September 21, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
229 
an ethereal solution of Kamala when the latter is in a 
tolerably concentrated condition; and I may say that it 
has struck me as a very extraordinary circumstance that 
this fact which he observed many years ago has not 
been distinctly observed by any subsequent chemist. I 
myself have tried it repeatedly; examining strong 
ethereal solution of Kamala even in a condition in which 
it was almost like thin mucilage. I have examined it 
• on a plate of glass, and in other ways, but I never could 
detect any crystalline structure whatever until on a 
recent occasion, when, to my great astonishment, 
some ethereal tincture which had been drying up in a 
bottle for some time exhibited a considerable abundance 
of crystals. But why other specimens of the drug failed 
to afford it, is by no means, in my opinion, satisfactorily 
• explained by the fact of the Ivamala used having been 
impure, because the impurity in this drug is merely 
earthy matter, and the presence of earthy matter would 
only diminish the amount of soluble matter which the 
drug might afford. One does not see at all why it 
. should destroy or alter the chemical principle. It seems 
rather, from the explanation which Mr. Groves offers, 
that the age of the drug has something to do with it; 
but without close examination we are really hardly able 
.to say whether that is the fact or not. I rather think 
'that the Kamala which was the subject of his observa¬ 
tions was some of a recent parcel that was collected in 
the north of India; and probably it was not more than 
•a year old, if so much. 
Florentine Orris. 
BY HENRY GROVES. 
Florence has not always borne its present distinction 
for the produce of orris root. Anciently that of Illyria 
w r as the most famous, and even Italians gave the pre¬ 
ference- to that of Dalmatia, which would almost lead 
one to suppose that some of the species at present cul¬ 
tivated may have been introduced in like manner as 
some of the numerous tulips which now adorn the corn¬ 
fields around the City of Flowers, and which are sup¬ 
posed to have escaped from garden cultivation. The 
negative evidence of Micheli (a.d. 1720) would seem to 
.support this view; he having simply mentioned the occur¬ 
rence of T. sylvestris , whereas we have now some ten or 
.twelve forms of that genus, four of which are exceedingly 
‘Common. In any case the introduction of Iris must have 
been at a very early period, as Andrea Cesalpino, in 
1583, mentions two of our present species — Iris 
Jlorentina (Linn.) and I. Germanica (Linn.) as occurring 
in the neighbourhood of Florence ; the former he de¬ 
scribes as “Iris cujus flos ex toto candidus,” and the 
latter as “ Iris ” simply. Later we find much confusion 
of nomenclature, and the synonym of “ Iris florentina ” 
has been given to both I. germanica and I. pallida , the 
former in Savi’s ‘ Botanicon Etruseum,’ and the latter in 
Santi’s ‘ Viaggi,’ both of which are of the present cen¬ 
tury. Santi, however, describes his plant as a variety 
•of florentina. It was thus that it became usual to quote 
the Florentine iris as the source of all orris root, whereas 
it is now known that three species are capable of yield¬ 
ing the sweet-scented rhizome, and are called in common 
“ Giaggiolo ” or Ireos, the latter being considered the 
more refined term, and adopted by perfumers, whereas 
;the former is always used by the country people. The 
■employment of these words gave great offence to 
Antonius Musa Brasanolus as far back as 1545, for in 
his ‘ Examin. omn. simpl. Medicament,’ published at 
Venice, he contended that they should be simply “ Iris,” 
and asserts that at Ferrara many druggists collected the 
rhizomes of a species of Gladiolus (?) instead of the true 
drug, and from this he argues that the word “ Giaggiolo ” 
was derived, it having a sound somewhat similar to 
Gladiolo. This author advised the use of Illyrian orris ; 
which, although perhaps not a distinct species, owed its 
.superiority to a suitable soil and climate,fwhich caused 
it to flourish abundantly in that region. Illyria was 
visited by him in company with the Duke Alphonso, and 
especial attention was paid to the various irides. They 
were collected with flowers of various colours, some 
being white or variegated, others pale or yellow, purple 
or blue ; in fact, so great was the variety, that it was cus¬ 
tomary to sepai ate them, not by their flowers, but by their 
rhizomes, of which two kir d i were noted in Illyria, one 
called Rhaphanitis (from its similitude to Rhaphanites), 
being considered the best, while the less esteemed bore 
the name of Rizotomos, and had a sub-rufous colour. 
Although the three species of Iris already mentioned, 
are found in the orris growing districts of Tuscany, the 
Iris Jlorentina (Linn.) is by far the most rare, and is very 
seldom found beyond the precincts of the country villas, 
where, in common with the two other species, it is used 
to ornament the wall and gardens. From this it will be 
seen that the Florentine orris root is almost entirely the 
produce of Iris germanica (Linn.) and Iris pallida (Lam.), 
these two species being at present about equally culti¬ 
vated. In the neighbourhood of Genoa, the Iris Jlorentina 
is much more frequent than at Florence, and it is planted, 
together with one of the other species, around the roots 
of the fig-trees, which are said to flourish better when 
thus surrounded, possibly on account of the moisture 
retained in the soil by the shelter of leaves. The culti¬ 
vation of Iris as a commercial product has very much 
increased during the last sixty or seventy years, since 
the establishment of a manufacture of orris peas at 
Pontasieve in 1806, under the auspices of the Marquis 
Strozzi. This establishment is situate in the centre of 
the orris district, which is very extensive, and embraces 
many communes on the right and left banks of the Arno, 
perhaps the greatest yield being from the neighbourhood 
of Rignano and Pontasieve, although Grassina, Greve 
and Panzano on the left bank, and Compiobbi on the 
right contribute largely to the general sum. The 
rhizomes are frequently collected from the peasants by 
mezzani or middlemen, and sent to some centre, such as 
Pontasieve or Leghorn, from which latter port it is sent 
in large quantities to England and other countries. The 
rhizomes are picked over and sold either as “ scelti ” or 
selected, or as “in sorte,” or sorts, and vary very much 
in price in different seasons. This year the prices are 
advanced. Besides the whole rhizomes, the Pontasieve 
manufactory sells pieces or “frantumi,” and raspings 
or “raspature” for the use of perfumery, the prices of 
which are of course ruled by the price of the whole 
rhizome. There is also a considerable trade in powdered 
orris, which, under the name of “ireos,” is much sought 
for by strangers. The pharmacy of S. Maria Novella, 
at Florence, sells enormous quantities of the powder 
either plain or scented, so that the combination of per¬ 
fumery with drug vending is by no means as English as 
we suppose, for in Italy it is of very ancient date; the 
same may be said of the manufacture of liqueurs, of 
which industry the Grande Chartreuse of Grenoble 
offers a striking example, which has served as a model 
to many a similar establishment throughout Europe. 
All the species of Iris are very hardy, and are 
cultivated chiefly on the wall sides of the terraced 
stony hills so frequent in Tuscany, or on the other¬ 
wise waste ground separating plots of ground in 
hilly districts, sometimes also it establishes itself on 
the waste ground contiguous to cultivated land or even 
in thin woods. The irides are by no means con¬ 
fined to Tuscany, but as a branch of industry their 
cultivation is not well known beyond it. On an excur¬ 
sion to the lake Thrasimene, I noted a large extent of 
an iris, which, although out of flower, appeared to me 
to be I- germanica , on the east end of the Isola Maggiore; 
and on remonstrating with the people for not turning it 
to account, they informed me the rhizomes were once 
collected, but could not be sold for want of the proper 
trimming. The plants flower in April; the I. Jlorentina 
(which is some days later than the other two species ) f 
