REPORT ON SYRUP OF SARSAPARILL A. 
11 
ART. Ill— REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO WHOM WAS 
REFERRED THE PAPER OF THOMAS J. HUSBAND, ON 
SYRUP OF SARSAPARILL A. 
The subject treated of in the paper may be resolved into 
a solution of the following query, viz.: What is the most 
efficient menstruum for extracting the activity ofSarsapa- 
rilla ? The author after a series of well conducted experi- 
ments, arrives at the following conclusions : 
1st. That diluted alcohol is fully adequate to the removal 
of all the activity from Sarsaparilla. 
2d. That cold water is inadequate to wholly extract the 
virtues of that root, because, after its action, much acri- 
mony remains, which can then be removed by diluted al- 
cohol. 
3d. That warm water, (180° Fahr.) when applied in 
large quantity, did not remove all the acrimony from the 
root. 
And lastly. These premises being correcf, the obvious 
impropriety of the second formula of the United States 
Pharmacopoeia, which directs the "employment of cold 
water, by displacement, as a means of making the syrup. 
Before giving a detail of the results of their experiments, 
the Committee beg leave to make a few statements, drawn 
from prominent French authority, which have a direct bear- 
ing on the subject, and which will assist in its consideration. 
Soubeiran states that Sarsaparilla contains, according to 
the best analyses, volatile oil, salseparine, bitter acrid resin, 
oily matter, extractive matter, starch, and albumen. 
Salseparine is colorless, inodorous, crystallizes in ra- 
diated groups, and is a neutral substance. When dry it has 
only a slight taste, but its solution is acrid and a little bit- 
ter. It is a little soluble in cold water, more soluble in hot 
