les and stimulants, especially trying
to counteract the cardiac depression by atropine, caffeine,
strophanthin, &c.

COLCHIS, in ancient geography, a nearly triangular district of Asia
Minor, at the eastern extremity of the Black Sea, bounded on the N. by
the Caucasus, which separated it from Asiatic Sarmatia, E. by Iberia,
S. by the Montes Moschici, Armenia and part of Pontus, and W. by the
Euxine. The ancient district is represented roughly by the modern
province of Kutais (formerly Mingrelia). The name of Colchis first
appears in Aeschylus and Pindar. It was inhabited by a number of tribes
whose settlements lay chiefly along the shore of the Black Sea. The
chief of those were the Lazi, Moschi, Apsilae, Abasci, Sagadae, Suani
and Coraxi. These tribes differed so completely in language and
appearance from the surrounding nations, that the ancients originated
various theories to account for the phenomenon. Herodotus, who states
that they, with the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, were the first to
practise circumcision, believed them to have sprung from the relics of
the army of Sesostris (q.v.), and thus regarded them as Egyptians.
Apollonius Rhodius (_Argon_, iv. 279) states that the Egyptians of
Colchis preserved as heirlooms a number of wooden [Greek: kurbeis]
(tablets) showing seas and highways with considerable accuracy. Though
this theory was not generally adopted by the ancients, it has been
defended, but not with complete success, by some modern writers. It is
quite possible that there was an ancient trade connexion between the
Colchians and the Mediterranean peoples. We learn that women were
buried, while the corpses of men were suspended on trees. The principal
coast town was the Milesian colony of Dioscurias (Roman Sebastopolis;
mod. Sukhum Kaleh), the ancient name being preserved in the modern C.
Iskuria. The chief river was the Phasis (mod. Rion). From Colchis is
derived the name of the plant Colchicum (q.v.).

Colchis was celebrated in Greek mythology as the destination of the
Argonauts, the home of Medea and the special domain of sorcery. Several
Greek colonies were founded there by Miletus. At a remote period it
seems to have been incorporated with the Persian empire, though the
inhabitants evidently enjoyed a considerable degree of independence; in
this condition it was found by Alexander the Great, when he invaded
Persia. From this time till the era of the Mithradatic wars nothing is
known of its