SOURCES. 
59 
galls are used in Germany and the United States for 
the manufacture of tannic acid, of which they contain 
about 70 per cent. They were received in Europe as 
early as 1817, when they were analyzed by Brande, 
who stated that they yielded to cold distilled water 75 
per cent., and to alcohol the residue gave an additional 
4 per cent., leaving 21 per cent, of woody fibre. 
It was not until 1844 that these galls were recog¬ 
nized to be of any value, so that our knowledge of their 
constituents dates from that time. The Japanese va¬ 
riety was first brought prominently to notice at the 
Paris Exposition in 1878. 
W. Stein in 1849, under the name of a new kind of 
galls, described the Chinese variety as having the odor 
of tobacco and yielding 2 per cent, of ash, consisting 
of potassium, magnesium, calcium, and iron combined 
with phosphoric, silicic, and carbonic acids and chlorine. 
The other constituents were given as follows : 
Tannic acid. 
Other tannins. 
.... 4.00 
u 
Saponifiable fat. 
.... 1.00 
a 
Starch. 
.... 8.00 
it 
Wood fibre. 
.... 5.00 
a 
Inert material. 
.... 13.00 
a 
100.00 
a 
L. P. Bley in 1850 found that ether dissolved 76 
per cent., that moisture amounted to 8 per cent., and 
that the ash was alkaline, nearly free from calcium salts, 
but rich in potassium and phosphoric acid. Buchner 
in 1851 stated that ether-alcohol extracted 74.35 per 
cent., while Leconnet obtained by maceration with ether 
66.66 per cent. 
