_Radix Sarzæ vel Sarsæ_; _Sarsaparilla_; F. _Racine de Salsepareille_;
G. _Sarsaparillwurzel_.
=Botanical Origin=—Sarsaparilla is afforded by several plants of the
genus _Smilax_, indigenous to the northern half of South America,
and the whole of Central America as far as the southern and western
coast-lands of Mexico.
These plants are woody climbers, often ascending lofty trees by the
strong tendrils which spring from the petiole of the leaf. Their stems
are usually angular, armed with stout prickles, and thrown up from a
large woody rhizome. The medicinal species inhabit swampy tropical
forests, which are extremely deleterious to the health of Europeans,
and can only be explored amid great difficulties. This circumstance
taken in connexion with the facts that the plants are diœcious, that
their scandent habit often renders their flowers and fruits (produced
at different seasons) inaccessible, and that their leaves vary
exceedingly in form,[2624] explains why we are but very imperfectly
acquainted with the botanical sources of sarsaparilla.
[2624] The common _Smilax aspera_ L., of Southern Europe, is a plant
which presents such diversity of foliage, that if like its congeners of
Tropical America, it were known only by a few leafy scraps preserved in
herbaria, it would assuredly have been referred to several species.
It is not too much to assert that the sarsaparilla plant of no district
in Tropical America is scientifically well known. The species moreover,
to which the drug is assigned, have for the most part been founded upon
characters that are totally insufficient, so that after an attentive
study of herbarium specimens, we are obliged to regard as still
doubtful several of the plants that have been named by previous writers.
Having made these preliminary remarks, we will enumerate the plants to
which the sarsaparilla of commerce has been ascribed.
1. _Smilax officinalis_ H.B.K.—This plant was obtained in the year
1805, by Humboldt, at Bajorque, a village since swept away by the
stream, about in 7° N. lat., on the Magdalena in New Granada. The
specimens, comprising only a few imperfect leaves, which we have
examined in the National Herbarium of Paris, are the materials upon
which Kunth founded the species. Humboldt[2625] states, that quantities
of the root are shipped by way of Mompox and Cartagena to Jamaica and
Cadiz.
In 1853 this plant was again gathered at Bajorque by the late De
Warszewicz, who sent to one of us (H.) leaves and stems, accompanied
by the root, which latter agrees with the _Jamaica Sarsaparilla_
of commerce. But at Bajorque the root is no longer collected for
exportation.
The same botanical collector, at the request of one of us, obtained in
the year 1851, on the volcano and Cordillera of Chiriqui in Costa Rica,
fruits, leaves, stems, and roots, of the plant there collected by the
Indians as _Sarsa peluda_ or _Sarson_. These specimens agree, so far
as comparison is possible, with those of the Bajorque plant, while the
root is undistinguishable from the Jamaica sarsaparilla of the shops.
Other specimens of the same plant, gathered by the same collector
in 1853, were forwarded to England with a living root, which latter
however could not be made to grow.
Finally, in 1869, Mr. R. B. White obligingly communicated to us leaves
and roots of a sarsaparilla collected at Patia in New Granada, which
apparently belongs to the same species.
In the island of Jamaica, there has been cultivated for many years,
and of late with a view to medicinal use, a sarsaparilla plant which
appears to be _Smilax officinalis_. The specimens transmitted to
us[2626] include neither flowers nor fruits; but the leaves and square
stem accord exactly with those of the plant collected at Bajorque. The
root is of a light cinnamon-brown, and far more amylaceous than the
so-called _Jamaica Sarsaparilla_ of commerce (see p. 710).
2. _Smilax medica_ Schl. et Cham.—This species,[2627] which was
discovered in Mexico by Schiede in 1820, is without doubt the source of
the sarsaparilla shipped from Vera Cruz. According to our observations,
it has a flexuose (or zigzag) stem, and much smaller foliage than
_S. officinalis_; the leaves, though very variable, often assume an
auriculate form, with broad, obtuse, basal lobes.
