390 
NOTE  ON  ADULTERATED  SAFFRON. 
phosphoric  acid  and  lime  contained  in  the  acid,  he  having  ex- 
hausted his  stock  in  the  foregoing  experiments,  and,  on  procuring 
some  more,  at  the  same  place^  it  was/ree  from  impurity. 
In  conclusion,  it  remains  to  ask,  Whence  came  the  phosphate 
of  lime  ?    Supposing  that  it  was  intended  to  convert,  with  little 
trouble,  an  inferior  acid  into  a  superior  one,  would  it  be  assuming 
too  much  to  say  that  hone-hlach  was  the  medium  ? 
Kespectfully, 
Wm.  H.  Bruckner,  Ph.  D. 
Chemical  Laboratory,  No.  1^^  Walnut  street, 
Philadelphia,  Aug.  11,  1870. 
NOTE  ON  ADULTERATED  SAFFRON. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Pharmaceutical  literature  has,  on  frequent  occasions,  no- 
ticed various  adulterations  of  saffron.  The  old  clumsy  method 
of  mixing  saffron  with  the  florets  of  Carthamus  tinctorius,  or 
with  the  dyed  florets  of  Calendula  officinalis,  or  with  the  cut 
petals  of  various  flowers,  seems  to  be  discarded  now,  and  new 
methods,  among  them  some  very  ingenious  ones,  are  now  prac- 
ticed. It  is  not  very  diflicult  to  find  excellent  saffron  in  the 
American  market,  though  inferior  kinds,  partly  exhausted  and 
well  oiled,  are  by  no  means  uncommon. 
I  have  lately  received  some  saffron  very  handsome  in  appear- 
ance, of  good  and  strong  odor,  and  yielding  a  deeply  colored 
tincture.  Some  yellow  filaments  were  intermixed,  which  proved 
to  be  partly  the  styles,  but  mainly  the  stamens  with  the  anthers 
attached.  This  last  named  intermixture  naturally  led  to  the 
conclusion,  that  the  orange  red  powder  which  was  found  dis- 
tributed through  the  saffron,  consisted  of  pollen.  A  number  of 
small  lumps  were  observed,  somewhat  glutinous  to  the  touch, 
and  consisting  of  a  few  styles,  some  other  filamentous  substance 
and  the  pollendike  powder.  To  determine  the  nature  of  the  un- 
recognized filaments,  a  few  lumps  were  thrown  into  water,  when 
they  were  found  to  be  stamens  and  anthers.  In  this  experi- 
ment, the  water  had  become  so  slightly  tinged,  and  the  supposed 
pollen  settled  so  readily  and  in  such  a  peculiar  manner,  that 
