635 



SMELLING SALTS. 



SMILAX. 



028 



casks of half a hundred weight each. The powder is moistened with 

 a little water to prevent waste, and the cask is marked with the name 

 of the shade. 



It may be remarked that artificial ultramarine [ ULTRAMARINE ] 

 has superseded some of the uses for which smalt was formerly in large 

 demand. 



SMELLING SALTS. [AMMONIA.] 



SMELTING. The processes of smelting, or extracting metals from 

 their ores, are described under the names of the principal metals, such 

 as COPPKR ; LEAD ; METALS ; IRON ; &c. 



SMIL AGIN. (C, H IS O e or C a H, s O e ). Saheparin. Pareglin. A 

 peculiar principle found in sarsaparilla (Smilax SarsapariUa). It exists 

 in the form of colourless needles, is inodorous, very soluble in water 

 and in alcohol, when boiling, but less so when cold. It dissolves in 

 ether and volatile oils ; the fixed oils dissolve it sparingly. 



Smilacin dissolves in weak acids and alkaline solutions, and separates 

 from them unaltered when they are neutralised. Nitric acid partly 

 decomposes it. Sulphuric acid colours it first deep red, then violet, 

 and afterwards yellow ; water precipitates it unaltered. 



SMILAX, Medical Properties of. Though, according to Dr. Hancock, 

 but one species of this rather extensive genus yields the genuine sarsa- 

 parilla, it is quite certain that the roots of many are collected, and 

 pass under that name in commerce. Most species of smilax are pro- 

 vided with spines, which has given origin to the first half of the name 

 ,in the Spanish language, zarza, a bramble, and parilla, a vine, from its 

 climbing or turning habit. Sarza has been adopted as the familiar 

 name in the ' London Pharmacopoeia," which indicates S. officinalii 

 (Humbt.,'Nova Genera et Species,' i.) as the source of the officinal 

 article. This view is ably maintained by Dr. Berthold Seeraann in 

 the ' Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald,' London, 18S2-57. The 

 different kinds of sarsaparilla are better known by the course they 

 follow in their progress towards European consumption, than by their 

 botanical history. In describing them it seems beat therefore to adopt 

 their commercial names. 



1. Jamaica, or Red, fsanapariUa. This occurs in bundles formed of 

 the root alone, folded in a roundish mass, about a foot or more in 

 length, and four or five inches broad. Each bundle is formed by the 

 roots and rootlets (fibrilkc, or beards, as they are technically termed), 

 without any portion of the rhizoma (or chump) or of the aerial stem. 

 The roots are long, slender, about the thickness of a small quill, with a 

 dark-brown furrowed or wrinkled bark. The bark is thick, easily 

 separable from the ligneous part beneath. The ligneous part is of a 

 light red, which assumes a deeper hue when moistened. It is easily 

 .-plit longitudinally, and has a whitish centre or medulla, containing 



or less starch. But for the absence of medullary r.iys and of 

 nodi, this root might be taken for the twigs of an exogenous plant, to 

 which the structure of the suiilaceic approximates in several other 

 points. A transverse section exhibits the cuticle and epidermis, which 

 are separated from the inner or ligneous circle by a zone of cellular 

 tissue ; then the duramen, which presents the cut or open extremities 

 of numerous ducts; and lastly, the medulla, or pith, in the centre. 

 The duramen, though porous, is of a denser texture than that of the 

 Honduras sarza. The taste is at first sweetish or slightly mucilaginous, 

 then nauseous, resembling ipecacuanha, but not very acrid or bitter. 

 No variety of sarza has any odour, but dirty or unwashed specimens 

 have a faintly earthy smell. 



The powder a a light reddish-brown, which, when triturated with 

 water and tincture of iodine, changes to a blue, but of less intense 

 depth than the Honduras sarza, indicative of a smaller proportion of 

 starch in the former. 



According to Mr. Pojie ('Trans. Sledico-Chir. Society,' xii., p. 

 349), " the whole medical efficacy resides in the bark ; and the root, 

 deprived of its cortical part, contains only pith and tasteless woody- 

 fibre." The tasteless character of the wood renders this statement 

 very probable. He further says : " The corticle part gives out nearly 

 the whole of ito virtues by cold infusion in distilled water, very readily 

 to lime-water or water slightly impregnated with caustic alkali ; and 

 that boiling distilled water extracts all its virtues." He deems the 

 quantity of extract yielded by any specimen the criterion of its excel- 

 lence. Judged by this standard, the Jamaica sarza is manifestly the 

 best. His experiments have been confirmed by those of Mr. Battley, 

 and by Thubeuf. Jamaica sarsaparilla is the produce of the Spanish 

 Main, and thence sent to Jamaica to be forwarded to Europe. Some 

 has been cultivated in that island, but it is of inferior quality. The 

 t officinalu (Humbt.), which is conjectured to be the parent 

 plant of the wild root, grows in New Granada, on the banks of the 

 Magdalen river, near Bojorque. 



