558 | LEGUMINOS 2. 
tutes for gum arabic. In the Concans the juice of the fresh 
bark is given with Asafcetida in hemoptysis, and the flowering 
tops with cummin, milk and sugar in gonorrhcea. 
Chemical composition.—In addition to a large proportion, 
45—55 per cent. of a variety of tannin (catechu tannic acid), 
cutch contains 30 to 40 per cent. of catechu, which is deposited 
on cooling a boiling aqueous solution. Cutch should not yield 
more than 5 per cent. of ash. ( Allen.) : 
Catechu, C'? H'8 08, is a name given to various compounds 
contained in catechu or Terra Japonica, which is extracted by 
boiling water from the fruits or twigs of a variety of plants; 
catechu from twigs and unripe pods of Acacia (or Mimosa 
Catechu) ; Gambier catechu from Nauclea (or Uncaria) Gambier ; 
and Indian catechu from some Acacia. 
- Catechu tannic acid has the formula C2'H'808 or (38 H34 
_ O18 (?), and may be extracted from catechu by water: it is also © 
formed when catechin is alone heated to 180° C., or with water to 
110° C., or by boiling with alkalies. It occurs as a dark reddish ie 
brown powder, which oxidises in air. It gives a greyish green — 
precipitate with ferric chloride, and does not precipitate tartar 
emetic. Its aqueous solution is precipitated by gelatine, albu- 
men and dilute sulphuric acid. (Watt’s Dict. Chem., Morley and 
Muir's edition.) For further particulars the reader is referred. 
to the Pharmacographia ; and for tests of purity, &c., to Allen’s 
Commercial Organic Analysis, Vol IIL., Part I. 
Commerce.—Acacia catechu for use with pan-supari is largely 
prepared about Surat. Value, Rs. 20 per maund of 374 lbs. 
Cutch fetches from Rs. 4 to 5 per maund, and is prepared in 
‘many parts of India by wild forest tribes, 
Kuersau or Kaarrsar.—From the wood of Acacia Catechu 
is obtained a substance which we have not seen any notice of 
in works on Indian Materia Medica. Khersal, or natural cate- 
chu, is obtained from cavities in the wood, and occurs in small 
irregular fragments like little bits of-very pale catechu mixed — j 
_ with chips of reddish wood. This drug is collected by men 
who split firewood, and fetches a high price, as it is only 
