368 CALABRIAN MANNA SAFFRON. 



1872. As to the tree which is cultivated in Sicily, and of which I 

 Ma ~~ tree have examined specimens from all parts of the island, 1 it like- 

 cultivated in w j se presents great variations, but no special form that can be 

 singled out as deserving the name rotundifolia, or even that 

 can be recognised as par excellence a cultivated variety. It is 

 true that the tree in some manna plantations is occasionally 

 grafted, certain trees yielding a poor supply of saccharine matter 

 being thus replaced by others of a more productive nature. But 

 I observed no grafting at Capaci, where the trees are grown like 

 coppice oak in England, and where such a plan of treatment 

 would therefore be hardly worth the trouble. 



(The paper was illustrated by several specimens of Calabrian 

 manna procured at Eossano, Corigliano and Cosenza, and by a 

 large suite of botanical specimens of Fraxinus ornus, L., and a 

 stem of the latter showing the incisons of manna.) [N. Eeperl. 

 f. Pharm. xxii. 81.] 



THE ADULTERATION OF SAFEKOK 2 

 (Hit Kreide erfalschter Safran.) 



1872. SAFFRON is at the present time the subject of a serious adultera- 

 Adulteration. tion, ^ which I think it important to call attention, the more so as 

 I find that its nature and extent are not fully known even to 

 experienced druggists. Saffron adulterated in the manner I am 

 about to describe, is not for the most part, undistinguishable to 

 the eye from the drug in a state of purity, yet the means of 

 discriminating between the genuine and the fraudulent are of 

 the most simple character. 



Let me remark at the outset that there is, in my opinion, no 



method of testing saffron more effectual than that of scattering a 



Warm water very small pinch on the surface of a glass of warm water. The 



stigma of the saffron-crocus immediately expands, and exhibits 



1 Many of them courteously presented to me by Professor Todaro of the 

 Botanical Garden, Palermo. 



8 Since the following paper has been in type, I have received the American 

 Journal of Pharmacy for September, in which I find a note by Professor 

 Maisch calling attention to the adulteration which I have here described. 

 D.H. 



