904 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
[May 11, 1872 
The Sp. iEtli. Nitr. of the Pharmacopoeia is re¬ 
presented as containing ten per cent, of ether, of 
which two per cent, separates on agitation with 
saturated solution of chloride of calcium. "Whether 
so much as eight per cent, remains unseparated is, 
however, very doubtful. Experiments on tliis 
point are wanted. 
[§ It effervesces feebly or not at all when shaken 
with a little bicarbonate of soda. When agitated 
with solution of sulphate of iron and a few drops of 
sulphuric acid, it becomes deep olive-brown or 
black.] 
The acidity is generally due to acetic acid, but in 
old specimens it is much increased in consequence 
of decomposition resulting in the formation of 
oxalic, formic, glycolic and glyoxylic acids, and 
doubtless other bodies. Acid spirit of nitre may 
thus be regarded as containing nascent nitrous 
acid, and, therefore, when mixed with iodide of 
potassium it frequently liberates iodine. This may 
be prevented by previously shaking it up with a few 
crystals of bicarbonate of potash. 
(To be continued.) 
THE SO-CALLED AFRICAN SAFFRON. 
BY JOHN It. JACKSON, A.L.S. 
(Curator of the Museums , Kew.) 
From the description of the so-called African 
Saffron by Professor Maisch at p. 824 of the Journal, 
there seems no doubt but that the flowers are those 
Lyperia croceci, Eckl., a scrophulariaceous plant 
of South Africa, small quantities of which have been 
imported into this country from time to time, chiefly 
for use as a dye. The following description of the plant 
and its uses is given by Dr. Pappe in his ‘ Flora 
Capensis Medicae Prodromus ” :— 
“ A little branchy shrub. Leaves very small, 
wedge shaped, fasciculate, obtuse, entire, smooth. 
Peduncles elongated, axillary. Flowers sub-race¬ 
mose, yellow. lube of the corolla much longer than 
the calyx. This bush deserves notice as a drug; 
and in all probability will, before long, become an 
article of colonial export. It grows abundantly in 
some parts of the Eastern districts, whence it has 
found its way into the dispensary. The flowers, 
which are called Geele hloemetjes , closely resemble 
saffron in smell and taste; they possess similar 
medical properties, and as an antispasmodic, anodyne 
and stimulant, ought to rank with the Crocus sdti- 
t-us. Here, they have as yet been only used with 
success in the convulsions of children, but they 
deserve a more general trial. On account of the 
fine orange colour which they impart, they are in 
daily request among the Mohammedans, who use 
them for the purpose of dyeing their handkerchiefs. 
This drug has been observed to be sometimes adul¬ 
terated by the admixture of other plants of the same 
genus which are less efficacious.” 
About thirty species are recorded of the genus, 
all natives of the Cape Colony, and the flowers are 
mostly yellow or purple, always turning black in 
drying. 
THE NATURAL HISTORY AND COMMERCE 
OF SPONGES. 
BY JOHN GIBSON.* 
(Concluded from p. 867.) 
The sponges of English commerce are of two kinds, 
Turkish and West Indian. The Turkish sponge is 
found throughout the Mediterranean, but it is principally 
obtained from the eastern extremity of that sea, where, 
especially in the Grecian Archipelago, the islands of Cyprus 
and Crete, and the shores of the Levant, the fisheries of 
sponge take the place of the coral fisheries on the Italian 
coast. Along the coasts of Tunis, Barbary and Algiers 
an inferior kind, of a large-holed texture, known as the 
‘horse’ sponge, is obtained. Sponges are found at 
greatly varying depths, but it is observed that those 
brought up from comparatively shallow water are 
usually of coarser quality ; and that to obtain the soft, 
delicate ones, it is often necessary to descend to a depth 
of thirty fathoms. Aristotle observed this fact and tried 
to account for it. He says, “ In general, those which 
grow in deep and still water are the softest, for the wind 
and waves harden sponges as they do other things that 
grow, and check their growth.” Whether this be the 
true explanation or not, certain it is that our finest 
sponges are all brought up from a depth of at least eight 
fathoms. They are obtained by diving, an art to which 
the inhabitants of the Grecian isles and the surrounding- 
coasts are specially trained from their earliest years, 
and dexterity in which is considered one of the first 
qualifications in a husband, while, in some places, it 
seems at one time, to have been considered a scarcely less 
important female accomplishment. Pomet, in his ‘ Com¬ 
plete History of Drugs,’ says “ The greatest part of the 
sponges that are sold come from the Mediterranean, and 
there is a certain island of Asia that furnishes us with a 
very large quantity of sponges. This isle is called 
Icarus or Nicarus, where the young men are not allowed 
to marry till they can show that they can gather sponges 
from the bottom of the sea ; and for this reason when 
any one -would marry his daughter, a number of young 
fellows are stripped and jump into the sea, and he that 
can stay longest in the water, and gather the most 
sponges, marries the maid.” 
These Icarian fathers evidently put little value on 
being over “head and ears in love,” unless it be accom¬ 
panied by a fair development of the power to remain 
over head and ears in water. 
In his ‘ Voyages and Travels in the Levant,’ Ilasscl- 
quist tells of a somewhat similar custom, though rather 
differently applied. He says, “Himia is a little and 
almost unknown island, directly opposite Rhodes; we 
saw it in the morning on our right hand. It is worth 
notice, on account of the singular method the Greeks— 
the inhabitants of the island—have to get their living. 
In the bottom of the sea, the common sponge (Spongia 
officinalis) is found in abundance, and more than in any 
other place in the Mediterranean. The inhabitants 
make it a trade to fish up this sponge, by which they 
get a living far from contemptible, as their goods are 
always wanted by the Turks, who use an incredible 
number of sponges at their bathings and washings. A 
girl in this island is not permitted by her relations to 
marry before she has brought up a certain quantity of 
sponges, and before she can give a proof of her agility by 
taking them up from a certain depth.” At the present 
time the Ottoman sponge fishery alone employs from 
four to five thousand men, who form the crews of about 
six hundred boats. On reaching the scene of operations, 
the diver finds his way to the bottom, taking with hifn a 
piece of stone of a triangular shape, with a hole drilled 
in one of its corners, through -which a cord is passed 
connecting him with the boat. Having reached the grow¬ 
ing sponges, he tears them off with his hands, sometimes 
* Read at a Meeting of the North British Branch of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, April 18, 1872. 
