164 ANACARDIACEiE. 



soon hardens and dries. After 15 to 20 days it is collected with much 

 care in little baskets lined with white paper or clean cotton wool. The 

 ground below the trees is kept hard and clean, and flat pieces of stone 

 are often laid on it that the droppings of resin may be saved uninjured 

 by dirt. There is also some spontaneous exudation from the small 

 branches which is of very fine quality. The operations are carried on by 

 women and children and last for a couple of months. A fine tree may 

 yield as much as 8 to 10 pounds of mastich. 



The dealers in Scio distinguish three or four qualities of the drug, 

 of which the two finer are called kuXictto and ^Xia-Kclpi, that collected 

 from the ground Tr^rra, and the worst of all (pXovSa.^ 



Description — The best sort of mastich consists of roundish tears 

 about the size of small peas, together with pieces of an oblong or pear- 

 shaped form. They are of a pale yellow or slightly greenish tint 

 darkening by age, dusty and slightly opaque on the surface but perfectly 

 transparent within. The mastich of late imported has been washed ; 

 the tears are no longer dusty, but have a glassy transparent 

 appearance. Mastich is brittle, has a conchoidal fracture, a slight 

 terebinthinous balsamic odour. It speedily softens in the mouth, and 

 may be easily masticated and kneaded between the teeth, in this 

 respect differing from sandarac, a tear of which breaks to powder 

 when bitten. 



Inferior mastich is less transparent, and consists of masses of larger 

 size and less regular shape, often contaminated with earthy and vege- 

 table impurities. 



The sp. gr. of selected tears of mastich is about 1'06. They soften 

 at 99° C. but do not melt below 108°. 



Mastich dissolves in half its weight of pure warm acetone and then 

 deviates the ray of polarized light to the right. On cooling, the solu- 

 tion becomes turbid. It dissolves slowly in 5 parts of oil of cloves, 

 forming even in the cold a clear solution ; it is but little soluble in 

 glacial acetic acid or in benzol. 



Chemical Composition — Mastich is soluble to the extent of about 

 90 per cent in cold alcohol ; the residue, which has been termed 

 Masticin or Beta-resin of Mastich, is a translucent, colourless, tough 

 substance, insoluble in boiling alcohol or in solution of caustic alkali, 

 but dissolving in ether or oil of turpentine. According to Johnston, it 

 is somewhat less rich in oxygen than the following. 



The soluble portion of mastich, called Alpha resin of Mastich, pos- 

 sesses acid properties, and like many other resins has the formula 

 C^H^^Ol Hartsen^ asserts that it can be obtained in crystals. Its 

 alcoholic solution is precipitated by an alcoholic solution of neutral 

 acetate of lead. Mastich contains a very little volatile oil. 



Commerce — Mastich still forms the principal revenue of Scio, from 

 which island the export in 1871 was 28,000 lb. of 2^cked, and 42,000 lb. 

 of common. The market price of picked mastich was equal to Qs. lOcZ. 

 per lb. — that of common 2s. lOcZ. The superior quality is sent to 

 Turkey, especially Constantinople, also to Trieste, Vienna, and Mar- 



^ Heldreich (and Orphanides) Nutzpjlan- ^ Berichte der deutschen chfim, GesellscTi, 



zen Griechenlamh, Athen, 1862, 60. 1876. 316. 



