(Smilax Sarsaparilla. _Radix._)
_Sarsaparilla._
QUALITIES. _Form_, long and slender twigs, covered with a wrinkled brown
bark; _Odour_, none; _Taste_, mucilaginous and slightly bitter. CHEMICAL
COMP. Its virtues appear to reside in fecula; it also contains a very
large proportion of vegetable albumen. SOLUBILITY. It communicates its
active principle most completely to boiling water. (See _Decoct.
Sarsaparillæ_). MED. USES. According to Monardes, it was imported by the
Spaniards into Europe in 1549, as a specific remedy for the venereal
disease; but it soon fell into disrepute, and so continued until about
the middle of the last century, when it was again brought into esteem by
Hunter and Fordyce, as a medicine calculated to assist the operation of
mercury, as well as to cure those symptoms which may be called the
_sequelæ_ of a mercurial course. DOSE, of the powdered root ℈j to ʒj,
three times a day. In selecting the roots, it will be right to choose
such as are plump, not carious, nor too dusty on breaking; but rough,
and which easily split longitudinally. OFFICINAL PREP. _Decoctum
Sarsaparillæ_. L.E.D. _Decoct. Sarsaparillæ comp:_ L.D. _Extractum
Sarsaparillæ_. L. _Syrupus Sarsaparillæ_. L. There are several species
of _Carex_ which are substituted for Sarsaparilla. The _C. villosa_
(German Sarsaparilla) is very commonly employed for this purpose.