492 
Commercial  Spanish  Saffron. 
Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1885. 
1866;  "Amer.  Jour.  Phar./'  1866,  p.  225),  and  minutely  described 
by  him,  with  ilUistrations.  Two  years  previous  ("  Jour,  de  Phar.,'' 
June,  1864),  Guibourt  perceived  a  similar  adulteration  in  a  specimen 
of  French  saffron,  the  dyed  stamens,  however,  being  those  of  Crocus 
vernus,  AIL,  tha  anthers  of  which  are  cylindrical  and  rounded  at  the  apex, 
while  those  of  Crocus  autumnalis  are  arrow-shaped.  In  the  samples 
examined  by  me  the  latter  alone  were  found;  in  some  cases  they  still 
had  their  natural  yellow  color,  in  other  cases  they  were  dyed. 
Bentley  was  the  first  one  who  observed  also  the  presence  of  corolla 
tubes  attached  to  the  stamens  of  the  saffron  flower,  and  described  them 
in  the  paper  referred  to.  This  adulteration  seems  to  have  attracted 
little  attention  ;  but  it  is  evidently  very  extensively  practised  at  the 
present  time,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  samples  under  examination, 
one-half  of  which  are  thus  adulterated.  When  first  noticed  by  me, 
and  before  it  had  been  placed  under  the  microscope,  it  was  supposed 
to  consist  of  meat  fibres,  which  Duncan,  Thomson,  J.  A.  Paris 
Pharmacologia,"  2d  American  edition,  1823,  p.  123),  Fee,  F.  V. 
Merat  and  A.  J.  De  Lens  ('^Dict.  de  Mat.  Med.,"  1830,  ii,  468),  P.  L. 
Goiger  ("  Handb.  d.  Phar./'  1830,  ii,  355  ;  Pharmac.  univ.,"  1835,  i, 
.55),  J.  F.  Royle  Mat.  Med.,"  Amer.  edit.,  1847,  601),  and  others 
had  enumerated  among  the  adulterations  of  saffron.  Some  of  the 
more  recent  German  writers  have  repeated  this  statement;  others 
merely  give  directions  for  the  detection  of  such  an  admixture,  and 
many,  like  all  the  recent  French  authors  consulted  by  me,  omit  to 
mention  it,  doubtless  because  it  has  never  been  observed  by  them. 
Neither  has  it  been  seen  by  Pereira,  for  he,  like  Duncan,  remarks 
(loG.  cit.)  that  fibres  of  smoked  beef  are  said  to  have  been  used  for 
adulterating  saffron,  and  J.  R.  Coxe  ("Amer.  Disp.,"  1st  edit.,  1806) 
followed  Duncan,  using  precisely  the  same  language. 
Some  American  writers  are  silent  on  this  subject  for  the  reason  just 
stated ;  and  I  may  add  that  various  English,  French  and  German 
journals  of  the  present  century  have  been  searched  in  vain  for  a  report 
on  an  authenticated  case  of  such  a  sophistication ;  still  it  is  mentioned 
by  some  American  writers,  apparently  upon  the  authority  of  the  early 
authors  quoted  before.  Geiger  Handbuch  ")  describes  these  sup- 
posed fibres  of  smoked  meat  (ham)  as  being  of  uniform  thickness, 
odorless,  of  little  taste  and  not  coloring  the  saliva,  or,  if  dyed,  impart- 
ing to  it  a  slight  yellow  color.  This  description  applies  equally  well 
to  the  corolla  tubes.    It  should  be  stated,  however,  that,  according  to 
