234 
are well known ; and although it continues 
to be regarded with justice as an active 
irritant poison, it is also universally ac- 
knowledged to be, under due regulation, 
one of the safest of the more active pur- 
gatives. 
The source of Gamboge has long been 
a subject of doubt and controversy among 
Pharmacologists and medical Botanists ; 
nor are the opinions and information, even 
of the most recent authors, by any mears 
satisfactory. In order to understand this 
inquiry thoroughly, it is necessary to be in 
the first instance distinctly aware, what are 
the articles to which the name of Gamboge 
is usually given, and whence they are ob- 
tained, 
In point of fact, a considerable number 
of kinds of Gamboge, differing more or less 
from one another in quality, and even in 
nature, as well as in their place of origin, 
are known in commerce. The most im- 
portant and finest qualities are generally 
considered to come from the kingdom of 
Siam, and are imported into England from 
China by way of Singapore. Among these 
the wholesale druggist distinguishes by 
name at least two, and generally three va- 
rieties—Pipe Gamboge, Cake or Lump 
Gamboge, and Coarse Gamboge. Pipe 
Gamboge, which is invariably the finest, 
has sold in the London market during the 
last eight years, at prices varying from two 
shillings and ten-pence to five shillings a- 
pound, exclusive of duty.! Cake or Lump 
Gamboge is sometimes very nearly equal 
in quality to the last, but is more commonly 
somewhat inferior, and therefore sells for 
at least three-pence a-pound less, The 
two qualities are sometimes mixed in the 
same packages; sometimes each package 
contains but one; and frequently, on the 
other hand, the cases contain not merely 
Pipe and Cake Gamboge, but likewise 
more or less of a very inferior sort, by the 
presence of which the price is mate- 
rially affected. This inferior sort again, of 
which there are probably many varieties 
confounded together in the rude nomencla- 
! Martin's History of the British Colonies, i, 224. 
' Table, 
ON THE SOURCES AND COMPOSITION OF GAMBOGE. 
ture of the English drug-market under the — 
name of Coarse Gamboge, and. which vill D 
be seen presently to be nothing else than — 
a Cake Gamboge of low quality, often — 
constitutes the entire contents of the pack- ' 
age. In its crude state this is quite unfit for — 
the purposes of the painter, and is equally 
rejected for medicinal use; and conse- ; 
quently it bears so contemptible a charac- i 
ter in the market, as to bring scarcely ten- 3 
pence a-pound, when the other sorts are — 
worth three or four times as much. For 4 
this statement I am indebted to Mr. Stead, 5 
an extensive and experienced wholesale | 
druggist in London. i 
Most Pharmacologists and medical Bo- 
tanists have also referred to Ceylon as an- a 
other commercial source of Gamboge; but 
commonly with the addition, that this kind 
is of very indifferent quality. That the — 
island of Ceylon produces a variety of — 
Gamboge is notorious; and that it either 
does, or with due care may, produce true 
Gamboge of the best quality, will, I hope, 
be proved in the course of the present 
paper. But the notion that Ceylon Gam- 
boge is an article of commerce between 
that island and Europe, is, I am persuaded, 
a complete mistake. Gamboge, possessing — 
the external characters of the specimens of — 
Ceylon Gamboge in my hands, is never to 
be met with in the shops of this country; 
and on referring to the gentleman whose 
authority has been already quoted, I learn : 
from careful inquiries made by him : ; 
the most experienced drug-brokers of s] 
merchants in London, that no diem = 
Gamboge are ever made at Ceylon mies. 
is 
country, and that the whole —— 
by way of Singapore. | 
since informed, in a letter : "a 
nel Walker, at Colombo, written 1n a 4 
ber last (1835), that Gamboge wor 4 
appear in the Custom- House eee : 2-1 
of that port, which would have up E 
case had any of it been sent thence e 
tain. Accordingly Ceylon Gambog? di 
altogether a rare substance 1n ges * 
is to be met with only in the cabi om 
the curious. I have been unable, 
