KADiX JSAfSbAFUAS. 



RADIX SASSAFRAS. 



Sassafras Root ; F. Bois de Sassafras, Llyniini Sassafras ; 

 G. Sassafrasholz. 



Botanical Origin — Sassafras officinalis Nees {Lawnis Sassafrash.), 

 a tree growing in North America, from Catiada, southward to Florida and 

 Missouri. In the north it is only a shrub, or a small tree 20 to 30 feet 

 high, but in the Middle and Southern United States, and especially in 

 Virginia and Carolina, it attains a height of 40 to 100 feet. The leaves 

 are of different forms, some being ovate and entire, and others two- or 

 three-lobed, the former, it is said, appearing earlier than the latter. 



History — Monardes relates that the French during their expedition 

 to Florida (1562-1564) cured their sick with the wood and root of a tree 

 called Sassafras, the use of which they had learnt from the Indians.^ 

 Laudonniere, who was a member of that expedition, and diligently set 

 forth the wonders of Florida, observes that, among forest trees, the most 

 remarkable for its timber and especially for its fragrant bark, is that 

 called by the savages Pavame and by the French Sassafrasr' 



The drug was known in Germany, at least since 1582, under the 

 above names or also by that of Lignum Floridum or Fennel-wood,, 

 Xylomara th mm.^ 



The sassafras tree had been introduced into England in the time of 

 Gerarde {circa 1597), who speaks of a specimen growing at Bow. At 

 that period the wood and bark of the root were used chiefly in the 

 treatment of ague. 



In 1610, a paper of instructions from the Government of England to 

 that of the new colony of Virginia, mentions among commodities to be 

 sent home, " Small sassafras Mootes," which are " to be drawen in the 

 winter and dryed and hone to be medled with in the somer ; — and yet 

 is worthe £50 and better per tonne."^ The shipments were afterwards 

 much overdone, for in 1622 complaint is made that other things than 

 tobacco and sassafras^ were neglected to be shipped. 



Angelus Sala, an Italian chemist living in Germany about the 

 year 1610-1630, in distilling sassafras noticed that the oil was heavier 

 than water ;^ it was quoted in 1683 in the tariff of the apothe- 

 cary of the elector of Saxony, at Dresden." John Maud in 1738 ob- 

 tained crystals of safrol as long as 4 inches f in 1844 they were 

 examined by Saint-Evre. 



Description — Sassafras is imported in large branching logs, which 

 often include the lower portion of the stem, 6 to 12 inches in diameter.^ 



* Htstoria medicinal de las corns que se ^ Opera medico-chymica, Francofurti, 

 traen de nuestrcLS Indias occidentales, (Sevilla, 1 682, p. 83. 



1574) 51. " Fliickiger, Documente (quoted at p. 404, 



-De Laet, Novus Orbis, 1G33. 215. — note 7) 70. 



Rene de Laudonniere, Histoire notable de la ^ Phil. Trans. R. Sac. of London, viii. 



Flmide. 1586. (1809)243. 



* Pharm. Joum. v. (1876) 1023. ® The sassafras logs met with in English 

 ■• Colonial Papers, vol. i. No. 23 (MS. in trade often include aconsiderable portion of 



the Record Office, London). trunk-wood, which, as well as the bark that 



^ Colonial Papers, vol. ii. No. 4. covers it, is inert, and should be sawn off 



and rejected before the wood is raspetL 



