8 
ON  TEXAS  SARSAPARILLA. 
At  irregular  intervals  of  their  length,  are  protuberances  from 
which  lateral  branches  appear  to  have  been  separated  ;  and  along 
the  entire  under  surface  of  the  older  and  lower  portions  are  minute 
fibrillar,  here  and  there  collected  in  small  tufts.  The  structure  of 
this  article  is  evidently  cauline,  consisting  of  a  delicate  epidermis, 
and  a  thin  woody  layer,  very  tough  and  fibrous,  enclosing  medulla." 
The  timely  publication  of  the  foregoing  description,  has  proba- 
bly prevented  the  further  introduction  of  this  drug  as  a  substitute 
for  the  true  sarsaparilla,  since  but  a  single  importation  has  been 
made. 
The  real  source  of  the  article  remained  in  question,  until  an 
accidental  circumstance,  which  occurred  during  the  past  summer, 
threw  some  light  upon  it. 
A  member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  class,  Mr.  J.  Clarkson  Griffith, 
resolved  upon  analyzing,  as  the  subject  of  his  Thesis,  the  root  of 
a  plant  found  growing  in  great  abundance  in  Virginia  ;  and  said 
to  be  used  by  many  rural  practitioners  there  as  a  substitute  for 
sarsaparilla. 
Having  received  from  his  friends  a  package  of  the  roots,  con- 
taining a  few  leaves,  (but  no  flowers  or  fruit,)  it  was  submitted  to 
my  inspection  to  determine  the  name  of  the  plant.  From  the 
peculiar  shape  of  the  leaf,  its  sub-coriaceous  and  peltate  character, 
and  the  insertion  of  the  petiole  near  the  margin,  I  had  no  difficulty 
in  recognizing  it  as  belonging  to  the  Menispermum  Canadense, 
(Moon  Seed  or  Yellow  Root.)  But  as  I  was  struck  with  the  close 
resemblance  between  the  root  and  the  specimen  of  Texas  Sarsa- 
parilla deposited  in  the  College  cabinet,  I  procured  some  of  the 
fresh  plant  and  root  with  a  view  of  instituting  a  microscopical 
comparison,  and  determining,  if  possible,  the  true  source  of  the 
Texas  Sarsaparilla. 
When  the  root  is  freshly-gathered,  it  is  round,  smooth,  of  a 
bright  yellow  color,  and  affords  origin  to  numerous  radicles.  But 
after  desiccation,  it  is  wrinkled  longitudinally,  assumes  a  darker 
hue,  and  ultimately  becomes  brown.  It  is  without  odor,  the  taste 
is  quite  bitter  and  disagreeable.  The  root  is  a  rhizome  or  under- 
ground stem,  but  so  clearly  resembles  an  aerial  one  in  its  structure 
as  to  be  readily  mistaken  for  the  latter.  It  is  divisible  into  a  bark, 
cortical  layer,  ligneous  fibres,  and  medulla  or  pith. 
