Other medicinal species of Colchicum.

Under the name Hermodactylus,1 the corms of other species of Colchicum of Eastern origin, anciently enjoyed great reputation in medicine. These corms are in structure precisely like those of ordinary colchicum; they are entire, but deprived of membranous envelopes, of a flattened, heart-shaped form, not wrinkled on the surface, and often very small in size. The starch grains they contain are similar to those of C. autumnale, but in some specimens twice as large.

There is great uncertainty as to the species of Colchicum which furnish hermodactyls. Prof. J. E. Planchon, who has written a learned and elaborate article on the subject,2 is in favour of C. variegatum L., a native of the Levant. But one can hardly suppose this plant to be the source of the hermodactyls (Súrinján) of the Indian bazaars, which are stated to be brought from Kashmír.

SEMEN COLCHICI.

Colchicum Seed; F. Semence de Colchique; G. Zeitlosensamen. Botanical Origin-Colchicum autumnale L., see page 636.-The inflated capsule, which grows up in the spring after the disappearance of the flower in the autumn, is three-celled, dehiscent towards the apex by its ventral sutures, and contains, attached to the inner angle of the carpels, numerous globular seeds, which arrive at maturity in the latter part of the summer.

History-Colchicum seeds were introduced into medical practice by Dr. W. H. Williams, of Ipswich, about 1820, on the ground of their being more certain in action than the corm. They were admitted to the London Pharmacopoeia in 1824.

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Description-The seeds are of globose form, about of an inch in diameter, somewhat pointed by a strophiole, which when dry is not very evident. They are rather rough and dull; when recent of a pale brown, but become darker by drying, and at the same time exude a sort of saccharine matter. They are inodorous even when fresh, but have a bitter acrid taste; they are very hard and difficult to powder.

Microscopic Structure-The reticulated, brown coat of the seed, consists of a few rows of large, thin-walled, tangentially-extended cells, considerably smaller towards the interior, the outermost containing starch grains in small number. The thin testa is closely adherent to the horny greyish albumen. The cells of the latter are remarkable for their thick walls, showing wide pores; they contain granular plasma and oil-drops. The very small leafless embryo may be observed on transverse section close beneath the testa on the side opposite the strophiole.

Chemical Composition—The active principle of colchicum seed,

1 The Bitter Hermodactyl of Royle, is not in our opinion the produce of a Colchicum at all; see also Cooke in Pharm. Journ. April 1, 1871.

2 Ann. des Sciences Nat., Bot., iv. (1855) 132; abstract in Pharm. Journ. xv. (1856) 465.

3 London Medical Repository, Aug. 1,

termed Colchicin, is said to amount to only about 0.05 per cent.; but the chemists who have made it the subject of investigation are not agreed as to its properties. Thus Oberlin (1856) showed it to contain nitrogen, but without possessing basic properties. By treatment with acids, the amorphous colchicin yields a crystallizable body, Colchiceïn. Hübler (1864) assigned to the latter, acid qualities and, strangely enough, the same formula he gave for colchicin itself, namely, CH9NO5. Maisch1 as well as Diehl 2 again obtained discrepant results, and it seems probable that Colchicin of definite composition has not yet been isolated.

Of the

The seeds contain traces of gallic acid, sugar and fatty oil. last, we obtained 6.6 per cent. by exhausting the dried seed with ether. The oil concreted at -8° C.

Uses The same as those of the corm.

SMILACEÆ.

RADIX SARSAPARILLÆ.

Radix Sarzæ vel Sarsa; 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 dicecious, that their scandent habit often renders their flowers and fruits (produced at different seasons) inaccessible, and that their leaves vary exceedingly in form,3 explains why we are but very imperfectly acquainted with the botanical sources of sarsaparilla.

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 on the Magdalena in New

1 Pharm. Journ. ix. (1867) 249.

2 Proc. Americ. Pharm. Assoc. 1867. 363. 3 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.

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. Humboldt1 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,2 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. 645).

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2. Smilax medica Schl. et Cham.-This species, 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.

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

1 Kunth, Symmopsis 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 growing (1874) in the Royal Gardens, Kew, but has not flowered.

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.

3 Figured in Nees von Esenbeck's Planta Medicinales, suppl. tab. 97.

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 Poiret1 in 1804, and figured by Martius 2 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.3

History-Monardes has recorded that sarsaparilla was first introduced to Seville about the year 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.

These statements are confirmed by the testimony of earlier 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 (1556) recording his medical experiences and narrating cases of successful treatment.5 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.

About the same period, sarsaparilla was described by Auger Ferrier, 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, expresses similar opinions. Turner in the third part of his Herball, printed in 1568, mentions Salsaperilla, to which he says new writers ascribe the same virtues as to guaiacum.

Pedro de Cieza de Leon, in his Chronicle of Peru,' which contains the

1 Lamarck, Encyclopédie méthodique, Bot., vi. 1804. 468.

2 Flor. Bras. i. (1842-71) tab. 1.

3 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.

4 Pages 18 and 88 of the work quoted at p. 480, note 5.

quatuor, Basileæ, 1556. 365.

6 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.

7 Parte primera de la Chronica del Peru, Sevilla, 1553. folio lxix.-a translation for the Hakluyt Society in 1864, by Markham, who observes that Čieza de Leon never himself visited Guayaquil.

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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. Gerarde, who wrote about the close of the century, states that the sarsaparilla of Peru is imported into England in abundance.

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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.

"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."

1 Herball, enlarged by Johnson, 1636. 859.