. The elements of materia medica and therapeutics (Volume 2) . s tobe regarded as the reverse. The quantity of extract yielded by a given weight ofthe root has been much depended on by Mr. Battley and Mr. Pope as a test ofgoodness; both these writers have asserted the superiority of Jamaica sarsapa-rilla, because it yields a larger quantity of extract. But though a sarsaparillawhich yields very little extract cannot be regarded as good, yet it does not follow,especially in the absence of comparative trials, that a sarsaparilla which yieldsthe most abundant extract is necessarily the best, sinc
. The elements of materia medica and therapeutics (Volume 2) . s tobe regarded as the reverse. The quantity of extract yielded by a given weight ofthe root has been much depended on by Mr. Battley and Mr. Pope as a test ofgoodness; both these writers have asserted the superiority of Jamaica sarsapa-rilla, because it yields a larger quantity of extract. But though a sarsaparillawhich yields very little extract cannot be regarded as good, yet it does not follow,especially in the absence of comparative trials, that a sarsaparilla which yieldsthe most abundant extract is necessarily the best, since the quantity may arisefrom the presence of mucilage and other inert matters. The beard is anothercriterion of goodness : the greater the quantity of root-fibres (technically calledbeard) the better the sarsaparilla. 1. Jamaica Sarsaparilla, offic.; Red-bearded Sarsaparilla {Radix Sarzcejamaicensis.) The roots are folded and made up in bundles (sarsaparilla ro-tunda) of about a foot or half a yard long, and four or five inches broad. These SARSAPARILLA. 133. bundles arc neither trimmed nor closely packed. They consist of long, slenderrunners, furnished with numerous small fibrous rootlets (called the beard). Itscortex is brownish, but with an orange-red tint, which distinguishes it fromother kinds of sarsaparilla, and has given rise to its name pIG- 144, of red sarsaparilla. The cortex is reddish, and when ex-amined by the microscope is found to contain some starchglobules. The meditullium has frequently a reddish chewed, Jamaica sarsaparilla tinges thesaliva. Itstaste is not remarkably mucilaginous, but slightly bitter,and after a few minutes slightly acrimonious. Its decoc-tion is deepened in colour by a solution of iodine; but noblue is perceptible. Its powder is pale reddish brown, andwhen rubbed with water and tincture of iodine becomesblue, but less intensely so than the powder of the Hondu-ras variety. It yields a larger quanity of extract thanthe other variet
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