The botanists of the 16th and 17th centuries, as Brunfels, Gesner, Matthiolus, Dodonæus, and the Bauhins, described and figured the plant partly under the name of Scammonia syriaca. The collecting of the drug was well described by Russell, an English physician of Aleppo (1752), whose account[1626] is accompanied by an excellent figure representing the plant and the means of obtaining its juice.
Scammony was formerly distinguished by the names Aleppo and Smyrna, the former sort being twice or thrice as costly as the latter; at the present day Aleppo scammony has quite lost its pre-eminence.
Localities producing the drug—Scammony is collected in Asia Minor, from Brussa and Boli in the north, to Macri and Adalia in the south, and eastward as far as Angora. But the most productive localities within this area are the valley of the Mendereh, south of Smyrna: and the districts of Kirkagach and Demirjik, north of that town. The neighbourhood of Aleppo likewise affords the drug. A little is obtained further south in Syria, from the woody hills and valleys about the lake of Tiberias and Mount Carmel.
Production—The scammony plant has a long woody root, which throws off downwards a few lateral branches, and produces from its knotty summit numerous twining stems which are persistent and woody at the base. In plants of three or four years old, the root may be an inch or more in diameter; in older specimens it sometimes acquires a diameter of three or four inches. In length, it is from two to three feet, according to the depth of soil in which it grows. When the root is wounded, there exudes a milky juice which dries up to a golden-brown, transparent, gummy-looking substance:—this is pure scammony.[1627]
The method followed in collecting scammony for use appears to be nearly the same in all localities. It has been thus described to us by two eye-witnesses, both long resident in the East.[1628] Operations commence by clearing away the bushes among which the plant is commonly found; the soil around the latter is then removed, so as to leave 4 or 5 inches of the root exposed. This is then cut off in a slanting direction at 2 to 4 inches below the crown, and a mussel-shell is stuck into it just beneath the lowest edge, so as to receive the milky-sap which instantly flows out. The shells are usually left till evening, when they are collected, and the cut part of the root scraped with a knife, so as to remove any partially dried drops of juice. These latter are called by the Smyrna peasants, kaimak or cream, the softer contents of the shell being called gala or milk.
Sometimes the scammony is allowed to dry in the shell, and such must be regarded as representing the drug in its utmost perfection. But scammony in shells is not brought into commerce, though a little of it is reserved by the peasants for their own use.
The contents of the shells and the scraped off drops are next emptied into a covered copper pot or a leathern bag, carried home, made homogenous by mixing with a knife, and at once allowed to dry. In this way a form of scammony is obtained closely approaching that dried in the shell. But it is a quality of exceptional goodness. Usually the peasant does not dry off the juice promptly, but allows his daily gatherings to accumulate; and when he has collected a pound or two, he places it in the sunshine to soften, and then kneads it, sometimes with the addition of a little water, into a plastic mass, which he lastly allows to dry. By this long exposure to heat, and retention in a liquid state, the scammony juice undergoes fermentation, acquires a strong cheesy odour and dark colour, and when finally dried, exhibits a more or less porous or bubbly structure, never observable in shell scammony.
Scammony is very extensively adulterated. The adulteration is often performed by the peasants, who mix foreign substances into the drug while it is yet soft; and it is also effected by the dealers, some of whom purchase it of the peasants in a half-dried state. The substances used for sophistication are numerous, the commonest and most easily detected being, according to our experience, carbonate of lime and flour. Woodashes, earth (not always calcareous), gum arabic, and tragacanth are also employed; more rarely, wax, yolk of egg, pounded scammony roots, rosin, or black-lead.
Description—The pure juice of the root, simply dried by exposure to the sun and air, is an amorphous, transparent, brittle substance, of resinous aspect, a yellowish-brown colour, and glossy fracture. Scammony possessing these characters is occasionally met with in the form of flattish irregular masses, about ½ to ¾ of an inch in thickness, very brittle by reason of internal fissures, yet with but few air-cavities. In mass, it is of a chesnut-brown, but in small fragments it is seen to be very pale yellowish-brown and transparent, with the freshly fractured surface vitreous and shining. When powdered it is of a very light buff. Rubbed with the moistened finger it forms a white emulsion. Treated with ether it yields 88 to 90 per cent. of soluble matter, and a nearly colourless residuum. This scammony, as well as the pure juice in the shell, is very liable to become mouldy; but besides this, it throws out, if long kept, a white, mammillated, crystalline efflorescence, the nature of which we have not been able to determine. But if scammony is kept quite dry, neither mouldiness nor efflorescence makes its appearance.
The ordinary fine scammony of commerce, known as Virgin Scammony, is also in large flat pieces or irregular flattened lumps and fragments, which in mass have a dark grey or blackish hue. Viewed in thin fragments, it is seen to be translucent and of a yellowish-brown. It is very easily broken, exhibits a shining fracture, gives an ashy-grey powder, and has a peculiar cheesy odour. Some of the pieces have a porous, bubbly structure, indicative of fermentation; the more solid often show the efflorescence already mentioned. Scammony has not much taste, but leaves an acrid sensation in the throat.