8o 
The  Saponin  of  Sarsaparilla. 
(Am.  Jour.  Phorm. 
t      Feb.,  1878. 
u  pariglina,"  or  "  parillina  "  ;  it  is  difficult,  however,  from  Pallotta's 
meagre  description1  to  form  an  idea  of  the  properties  of  this  body. 
According  to  a  note  in  the  "  Pharmaceutische  Zeitung,"  of  the  2d  of 
May  last,  Dr.  Pallotta,  who  is  a  Professor  of  Natural  Science  at 
Naples,  is  still  of  opinion  that  in  his  pariglina  he  discovered  an  alka- 
loid. Whether  or  not  it  was  a  more  or  less  pure  form  of  the  consti- 
tuent of  sarsaparilla  hereafter  referred  to,  Professor  Fluckiger  con- 
siders that  Pallotta's  name,  parillin,  should  be  retained  for  the  special 
crystallizable  body  found  in  that  root.  Subsequent  investigators  called 
this  body  "  smilacin,"  bv  which  name  it  has  gradually  become  gene- 
rally known.  That  both  alkaline  and  acid  properties  should  have  been 
attributed  to  this  substance  by  various  authors  was  due,  probably  to 
the  presence  of  impurities,  which,  however,  are  easily  removed  by 
recrystallization.  Parillin  is  decidedly  a  neutral  body.  Strangely,  it 
is  occasionally  confused  with  a  body  yet  uninvestigated,  probably  a 
stearoptene,  said  to  occur  in  the  root  of  Hemidesmus  indicus^  R.  B., 
which  has  been  called  Indian  sarsaparilla,  although  it  does  not  resemble 
the  Smilax  root. 
In  1859,  ^me^n  stated  that  parillin  is  decomposed  by  acids  into 
sugar  and  a  substance  insoluble  in  water,  a  statement  that  has  been 
questioned  by  others.  Some  experiments  carried  out  in  the  author's 
laboratory  by  Klunge  also  pointed  to  the  glucoside  nature  of  parillin 
but  doubt  was  not  altogether  dispelled,  because  the  unaltered  parillin 
itself  reduces  alkaline  cupric  tartrate,  though  very  slightly.  For  these 
reasons  Professor  Fliiekiger  considered  an  examination  of  parillin  desir- 
able, in  order  at  least  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  a  glucoside.  Mean- 
while, this  point  was  decided  last  year  by  Otten,2  who,  however,  looks 
1<£  Journal  de  Pharmacia,"  x,  543. 
2 "  Vergieichende  histiologische  Untersuchung  der  Sarsaparillen  aus  der  pharma- 
cognostischen  Sammlung  des  pharmaceutischen  Instituts  zu  Dorpat,  nebst  einem 
Beitrage  zur  chemischen  Kentniss  dieser  Drogue."  Dorpat,  1876.  In  the  latter 
part  of  this  exhaustive  treatise,  which  is  too  long  for  insertion  entire  in  this  jourual, 
and  unsuited  for  abstraction,  Herr  Otten  identifies  a  second  substance  present  in 
sarsaparilla  with  saponin,  and  from  his  experiments  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
parillin  has  an  action  similar  to,  but  not  so  strong  as  that  of  saponin,  and  that  it  is 
sapogenin  plus  sugar.  DragendorfFhas  already  pointed  out  that  saponin  and  senegin 
affect  the  heart's  action  more  energetically  when  impure  than  pure,  and  Otten  sug- 
gests that  the  action  of  these  allied  bodies,  as  well  as  of  parillin,  is  dependent  upon 
another  body  always  occurring  together  with  them. — Ed.  Pharm.  Journ. 
