ON  THE  PREPARATION  OE  MEL  DESPUMATUM.  368 
dried  fig,  which  I  suppose  may  be  the  drug  under  notice,  but  he 
gives  no  account  of  it.  Dr.  Lindley's  examination  of  the  bulb 
leads  him  to  the  opinion  that  it  is  possibly  that  of  some  species 
of  Tulip,  of  which  there  are  four  known  to  occur  in  Affghanistan. 
Tulipa  OculuS'Solis  (St.  Amans)  and  some  other  species,  when 
grown  in  favorable  localities,  certainly  produce  very  large  bulbs, 
which  have,  moreover,  but  few  scales  ;  but  I  am  ignorant  of  any 
having  a  scale  of  such  enormous  thickness  as  that  seen  in  the 
drug  under  notice.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  question  of 
botanical  origin  cannot  be  determined  from  our  limited  materials. 
Upon  the  uses  of  Badshah  Saleb,  I  can  say  very  little  :  from 
the  bulb  being  mucilaginous  and  saccharine,  I  presume  it  may 
answer  some  of  the  purposes  for  which  orchideous  tubers  are 
valued.  At  the  same  time  it  has  a  bitterish  and  slightly  acrid 
taste,  that  quite  unfits  it  as  a  substitute  for  Salep  in  this  country. 
The  decoction  of  Badshali  Saleb  is  far  less  mucilaginous  than  that 
of  true  Salep  :  it  is  not  rendered  blue  by  the  addition  of  a  solu- 
tion of  iodine. 
Mr.  Bentley  said  that  the  bulbs  now  described  by  Mr.  Hanbury, 
under  the  name  of  «  Royal  Salep,"  closely  resembled  some  that 
were  imported  a  few  years  since,  mixed  with  sumbul  root.  The 
latter  had  the  same  general  appearance  externally,  and  contained 
in  their  interior  a  central  bud,  which  was  enveloped  by  a  solitary 
fleshy  scale  of  great  thickness.  The  chief  distinction  between 
the  bulbs  was  apparently  in  the  odor  of  the  two  respectively,  for 
those  which  were  mixed  with  sumbul  were  strongly  alliaceous, 
while  in  the  royal  salep  bulbs  no  such  odor  could  be  distinctly 
traced,  although  he  thought  there  was  some  faint  evidence  of 
such  an  odor.  He  thought  it  probable,  therefore,  that  the  royal 
salep  would  prove  to  be  the  bulb  of  a  species  of  Allium,  rather 
than  that  of  a  Tulipa.  Mr.  Bentley  said  that  the  bulbs,  by  keep- 
ing, had  lost  the  translucency  and  yellowish-brown  color  which 
they  had  at  first  possessed,  and  become  opaque,  and  of  a  much 
darker  hue.—  London  Pharm.  Jour.,  April,  1858. 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  MEL  DESPUMATUM. 
By  Charles  Caspari. 
The  quality  of  honey  brought  into  the  market  being  frequently 
of  a  very  dissimilar  character,  it  will  sometimes  happen,  that  one 
