on dissection indicated very high inflamma¬ tory action. Exp. 34.—This experiment serves to shew that the clear infusion possessed as much of the active properties of the colchicum, as the turbid. The terrier dog was even the strongest in appearance. In this experiment the ani¬ mal survived a few hours longer than in the preceding instance. Hence, according’to each of my experiments, it follows, that the deposit of the vinous infusion of col¬ chicum is an inert substance ; and, consequently, that the clear infusion is as active a medicine as that which is turbid from the admixture of the sediment. It is worthy of observation, how much weaker a preparation this in¬ fusion is, than the eau medicinale, Wilson’s tincture, and Reynolds’s specific; which, in the ratio of their strength,
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