Sarsaparilla
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Sarsaparilla. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
name of an order of dictyogens, the Smilaceæ. In pharmacy, the rhizome of Smilax officinalis, a native of Central America. The rhizome of sarsaparilla is popularly called the chump; one with roots and rootlets, the latter finely subdivided, is said to be bearded. Sarsaparilla is supposed to be diaphoretic, diuretic, demulcent, tonic, and alterative. It has been given with other medicines in syphilis, scrofula, etc. Also, the sarsaparilla of Vera Cruz, Smilax medica, that of Peru S. purhampuy, that of Lisbon and Brazil S. siphilitica, that of Australia S. glycyphylla. Many Asiatic species of smilax, as S. zeylonica, S. glabra, S. perfoliata, S. leucophylla, and S. china, and S. aspera and S. excelsa from the S. of Europe the last two sometimes called Italian sarsaparillafurnish inferior qualities of the drug. The name is also applied to the Aralia nudicaulis, which grows wild in the United States and Canada.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a medicine extracted from the roots of several species of smilax, especially the smilax or sarsaparilla plant of South America . The root-stocks are several feet in length but are not larger than a slate pencil. They are imported in bales. Sarsaparilla root may be had in any drug store. Lowell, Massachusetts, is a famous center for the manufacture of the medical tinctures of sarsaparilla. It is a remedy taken internally for rheumatism and diseases of the skin. The "wild sarsaparillas," of American forests are akin to ginseng and spikenard, but are not botanically related to the genuine sarsaparilla. See Medicine ; Drugs
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's wrote in 1910 that Lowell, Massachusetts was "a famous center for the manufacture of the medical tinctures of sarsaparilla," it was describing the patent-medicine trade of Ayer's and Hood's Sarsaparilla, then among the best-advertised products in America; that industry collapsed after federal labelling and advertising rules tightened, and no Lowell sarsaparilla house survives. The claims Collier's repeated in 1921 "diaphoretic, diuretic, demulcent, tonic, and alterative," and useful "in syphilis, scrofula" have not held up: syphilis has been treated with penicillin since the 1940s, and sarsaparilla was dropped from the official US pharmacopoeia and has no recognised medical use today. Smilax root now survives mainly as a flavouring for soft drinks and as an unregulated dietary supplement, sometimes sold with the mistaken claim that its plant saponins act as steroids in the body. Both entries' botany, including Aiton's careful note that the American "wild sarsaparillas" (Aralia) are not related to the true article, still reads correctly.
Written for this edition, 2026.