(ENANTHIN GUM. 269 



flows from the precipitate with sugar of lead, evapo- 

 rating it and extracting it with alcohol, in order 

 to dissolve the acetate of potash). It was imme- 

 diately reduced to suboxide of copper, without being 

 previously transformed into sugar, by being warmed 

 with an acid. 



There is, therefore, no quality peculiar to gum or 

 dextrin, which may not be likewise discovered in the 

 pure oenanthin described by Faure. "When in the 

 impure state, in which it was when prepared by Faure, 

 it is a mixture of different bodies ; and we cannot, 

 therefore, allow this substance a place in science as 

 a distinct and peculiar body. 



I cannot undertake to decide whether it should be 

 called gum, vegetable mucus, or dextrin, its sliminess 

 and coherence give it the -character of vegetable 

 mucus ; its easy solubility in water causes it to re- 

 semble gum ; its power of reducing oxide of copper is 

 like dextrin. We know that there are as many kinds 

 of gum as sorts of sugar ; the name is indifferent, if 

 the nature of the substance be sufficiently under- 

 stood. 



We must remember that one kind of gum has al- 

 ready been mentioned (p. 248) as existing in wine, 

 which does not reduce the copper in a test solution 

 of oxide of copper and potass, unless it has previously 

 been resolved into sugar by muriatic acid. It was 

 therefore a question whether two kinds of gum ex- 

 isted in wine, one which had the reaction of dextrin 



