95 ACACIA CATECHU 



commerce, and described in detail the official Catechu Pallidum of 

 the British Pharmacopoeia and the Pharmacopoeia of India. The 

 official botanical source of the Catechu now to be described is 

 Acacia Catechu, Willd., but it is also in part derived from Acacia 

 Suma, Kurz. 



Preparation. The preparation of catechu varies somewhat in 

 different localities ; but as a general rule it may be thus 

 described : The trees are regarded as suitable for the process when 

 about one foot in diameter, at which period they are therefore cut 

 down, and then the inner dark-coloured wood is either alone cut 

 into small chips, or, according to other accounts, the whole of the 

 wood except that of the smaller branches, after being stripped of 

 the bark, is thus treated. The chips are then put into small 

 earthen pots or jars, which are arranged over a fireplace built of 

 mud placed usually in the open air ; and the whole covered with 

 water. The water is then made to boil, and after a considerable 

 portion has evaporated, the liquor is strained or simply decanted 

 into another vessel, and the evaporation continued until the 

 extract is of sufficient consistence, when it is poured into moulds 

 made of clay, or of leaves pinned together ; or simply upon a 

 mat or cloth which has previously been covered with the ashes of 

 cow-dung, and divided while yet soft into more or less square 

 pieces by means of string. The drying is then completed in all 

 cases by subsequent exposure of the extract to sun and air. In 

 this way is prepared the ordinary dark-coloured varieties of 

 catechu which are commonly found in Europe and America ; but 

 at Kumaon, in the north of India, by a modification of this process, 

 the drug is obtained of a pale ashy-white or pinkish-brown 

 colour. It is said that the essential difference in the preparation 

 of this kind of catechu consists in stopping the evaporation before 

 the decoction has arrived at the condition of an extract, and 

 allowing the liquor to cool on twigs and leaves placed in the pots 

 for that purpose. 



Commerce. A very large proportion of the Catechu now 

 imported from British India into this country and the United 

 States of America is the produce of Bengal and Burma. The 



