3l0 ANALYSIS 0^ THE YELLOW GUM. 



XIV. 



Chemical Examination of the yellow Resin of the Xan^ 

 thorrhcea hasH/is, and of the resinous Cemc.it employed by 

 the Savaqes of New Holland to fx the Stone of their 

 Hatchets: by Mr. A. Laugier.* 



Yellow gum Jl. HE followinnj remarks on the resiu of the xanthorrhoea, 

 ^■om Borauy .^^^^ ^lie tree that produces it, which Mr. Feron has been so 

 oblioing as to communicate to me, will form a very suitable 

 introduction to the experiments I shall relate, and enhance 

 their value. 

 The tree. "The resin in question," says Mr. Peron, '''exudes natu- 



rally from the bark of a tree peculiar to New Holland, and 

 of which Dr. Smith has made a new genus, under the name 

 of xanthorrhcea hasiilis ; thus intending to express in one 

 term the colour of the resin of this strange tree, and in the 

 other the use, which the natives make of its shoots for their 

 spears. 

 Its name ** It must be observed however, that Dr. Smith's generic 



not uiiexcep- j^^^^g jg j,p|. gtrictly accurate ; as the t-esin is very frequently 

 brown, red like dragon's blood, green, &c. Hence the 

 different names of yellow, red, green, &c-j gum plant, or 

 gum tree, given almost indiscriminately to the xanthorrlicEa 

 by the English at Port Jackson. Whether these varieties 

 of colour indicate so many speciesj or varieties, of the tree 

 that produces them ; or depend merely on the age or other 

 circumstances of the individual tree; has- not yet been 

 ascertained. 

 f robaMy seye- *' Hitherto botanists have admitted only one species oF 

 ra! species. xanthorrhcea, ti)e hastilis, just mentioned: but as trees of 

 this kind are found throughout the various parts of New 

 Holland, an extent of country equal to all Europe, it is 

 very probable, that several species exist. 

 Phillip's de- *' Governor Phillip, in his voyage to Botany Bay, 

 scription aud p^ qq^ ,,f,f} plate to p. 119, has given an incomplete descrip- 

 indifferent. tion of the xanthorrhoea ; and a figure, which, though not 

 very carefully executed, is sufficient to afford an idea of this 

 extraordinary tree. 



* Ann.deChira. vol.LXXVl, p 2G5. 



<' It 



