VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 3 



Java, Siam, and the countries of the Indian Archipelago furnish 

 a drug prepared by putting fine tea dust into a bamboo tube, 

 which is then closed up at both ends and buried in the wet mud 

 of a sewer for a long time. It is then taken out, the juice 

 expressed and boiled down to a thick syrup, which when cold 

 forms the extract. The country of the Laos tribes living between 

 Yunnan, Annam, and Siam, and a district in the north-west 

 part of Yunnanfu, are said to have formerly yielded this drug. 



The catechu entering into the world's commerce is largely 

 exported from Calcutta and from Pegu. Since much of it 

 comes from the borders of the Gulf of Cutch, the substance is 

 often called aitch. Or, this name may come either from a 

 corruption of the Malay name cachu or of the Indian name kiitt. 

 Dr. Williams says : " That brought from Bombay is friable, of 

 a red-brown color, and more hard and firm than that brought 

 from Bengal. The cakes resemble chocolate, and when broken, 

 have a streaked appearance. Good cutch has a bright uniform 

 color, a sweetish astringent taste, and is free from grittiness". 

 He suggests that this variety may indeed be pale catechu, or 

 gambler ; but it may be a kind of Acacia catechu which is 

 manufactured in Northern India, in which the process of 

 evaporation is stopped before the liquid becomes too thick, thus 

 resulting in a paler and clearer preparation. There is a black 

 catechu, the Kassa of Persia, which occurs in round, flat cakes, 

 from two to three inches in diameter and from a half an inch 

 to an inch in thickness, having the properties of Acacia catechu 

 extract. It is the product of the betel-nut {Areca catechu^ 

 which see) and is prepared in India, where it is known 

 as catta-cambu. It does not appear in commerce, and is not 

 known in China ; unless, indeed, the Ping-lang hsin (;^ |g|J )^>), 

 1026, or Ping-lang-kao (;|ffi \% ^), 1027, ^^^ ^^^ article. 



Chinese medical works recount the astringent, antiphlo- 

 gistic, styptic, and corrective properties of this excellent drug ; 

 but at the present time it is mostly used as a detergent, 

 stimulating, styptic, or constringing application. 



ACANTHOPANAX RICINIFOLIUM.— fij ft ^ (Tz'u- 

 ch'iu-shu). This, the "thorny catalpa ", from the resemblance 

 of its leaves to those of Catalpa kcempferi^ is a tall tree, with 



