ttU ON ALGERIAN PRODUCTS. 



part where tliey are free are of a bright scarlet colour. The style is fili- 

 form, ascending, and terminated by a single stigma. The fruit is a 

 pod, with wrinkled skin, three to four inches long, and one to one and a 

 quarter in width, containing two or three albuminous seeds, as large as a 

 harico bean, and of a light brown colour. These seeds possess a 

 remarkable peculiarity. The funiculum which connects them with the 

 pod, and through which passes the nutritive juices which serve to develop 

 them, attains a considerable growth, and forms a prismatic arils with 

 rounded angles, fixed by its point to the pod, and on the base of which 

 is attached the seed, by means of the radicle. These funicular arils are 

 of a light yellow colour, and of a pietty firm consistency, when the pod 

 has just been plucked, and has not gone much beyond the point of 

 maturity, but they soon become soft when placed in a heap. The 

 largest do not weigh quite one gramme (6 to 9/10). 



Some time ago, Mr. Hardy, Director of the Garden of Acclimatiza- 

 tion of Hamma, gave me, as a subject for study, a handful of those 

 arils proceeding from the last pods gathered from the tree contained 

 in the garden. I brought them home and placed them in a large glass, 

 intending to examine them on the following day ; but the following day 

 being a Sunday I for got my arils, and when on the Monday I went to 

 examine them, the mass had begun to ferment, and gave a very acid 

 reaction on test-paper ; the surface was completely covered with mildew, 

 which I removed, and found at the bottom a liquid portion, which I 

 separated. This liquid, exposed to the sun, gave me a gummy substance, 

 of a greenish yellow hue, which retained a soft consistency even after a 

 long insulation, and which had the characteristics of similar bodies 

 (gums and dextrines) — viz., soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol and 

 ether, and precipitated by acetate of lead. Under the influence of 

 alkalies, a solution of this substance acquires a fine yellow colour, which 

 possesses all the brilliancy of gamboge ; acids discolour it completely. 



The quantity of gum at my disposal was too small to enable me to 

 undertake more complete researches. I confined myself to this preli- 

 minary examination, with the intention of continuing it when the tree 

 in the Garden of Hamma shall yield a fresh crop of pods. 



The proportions of gummy matter contained in these arils must be 

 very large, if I may judge by the quantity obtained from the few arils 

 which had been given to me. Whether this substance can be utilized 

 or not as a gum, or as a colouring substance, it appears at all events to 

 me to constitute an interesting product. If I may judge by the abund- 

 ance of flowers, one tree alone may supply a considerable quantity of 

 gum, and it is so easily extracted that it could be obtained at a cheap 

 rate. It would be sufficient to gather the pods, separate the arils, heap 

 them together for a day or two, in order to soften them, and then to 

 press them. The liquid thus obtained could be solidified by the action 

 of the sun. The seeds could also be saved, for it is to be presumed some 

 use could be found for them, if only, at first sight, to extract meal from 



