INDIAN SARSAPARILLA, OR NONNARI-ROOT.—This drug, which has no affinity to the preceding, ie furnished by Ilemidesmus Indices (Periploca Indica, Asclepias Pseudo-sarsa), a twining shrub of India and Ceylon. The drug is said to be alterative, tonic, diuretic, and diaphoretic, but it is seldom used iu England, and that which reaches here is often of very bad quality. The root has a loose, cracked bark ; its odour is agreeable, recalling that of melilot.
Sassafras (Fa. and GER., Sassafras).—The root of Sassafras officinalis (Laurus Sassafras) is accounted sudorific and stimulant, and is prescribed with sarsaparilla and guaiacum. The tree is a native of the W. hemisphere, from Canada to Mi-souri and Florida, attaining its greatest growth in the middle and southern states, while in the northern it is little bettor than a shrub. The roots are dug up by the aid of levers, and sent in great quantity to Baltimore, which is the entrepOt for a circuit of 300 miles. The drug is imported in large branching stumps, 6-12 in. thick, and often including much of the inert trunk-wood and its bark. The value is about a cwt. The wood of the root is usually rasped up for sale ; the bark is a separate article of merchandise, little used in England. The root-wood yields 1-2 per cent. of volatile oil ; the root-bark, twice as much (see Camphor ; Oile). Among the other members of the same order, whose barks possess a sassafras odour, may be mentioned :—(1) Mesphilodphne Sassafras, of Brazil; (2) An undescribed species of sassafras of India and Burmah ; (3) Atherosperma moschata, of Australia ; (4) Doryphora Sassafras, Australia.
Sassy, Id anemia, or Caeca bark of Erythropliksum, Guineense is a powerful ordeal poison used on the W. coast of Africa. It causes iutense and prolonged sickness and debility, and, in large doses, death. In small doses, it strengthens and retards the action of the heart. Tho bark is abundant, but rarely imported, as there is no demand for it. It is thick, heavy, with a smooth inner surface, and of a reddish tint. It contains an alkaloid called crythro phiceine.
Scammony (Fe., Scammonee ; GER., Scammonium).— The juice which exudes from the cut surface of the roots of Coneolvulus Scammonia is employed as an active cathartic, generally with calomel and colocynth. The plant inhabits waste spots in the E. and N. parts of the Mediterranean basin, from Syria, through Greece, to S. Russia, but ie un
known in the W. regions. Commercial supplies of the drug are obtained almost exolueively from Asiatic Turkey, within the area comprised by Brume, Boli, Angora, Macri, and Adalia, and especially from the valley of Mendereh, and the districts of Kirgagatsoh and Demirdjik in the neighbour hood of Smyrna. Small quantities are produced also near Aleppo, and from the valleys and wooded hills around Mount < Carmel, and the Lake of Tiberias. The plant flourishes best among juniper, arbutus, and wild valonea bushes, which afford it support and shelter. Scammony produced in hilly regions and on poor soil possesses the strongest odour ; that collected on rich and marshy ground contains more water, and, when dried, becomes greyish-black and of less specific gravity. The drug is gathered by the peasants, in sum mer, while the plants are in flower. The soil is removed from the root to a depth of 3-4 in., the latter is then severed obliquely at about I-11 in. below the crown, and a mussel-shell is placed to catch the escaping juice, as shown in Fig. 582, and is protected on the windward side by a large stone. The sap flows freely at early morning and late evening ; the shells are usually collected at the latter time, when the cut surface is scraped, to remove any concretions of the juice, which may have formed after the first flow. Such con cretions are termed "cream," while the fluid drug is called " milk"; dust and dirt are carefully blown from both kinds, which are then placed in copper vessels, and the whole is thoroughly incorporated, by stirring with a knife, till its consistence enables it to form strings when run off the knife. Excessive dryness is corrected by adding water, but this may only be done in the hottest part of the day. It is then left in the sun to dry. During this process, it ferments, and becomes bubbly, and of a dark or blackish colour. The product is pure scammony. The yield of the drug varies with the age and situation of the root :—a fourth year's plant in good soil may give 2 dr. (and rarely up to 12 dr.); in some districts, the average is 1 dr. a root; in others, 100 roots produce only 10 dr. If allowed to remain in the shells, the scammony is a golden-brown, transparent, gummy-looking substance. In this state, it is used by the peasants, but never exported.