It grows on the eastern slopes of the Mexican Andes, and is the only
species of that region of which the roots are collected. These,
according to Schiede, are dug up all the year round, dried in the sun
and made into bundles.
[2625] Kunth, _Synopsis Plant._ i. (1822) 278.—_Smilax officinalis_
is a large, strong climber, attaining a height of 40 to 50 feet,
with a perfectly square stem armed with prickles at the angles. The
leaves are often a foot in length, of variable form, being triangular,
ovate-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, either gradually narrowing towards
the apex or rounded and apiculate, and at the base either attenuated
into the petiole, or truncate, or cordate. They are usually 5-nerved,
the 3 inner nerves being prominent and enclosing an elliptic area. The
flowers are in stalked umbels. A fine specimen of the plant is most
luxuriantly growing since many years in the Royal Gardens, Kew, but has
not flowered.
[2626] We owe them to the kindness of H. J. Kemble, Esq., who procured
them, with specimens of the root, from the Government garden at
Castleton.
[2627] Figured in Nees von Esenbeck’s _Plantæ Medicinales_, suppl. tab.
7.
Doubt and confusion hang over the other species of _Smilax_ which have
been quoted as the sources of sarsaparilla. _S. syphilitica_ H.B.K.,
with flowers in a raceme of umbels, discovered on the Cassiquiare in
New Granada, and well figured by Berg and Schmidt from an authentic
specimen, appears from Pöppig’s statements to yield some of the
sarsaparilla shipped at Pará. But Kunth states that Pöppig’s plant,
gathered near Ega, is not that of Humboldt and Bonpland. Spruce, who
collected _S. syphilitica_ (herb. No. 3779) in descending the Rio Negro
in 1854, has informed us that the Indians in various places in the
Amazon valley always strenuously asserted it to be a species worthless
for “_Salsa_.”
_S. papyracea_, described by Poiret[2628] in 1804, and figured by
Martius,[2629] is but very imperfectly known. It has foliage resembling
that of _S. officinalis_, but, judging from Spruce’s specimens (No.
1871) collected on the Rio Negro, a _multangular_ stem. It is probably
the source of the _Pará Sarsaparilla_.
_S. cordato-ovata_ Rich. is a doubtful plant, perhaps identical with
_S. Schomburgkiana_ Knth., a Panama species. Pöppig alleges that its
root is mixed with that of the plant which he calls _S. syphilitica_.
_S. Purhampuy_ Ruiz, a Peruvian species, said to afford a valuable
sort of sarsaparilla, is practically unknown, and is not admitted by
Kunth.[2630]
No new information on the several above mentioned species of Smilax is
found in the review of this genus by A. and C. De Candolle,[2631] where
105 American species are enumerated.
=History=—Monardes[2632] has recorded that sarsaparilla was first
introduced to Seville about the year 1536 or 1545, from New Spain; and
a better variety soon afterwards from Honduras. He further narrates
that a drug of excellent quality was subsequently imported from the
province of Quito, that it was collected in the neighbourhood of
Guayaquil, and was of a dark hue, and larger and thicker than that of
Honduras.
Pedro de Cieza de Leon, in his Chronicle of Peru,[2633] which contains
the observations made by him in South America between 1532 and 1550,
gives a particular account of the sarsaparilla which grows in the
province of Guayaquil and the adjacent island of Puna, and recommends
the sudorific treatment of syphilis, exactly as pursued at the present
time.
These statements are confirmed by the testimony of other writers.
Thus, João Rodriguez de Castello Branco, commonly known as Amatus
Lusitanus, a Portuguese physician of Jewish origin, who practised
chiefly in Italy, has left a work recording his medical experiences
and narrating cases of successful treatment.[2634] One of the latter
concerns a patient suffering from acute rheumatism, for whom he finally
prescribed _Sarsaparilla_. This drug, he explains, has of late years
been brought from the newly found country of Peru, that it is in long
whip-like roots, growing from the stock of a sort of bramble resembling
a vine, that the Spaniards call it _Zarza parrilla_, and that it is an
excellent medicine.
