460 
ON THE ANATOMY OF DRUGS. 
in a definite manner. From the fact that in no case is any portion of the trunk 
of a plant of this class used in medicine ; it might almost be inferred that the 
structure is unfavourable to the secretion, or at any rate to the retention, of 
active substances. In this country, and in most temperate climates, Endogens 
are represented by herbaceous plants only. 
Let us begin with Sarsaparilla. Of six or seven sorts known in commerce, the 
root of but one species, {Smilax officinalis) the so-called “Jamaica or Red 
Sarza,” is esteemed in this country. The others are probably used to a much 
greater extent on the Continent than with us. Sarsaparillas may be classified 
roughly either according to their structure or their geographical range ; but 
whilst authors of the standing of Scbleiden and Pereira do not agree, it is un¬ 
necessary for us to adopt the views of either. Schleiden seems to have fallen 
into the same error concerning sarza that Dr. Berg has incurred in respect to 
cinchona bark, that of attaching an absolute value to what are necessarily 
variable characters; whilst Pereira, on the other hand, does not assign sufficient 
importance to minute structural peculiarities as a means of diagnosis. 
A transverse section of sarsaparilla-root shows, when somewhat magnified, 
three more or less distinct component parts, viz.—a central pitJi^ surrounded by 
a zone of wood^ the whole enclosed by a cortical layer ; and it is in their relative 
development that the chief differences between the various sorts are found. 
A higher magnifying power would show that the “ pith ” is composed of 
light, thin-walled, colourless cells, often containing starch ;—that the “ woody 
zone” consists of the usual elements of fibro-vascular tissue, viz. elongated 
wood-cells (prosenchyma), pitted ducts, and spiral vessels; and between the wood 
and cortical layer would be found a ring of cells, often coloured, and of alto¬ 
gether different nature to either, called the “ nucleus-sheath ” (kernscheide );— 
and lastly, that the cortical portion is composed of three distinct layers, the 
thin “ cuticle ” or “ epidermis,” a narrow zone of dark-coloured, thick-walled 
cells, varying considerably in appearance in different species, and forming the 
“subcuticular tissue” and the wide cellular ring of “inner rind,” which con¬ 
stitutes in some varieties the chief portion of the root. The inner rind is never 
entirely free from starch, and according to the extent to which it is present 
sarsaparillas are classed into “amylaceous” and “ non-amylaceous ” sorts.^ 
The starch-granules are themselves worth examination, as they are often com¬ 
pound, or where single haye an angular form, as though separated from a mass. 
“Jamaica sarsaparilla” is the best representative of the non-amylaceous class, 
and has its structural peculiarities in the dark red colour of the cortical layers, 
a large development of woody tissue in proportion to the pith, and almost entire 
absence of starch in the cortex, though sometimes existing to a limited extent 
in the pith. The relative proportionate thickness of the cortical and central 
portions seems to vary (hence the discrepancies between English and German 
authors), and is not a character of much value, but, as a general rule, the amy¬ 
laceous roots have the largest cortical zone. Amongst Dr. Berg’s sections the 
narrowest cortex is assigned to the Vera Cruz specimen, which is one of the 
non-mealy class. The Honduras and Caraccas varieties are types of the amy¬ 
laceous sort. 
The nucleus-sheath affords characters of considerable value in determining 
the origin of a specimen of sarza ; and Dr. Berg gives no less than ten figures, 
on a highly magnified scale, of transverse sections of the root of as many sarsa¬ 
parilla-yielding plants, to show the peculiar structure of this portion. Without 
the aid of drawings it is impossible to do justice to them, or even to give an 
* Though this is a convenient division for commercial purposes, it is a somewhat arbitrary 
one; not only do all Sarzas contain starch, to a greater or less extent, but Mr. Hanbury points 
out that some specimens of root are strikingly amylaceous in one portion of their length, and 
comparatively free from starch in others, a fact not noted in our works on Materia Medica. 
