444 EXTRACTS 



Other investigators have obtained larger proportions both of catechin 

 (up to 33 per cent.) and catechutannic acid (up to 50 per cent.). 



Other constituents of the drug are catechu-red, quercetin, and 

 gambier-fluorescin, a fluorescent substance which can be removed 

 from an alkaline solution of gambier by shaking with petroleum 

 spirit. This fluorescent substance is absent from black catechu and 

 many similar extracts, and forms therefore a valuable means of 

 identifying gambier (Dieterich, 1897). 



-Gambier is employed medicinally as a local astringent in 

 the form of a lozenge or as a general astringent in diarrhoea ; its use 

 for these purposes is, however, insignificant compared with the 

 quantities consumed in the dyeing and tanning industries ; for the 

 former, a mixture of catechin and catechutannic acid is said to give 

 the best results. 



CUTCH 



(Catechu, Black Catechu, Catechu nigrum) 



Source, &c. Cutch is an extract prepared from the heartwood 

 of Acacia Catechu, Willdenow (N.O. Leguminosce), a tree of medium 

 size common in India and Burma. It yields a valued timber, 

 and also an astringent bark that is used for tanning. 



This drug must be carefully distinguished from the foregoing 

 (gambier), which is official under the name of catechu. The two 

 substances are quite distinct, and that obtained from Acacia Catechu 

 is to be regarded as true catechu. To avoid confusion it would be 

 well to adhere to the terms * gambier ' and ' cutch ' for the two drugs, 

 thus avoiding the use of the term ' catechu.' which has been applied 

 to both. 



Cutch has long been used in India as a masticatory, but it was 

 not introduced into Europe till the latter half of the seventeenth 

 century. 



To obtain the drug the tree is felled, the bark and sap wood stripped 

 from the trunk, the dark red heartwood cut into chips and boiled 

 in water in earthen pots. The decoction is then strained and boiled 

 down in iron pots with continual stirring until it attains the consistency 

 of syrup. When sufficiently cool to handle, the extract is spread 

 upon leaves arranged within a wooden frame or mould and left for 

 the night. In the morning the cutch is dry, and forms brick-like 

 masses weighing about 20 kilograms, which are broken up for the 

 market. 



Description. Cutch occurs in nearly black masses, the outer 

 portions of which are hard and brittle, but the interior often still 

 soft. It breaks easily, the fractured surface having a dull gloss, and 



