84 
Miscellany. 
New Sarsaparilla. M. Virey describes a new kind of sarsaparilla, 
which had been imported into France from the island of Bourbon. It con- 
sists of long, slender, root-like stems, of an ash gray colour, with the epi- 
dermis very slightly adherent. The wood or medullary portion is of the 
thickness of a quill ; some stems, however, are as thick as the finger, 
the epidermis of these is brown externally, and reddish or orange co- 
loured within. This substance has very little taste. M. Virey is of 
opinion that although it has many points of resemblance to the sarmen- 
tose smilax of the Philippine islands, that it is not identical with it, but 
seems inclined to believe that it may prove to be the product of the S. 
borbonica, which is used in many parts of the east as a remedy in syphi- 
litic affections. Journ. de Pharm. 
Syrup of Pomegranate Root. M. Dublanc, of Troyes, found that cold 
water took up a much larger proportion of the extractive principles of the 
bark of the pomegranate root than when this fluid was used in a boiling 
state, in which latter case the product was thick, turbid and partly in- 
soluble ; by means of a rapid evaporation of a cold infusion of pomegra- 
nate root, he obtained from two ounces of this substance, (the usual dose 
for an adult,) a dry extract, in translucent scales, this was somewhat bit- 
ter, and a little astringent, and generally weighed about 4 drachms, or £ 
of the weight of bark used. Wishing afterwards to concentrate the 
greatest quantity of extract in the least possible proportion of water, 
without heat, and by immediate concentration, he submitted five or six 
different portions of the root, each weighing 1 as above, to the action of the 
same water, using the method of displacement proposed by M. M. Boul- 
lay. The liquid thus obtained, marked 15° of the areometer for syrups, 
it was perfectly transparent, and remained so for a long time ; this fur- 
nished him in a few moments, by a rapid evaporation, fifty per cent, of 
dry extract. He therefore thought that this infusion at 15°, presented 
the active portions of the remedy in a concentrated and unaltered state. 
He prepared with it the following syrup : 
Infusion of pomegranate root at 15° 
White sugar, aa 
The sugar is to be melted in the liquid by means of a water bath, strain- 
ed and kept for use. This s}<rup contains a fourth of its weight of active 
principles, and four ounces, for example, correspond to two ounces of the 
root. Journ. de Pharm. 
Amalgam of Platinum. Muschin Pushkin describes an easy method 
of forming this amalgam. It may be more conveniently and quickly 
formed, says Professor Mather, by heating the chloriodide of platinum 
with mercury in a tube. The iodine and chlorine combine with mercury 
