RADIX SARSAPARILLiE. 711 



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, 



lift :f,:^si4.i 



value £3814. 



Chemical Composition— Galileo Pallotta, at Naples, in 1824, first 

 attempted to obtain from sarsaparilla a peculiar principle, which he be- 

 lieved to be an alkaloid, and termed Pariglma, or as now written 

 Parillin, He exhausted the crude drug with boihng water and mixed 

 the decoction with milk of lime, whereby a greyish precipitate was pro- 

 duced. This was dried, and treated with hot alcohol which extracted 

 the parillin. Pallotta says the substance slightly reddeus litmus, but 

 does not explicitly state whether he got it in crystals or not. Berzelms 

 in 1826 replaced the name pariglma by Sniilacin, The same substance 

 was obtained, more or less pure, by Thubeuf in 1831 and called baCse- 

 parin; Batka in 1833 termed it PariUinic add. We have isolated 

 parilHn^ by exhausting Mexican sarsaparilla with boiling alcohol, U «.io 

 sp.gr., and evaporating- the tincture to i of the weight ot 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 ^^w ua^s 

 V decantation. The deposit is then mixed with about ^f^f ^.^f,^^^ 

 of strong alcohol, now filtered and washed with di ute alcohol about 

 0-965 sp. gr. It may further be purified by repeated ^'e-crystahz 

 from dilute alcohol and the use of a little charcoa.^ ^^%^l!^ll S 



A.iA . - ^ - , . i IT 1 ..;n,rt - a htTift more ui^y 



wumg alcohol OOCo sp. gr. PanUm is aimosi iu»u.u... 

 tut dissolves in 20 parts V boiling water. Ou eo^-gj^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 tion affords no crystals ; au abundance of t^emaie however p^ 

 on addition of alcohol. Parillin is also so ub e m 2^ P^^^ ^^ j ^^^^ 

 0-814 sp. gr., at 25° C, and much more abundantly m ^o^l^-^g ab;olute 

 ^liich it partly separates in crystals on cooling- ^ ^^^^^ 



alcohol or water, parillin is less soluble than in d lute ^^^J .jij^^ „„ 

 aqueous solutions are precipitated by absolute ^^f '7' ,^it(on of cold 

 the other hand, separates from alcoholic solutions ^^^ ^^^^^^ 



*ater. With chloroform, parillin yields a viscid solution w 

 no crystals. „„ i „i „crid taste, and 



The alcoholic solutions of parillin have a somewhat acuU 



are devoid of rotatory power. . t .^a ^nto Pariqenin &nd 



% dilute mineril acids, parillin is jo^^^own or greenish hue 

 sugar ; the liquid gradually acquires a 4f Sy , ; dissolved in chloro- 

 and fluorescence, which is most obvious i^ P^";; .^ jg easily isolated ; 

 forni is decomposed by hydrochloric ^■J^;^,,^^,,^, ,s,s. 130. 



„ vice-Consul Smith on the commerce ot 

 pl^A''^'— Consular Reports, presented to 



Parliament, July, 1872. 



