SAFFRON". 281 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Emanations from saffron 

 are reputed to act powerfully on the nervous system, causing 

 pain in the head, vertigo, trembling, &c. Borel*, Schenck, and 

 others relate cases of coma and even death from sleeping in 

 rooms containing considerable quantities of this substance. 

 When taken into the stomach, it is asserted to act in the same 

 manner upon the brain and nerves, producing paleness, head- 

 ache, dimness of sight, and a kind of delirium, attended with 

 fits of immoderate laughter f. Boerhaave and Ettmuller state 

 that it is capable of inducing alarming symptoms, and recom- 

 mend it to be used with great caution, while they extol its re- 

 medial agency. On the other hand, various modern authorities 

 place very little confidence in its effects, or describe it as quite 

 inert. Alexander asserts that he took four scruples of saffron 

 without experiencing any effect. It is certainly unfair that an 

 isolated case should be allowed to outweigh the solemn asser- 

 vations of so many of the ablest physicians, and it should be 

 remembered that the influence of climate and soil, of culture 

 and preparation, with regard to plants, is sufficient to alter their 

 medicinal qualities altogether. To these must be added the 

 adulterations to which saffron is subject, and the fact that its 

 active principle is so volatile as to be entirely destroyed by long 

 keeping, and even by exposure to the external air for a short 

 period. 



These facts, if correct, seem to indicate its resemblance to 

 opium, and justify, to a certain extent, the anodyne, exhilarant, 

 antispasmodic, hypnotic, and other properties ascribed to it. 

 By our illustrious progenitors it was in much esteem ; by Hip- 

 pocrates as an external application for pains and swellings of a 

 rheumatic or gouty kind ; Serapion had a great opinion of it in 

 diseases of the chest and uterus ; and Galen records its reso- 

 lutive effects. The majority of authors place it in the first 

 rank of antispasmodics, and have insisted upon its utility in 

 spasmodic diseases, such as hysteria, asthma, chronic coughs, 

 pertussis, nervous vomitings, gouty affections, and consumption. 

 By virtue of its direct excitation on the organs of secretion, 

 and its consecutive sedative effects on the nervous system, it 



* Borel, Hist, et Obs. cent. 4 Obs. 35, p. 303. Schenck, Obs. med. p. 879. 

 f Zacut. Lusit. apud Fricc. de venenis, p. 394. 

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