454 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
diately taken up by the water, which almost immediately assumed a deep 
orange-yellow colour, and also presented a turbid appearance from the diffusion 
through it of small granules. These granules were also seen on the side of the 
glass vessel in which the infusion had been made; and although many of them 
ultimately subsided to the bottom of the vessel, many remained in suspension, so 
that the infusion, however long kept, never became clear. Upon examining the 
infused substance it was seen to be principally composed of a closely-adhering mass 
of very pale-yellow flabby more or less flattened, and somewhat cylindrical twisted 
bodies, with a few thread-like deep orange-yellow ones intermixed. The appear¬ 
ance of this mass was most striking, and would in itself have led to the detection 
of the adulteration. It was seen at once from the shape and colour of the fila¬ 
mentous portions that they were genuine saffron, but the question now arose as 
to the nature of the other and greater portion of the mass. To determine this, I 
at first examined some of the separated pieces of the mass with a magnifying glass, 
and satisfied myself directly that they were not the florets or petals of any of 
the plants which had been hitherto alluded to as having been employed to adul¬ 
terate saffron ; neither were they the similar parts of any other plants, nor any 
substances hitherto described as adulterants of saffron ; but, instead of any of 
these, I found bodies of a pale yellow colour, half an inch or more in length, at¬ 
tached below to a firmer and nearly cylindrical stalk (lig. 1, p.453), which latter 
was also in some cases adherent to a flattened portion of a petal or a tubular body. 
I also found a few larger pieces of the coloured divisions of the perianth inter¬ 
mixed with the above. 1 concluded that the bodies under examination must 
be stamens, but in order to satisfy myself more completely on this point, I took 
a few of them on the end of a glass rod, and diffused them in a glass of cold 
water; that they were then the stamens of a Crocus there could be no doubt, 
for I had before me open cellular bodies half an inch or more in length, with a 
somewhat pointed apex and an arrow-shaped base (Fig. 1, p. 453). Each of these 
was also seen to be attached below to a solid nearly cylindrical thread-like shorter 
stalk ; and this latter was, in some instances, also adherent to a portion of a petal. 
Upon more complete examination in the same way, I found that some of the sepa¬ 
rated pieces were two or more inches in length, and consisted of a tubular por¬ 
tion below, from the inside of which there arose above three filaments bearing at 
their extremities arrow-shaped (sagittate) anthers (Fig. 3, p. 453) ; in fact, here 
was the tubular portion of the flower of a Crocus, with the three stamens found 
in it as in all the other plants of the Natural Order to which it belonged, at¬ 
tached. I could also readily make out by the unassisted eye, although still 
better by the aid of a small magnifier, the mode of attachment of the anthers to 
the filaments, and the manner in which they had dehisced. As the number of 
stamens and the attachment and dehiscence of the anthers is very marked in 
the order Iridacece , to which the genus Crocus belongs, I had thus a further 
confirmation, if any were needed, of the adulterant being the stamens of a 
Crocus, which had been previously twisted so as to alter their natural form and 
characters, and thus render them more difficult of detection. In some cases I 
found similar tubular portions bearing two stamens (Fig. 2, p. 453), the third 
stamen having become detached. 
A very ready way of detecting this adulteration of saffron with stamens is to 
take a small portion of the suspected specimen and diffuse it in a glass of cold 
water by means of a stirring-rod for about a minute, the water will become im¬ 
mediately coloured, and if the stirring be now discontinued the whole mass will 
rise to the surface of the fluid, and the genuine orange-yellow-coloured saffron 
will be readily distinguished from the pale-yellow-coloured twisted stamens. 
The proportion of adulteration may in this manner be readily estimated. If 
instead of using cold water, boiling water be employed in the above experiment, 
I find a somewhat different result; thus, if the proportion of stamens in the 
