On colchicum autumnale.

  • Lewins, Robert, approximately 1790-approximately 1847.
Date:
[1841]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On colchicum autumnale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    seem justified in arriving at the conclusion, that this medicine acts but feebly on the system of these herbivorous animals. On the 16th, at six o’clock p. m., forty minims of the Vinum Sc- minum Colchici were administered to a large cock, which did not appear to have produced any effect on the following day. On the 17th, at a quarter to ten p. m. increased the dose to eighty minims. On the following day, it seemed to be languid, and a large quan- tity of watery evacuations had been passed throughout the night. The appetite was less than for some days past ; the same quantity of oats not having been swallowed, and its crop was almost empty. At a quarter to six p. M. gave it 120 minims ; offered considerable resistance to the introduction of the medicine ; it threw up a con- siderable quantity of thin mucus, and soon afterwards passed a large quantity of a white watery evacuation per anum. At half-past eight on the following morning, the bird appeared very weak and languid,had been purged throughout the night, the.de- jections being of the same kind as mentioned at last report. At nine p. m. had taken no food throughout the day ; seemed very weak and lethargic. One hundred and eighty minims more were given ; it offered less resistance than yesterday, and threw up some more mu- cus. On being placed upon the ground, seemed very feeble and al- most unable to stand; being laid on its side or back, it remained quite motionless, making no attempt to regain the erect posture. At nine a. m., on the 20th, was very feeble and weak ; has taken no food throughout the night, and there is nothing in its crop ; died at ten a. m. ; slight spasms came on before death. On laying open the abdomen immediately afterwards, the intes- tines were found very much contracted and vascular. In the stomach was found a small quantity of oats quite unchanged, along with a large mass of greenish half-digested matter. Close to the pyloric extremity of the duodenum, was a small dark red coloured patch ; several others of which were observed along the whole course of this gut. In the upper part of the small intestines was a very vascular spot, extending around the whole circumference of the canal, from which a vascular line extended downwards in a longitu- dinal manner for a considerable distance, from which stria; of ves- sels shot out on each side. In the lower part of the bowel these ap- pearances were still more distinct, and in some parts intestines were studded with livid spots of extravasated blood, resembling petechial eruptions, which in other places coalesced so as to form one continu- ous purple-coloured patch. The vascularity was much increased to- wards the extremity of the intestinal tube, so that the whole parietes of its canal were of one uniform red colour, intersected by longitudi- nal striae of a deep red-hue; the separate streaks being united by a plexiform arrangement of vessels highly injected. In the whole extent of the intestines there was a large quantity of mucus mixed with half-digested food tinged of a green colour. The gall-blad- der was very much distended with green bile ; all other organs were healthy. In this case, 480 minims were administered to the animal