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ON  A  DRUG  CALLED  ROYAL  SALEP. 
doubtless  been  applied  on  account  of  the  drug  being  regarded  as 
Salep  of  pre-eminently  large  size.  That  it  is  in  reality  very  dis- 
tinct from  true  Salep — in  fact,  that  it  is  not  a  tuber,  but  a  bulb — 
was  pointed  out  to  me  by  my  friend  Dr.  Lindley,  who  has  further 
suggested  its  botanical  origin.  I  will,  however,  first  describe  the 
drug  as  met  with  in  commerce. 
Koyal  Salep  consists  of  dried  bulbs,  whose  dimensions  from 
base  to  apex  vary  from  1J  to  2  inches.  The  largest  specimen 
weighs  730  grains:  the  average  weight,  taking  twenty  bulbs, 
was  found  to  be  337  grains.  Allowing  for  considerable  irregu- 
larity occasioned  by  drying,  the  form  of  the  dried  bulbs  may  be 
described  as  usually  nearly  spherical,  sometimes  ovoid  or  even 
oblong,  always  pointed  at  the  upper  extremity,  and  having  at  the 
lower  either  a  depressed  cicatrix,  or  frequently  a  large,  white, 
elevated,  scar-like  mark.  Their  surface  is  striated  longitudinally, 
besides  which  there  is  mostly  one  broad  and  deep  furrow  running 
in  the  same  direction.  They  are  usually  translucent,  transmitted 
light  showing  them  to  be  of  an  orange-brown  ;  by  reflected  light 
they  are  seen  to  vary  from  a  yellowish  brown  to  a  deep  purplish 
hue — sometimes  shaded  at  the  base  into  an  opaque  yellowish 
white. 
In  substance  the  bulbs  are  dense  and  horny  :  they  may  be  cut 
with  a  knife,  but  can  hardly  be  powdered.  After  several  hours' 
maceration  in  water,  they  become  soft,  opaque,  and  of  a  slaty  or 
purplish  hue,  and  increase  greatly  in  volume,  regaining  in  fact 
their  natural  size  and  form.  If  in  this  state  a  bulb  be  cut  lon- 
gitudinally into  two  equal  portions,  its  distinctness  from  an  orchis 
tuber  will  be  at  once  manifest.  Instead  of  the  homogeneous, 
fleshy  mass  of  the  latter,  we  find  a  single  fleshy  envelope  or  scale 
of  excessive  thickness,  whose  edges  overlap  each  other ;  this  scale 
surrounding  an  elongated,  flattened  bud. 
Although  this  single  convolute  scale  is  all  that  remains  in  the 
dried  bulb,  it  is  supposed  by  Dr.  Lindley  that  other  scales  exter- 
nal to  it  have  been  stripped  off  previous  to  drying. 
Of  the  plant  affording  Royal  Salep,  and  of  its  place  of  growth, 
nothing  appears  to  be  known.  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
any  notice  of  the  drug  in  the  works  of  Ksempfer,  Forskal,  Ainslie, 
Boxburgh,  Royle,  or  O'Shaughnessy.  Honigberger,  in  speaking 
of  the  sorts  of  Salep  used  at  Lahore,  mentions  one  resembling  a 
