238 
PH A PM A CO GNOS Y. 
Description. — Persian or Syrian Tragacanth. — In 
flattened, latnellated, ribbon-like pieces, varying in 
length and from 1 to 3 mm. thick, irregularly oblong, 
more or less curved ; externally nearly colorless or pale 
yellowish; translucent; fracture short, tough, horny, 
rendered more easily purverizable by a heat of 50° C. 
Constituents. — Traganthin (bassorin), 60 to 70 per 
cent. ; a carbohydrate apparently in the nature of an 
insoluble compound ol arabic (gummic) acid, which 
swells in water but is insoluble in it; arabin about 10 
per cent., soluble in water and probably formed from 
traganthin ; starch ; ash about 3 per cent. 
Allied Products. — Smyrna tragacanth, which is 
collected in Asiatic Turkey and shipped from Smyrna, 
occurs in pieces that are less ribbon-like, more opaque, 
and contain considerably more starch than the Syrian 
or Persian varieties. 
COLOPHONY (Rosin or Resin). 
The residue left after the distillation of the crude 
oleo-resin (or turpentine) of Pinus palustris and other 
species of Pinus (Fam. Pinaceie), evergreen trees in- 
digenous to the Southern United States. 
Description. — Usually in sharp angular fragments; 
translucent, amber-colored, usually covered with a 
yellowish dust, hard, brittle, pulverizable, fracture 
shiny and shallow-concoidal ; odor and taste faintly 
terebinthinate. 
Resin has a specific gravity of T070 to P080, and 
it is soluble in alcohol, ether, benzol, carbon disul- 
phide, acetic acid, fixed and volatile oils and in solu- 
tions of potassium or sodium hydrate; the acid number 
should not be less than 150. 
Constituents. — From 80 to 90 per cent, of an anhy- 
dride of abietic acid, which on treatment with alcohol 
