598 CUPULIFERiE. 



stances, and the increased employment of sumach and myrobalans, have 

 caused the trade in nutgalls to decline considerably during the last few 

 years. The province of Aleppo which used to export annually 10,000 

 to 12,000 quintals, exported in 1871 only 3000 quintals.^ A staple 

 market for the galls which are collected in the mountains of Kurdistan 

 is Diarbekir, whence they are sent to Trebizond for shipment. Galls 

 are also shipped in some quantity at Bussorah, Bagdad, Bushire, and 

 Smyrna. 



There were imported into the United Kingdom from ports of Turkey 

 and Persia during 1872, 6349 cwt. of galls, valued at £18,581. 



Uses — Oak galls in their crude state are seldom used in medicine 

 unless it be externally ; but the tannic and gallic acids extracted from 

 them are often administered. 



Other kinds of Gall. 



Chinese or Japanese Galls — The only kind of galls, besides those 

 of the oak, which are of commercial importance. They are described 

 at page 167. 



Pistacia Galls — The genus Pistacia, which belongs to the same 

 order as Rhus, is very liable to the attacks of AijMs, which produce 

 upon its leaves and branches excrescences of exactly the same nature 

 as Chinese galls. In the south of Europe, horn-like follicles, often 

 several inches long,^ are frequently met with on the branches oi Pistacia 

 Terehinthus (page 165). These Gallce vel FoUiculi Pistacinw, in 

 Italian Carobbe di Giudea, were formerly used in medicine and in 

 dyeing.^ They were noticed in 1555 by Belon, but already well 

 known as early as the time of Theophrastus. 



Another much smaller gall of different shape is formed (by the same 

 insect ?) on the ribs of the leaves oi Pistacia Terebinthus; P. Lentiscus 

 (page 161) affords also a similar small excrescence. 



Again, another growth of the same character constitutes the small 

 and very astringent galls known in the Indian bazaars by the names of 

 Bazghanj and Gule-pistah, the latter signifying flower of jyistachio; 

 they have been termed in Europe Bokhara Galls. They were imported 

 by sea into Bombay in the year 1872-73, to the extent of 184 cwt., 

 chiefly from Sind;* and are also carried into North-western India by 

 way of Peshawar and by the Bolan Pass. Occasionally a package 

 finds its way into a London drug sale. 



Tamarish Galls — These are roundish knotty excrescences of the 

 size of a pea up to |- an inch in diameter, found in North-western India 

 on the branches of Tamarix orientalis L., a large, quick-growing tree, 

 common on saline soils. The galls are used in India in the place of 

 oak galls, and are mentioned as " non-officinal " in the Pharmacopceia 

 of India, 1867 We are not aware that they have been the subject of 

 any particular chemical research ; their microscopic structure has been 

 investigated by Vogl.* 



^ Consul Skene — Reports of H.M. Con- ^ Analysis by Martins maybe found in 



mU, Ko. 1. 1872. 270. Liebig's Ann. d. Pharm. xxi. (1837) 179. 



2 For a figure, see Pharm. Journ. iii. * From the returns quoted at page 333, 



(1844)387. For the structure see Marchand, note 3. 



in the paper qiioted at page 166, note 4, » Zeitschrift de.s Oesterreiclmchen Apothe.- 



plate iii. kervereine^, 1877. 14. 