[2628] Lamarck, _Encyclopédie méthodique_, Bot., vi. 1804. 468.
[2629] _Flor. Bras._ i. (1842-71) tab. 1.
[2630] It must not be supposed that _all_ species of _Smilax_ are
capable of furnishing the drug. There are many, even South American,
which like the _S. aspera_ of Europe, have _thin, wiry_ roots, which
would never pass for medicinal sarsaparilla.
[2631] _Monographiæ phanerogamarum_, i. (1878) 6-199.
[2632] Pages 18 and 88 of the work quoted in the Appendix.
[2633] _Parte primera de la Chronica del Peru_, Sevilla, 1553, folio
lxix.—a translation for the Hakluyt Society in 1864, by Markham, who
observes that Cieza de Leon never himself visited Guayaquil.
[2634] _Curationum medicinalium centuriæ quatuor_, Basileæ, 1556. 365.
About the same period, sarsaparilla was described by Auger
Ferrier,[2635] a physician of Toulouse, who states that in the
treatment of syphilis, which he calls _Lues Hispanica_, it is believed
to be better than either _China root_ or _Lignum sanctum_. Girolamo
Cardano of Milan, in a little work called _De radice Cina et Sarza
Parilia judicium_,[2636] expresses similar opinions. After so strong
recommendations, the drug soon found its way to the pharmaceutical
stores; we find it quoted for instance in 1563, in the tariff of the
“Apotheke” of the little town of Annaberg in Saxony.[2637] We have
also noticed “Sarsaparilla” in the _Ricettario Fiorentino_ of the year
1573.[2638] Gerarde,[2639] who wrote about the close of the century,
states that the sarsaparilla of Peru is imported into England in
abundance.
=Collection of the Root=—Mr. Richard Spruce, the enterprising botanical
explorer of the Amazon valley, has communicated to us the following
particulars on this subject, which we give in his own graphic words:—
“When I was at Santarem on the Amazon in 1849-50, where considerable
quantities of sarsaparilla are brought in from the upper regions of
the river Tapajóz, and again when on the Upper Rio Negro and Uaupés
in 1851-53, I often interrogated the traders about their criteria of
the good kinds of sarsaparilla. Some of them had bought their stock
of Indians of the forest, and had themselves no certain test of its
genuineness or of its excellence, beyond the size of the roots, the
thickest fetching the best price at Pará. Those who had gathered
sarsaparilla for themselves were guided by the following characters:—1.
Many stems from a root. 2. Prickles closely set. 3. Leaves thin.—The
first character was (to them) alone essential, for in the species of
_Smilax_ that have solitary stems, or not more than two or three,
the roots are so few as not to be worth grubbing up; whereas the
multicaul species have numerous long roots,—three at least to each
stem,—extending horizontally on all sides.
“In 1851, when I was at the falls of the Rio Negro, which are crossed
by the equator, nine men started from the village of St. Gabriel to
gather _Salsa_, as they called it, at the head of the river Cauaburís.
During their absence I made the acquaintance of an old Indian, who
told me that four years ago he had brought stools of _Salsa_ from the
Cauaburís and had planted them in a _tabocál_,—a clump of bamboos,
indicating the site of an ancient Indian village,—on the other side of
the falls, whither he invited me to go and witness the gathering of
his first crop of roots. On the 23rd March, I visited the _tabocál_,
and found some half-dozen plants of a _Smilax_ with very prickly
stems, but no flowers or fruit. At my request the Indian operated on
the finest plant first. It had five stems from the crown, and numerous
roots about 9 feet long, radiating horizontally on all sides. The thin
covering of earth was first scraped away from the roots by hand, aided
by a pointed stick; and had the _salsa_ been the only plant occupying
the ground, the task would have been easy. But the roots of the _salsa_
were often difficult to trace among those of bamboo and other plants,
which had to be cut through with a knife whenever they came in the way.
The roots being at length all laid bare—(in this case it was the work
of half a day, but with large plants it sometimes takes up a whole day
or even more)—they were cut off near the crown, a few slender ones
being allowed to remain, to aid the plant in renewing its growth. The
stems also were shortened down to near the ground, and a little earth
and dead leaves heaped over the crown, which would soon shoot out new
stems.
