ADULTERATION  OF  SAFFRON  WITH  STAMENS  OF  CROCUS.  229 
Iridacece,  to  which  the  genus  Crocus  belongs,  I  had  thus  a  fur- 
ther confirmation,  if  any  were  needed,  of  the  adulterant  being 
the  stamens  of  a  Crocus,  which  had  been  previously  twisted  so  as 
to  alter  their  natural  form  and  characters,  and  thus  render  them 
more  difficult  of  detection.  In  some  cases  I  found  similar 
tubular  portions  bearing  two  stamens  (Fig.  2,  p.  225,)  the  third 
stamen  having  become  detached. 
A  very  ready  way  of  detecting  this  adulteration  of  saffron 
with  stamens  is  to  take  a  small  portion  of  the  suspected  speci- 
men and  diffuse  it  in  a  glass  of  cold  water  by  means  of  a  stir- 
ring-rod for  about  a  minute,  the  water  will  become  immediately 
colored,  and  if  the  stirring  be  now  discontinued  the  whole  mass 
will  rise  to  the  surface  of  the  fluid,  and  the  genuine  orange -yel- 
low-colored  saffron  will  be  readily  distinguished  from  the  pale- 
yellow-colored  twisted  stamens.  The  proportion  of  adultera- 
tion may  in  this  manner  be  readily  estimated.  If,  instead  of 
using  cold  water,  boiling  water  be  employed  in  the  above  ex- 
periment, I  find  a  somewhat  different  result ;  thus,  if  the  pro- 
portion of  stamens  in  the  specimen  be  large,  as  in  the  one  now 
being  described,  the  whole  infused  mass  will  rise  towards  the 
surface  of  the  water  in  the  manner  j  ust  mentioned  ;  but  if  there 
be  only  a  small  admixture  of  stamens,  the  genuine  saffron  will 
sink  towards  the  bottom  of  the  fluid,  and  the  stamens  alone  rise 
and  float  on  its  surface.  In  the  former  case,  the  true  saffron, 
being  in  small  quantity,  appears  to  be  so  entangled  with  the 
stamens,  that  it  is  carried  upwards  with  them. 
Having  ascertained  that  the  specimen  of  saffron  was  adulter- 
ated extensively  with  the  stamens  of  a  Crocus,  I  had  an  expla- 
nation of  the  cause  of  the  turbid  appearance  of  the  solution 
formed  by  infusing  some  of  it  in  water,  as  already  noticed,  and 
of  the  nature  of  the  suspended  granules.  These  granules  must 
be  those  of  the  pollen  which  had  been  washed  out  of  the  anthers 
by  the  water  in  which  the  stamens  had  been  infused ;  and,  upon 
examining  them  by  the  microscope,  I  was  able  to  prove  that 
my  opinions  were  correct.  The  best  way  to  see  these  granules 
is  to  dip  a  glass  rod  into  the  turbid  solution  formed  by  mace- 
rating the  adulterated  saffron  in  water,  and  then  drop  the  ad- 
herent fluid  on  a  piece  of  glass.    This  is  to  be  covered  with 
