ADULTERATION  OF  SAFPRON  WITH  STAMENS  OF  CROCUS.  231 
ored  divisions  of  the  perianth,  and  of  the  tubular  portions  of 
the  flower,  another  question  now  arose.  The  tubular  portion 
of  the  flower  of  the  saffron  crocus,  in  its  natural  condition,  is 
nearly  white,  while  the  anthers  are  pale  yellow  ;  but  here  the 
whole  of  the  specimen  had  a  nearly  uniform  orange-yellow 
color.  This  is,  I  think,  readily  to  be  explained.  The  stamens, 
etc.,  had  been  dyed  with  some  orange-yellow-colored  solution — 
probably  the  whole  specimen  together — by  which  a  nearly  uni- 
form deep  orange-yellow  color  had  been  given  to  it.  That  such 
was  the  case  seems  clear  from  a  comparison  of  the  different  ap- 
pearances produced  on  a  mass  of  this  saffron  directly  after  its 
infusion  in  warm  or  cold  water  with  that  of  genuine  saffron 
under  the  same  conditions ;  thus,  in  the  former  case,  as  already 
noticed,  the  orange-yellow  color  of  the  greater  portion  is  imme- 
diately communicated  to  the  water,  and  the  anthers  left  of  their 
natural  pale  yellow  color,  while  the  genuine  saffron  mixed  with 
it  retains  the  principal  portion  of  its  orange-color  for  some  time 
afterwards  ;  while  in  the  latter,  or  true  saffron,  the  whole  retains 
its  orange-yellow  color  for  a  long  period.  The  nature  of  the 
coloring  matter  thus  used  for  dyeing  the  saffron  is  more  difficult 
to  determine,  and  I  am  as  yet  by  no  means  satisfied  upon  this 
point.  It  may  have  been  a  very  strong  solution  of  genuine 
saffron,  and  the  similarity  of  the  color  produced  by  infusing  in 
water  this  spurious  saffron  and  that  of  genuine  saffron  would 
appear  strongly  to  confirm  this  view  ;  but  when  we  remember 
how  little  genuine  saffron  is  contained  in  it,  yet  the  depth  of 
color  as  shown  by  infusion  and  by  its  dilution  with  water,  is 
scarcely  in  any  degree  less  than  that  of  genuine  saffron,  this 
becomes  more  doubtful.  This,  however,  is  a  matter  of  com- 
paratively trifling  importance,  and  may  be  left  for  future  in- 
vestigation. 
This  adulteration  of  saffron  with  the  stamens  of  crocus  has 
never  been  noticed  previously  in  this  country  ;  no  allusion  hav- 
ing been  made  to  it  in  the  works  of  Pereira,  Royle,  Christison, 
or  other  of  our  authorities  on  materia  medica  ;  neither  had  it, 
so  far  as  I  knew  when  the  above  was  written,  been  noticed  by 
foreign  writers  on  pharmacology,  but  I  have  since  had  my  at- 
tention directed  to  a  note  on  a  similar  kind  of  adulteration  by 