[2635] _De Pudendagra lue Hispanica, libri duo_, first published at
Toulouse in 1553, and many times reprinted. We have consulted the
Antwerp edition of 1564, with which Cardano’s work is printed. The
latter is said to have first appeared in 1559.
[2636] Basileæ, 1559, fol.
[2637] Flückiger, _Documente_ (quoted at p. 404, note 7) 24.
[2638] See Appendix.
[2639] _Herball_, enlarged by Johnson, 1636. 859.
“The yield of this plant, of four years’ growth, was 16 lb.—half a
Portuguese _arroba_—of roots; but a well grown plant will afford at the
first cutting from one to two arrobas. In a couple of years, a plant
may be cut again, but the yield will be much smaller and the roots more
slender and less starchy.”
=General Description=—The medicinal species of _Smilax_ have a thick,
short, knotty rhizome, called by the druggists _chump_, from which grow
in a horizontal direction long fleshy roots, from about the thickness
of a quill to that of the little finger. These roots are mostly simple,
forked only towards their extremities, beset with thread-like branching
rootlets of nearly uniform size, which however are not emitted to any
great extent from the more slender part of the root near the stock.
When fresh the root is plump,[2640] but as found in commerce in the
dried state it is more or less furrowed longitudinally, at least in the
vicinity of the rhizome. When examined with a good lens both roots and
rootlets may be seen in some specimens to be clothed with short velvety
or shaggy hairs.
The presence or absence in greater or less abundance of starch in the
bark of the root is regarded as an important criterion in estimating
the good quality of sarsaparilla. In England the non-amylaceous or
non-mealy roots are preferred, they alone being suitable for the
manufacture of the dark fluid extract that is valued by the public. On
the Continent, and especially in Italy, sarsaparilla, which when cut
exhibits a thick bark, pure white within, is the esteemed kind.
The more or less plentiful occurrence of starch in the roots of
_Smilax_ is a character which has no botanical significance, and
appears, indeed, to vary in the same species. If one examines Jamaica
sarsaparilla by shaving off a little of the bark, one finds a large
majority of roots to be non-amylaceous in their entire length; but
others can be picked out which, though non-amylaceous for some distance
from the rhizome, acquire a starchy bark, which is _white_ internally
in their middle and lower portions;—and there are still others which
are slightly starchy even as they start from the parent rhizome,
becoming still more as they advance. In Guatemala sarsaparilla, which
is considered a very mealy sort, it is easy to perceive that the bark
is hardly amylaceous in the vicinity of the rhizome, but that it
acquires an enormous deposit of fecula as it proceeds in its growth.
[2640] We have been kindly permitted to examine the fresh root of the
large plant of _Smilax officinalis_ in the Royal Gardens, Kew; and
have found that it agrees in appearance and in structure with Jamaica
sarsaparilla.
Sarsaparilla varies greatly in the abundance of rootlets, technically
called _beard_, with which the roots are clothed. This character
depends partly on natural circumstances, and partly on the practice
of the collectors who remove or retain the rootlets at will. Dr. Rhys
of Belize has stated that the proportion of rootlets depends much on
the nature of the soil, their development being most favoured by moist
situations.
Dry sarsaparilla has not much smell, yet when large quantities are
boiled, or when a decoction is evaporated, a peculiar and very
perceptible odour is emitted. The taste of the root is earthy, and not
well marked, and even a decoction has no very distinctive flavour.
=Microscopic Structure=[2641]—On a _transverse section_ of the root,
its fibro-vascular bundles are seen to be restricted to the central
part, being all enclosed by a brown ring. Within this ring the bundles
are densely packed so as to form a ligneous zone. The very centre
of the section consists of white medullary tissue, through which
sometimes a certain number of fibro-vascular bundles are scattered.
