mes follow intermittent fevers. Both
water and rectified spirit extract the virtues of this root by infusion,
and elevate them in distillation: along with the aqueous fluid an
essential oil arises, possessing the whole taste and pungency of the
horse-radish. The College have given us a very elegant compound water,
which takes its name from this root.

192. COLCHICUM autumnale. MEADOW-SAFFRON. The Roots. L. E. D.--The
roots, freed from the outer blackish coat and fibres below, are white,
and full of a white juice. In drying they become wrinkled and dark
coloured. Applied to the skin, it shows some signs of acrimony; and
taken internally, it is said sometimes to excite a sense of burning
heat, bloody stools, and other violent symptoms. In the form of syrup,
however, it has been given to the extent of two ounces a-day without any
bad consequence. It is sometimes employed as a diuretic in dropsy. It is
now supposed to be a principal ingredient in the celebrated French gout
medicine L'Eau Medicinale.

193. CONIUM maculatum. HEMLOCK. The Leaves. L. E. D.--Physicians seem
somewhat in dispute about the best mode of exhibiting this medicine;
some recommending the extract, as being most easily taken in the form of
pills; others the powder, as not being subject to that variation which
the extract is liable to, from being made in different ways. With
respect to the period, likewise, at which the plant should be gathered,
they seem not perfectly agreed; some recommending it when in its full
vigour, and just coming into bloom, and others, when the flowers are
going off. An extract of the green plant is ordered by the College in
their last list. Dr. Cullen has for many years commended the making it
from the unripe seeds; and this mode the College of Physicians at
Edinburgh have thought proper to adopt in their late Pharmacopoeia.

Similar Plants.--Aethusa Cynapium; Apium Petroselium; Oenanthe crocata;
Oe. fistulosa; Phellandrium aquaticum.

194. CORIANDRUM sativum. CORIANDER. The Seeds. L. E. D.-These, when
fresh, have a strong disagreeable smell, which improves by drying, and
becomes sufficiently grateful. They are recommmended as carminative and
stomachic.

195. CROCUS sativus. TRUE SAFFRON. The Stigmata. L. E. D.--There are
three sorts of saffron met with in the shops, two of which are brought
from abroad, the other is the produce of our own country. This last is
greatly superior to the two former.

This medi