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The World's Commercial Products 



The true gums, which alone will be dealt with in this article, are readily distinguished 

 from the products included in classes 2 to 5, and wrongly, called gums, by the possession of the 

 following characteristic properties: — 1. They are soluble in water, yielding clear viscid or 

 jelly-like solutions. 2. They are insoluble in alcohol. 3. They are almost tasteless, or have 

 at most either a slightly acid or slightly sweetish taste 



NATURE OF GUMS 



The process by which true gums are produced- in plants is not as yet thoroughly known. 

 They appear to be formed by the progressive breaking down (gummosis) of cellulose, but 

 practically nothing is known as to how this "breaking down "is accomplished. 



GUM ARABIC 



This is a generic name including practically all gums, which are soluble in water to form 



Photo by T. G. Hall, Esq., F.L.S 



PINE TREES 



viscous sticky solutions possessing the properties of ordinary "office gum." Gums of this 

 type are largely produced in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia, Somaliland, Nigeria, 

 Senegal, India, Australia, and Cape Colony. 



Turkey or Sudan Gum 

 This rnaterial is produced in the several countries forming the North-eastern horn of Africa. 

 It has been an article of commerce from very early times ; there is evidence that as early as 

 the first century of the Christian era gum was shipped from Egypt to Arabian ports and thence 

 sent to Europe, hence the designation " gum arabic " now loosely applied to all gums of this 

 type. In the Middle Ages the trade in gum between Egypt and Europe was carried on via 

 Turkish ports and hence the name " Turkey gum" still in use, though the trade via Turkey 

 has long since ceased. This fact is slowly being recognised by a change in name, and the gum 

 is now frequently referred to commercially as " Sudan or Kordofan gum." 