A similar medullary parenchyme is met with between the brown ring or
nucleus-sheath or the epidermis. On a _longitudinal section_ the latter
exhibits several rows of elongated cells, having their outer brown
walls thickened by secondary deposits. The brown nucleus-sheath, on the
other hand, consists of only one row of prismatic cells, their inner
and lateral walls alone having secondary deposits. The vascular bundles
contain large scalariform vessels and lignified prosenchymatous cells.
The parenchymatous cells, if not devoid of solid contents, are loaded
with large compound starch granules; some cells also exhibit bundles
of acicular crystals of calcium oxalate. In non-mealy sarsaparilla the
vessels and ligneous cells sometimes contain a yellow resin.
The various sorts of sarsaparilla differ, not only in being mealy or
non-mealy, but also as regards the thickness of the ligneous zone,
which in some of them is many times thinner than the diameter of
the central medullary tissue. In other kinds this diameter is very
much smaller. Yet the nucleus-sheath affords still better means for
distinguishing the sorts of this drug, if we examine its single cells
in a transverse section. The outline of such a cell may be of a square
or somewhat rounded shape, or it may be more or less extended. In
this case it may be extended in the direction of a radius, or in the
direction of a tangent. The secondary deposits may vary in thickness.
=Sorts of Sarsaparilla=—In the present state of our knowledge no
botanical classification of the different kinds of sarsaparilla being
possible, we shall resort to the arrangement adopted by Pereira and
place them in two groups,—the _mealy_, or those of which starch is a
prevalent constituent, and the _non-mealy_, or those in which starch
exists to a comparatively small extent.
[2641] For more particulars consult Vandercolme, _Histoire bot. et
thérapeut. des Salsepareilles_, Paris, 1870, 127 pp., 3 plates; and
Otten, in Dragendorff’s _Jahresbericht_, 1876. 74.
(A.) _Mealy Sarsaparillas._
1. _Honduras Sarsaparilla_—This drug is exported from Belize. It is
made up in hanks or rolls about 30 inches long and 2½ to 4 inches or
more in diameter, closely wound round with a long root so as to form a
neat bundle. The hanks are united into bales by large pieces of hide,
placed at top and bottom, and held together with thongs of the same,
further strengthened with iron hoops.
The roots are deeply furrowed, or sometimes plump and smooth, more or
less provided with _beard_ or rootlets. In a very large proportion of
their length they exhibit when cut a thick bark loaded with starch; yet
in those parts which are near the rhizome the bark is brown, resinous,
and non-amylaceous. They are of a pale brown, sometimes verging into
orange. But the drug is subject to great variation, so that it is
impossible to lay down absolutely distinctive characters.
The annual imports into the United Kingdom of sarsaparilla from British
Honduras during the five years ending with 1870 averaged about 52,000
lb.
2. _Guatemala Sarsaparilla_—This sort of sarsaparilla, which first
appeared in commerce about 1852, resembles the Honduras kind in
many of its characters, and is packed in a similar manner. But it
has a more decided _orange hue_; the roots as they start from the
rhizome are lean, shrunken, and but little starchy, but they become
gradually stouter (³/₁₀ inch diam.), and acquire a thick bark, which
is internally very white and mealy. There is a tendency in the bark of
this sarsaparilla to crack and split off, so that bare spaces showing
the central woody column are not unfrequent.
According to Bentley,[2642] who examined specimens of the plant, this
drug is derived from _Smilax papyracea_; we are not prepared to agree
in this opinion.
3. _Brazilian, Para or Lisbon Sarsaparilla_—Though formerly held in
high esteem Brazilian sarsaparilla is not now appreciated in England,
and is rarely seen in the London market.[2643] It is packed in a
very distinctive manner, the roots being tightly compressed into a
cylindrical bundle, 3 feet or more in length and about 6 inches in
diameter, firmly held together by the flexible stem of a bignoniaceous
plant, closely wound round them, the ends being neatly shaved off.
[2642] _Pharm. Journ._ xii. (1853) 470, with figure.
[2643] We noticed 66 rolls of it from Pará, offered for sale 15 Dec.
1853.—D. H.
