xir SARSAPARILLA 243 



The British Pharmacopeia contains the following descrip- 

 tion of the drug : 



JAMAICA SARSAPARILLA. The dried root of Smilax 

 ojficinalis. Native of Central America, imported from 

 Jamaica. 



CHARACTERS. Roots not thicker than a goose-quill, Official de- 

 generally many feet in length, reddish-brown, covered with tlie druj. f 

 rootlets, and folded in bundles about eighteen inches long, 

 scentless ; taste mucilaginous, feebly bitter, faintly acid. 



