339 A COMPENDIUM OF 
yellow color, and resembles to a high degree 
the inferior grades of the Senegal Gum Arabic. 
The medical properties of Acacia are princi- 
pally protective and demulcent. It was known 
to the early Egyptians and used by them as an 
ingredient in paints. The word is derived from 
the Greek word kammz, and the Latin gummt, 
Astragalus Gummifer, Astragalus Verrus, 
Tragacanth, Gum Tragacanth.—Natural order 
Leguminose Papillionaceze, These small, tan- 
gled, thorny bushes, bearing the gum found in 
the stores, are natives of Armenia, Kurdistan, 
and the mountain districts of Central Asia: ‘The 
bush resembles the English furze to a high de- 
gree, and is ornamented with five or six oblong, 
linear, smooth leaflets. Flower yellow, and in 
axillary clusters; 10 stamens in two sets, Fruit 
a legume, having two cells, 
Tragacanth either exudes spontaneously or 
is obtained by incisions made into the bush. 
The best gum is obtained by this means; the in- 
ferior gums from the spontaneous exuda- 
tion. Flake Tragacanth occurs in irregular 
opaque pieces, and differs from the other varie- 
ties by being broader and more transparent, 
The inferior Tragacanth, or Sorts, are sub- 
globular, conical or irregular in shape, and of 
dark brown color, and often adulterated with 
other species of gum. Tragacanth does not 
dissolve in water like the acacia, but swells and — 
forms a jelly-like mass, which is colored blue - 
by iodine, although some authorities assert that 
the Tragacanth is the soluble gum found in 
Tragacanthin, and that it only differs from Ara- 
bin in some of its reactions, Tragacanth, there- 
