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Selected Articles. 
sium and iron have been calcined, a mass is found, formed of 
the cyanuret of potassium and the quadri-carburet of iron. 
If this mass be broken with care, we may, as is observed by 
M. Robiquet, separate a certain quantity of fused cyanuret, 
in white, compact fragments, perfectly pure, and fit for me- 
dicinal use. The cyanuret thus obtained, presents but a small 
surface to the action of the air, and should be the only one 
used in medicine, for it is the only one which can be admin- 
istered with safety; but even in this form, the energy of its 
properties requires the most scrupulous attention on the part 
of the physician who prescribes it. 
ART. XII . — ON THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE OF SARSAPARILLA. 
By M. Poggiale. 
M. Palotta first made known the active principle of sar- 
saparilla, in 1824, and gave it the name of Parigline. About 
the same time, another Italian physician, M. Folchi, discover- 
ed what he thought a new principle, which he named Smila- 
cine. Few persons in France, I believe, repeated the experi- 
ments of M. Palotta, and no one took notice of those of M. 
Folchi. It was not until 1831 that M. Thubeuf again called 
the attention of chemists to this subject. He announced that 
he had extracted a new substance from sarsaparilla, and 
which he denominated salseparine. The number of these 
pretended active principles of sarsaparilla was further in- 
creased by a German chemist, M. Batka, who published, to- 
wards the close of 1833, an account of the discovery of an 
acid which he termed Parillinic acid. 
Are these four substances really four new bodies, or are they 
only the same principles obtained by different processes? 
This question I shall endeavor to answer in the succeeding 
pages. 
Before undertaking my researches, I procured sufficient 
