308 
NOTES  ON  SPANISH  SAFFRON. 
most  of  our  costly  imported  drugs,  such  as  opium,  musk,  the  es- 
sential oils,  &c.  No  doubt  that  there  is  good  saffron  in  the  mar- 
ket, but  it  is  very  scarce.  The  test  is  very  simple  and  interest- 
ing. Put  a  few  pieces  of  it  on  a  glass-plate,  and  touch  them  with 
concentrated  sulphuric  acid ;  the  real  stigmas  assume  a  beautiful 
indigo-blue  color,  while  the  adulterations  remain  unchanged. 
Having  experimented  in  this  manner  for  a  little  while,  you 
will  get  so  well  acquainted  with  the  genuine  saffron  that  you 
can  readily  separate  it  from  the  adulterations  with  the  pincers. 
In  speaking  of  the  Tinctura  aloes  et  myrrhse  the  U.  S.  Dis- 
pensatory says  :  "  The  saffron,  which  has  been  retained  in  com- 
pliance with  former  prejudices,  can  add  little  to  the  efficacy  of 
the  preparation,  and  being  very  expensive  has  with  great  pro- 
priety been  much  reduced  in  the  U.  S.  formula."  Under  the 
head  of  saffron  it  again  says :  "At  present  the  chief  use  of  the 
saffron  is  to  impart  flavor  and  color  to  officinal  tinctures."  This 
is  decisive  to  us.  Now  let  me  ask  you  why  the  Pharmacopoeia 
wishes  to  impose  upon  us  a  drug  so  costly  and  so  much  adulte- 
rated, merely  for  the  purpose  of  flavoring  and  coloring  three  or 
four  tinctures  ?  Do  these  tinctures  need  a  coloring  substance, 
being  too  light  without  it  ?  or  is  it  necessary  that  they  should  be 
flavored  ?  No ;  they  are  sufficiently  colored  and  sufficiently  aro- 
matic without  saffron.  We  must  seek  for  another  cause.  Saffron 
had  been  extensively  used  in  olden  times,  and  especially  by  the 
alchemists,  who  attributed  properties  to  it  which  were  nearer  to 
superstition  than  to  reality.  The  passion  for  gold,  the  mania 
for  search  for  the  philosopher's  stone,  the  alkahest  and  the  great 
elixir,  or  the  red  tincture,  induced  them  to  try  almost  everything. 
No  wonder  that  saffron,  whose  tincture  shows  such  a  beautiful 
golden-yellow  color,  had  to  play  its  part  in  that  drama  of  the 
development  of  alchemistry.  Some  of  these  old  preparations 
which  contained  saffron  are  in  use  still  in  our  Pharmacopoeias, 
though  greatly  changed,  of  course.  The  first  and  most  promi- 
nent of  these  is  the  great  pharmaceutical  and  medical  monstrum 
Theriaca,  now  Confectio  opii,  that  will  soon  celebrate  its  2000th 
birthday,  Mithridate  of  Pontus,  88  B.  C,  being  its  inventor ;  it 
originally  consisted  of  over  a  hundred  different  drugs,  was  al- 
ways prepared  in  the  City  Hall,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  under 
the  protection  of  the  municipal  authorities,  and  was  regarded  as 
