Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
March,  1887.  J 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medina. 
155 
tropical  America  and  in  India.  L'Heritier  and  Marti  us  reported  also 
its  efficient  use  in  Brazil  against  snake  bites,  the  leaves  being  employed 
externally  and  internally. 
Eupatorium  villosum,  Swartz,  is  indigenous  to  Jamaica  and  the 
Bahamas  where  it  is  largely  used  as  a  tonic,  also  as  a  substitute  for 
hops  in  beer.  Eup.  amarissimum  is  mentioned  as  being  employed  in  a 
similar  way;  the  Mexican  Pharmacopoeia  mentions  Eup.  collinum, 
De  C.  (See  Am.  Jour.  Phae.,  1886,  p.  169.) 
Adidterations  of  saffron  with  foreign  floral  organs  or  with  meat 
fibres  have  never  been  observed  by  Dr.  Niederstadt  {Arch.  Phar.,  Jan., 
1887,  p.  73).  A  sample  of  the  finest  quality  of  French  saffron  contained 
14  per  cent,  of  moisture  and  5  84  per  cent,  of  ash,  of  which  1  546  per 
cent.  (=  0'058  per  cent,  of  the  saffron)  was  sodium  chloride.  Four 
samples  of  Spanish  saffron  obtained  from  Barcelona  as  pure,  contained 
Moisture  16*70  15*80  19*80  17*60  per  cent. 
Ash        10*30  (inch  1*546  Nad)  14*65  13*80  14*90  " 
Glycerin,  which  has  also  been  used  for  increasing  the  weight,  renders 
the  saffron  sticky  and  adhesive  to  blotting  paper.  An  adulteration  with 
honey  is  difficult  to  prove,  since  saffron  contains  about  15  30  per  cent, 
of  sugar,  Dr.  Niederstadt  having  found  13  per  cent.  On  agitating 
adulterated  saffron  repeatedly  with  water,  fine  needle-shaped  fragments 
of  red  saunders  are  separated  and  may  be  readily  identified  from  the 
structure  under  the  microscope.  Inferior  saffron  will  give  with  strong 
sulphuric  acid  only  a  slight  blue  color,  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
pure  saffron  present.  (For  a  paper  on  Spanish  saffron  see  Am.  Jour. 
Phar.,  1885,  p.  487.) 
Cazeneuve  and  Linossier  (Jour.  Phar.  Chim.,  1886,)  direct  attention 
to  the  fraudulent  sale  of  exhausted  saffron  dyed  with  various  artificial 
coloring  matters,  some  of  which  are  difficult  to  detect,  while  others 
yield  with  water  a  red  or  orange  red  infusion,  which  after  acidulation 
with  tartaric  acid,  is  a  red  dye  for  wool. 
Starch  and  iodine. — Dafert  states  (Phar.  Zts.  Russl.,  1886,  p.  660; 
Landw.  Jahrb.,  1885,)  that  certain  starches  are  not  colored  blue  by 
iodine.  The  starch  in  the  millet  grains  of  Panicum  miliaceum,  Lin. 
var.  candidum  glutinosum,  in  contact  with  iodine  solution,  is  colored 
yellowish-brown,  red-brown  or  brown,  the  color  disappearing  on  heat- 
ing and  reappearing  on  cooling.  The  cold  prepared  extract  does  not 
give  a  color  reaction  with  iodine ;  hence  dextrin-like  compounds  are 
absent.  The  reaction  with  iodine  is  the  only  means  for  distinguishing 
the  above  variety  of  millet  from  the  variety  candidum. 
