48o 
The  Mesquite, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1878. 
bladders,  and  a  tin  can  hanging  at  the  side  receives  the  day's  gathering. 
The  harvest  is  tedious,  laborious  and  even  dangerous,  for  the  large 
trunks  must  be  climbed  to  reach  the  bladders  in  the  higher  parts  of  the 
tree.  No  incisions  are  ever  made.  The  crude  product  is  roughly 
purified  by  standing  it  in  the  sun  in  the  tin  cans  to  allow  heavy 
impurities  to  settle  ;  it  is  then  filtered  through  a  bed  of  the  branches 
and  needles  of  the  silver  fir  placed  in  a  funnel  of  bark.  When  puri- 
fied it  sells  at  4f.  80c.  to  5f.  50c.  a  kilogram. 
The  fresh  oleoresin  is  very  fluid,  flowing  like  syrup,  color  like 
amber,  odor  balsamic,  sweet  but  not  cloying,  recalling  that  of  lemons, 
and  becoming  more  apparent  in  alcoholic  solution  ;  taste  very  acrid, 
slightly  bitter.  It  is  strongly  acid,  and  dries  easily,  losing  weight.  It 
is  soluble  in  its  own  weight  of  alcohol,  the  solution  remaining  clear 
after  three  months'  rest.  It  is  solidified  in  a  few  hours  by  of  its 
weight  of  magnesia,  and  after  24  hours  the  mass  becomes  almost 
brittle.  The  last  two  characters  are  the  most  important,  as  Guibourt 
and  Dorvault  respectively  announce  their  absence  in  T£r£benthine  de 
Strasbourg  ou  des  Vosges. — Chem.  and  Drug.,  June  15,  1878. 
THE  MESQUITE. 
An  industry  that  promises,  perhaps,  to  be  of  considerable  importance 
has  recently  sprung  up  in  the  West.  The  mesquite,  a  common  tree  of 
the  deserts,  and  closely  allied,  botanically,  to  the  acacia,  yields,  like  the 
latter,  a  gum  which  closely  resembles,  and,  in  fact,  is  almost  identical 
with,  gum  acacia  (the  gum  arabic  of  commerce).  This  gum  was 
brought  to  notice  as  long  ago  as  1854,  by  Dr.  Shumard,  of  the  United 
States  Army.  It  has  for  some  time  been  kept  in  the  drug  stores  of  the 
Mexican  cities,  and  considerable  quantities  have  been  sent  to  San  Fran- 
cisco from  the  Mexican  ports  of  the  Pacific.  During  the  past  year  it 
has  become  an  article  of  export,  some  12,000  lbs.  having  been  gathered 
in  Bexar  county,  Texas,  and  as  much  more  between  that  and  the  coast. 
The  mesquite  (or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  mosqueit)  is  the  Mexi- 
can name  for  a  leguminous  tree  belonging,  like  the  gum  arabic  produc- 
ing acacia,  to  the  sub  order  Mimosece.  It  is  a  tree  growing  from  30  to 
40  feet  in  height,  with  a  rounded  head.  It  bears,  in  its  general  aspect, 
a  great  resemblance  to  the  common  honey  locust  {GUditschia)\  its 
leaves  are  twice-pinnate,  and  the  leaflets  narrow,  somewhat  curved,  and 
