VARIETIES. 
37T 
ginous  liquid  was  obtained,  from  which  the  sulphide  of  lead  does  not  fall, 
unless  with  a  considerable  addition  of  alcohol.  The  acid  precipitates  appear 
most  indeterminate,  and  afford  nothing  crystalline.  A  great  deal  of  pectin- 
looking  substance  is  present.  Chicory  also  appears  to  possess  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  quantity  of  inulin  that  is  contained  in  the  dried  root,  and  starch 
in  no  other  form,  the  infusion  of  chicory  giving  only  a  brown  with  iodine, 
and  no  blue.  Chicory  appears  to  contain  no  oxalic,  malic,  citric,  or  any 
other  crystallizable  organic  acid.  The  other  sweet  roots,  beets,  turnips,  &c, 
also,  like  chicory,  present  little  that  is  tangible  in  their  chemical  proper- 
ties. But  the  dark  color  of  the  infusions  of  all  these  roots  when  roasted, 
the  great  density  of  their  solutions,  and  their  fermentability,  afford  sufficient 
means  for  distinguishing  them  from  coffee,  and  for  discovering  their  admix- 
ture with  that  substance. 
The  properties  of  a  great  variety  of  other  vegetable  substances,  which 
might  possibly  be  employed  in  the  adulteration  of  coffee,  are  exhibited  in 
the  early  tables  of  this  Report. 
The  Gums  and  Resins  of  Commerce.    By  P.  L.  Simmonds. 
(Continued  from  page  230.) 
East  Indian  Gum  Kino. — This,  one  of  the  most  useful  indigenous  gum 
resins  of  the  East,  is  the  produce  of  the  Pterocarpus  marsupium,  Roxburgh. 
The  gum  flows  out  on  longitudinal  incisions  being  made  in  the  bark,  which 
being  fleshy  and  very  thick,  is  easily  done.  It  trickles  down  in  a  tenacious 
semi-fluid  form,  and  is  collected  in  a  cocoa  nut  shell.  On  exposure  to  the 
sun  in  flat  plates,  it  soon  hardens  into  angular  brittle  shining  fragments, 
of  a  bright  ruby  color,  highly  astringent,  and  readily  soluble  in  hot  water. 
The  gum  changes  into  a  blood  red  color  by  alkalies,  which,  however, 
destroy  its  astringent  properties.  It  is  precipitated  by  the  salts  of  iron, 
silver,  lead,  &c,  and,  with  sulphate  of  iron  forms  a  fine  ink.  It  dissolves 
readily  in  water,  to  which  it  imparts  its  own  beautiful  color. 
Another  variety  of  Indian  kino  exudes  during  the  hot  weather  from 
natural  fissures  and  wounds  in  the  bark  of  the  Butea  frondosa,  a  very 
common  leguminous  tree.  It  is  known  in  commerce  by  the  name  of  Ben- 
gal kino,  or  gun)  butea,  being  closely  allied  to  the  kino  of  Pterocarpus,  in 
its  chemical  and  medicinal  properties.  The  natives  of  India  use  it  for 
tanning,  but  as  it  imparts  to  the  leather  a  red  color,  it  is  considered  objec- 
tionable by  European  tanners.  Kino  is  commonly  used  in  medicine  for 
its  astringent  properties,  especially  in  diarrhoea,  chronic  dysentery,  and 
other  such  cases. 
Amber. — The  source  of  amber  was  long  uncertain  ;  by  some  it  was  con- 
sidered a  carbonaceous  mineral,  but  it  is  now  universally  supposed  to  be  a 
vegetable  resin,  the  product  probably  of  a  Pinus.  It  is  too  well  known  in 
pearance  to  need  description.  It  has  several  commercial  uses.  Being 
commonly  translucent,  and  susceptible  of  a  good  polish,  it  is  made  into 
