SASSAFRAS, Medical properties of. The tree which yields this substance is the Sassafras officinale (Nees) (Laurus Sassafras, Lin.) ; a native of North America, occurring from Canada to Florida. It is said to grow in Mexico, and Martius mentions it as a part of the Materia Medical of Brazil ; but it is probable that it was Introduced from Florida. Though Martins distinctly enumerates Laurus Sassa fras (Linn.) among the medicinal plants of Brazil (Spix and 3Iartius'a ' Travels in Brazil,' English translation, London, 1824, vol. iL p. 96) ; yet recent writers state the Brazil sassafras to be the produce of Nectandra cymbarum (Nees), the Ocotea amass of Martins. (Mart. in Buchner*a 'Report,' xxxv. 180.) This point is worthy of careful determination, if Martins' statement be correct, that the bark of this tree is an ingredient in the famous woorary poison. Sassafras nuts are probably the produce of one or two species of Nectandra. The bebeerine, an important anti-febrile medicine, is the bark of Nectandra Rodiei (Schomb.). It is a constituent, probably, along with quinia, of Warburg's fever drops. The root is the officinal part in the London Pharmacopoeia; but the whole plant possesses the aromatic odour common to the Laurinur, and some assert that the bark of the stem and branches is stronger than that of the root ; but this seems to be an error. The root, invented with the bark, comes to Europe in pieces sometimes 2 feet long, and from the thickness of an arm to half a foot in diameter, irregularly bent, knotty, and with a light, soft, porous wood. The bark also occurs detached from the wood in pieces two or
three inches long, from one and a half to two inches broad, sometimes rolled outwards, but more generally curved inwards; of a dirty grey or brownish colour externally, and a fungoid surface of a reddish colour internally. The taste is sharp, acrid, aromatic, and, as well as the odour, resembles fennel.
The chief constituents are : volatile oil, resin, and extractive. The oil is the most active. It may be obtained by distillation. Ten pounds of the root yield two and a half drachms. The specific gravity 1.094. It consists of two oils, separable by water, in which the one floats and the other sinks. By time or a low temperature, it deposits a stearopten, or crystals of sassafras camphor.
Sassafras acts as a stimulant to the circulation, especially of the capillaries, causing an increased secretion from the skin, if the person be kept warm, or from the kidneys, if cooL Should these organs fail to be influenced by it, heat and general excitement, with headache, are. the results. It is of unquestionable utility in gout and rheumatism,.
but its activity is generally destroyed by the improper mode of admi nistering it. Decoction dissipates the volatile oil, and is a most objec tionable preparation. Infusion or a tincture may be used, or the volatile oil rubbed up with sugar. Other species of Sassafras are used in India and Java. Sassafras tea is sold in the streets of London under the name of saloop.