25 



alkalies change the colour of curcumin to reddish brown ; and 

 boracic acid produces an orange tint ; hence paper tinged with 

 tincture of turmeric is largely employed as a test of the pre- 

 sence of alkalies. 



Turmeric is not now used as a medicinal agent, but is 

 introduced into the pharmacopoeias as a test of the presence of 

 alkalies. For this purpose the British Pharmacopoeia directs 

 unsized white paper to be steeped in tincture of turmeric and 

 dried by exposuie to the air. It is also occasionally employed 

 in pharmacy in colouring ointments and other preparations. 



Used as a stimulant in native medicine in India ; externally 

 applied in pains and bruises, and internally administered in 

 disorders of blood. Its use as an external applicant in 

 bruises, &c, is perhaps its most frequent medicinal application. 

 The fresh juice is said to be an anthelmintic. A decoction 

 of the rhizome is applied to relieve catarrh and purulent 

 opthalmia. 



Cryptostegia madagascarie?isis, Boj. In my last Annual 

 Report I alluded to this plant which had been suggested as a 

 source of rubber, and to a new method which had been pioposed 

 for extracting it. About this method I have no further infor- 

 mation, but I find that samples of rubbers obtained from 

 0. grandiflora, R. Br. have been sent home for analysis from 

 India, and I copy the report upon them from the Journal of 

 the Agri- Horticultural Society of Western India. 



Report on the Rubbee of Cryptostegia gkandiflora, 

 from the Bombay Presidency. 



BY PROFESSOR WNYDHAM R. DUNSTAN, M.A., F.R.S. 



This sample of rubber was forwarded to the Imperial 

 Institute, by Mr. G. A Gammie of the Ganesh Khind Botanic 

 Gardens with a letter D.O. No. 489 of the 5th January, 1906, 

 in order that its quality and commercial value could be ascer- 

 tained. It was stated that the climbing plant, Cryptostegia 

 grandiflora, from which the rubber was obtained, is very 

 common in the Bombay Presidency, and if the product is of 

 marketable quality large supplies could be obtained. 



Description of Sample.— The sample weighed about 13 

 ounces and consisted of a large porous lump of rubber which 

 had been formed apparently by the aggregation of thin sheets 

 and scrap. It was dark coloured, slightly sticky, and con- 

 tained a large quantity of vegetable and mineral impurities. 

 The rubber exhibited very fair elasticity and tenacity. 