(B.) _Non-mealy Sarsaparillas._
4. _Jamaica Sarsaparilla_—To the English druggist this is the most
important variety; it is that which appears to have the greatest claim
to possess some medicinal activity, and it is the only sort admitted
to the _British Pharmacopœia_. Although constantly called _Jamaica
sarsaparilla_, it is well known that it only bears the name of Jamaica
through having been formerly shipped from Central America by way of
that island.[2644] At the commencement of the last century, Jamaica was
an emporium for sarsaparilla, great quantities of which, according to
Sloane,[2645] were brought thither from Honduras, New Spain and Peru.
Its actual place of growth, according to De Warszewicz (1851), is the
mountain range known as the Cordillera of Chiriqui, in that part of the
isthmus of Panama adjoining the republic of Costa Rica: here the plant
grows at an elevation of 4000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea.
The root is brought by the natives to Boca del Toro on the Atlantic
coast for shipment.
The drug consists of roots, 6 feet or more in length, bent repeatedly
so as to form bundles of 18 inches long, and 4 in diameter, which
are secured by being twined round (but less trimly and closely than
the Honduras sort) with a long root of the same drug. The rhizome is
entirely absent, but the fibre or beard is preserved, and is reckoned a
valuable portion of the drug. The roots are deeply furrowed, shrunken,
and generally more slender than in the Honduras kind; the bark when
shaved off with a penknife is seen to be brown, hard and non-mealy
throughout. Yet it is by no means uncommon to find roots which have a
smooth bark rich in starch. In colour, Jamaica sarsaparilla varies from
a pale earthy brown to a deeper more ferruginous hue, the latter tint
being the most esteemed.
The sarsaparilla referred to at p. 704 as grown in the island of
Jamaica, is a well prepared drug, yet so pale in colour and so
amylaceous, that it finds but little favour in the English market.
There were exported of it from Jamaica in 1870, 1747 lb.,[2646] in
1871, 1290 lb.
5. _Mexican Sarsaparilla_—The roots of this variety are not made into
bundles, but are packed in straight lengths of about 3 feet into bales,
the chump and portion of an angular (but not _square_) thorny stem
being frequently retained. The roots are of a pale, dull brown, lean,
shrivelled, and with but few fibres. When thick and large, they have
a somewhat starchy bark, but when thin and near the rhizome, they are
non-amylaceous.
6. _Guayaquil Sarsaparilla_—An esteemed kind of sarsaparilla has long
been exported from Guayaquil (p. 705). Mr. Spruce has informed us that
it is obtained in most of the valleys that debouch into the plain on
the western side of the Equatorial Andes, but chiefly in the valley
of Alausi, where, in 1859, he saw plants of it at the junction of the
small river Puma-cocha with the Yaguachi. The plant appears to be very
productive, an instance being on record of as much as 75 lb. of fresh
roots having been obtained from a single stock.[2647]
[2644] The connexion between Jamaica and Central America dates back
from the time of Charles II., during whose reign (1661-85), the king of
the Mosquito Territory, a district never conquered by the Spaniards,
applied to the governor of Jamaica for protection, which was accorded.
The protectorate lasted until 1860, when Mosquitia was ceded to the
government of Nicaragua.
[2645] _Nat. Hist. of Jamaica_, i. (1707), introduction, p. lxxxvi.
[2646] _Blue Books—Island of Jamaica_ for 1870 and 1871.
[2647] _Journ. of Linn. Soc._, Bot., iv. (1860) 185.
Guayaquil sarsaparilla differs considerably from the sorts previously
noticed. It is rudely packed in large bales, and is not generally made
into separate hanks. The rhizome (chump) and a portion of the stem are
often present, the latter being _round_ and not prickly. The root is
dark, large and coarse-looking, with a good deal of fibre. The bark is
furrowed, rather thick, and not mealy in the slenderer portions of the
root which is near the rootstock; but as the root becomes stout, so its
bark becomes smoother, thicker and amylaceous, exhibiting when cut a
fawn-coloured or pale yellow interior.
