September 24, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
241 
THE ADULTERATION OF SAFFRON. 
33Y DANIEL HANBURY. 
Saffron is, at tlie present time, the subject of a 
serious adulteration, to which I think it important 
to call attention, the more so as I lind that its na¬ 
ture and extent are not fully known even to experi¬ 
enced druggists. Saffron adulterated in the manner 
I am about to describe, is for the most part, undis- 
tinguishable to the eye from the drug in a state of 
purity, yet the means of discriminating between the 
genuine and the fraudulent are of the most simple 
character. 
Let me remark at the outset that there is, in my 
opinion, no method of testing saffron more effectual 
than that of scattering a very small pinch on the 
surface of a glass of warm water. The stigma of 
the saffron-crocus immediately expands, and exhibits 
a form so characteristic, that it cannot be con¬ 
founded with the florets of safflower, marigold or 
arnica, or with the stamens of crocus itself. 
It was in performing this simple operation that I 
detected that some saffron which I had just pur¬ 
chased had been treated with a heavy earthy powder, 
which speedily separated from the lighter stigmata, 
and fell to the bottom of the glass. Upon collecting 
and examining this powder I found it to be carbonate 
of lime , which, by some ingenious process of which I 
am ignorant, had been made to adhere to the thread¬ 
like saffron without in the least altering its general 
appearance. 
To ascertain the amount of earthy matter thus 
fraudulently added, I subjected several specimens of 
saffron to incineration, each having in the first in¬ 
stance been dried in warm air until it ceased to lose 
weight. The results obtained in the examination of 
eight samples are indicated in the following table :— 
Examination of Saffron. 
Sample. 
Description. 
Percentage of Ash. 
No. 
1 
Origin unknown, 
. pure 
5-90 
55 
2 
V) 55 
4-48 
55 
3 
Valencia, . . . 
• 55 
4-41 
» 
4 
y> ... 
• » 
5-20 
55 
5 
Alicante, . . adulterated 
21-22 
5J 
6 
)> 
5> 
12-72 
5) 
7 
55 * • 
55 
28-01 
» 
8 
55 * * 
55 
15-36 
Sample No. 2 the quality remarkably fine. Sample No. 3, 
so-called Valencia, pure, but not of finest quality. 
Sample No. 7 adulteration perceptible to the eye, many 
of the stamens being crusted with an orange-coloured 
earthy powder. 
The method of testing a sample of saffron for 
earthy adulteration which I recommend is tills :— 
Place in a watch-glass a very small quantity (say, 
1 grain) of the saffron, and drop upon it 8 or 10 
drops of water; lightly touch the saffron with the tip 
of the finger, so as to cause the water to wet it. If 
the drug is free from earthy matter, a clear , bright- 
yellow solution will be immediately obtained; if 
adulterated, a white powder will instantly separate , 
causing the water to appear turbid ; and if a drop 
of hydrochloric acid be now added, a brisk efferves¬ 
cence will take place. 
Saffron almost always contains a few of the pale 
yellow stamens accidentally gathered; but the pol¬ 
len from them which is detached when the drug 
Third Series, No. 13 . 
is wetted, but which is minute in quantity, is easily 
distinguished from carbonate of lime by not dis¬ 
solving when hydrochloric acid is added. More¬ 
over, the form of pollen-grains may be easily recog¬ 
nized under the microscope. 
Since tbe foregoing paper has been in type, I have 
received the American Journal of Pharmacy for September, 
in which I find a note by Professor Maisch calling attention 
to the adulteration which I have here described.—D. H. 
THE WATERS OF THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA. 
BY GEORGE BROWNEN. 
Distilled waters constitute an important class of 
preparations in the B. P. and have often attracted 
the attention of pharmacists. Haselden, Proctor 
and others have examined them, and thrown some 
light on their manufacture and preservation; but 
our knowledge of them is still incomplete. Much 
that is mysterious goes on in them; they alter in 
taste and appearance. Opaque waters become nearly 
clear, and their harshness gradually tones down to 
mellowness. 
All the B. P. waters but one are distillates, and 
that one—aq. camphor*—is made with distilled 
water. The apparatus for distillation is familiar to 
us all. By its use volatile oils, though possessing 
higher boiling-points than water, are diffused in 
steam, carried over and condensed, free from inert 
matter, which is left behind in the still. Forms are 
given in the British Pharmacopoeia for preparing 
twelve of the thirteen official waters; the other one, 
aq. flor. aurant., is an imported article. For making 
some waters the directions are exceedingly minute, 
for others quite the contrary. In aq. camphor*, for 
instance, the old stopper is no longer used ; a glass 
rod must sink the camphor in the water. This may 
suit some, but not those who have to make this 
water in large quantities, as it is found ’that long 
glass rods are easily broken, and the advantages of 
long pieces of glass over short ones are not equiva¬ 
lent to the increased cost. On the other hand, the 
camphor is only ordered to be “ in pieces, but whe¬ 
ther large or small the B. P. does not say. Yet this 
vagueness greatly affects the time necessary for satu¬ 
ration. Again, in the case of aq. anethi, bruising 
dill fruit is not an easy task, but, having accomplished 
it, we distil the authorized quantity. Now, if we 
leave the residue in the still to macerate till the next 
day, and then distil again another and an equal 
quantity, it would puzzle most people to know the 
right from the wrong article. Yet none of the waters 
of the British Pharmacopoeia, except aqua lauro- 
cerasi, are supposed to want maceration. This cu¬ 
rious mixture of carefulness and uncertainty strikes 
us, if we look on these waters as a class or section of 
the B. P. 
Upon examining each separately, aqua and aqua 
destillata first attract notice. A hard taste must be 
no taste at all, pliarmacopoeially speaking, or we 
should have to reject the w r aters of some of the London 
water companies. In distilling water, the first ^th¬ 
is rejected, the next U^tlis saved. The tests given 
in the B. P. refer only to mineral matters, which, of 
course, are separated ; but many volatile bodies, and 
the results of organic decomposition, still remain in 
the water, as well as substances having a high vola- 
tilizing-point, but which come over with water in dis¬ 
tillation. When a recently-distilled water, giving 
no precipitate with liq. calcis, has been mixed with 
