SAKSAFARILLA.

661

tlCss of this opinion, I confess I am unacquainted with any accurateComparative experiments on which it is founded.

, The colour of the root is not to be absolutely depended on ; but rootsla ' ln g a deep orange-red tint are preferred. Taste perhaps is the bestcriterion: the more acrid and nauseous the taste, the better is the qualitythe root. This test has been much insisted on by Dr. Hancock {Trans,T‘d.-Bot. Soc. 1829). Many druggists prefer mealy sarsaparilla, that is,^rsaparilla whose cortex is brittle and powdery, and which, on being frac-p'ed transversely, throws out a white dust. But this quality, which is soJv ious in Honduras sarsaparilla, depends on the presence of starch ;

instead of being a test of goodness, is to be regarded as the reverse,he quantity of extract yielded by a given weight of the root has beenj) lu ch depended on by Mr. Battley and Mr. Pope as a test of goodness:^°th these writers have asserted the superiority of Jamaica sarsaparilla,C'cause it yields a larger quantity of extract. But though a sarsaparillahich yields very little extract cannot be regarded as good, yet it does°t follow, especially in the absence of comparative trials, that a sarsa-l.^nlla which yields the most abundant extract is necessarily the best,

■ nce the quantity may arise from the presence of mucilage and other. er t matters. The beard is another criterion of goodness: the greater-p Uan ^y r °ot fib res (technically called beard) the better the sarsa-

• T Jamaica Sarsaparilla , offic. Red-bearded Sarsaparilla (Radix sarzm% tticensis .) The roots are folded and made up into bundles {sarsapa-rilla rotunda) of about a foot or half a yard long,and four or five inches broad. These bundlesare neither trimmed nor closely packed. Theyconsist of long, slender runners, furnished withnumerous small, fibrous rootlets (called the beard).Its cortex is brownish, but with an orange-redtint, which distinguishes this from other kinds ofsarsaparilla, and has given rise to its name of redsarsaparilla. The cortex is reddish, and whenexamined by the microscope is found to containsome starch globules. The meditullium has fre-quently a reddish tint. When chewed, Jamaicasarsaparilla tinges the saliva. Its taste is notremarkably mucilaginous, but slightly bitter, andafter a few minutes slightly acrimonious. ItsyPpfed of a section decoction is deepened in colour by a solution ofq am aica Sarsaparilla, iodine ; but no blue is perceptible. Its powder4 ’ ^ u ticle. is pale reddish brown, and when rubbed with water

c Jte bcuticular tissue : and tincture of iodine becomes blue, but less in-

0 eH u 1 ™. a “b u 1 ar b ssue • tensely so than the powder of the Honduras variety.p iVood y zone.' It yields a larger quantity of extract than the other

’ Medulla. varieties : its extract is perfectly soluble in cold

0 winter. From three pounds of average quality about

^ e pound of extract may be obtained (Hennell; also Battley) ; but frome same quantity of root of very fine quality, nearly one pound and aa rier of extract may be procured (Hennell). 874 grains of the

Fig. 118 .

C °riical

portion of the root yielded 484 grains of extract (Battley).