The quantity exported from Guayaquil in 1871 was 1017 quintals, value
£3814.[2648]
=Chemical Composition=—Galileo Pallotta, at Naples, in 1824, first
attempted to obtain from sarsaparilla a peculiar principle, which he
believed to be an alkaloid, and termed _Pariglina_, or as now written
_Parillin_. He exhausted the crude drug with boiling water and mixed
the decoction with milk of lime, whereby a greyish precipitate was
produced. This was dried, and treated with hot alcohol which extracted
the parillin. Pallotta says the substance slightly reddens litmus,
but does not explicitly state whether he got it in crystals or not.
Berzelius in 1826 replaced the name pariglina by _Smilacin_. The same
substance was obtained, more or less pure, by Thubeuf in 1831 and
called _Salseparin_; Batka in 1833 termed it _Parillinic acid_. We
have isolated parillin[2649] by exhausting Mexican sarsaparilla with
boiling alcohol, 0·835 sp. gr., and evaporating the tincture to ⅙ of
the weight of the root. By diluting 2 parts of the residue with 3 parts
of cold water, a yellowish deposit of crude parillin is formed and may
be separated after a few days by decantation. The deposit is then mixed
with about half a volume of strong alcohol, now filtered and washed
with dilute alcohol, about 0·965 sp. gr. It may further be purified
by repeated recrystallization from dilute alcohol and the use of a
little charcoal. The yield is about 0·19 per cent. of perfectly white
crystallized parillin; a little more may be removed from the washings,
but with much difficulty. These liquids and the mother-liquors may be
concentrated and boiled with a little sulphuric acid in order to afford
parigenin.
[2648] Vice-Consul Smith on the commerce of Ecuador—_Consular Reports_,
presented to Parliament, July, 1872.
[2649] _Yearbook of Pharm._ 1878. 136.
Parillin forms brilliant scales, or can be obtained in thin prisms from
boiling alcohol 0·965 sp. gr. Parillin is almost insoluble in cold
water, but dissolves in 20 parts of boiling water. On cooling, the
latter solution affords no crystals; an abundance of them are however
produced on addition of alcohol. Parillin is also soluble in 25 parts
of alcohol, 0·814 sp. gr., at 25° C., and much more abundantly in
boiling alcohol, from which it partly separates in crystals on cooling.
In both absolute alcohol or water, parillin is less soluble than in
dilute alcohol. Hence aqueous solutions are precipitated by absolute
alcohol, and parillin, on the other hand, separates from alcoholic
solutions on addition of cold water. With chloroform, parillin yields a
viscid solution which affords no crystals.
The alcoholic solutions of parillin have a somewhat acrid taste, and
are devoid of rotatory power.
By dilute mineral acids, parillin is resolved into _Parigenin_ and
sugar; the liquid gradually acquires a dingy brown or greenish hue and
fluorescence, which is most obvious if parillin dissolved in chloroform
is decomposed by hydrochloric gas. Parigenin is easily isolated; it is
insoluble even in boiling water, but crystallizes in white scales from
alcohol.
The composition of parillin and parigenin is not settled; the former
belongs to the class of saponin. Yet parillin differs from saponin as
contained in Saponaria or Quillaja[2650] by not being sternutatory; its
solutions froth when shaken.
The presence in sarsaparilla of starch, resin, and calcium oxalate, as
revealed by the microscope, has been already pointed out. Pereira[2651]
examined the _essential oil_, which is heavier than water and has the
odour and taste of the drug; 140 lb. of Jamaica sarsaparilla afforded
of it only a few drops.
The nature of the dark extractive matter which water removes from
the root in abundance, and the proportion of which is considered by
druggists a criterion of goodness, has not been studied.
=Commerce=—The importation of sarsaparilla into the United Kingdom in
1870 (later than which year we have no returns) amounted to 345,907
lb., valued at £26,564.
=Uses=—Sarsaparilla is regarded by many as a valuable alterative and
tonic, but by others as possessing little if any remedial powers. It is
still much employed, though by no means so extensively as a few years
ago. The preparations most in use are those obtained by a prolonged
boiling of the root in water.