452 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
without detection ; and when dirty, the gelatine capsule can be cleaned with a 
sponge and a little water, thus effecting a considerable saving. 
I have thus endeavoured, with the assistance of ‘ Temple Bar,’ to lay before 
you a subject which, I believe, maybe advantageously made use of. I feel that 
I have not thoroughly exhausted it, and that some of you, more ingenious than 
myself, will be able to work it out more perfectly, and then, as I have done, 
bring your results to a future evening meeting. 
“ Into your scrip I pour my little store 
And as I give I wish the little more.” 
5th February , 18G6. 
ON THE ADULTERATION OE SAFFRON WITH THE STAMENS 
OE CROCUS. 
BY ROBERT BENTLEY, F.L.S., M.R.C.S. ENG., 
PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MBDICA AND BOTANY TO THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF 
GREAT BRITAIN, ETC. 
Saffron must necessarily be dear, in consequence of so small a portion of 
the flower of the plant (Crocus sativus) from which it is derived, entering 
into its composition. It has been computed that upwards of 60,000 flowers are 
required to form a pound of saffron. For this cause, also, saffron has always 
been liable to frequent and great adulteration. The substances that have 
been most frequently employed for its adulteration are the florets of the 
safflower plant (Carthamus tinctorius ), and those of the common garden 
marigold ( Calendula officinalis). The former plant, indeed, has received the 
name of bastard saffron; and according to Pereira, and his observations have 
been recently been confirmed by myself, the so-called Cake Saffron of the shops, 
which was formerly obtained by submitting the ordinary hay or officinal saffron 
to pressure, is now commonly prepared from safflower florets, made with muci¬ 
lage into a kind of paste, which is afterwards rolled out into cakes. Other 
adulterations of saffron that have been more especially noticed are, the petals of 
soapwort (Saponaria officinalis ), the flowers of arnica (Arnica montana ), and 
the flowers of a species of Pulicaria. Fibres of smoked beef, it is said, have also 
been employed for adulterating saffron, and other foreign substances have been 
likewise occasionally detected in different specimens of this drug. Saffron, 
again, from which the colour has been extracted has been used to adulterate 
genuine saffron. The intermixture with, or substitution of, the florets or petals 
of other plants with the genuine drug may be readily detected in many ways, 
but the plan commonly adopted is by examining the suspected portion, after 
maceration in boiling water, with a magnifying glass. A much simpler and 
better plan is to macerate some of the suspected saffron for a few minutes in 
boiling water, and then to take out a few separate pieces of the infused mass, 
and dfff use them by means of a stirring-rod in a glass of cold water; the vessel 
being then held up to the light, the short upper end of the style with its three 
attached linear stigmas, with their expanded somewhat w r edge-shaped notched 
extremities (Fig. 4, p. 453), and the more or less separated loose stigmas, which 
together constitute true saffron, may be at once distinguished from the tubular 
or flattened florets or petals of other plants, if these latter have been used as 
adulterants of, or substitutions for, genuine saffron. 
The subject of the adulterations of saffron has recently been brought espe¬ 
cially under my notice, in consequence of a specimen of saffron supposed to 
be adulterated having been forwarded to this Society for examination from a 
wholesale house in the City. From inquiries made afterwards, I found that a 
