30 SARSAPARILLA OF THE MUNDRUCUS. 



territory it grows. Of its vast abundance there is no doubt, for on the 

 banks of many of the South American rivers it exists, in forests especially, 

 on the Eio Negro — the " black river ;" the Indians believing that its 

 colour is produced by the dense wilderness and black roots of the sarsapa- 

 rilla. This, however, is fallacious, as there are many of the white-water 

 rivers that run through regions abundantly supplied with sarsaparilla 

 root ; therefore the black water of the Rio Negro and other rivers arises 

 from other causes, at present not understood. 



The Mundrucu Sarsa is the Smilax x>apyracea of Poiret, and is known 

 in commerce as red sarsaparilla. It is a climbing plant or under shrub, 

 the stem of which is flattened and angular, with rows of prickles growing 

 along the exposed edges. It shoots straight up without any support as 

 high as twenty feet, or until it clings to the branches of the surrounding 

 trees, when it shoots out in all directions, and spreads for a considerable 

 distance. The main root shoots out many long tendrils of one thickness, 

 covered with a brownish or dark grey bark. The shoots are fibrous, and 

 about as thick as a quill, always crooked — a natural tendency — and 

 longitudinally wrinkled, with here and there some smaller lateral fibres 

 branching off from the sides. The leaves are of an oval acrvminated 

 shape, and marked with nerves longitudinally. 



The medicinal properties of sarsaparilla exist in the bark or epidermis 

 of the rhizomes ; but the tendrils, both bark and rhizome, are collected 

 together, -without any choice or discrimination, and it remains thus 

 adulterated until it reaches the druggist, who has to prepare from it his 

 medicamentous extract, and he is frequently disappointed through a 

 want of vigilant examination, which should be bestowed upon it by the 

 wholesale buyer. 



What we have already said of sarsaparilla admits of but little doubt 

 that its virtue — as a depurative and restorative in disorders of the blood, 

 and in all its other therapeutic uses, viz., in secretions, cachectic, 

 scrofulous, and consumptive habits, debility, &c. — is to be found in its 

 fresh, juicy state. Of this it is certain, that it is not so generally esteemed 

 in countries where it does not grow, as it is where it is common and can be 

 procured fresh. In the whole of Spanish America its properties are un- 

 questioned, and experiment and experience have there led to an unlimited 

 use of it. It is, indeed, most natural to suppose that in the careless process 

 of exsiccation — which is done during its transit from wherever it is col- 

 lected — its virtues suffer very materially, and the question is whether they 

 are not entirely destroyed. 



The portions of the root trusted for its sanitary principles by the 

 British colleges of medicine is the epidermis. It is mucilaginous, and 

 bitter to the taste, and possesses highly tonic properties. By our Trans- 

 atlantic cousins it is known generally as a " purifier of the blood."* 



The preparations of sarsaparilla of the London Pharmacopoeia are 



* The bark of the Laurus Sassafras is also used by the Americans for this pur- 

 pose, but sarsaparilla is more frequently preferred. 



