ON SALEP. 
27 
in this manner — little gum, very little starch, and a great 
deal of bassorine. 
A discussion arose some years ago among the members of 
the Pharmaceutical branch of the School of Medicine, re- 
specting the existence of fecula in salep. Vauquelin 
asserted that the tubers enclosed an abundance of it, hav- 
ing collected from the roots of the French Orchis some very 
fine starch. Robiquet contested this point, inasmuch as he 
had not succeeded in discovering a vestige of it in his expe- 
riments upon several Orchis of that country. Not being able 
to agree in this matter, they came to the conclusion that the 
same organ might contain fecula, or be totally deprived of it. 
This difference may have been occasioned by Robiquet 
having examined a withered tuber, but which previously 
contained fecula until sacrificed to the nourishment of the 
stalk. The same deficiency of fecula occurs in the new bulb 
if too young. This inconsistency proves how little this prin- 
ciple influences the nutritious properties of salep, and from its 
existing in so small a quantity when detected, we may fairly 
deny its claim to be ranked along with the amylaceous sub- 
stances, where we generally find it in books of Materia Medica, 
from its having been supposed to consist of almost pure fecula. 
Besides the observation of Caventou, the experiments of 
Pfaff and others prove it to consist almost wholly of vege- 
table mucilage, and in nearly every respect analogous in com- 
position with gum tragacanth. The discovery of traces of 
starch in some specimens of this last substance carries out 
the analogy still further. 
Salep, by prolonged ebullition, dissolves in a transparent 
mucilage, and when the powder is mixed with water a similar 
mucilage is formed without the aid of heat, swelling and ab- 
sorbing a large quantity of water. 
Hydrochloric acid dissolves the mucilage, rendering it very 
fluid. Nitric acid converts it into oxalic acid. 
Guibourt says that if salep be mixed with water, contain- 
ing iodine, and then submitted to microscopic examination, 
there will be perceived some unaltered grains of fecula, con- 