2. Litlmn, Para, nr Ilrazilian Sarza. The term Lisbon sarza was 

 also bestowed on the sort just described, for as Lisbon sarza was till 

 lately most esteemed, the former on its first introduction was vended 

 under that name. The true Lisbon sarza is the produce of Smila.c 



which grows both in New Granada, on the river C'assi- 



quiare, between Mandacava and San Francisco Solano, and in Brazil, 



<>n the Yupura and llio Negro, by which last name it is sometimes 



designated. (Martin*, ' Reise,' in., pp. 1213, 1280.) The Indians 



yr round, dry it over a moderate fire, and tie it into 



Imii'lk.i with the flexible stem of a plant called Timbotitica. To 



prerent iU being attacked by insects, they hang it up at the gables of 



ARTS AMD BCI. DIV. VOL. VII. 



the houses, and sometimes gently smoke it. These bundles have a 

 neat appearance externally, but the interior is filled up with the chump 

 and other rubbish. The fibres vary in thickness from that of a straw 

 to that of a crow-quill, with little beard, and fewer longitudinal 

 wrinkles than the Jamaica sarza ; the colour, a light, sometimes a 

 dirty grayish-yellow, or reddish-brown colour, internally white; the 

 cortical part mealy, including a thin cellular layer, which, with the 

 duramen, is also white. Taste at first insipid, but ou prolonged masti- 

 cation a sort of acrid guttural taste, without bitterness, is experienced. 

 This kind contains more starch than the Jamaica variety, and yields a 

 paler infusion. 



3. Honduras Sarza was the kind first introduced into medical 

 practice, a circumstance which still leads many persons to prefer it. 

 It generally comes over in very large bundles, weighing from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds, but sometimes in small 

 round bundles. Each piece has the chump and the numerous roots 

 proceeding from it. The chump is often two inches thick, woody, 

 hard, and insipid. The roots are from two to four feet long, mostly 

 thicker than those of the Jamaica or Lisbon kinds. The outer part is 

 a dirty grayish-yellow, sometimes verging to brown or reddish. The 

 cortical part is very easily separable from the ligneous ; between the 

 epidermis and the duramen is a thick white amylaceous layer, whence 

 a large quantity of flour or starch falls when the piece is broken 

 across ; hence the term mealy, applied to this variety. A transverse 

 section exhibits a great many cut extremities of ducts, which run 

 parallel, and are so continuous, that air can be blown from one end to 

 the opposite of a considerable piece. This kind has no odour, and the 

 taste is at first merely starchy and insipid, but at last acrid and 

 guttural. The rhizoma (or chump) is altogether tasteless. The fibres 

 and the bark are rendered black by iodine ; while the rhizoma is not 

 affected by this re-agent. The decoction of the roots is changed to an 

 intense blue by a solution of iodine. " A strong decoction of Hondu- 

 ras sarza forms a copious precipitate (starch) on addition of alcohol." 

 (Pereira.) 



4. Vera Cruz Sarza is not common in the English market, but is 

 occasionally sold under the name of Lisbon sarza. It is the produce of 

 Smilax medica (Schlecht), which grows abundantly on the eastern 

 slope of the Mexican mountains. Externally the fibres are more 

 furrowed than the Jamaica. The transverse section is denser in the 

 young roots, and it is not mealy ; there is little beard. The chump is 

 always attached. It yields a deep-coloured decoction, which is un- 

 changed by a solution of iodine. The sarsaparilla of the Caracas of 

 French writers is deemed to be the Vera Cruz sort. 



5. A kind called Lima Sarza is brought in considerable quantity to 

 this country, and greatly resembles Jamaica sarza, for which it is^said 

 by Dr. Pereira to be extensively sold, and from which it differs chiefly 

 in yielding a less quantity of extract. 



It is manifest that the S. sarsaparilla (Linn.), which is a native of 

 the southern states of the American Union, yields none of the article 

 used at present in Europe, though it may yield a portion of what is 

 used in the United States. But this is denied to be used in the United 

 States by Dr. Wood, though indicated in - their Pharmacopoeia, and 

 Willil., iv., 776 referred to. 



Besides the above-described varieties, the produce of different species 

 of smilax, there are numerous spurious or false sarsaparillas, some from 

 known, others from unknown sources. Italian sarza is the root of 

 Xmilu.c aspera, the only species native of Europe. It is a very worth- 

 legs kind, and owes its reputation to a mistake by which it was con- 

 sidered to be the source of the Indian sarza, a truly valuable root, but 

 which is the produce of an asclepiadeous plant, Ucmidesmm indims. 

 German sarsaparilla consists of the rhizoma of one or more species of 

 Carex, V. hirta and C. arcnaria. It may easily be distinguished from 

 the genuine by the numerous nodi, which are absent from the smilax. 



The active properties are mostly crae to the salsepariue, the resin, 

 and, when present, to the volatile oiL The more acrid and bitter any 

 specimen of sarza is, the better. 



The virtues of sarsaparilla are the subject of much diversity of 

 opinion ; many practical men deeming it very useful, while others 

 consider it nearly worthless. This difference seems owing partly to its 

 being employed in different diseases by the one set, from those in 

 which it is used by the other, and still more to inherent differences in 

 the particular hoot used. It is collected at all seasons of the year, and 

 in all stages of its growth, circumstances which cannot fail to influence 

 its qualities ; as young roots gathered before the flower appears must 

 differ greatly from old roots gathered after flowering. But a more 

 important cause of difference exists in the mode of preparing it for 

 administration. The long period enjoined in the ' London and Edin- 

 burgh Pharmacopoeias ' for boiling the root is most injurious, and in 

 reality the order is never obeyed by any of the chemists or druggists 

 who have obtained a reputation for their preparations. They either 

 use water of a temperature far below that of boiling, or perfectly cold 

 water, as ordered by the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, and recommended by 

 all the most eminent continental pharmaceutists. The powder is not 

 thus injured, but its bulk and taste are obstacles to its full employ- 

 ment. The compound syrup of -the latest edition of the American 

 Pharmacopoeia is a most excellent form as an addition to some of the 

 watery preparations. A mixture of preparations made with both hot 

 and cold water seems best, as these menstrua dissolve out different 



a s 



