ON  A  NEW  FALSIFICATION  OF  SAFFRON. 
323 
Aspidium  Filix  mas,  (rhizome,  September).  The  tincture  of 
the  dried  browner  and  more  acrid,  but  weaker  in  odor  than  from 
the  fresh.  The  distillate  from  the  latter  has  a  disagreeable 
odor  and  taste,  reduces  the  salts  of  the  noble  metals,  and  evapo- 
rated with  potassa,  leaves  a  soap-like  residue,— properties  which 
are  not  observed  in  the  distillate  of  the  tincture  from  the  dried 
rhizome. 
His  experiments  lead  the  author  to  the  following  conclusions  : 
1.  Dried  plants  never  represent  entirely  the  fresh.  The  gene- 
ration of  valuable  constituents  during  the  drying  process,  as 
valerianic  acid  in  valerian,  must  be  regarded  as  exceptional. 
2.  The  alterations  produced  in  drying  consist  in  the  volatili- 
zation of  a  portion  of  the  volatile  constituents  and  in  the  oxida- 
tion of  most  of  the  fixed  and  the  remaining  volatile  constituents. 
During  the  drying  process  the  water  in  the  cells  is  partly  re- 
placed by  air,  the  influence  of  which  upon  the  |remaining  con- 
stituents is  intensified  by  the  porosity  of  the  dry  plant, 
3.  It  is  always  advantageous  to  use  fresh  plants  for  the  prep- 
aration of  alkaloids  and  other  active  principles,  and  to  employ  as 
low  a  temperature  as  possible. 
4.  The  composition  of  the  fresh  plants  is  more  simple  than  is 
frequently  supposed ;  they  generally  contain,  besides  cellulose, 
the  saccharine,  starchy  and  albuminous  principles  and  the  mine- 
ral salts,  a  volatile  principle,  either  a  carbohydrogen  or  aldehyde  ; 
a  bitter  or  acrid  principle,  which  is  either  an  alkaloid  or  gluco- 
side ;  a  coloring  principle  and  often  fat. 
5.  To  reduce  the  injurious  influence  of  the  atmosphere,  it 
appears  advisable  to  hasten  the  drying  and  then  compress  the 
dry  plants,  as  is  the  custom  in  North  America.         J.  M.  IVL 
ON  A  NEW  FALSIFICATION  OF  SAFFRON. 
By  M.  Amedee  Blachez. 
The  author  finds  this  safi'ron  in  French  commerce.    At  first 
view  it  appears  all  right,  has  a  good  color,  a  well  marked  odor, 
contains  no  mixture  of  carthamus  or  marigold,  and  pressure  on 
paper  does  not  indicate  an  excess  of  moisture. 
Its  density  is  considerable^  but  it  contains  neither  lead  nor 
