VOLUME 



ORGAN IZ_ x . 

 KNOWLEDGE; 



f ,, STORY 

 AND PICTURE 



FIVE 



GUM, CHEWING, a .form of gum resin made 

 pleasing to the taste by sweetening and flavor- 

 ing. It appears on the market in short sticks 

 at a cent apiece, or in candy-coated ovals. 

 The gum-chewing habit is more popular in the 

 United States than in any other country. It 

 sweetens the breath, and because it increases 

 the flow of saliva it may slightly aid digestion ; 

 to a small degree it helps to preserve the teeth. 



Black spruce gum resin was first used for 

 chewing gum, but the gum resins of other for- 

 est trees are now used, chicle gum from the 

 sapodilla tree being employed most extensively. 



Chicle is a tough, firm, fragrant gum, nearly 

 white when fresh and clean, but it is rarely 

 pure. As the sticky sap is being gathered, it 

 catches all the bugs and flying things which 

 come to it before it hardens. Manufacturers 

 of chewing gum try to remove these foreign 

 substances, but without complete success. The 

 resin is chopped into small pieces, cooked, 

 sweetened, flavored with peppermint, winter- 

 green, pineapple or licorice. The "dough" is 

 then kneeded, rolled and cut into pieces, all by 

 machinery. 



About 14,000,000 pounds of chicle, valued at 

 over $52,000,000, are imported annually into the 

 United States alone. The American republic 

 is the largest user of chewing gum; Canada is 

 reported second; in England the sale is begin- 

 ning to be important. 



GUM ARABIC, air'abik, a brittle species of 

 gum obtained from small thorny varieties of 

 acacia trees that grow in Mexico, Arabia and 

 India. In drying, the exuded sap of these 

 trees forms globules, or tears, of a brown or 

 yellow color. The gum is odorless and taste- 

 less and easily dissolves in water. The finer 

 varieties are utilized in medicine, the manufac- 

 ture of confectionery and in the making of mu- 

 cilage. It is also used to add luster and stiffen- 

 ing to silk. When employed for labels and 

 envelope flaps it is mixed with glycerine and 

 sugar, in order to prevent its becoming stiff 

 enough to crack and fall from the paper. See 

 MUCILAGE. 



GUM 'BO, the name applied to a soup for 

 the table. It originated in Louisiana, and has 

 long been exceedingly popular throughout the 

 South; now its use has become nearly universal. 

 It is made with a foundation of chicken stock, 

 and is thickened with gumbo, or okra, the un- 

 ripe pods of a plant of the hibiscus family. 

 This vegetable abounds in mucilage; it is a 

 native of the West Indies, but will grow in 

 any tropical or subtropical climate. See OKRA. 



GUM RESINS, rez'inz, vegetable sub- 

 stances obtained from plants, containing resin, 

 which dissolves in alcohol, and gum, which is 

 soluble in water. They also include an essen- 

 tial oil, some coloring matter and a number of 

 impurities. They are solid, opaque and brittle, 

 and are usually characterized by a strong and 

 distinctive taste and odor. They do not flow 

 naturally from plants, but are chiefly extracted 

 by means of incision, or cutting. The princi- 

 pal gum resins include asafetida, aloes, myrrh 

 and ammoniac. 



GUN. See CANNON; RIFLE; SMALL ARMS, 

 and other articles referred to under those titles. 



GUNBOAT, a small type of war vessel spe- 

 cially built for service in rivers and coast wa- 

 ters for coast defense and patrol duties. The 

 first vessel of this class was built for the Brit- 

 ish navy in 1867; it carried only one gun, but 

 the armament has been greatly increased in 

 later patterns. The modern gunboats of the 

 United States navy would be more properly 

 classed as cruisers, as they carry heavy arma- 

 ment and are ocean-going vessels. Many 

 wooden gunboats carrying only one gun were 

 built for use in the War of 1812, but proved 

 disappointing. Gunboats are now extensively 

 used by the British on the Nile, the Zambezi 

 and other rivers, and for service on the Chinese 

 coast, but the one-gun vessel has been entirely 

 superseded. The latest type, now used in all 

 navies since about 1900, is built of steel, fully 

 armored, and carries two four-inch, quick-firing 

 guns, four twelve-pounders, and as many as ten 

 machine guns. While effective as auxiliaries 

 and patrols, gunboats are not sufficiently fast 



2641 



