Pur. Saffron, of all the articles of commerce, except French brandy, is, perhaps, the
one most largely and constantly adulterated. Abroad it is frequently mixed with safflower, and in England with ‘prepared marigolds,’ or ‘French (mock) saffron.’ These frauds may be detected by the inferiority of the colour, and by soaking the leaves in water, when the stigmas of the Crocus sativus may be readily distinguished from the florets of safflower and the petals of marigolds. Winckler and Grüner proposed to detect these substances by means of a solution of nitrate of silver or of sesquichloride of iron. The infusion of true saffron is not altered by those reagents, but that of either of the above-mentioned adulterants is rendered opaque, and is at length precipitated. “It consists of tripartite filaments, of an orange-red colour, with the small filaments towards the apex dilated.” (Ph. E.) In the wholesale drug trade prepared marigolds are not only employed to mix with genuine saffron, but are extensively sold to the country dealers for that purpose. Old and dry saffron is ‘freshened up’ by rubbing it between the hands slightly oiled, and then repicking it.
The late Mr D. Hanbury, F.R.S., found that the article known in commerce as alicante saffron was largely sophisticated with carbonate of lime, which he says had been made to adhere to the thread-like saffron without in the least altering its general appearance. To ascertain the amount of earthy matter thus fraudulently added, he subjected several specimens of saffron to incineration, each having in the first instance been dried in warm air until it caused it to lose its weight. The result indicated that while good Valentia saffron yields from 4 to 6 per cent. of ash, the alicante furnishes from 12 to 28 per cent. The method of taking a sample of saffron for earthy adulteration which Mr Hanbury recommends is this:—Place in a watch glass a small quantity (say 1 grain) of the saffron, and drop upon it 8 or 10 drops of water; lightly touch the saffron with the tip of the finger, so as to cause the water to wet it. If the drug is free from earthy matter, a clear bright-yellow solution will be immediately obtained; if adulterated, a white powder will instantly separate, causing the water to appear turbid; and if a drop of hydrochloric acid be now added, a brisk effervescence will take place.
Mr Hanbury says that saffron almost always contains a few of the pale yellow stamens, accidentally gathered; but the pollen from them which is detached when the drug is wetted, but which is minute in quantity, is easily distinguished from carbonate of lime, by not dissolving when hydrochloric acid is added. Moreover, the form of pollen grains may be easily recognised under the microscope.
Mr Hanbury furthermore states that an effectual method of examination is to scatter a very small pinch of saffron on the surface of a glass of warm water. The stigma of the saffron-crocus immediately expands, and exhibits a form so characteristic that it cannot
be confounded with the flowerets of safflower, marigold, or arnica, or with the stamens of crocus itself.[141]
[141] ‘Pharm. Journ.’
Prop., &c. Saffron is anodyne, cordial, emmenagogue, and exhilarant; but is now seldom employed, except as an adjuvant, in medicine. Amongst cooks, confectioners, and liquoristes, it is largely used on account of its fine colour.
Saffron, Mead′ow. See Colchicum.
SAGAPE′NUM. This substance is described in the London Pharmacopœia as a gum resin, the production of an uncertain species of Ferula. The mass of the sagapenum sold to the retail trader is, however, a factitious article, formed by softening a mixture of assafœtida, 3 parts, and galbanum, 15 parts, over a water or steam bath, and then stirring in about 1⁄17th of their weight of oil of turpentine, with a little oil of juniper. This mixture is labelled ‘Gum Sagapeni Opt.’ an inferior sort being made by adding sundry portions of yellow resin and paste of gum tragacanth to the above.