Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1890. 
Sterculia  Gum. 
23 
There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  following  gum  is  attributable 
to  &  urens,  and  the  excerpt  is  interesting  as  giving  a  further  descrip- 
tion, and  as  placing  the  objections  to  its  use  in  another  form.  The 
gum  had  been  purchased  by  a  calico-printer  in  ignorance.  "  It  was 
in  large  brown-colored  and  wrinkled  translucent  pieces,  having  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  softness ;  so  that  they  could  not  be  pounded  in  a  mor- 
tar. When  put  into  water  they  did  not  dissolve,  but  gradually 
imbibed  the  water  and  swelled  out  into  a  jelly,  so  nearly  colorless  that 
its  presence  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  containing  water  was  not  per- 
ceptible till  the  water  was  agitated  by  moving  the  vessel.  When 
boiled  for  some  hours  with  water  this  jelly  completely  dissolved.  But 
the  water  was  not  mucilaginous,  like  a  solution  of  gum-arabic,  nor 
had  it  the  least  adhesive  property.  .  .  Thus  this  substance,  though 
resembling  gum  in  its  appearance,  possessed  none  of  the  properties  of 
that  substance,  and  could  not  be  employed  to  thicken  acids  or  colors 
intended  to  be  printed  on  cloth.  .  .  There  is  reason  to  suspect  that 
it  came  from  India  "  (Thomson,  "  Chemistry  of  Organic  Bodies,  Veg- 
etables," p.  676). 
Following  are  the  other  oriental  species  yielding  gum,  as  far  as 
known  to  the  author  : — 
8.  campanulata,  Wall.  "  Exudes  a  gum  resembling  tragacanth  " 
(Kurz). 
8.  ornata,  Wall.    "  Exudes  gum  "  (Kurz). 
8.  foetida,  Linn.    "  Exudes  gum  resembling  tragacanth  "  (Kurz). 
8.  villosa,  Roxb.  "  Gives  a  white  pellucid  gum  which  exudes  copi- 
ously from  cuts  in  the  bark  (Gamble,  Brandis).  This  gum  bears  the 
same  local  name  as  the  produce  of  8.  urens. 
8.  ramosa  and  8.  piperifolia,  from  Pegu,  are  said  by  Balfour  ("  Cyc. 
of  India  ")  to  yield  gum,  but  I  cannot  at  present  trace  these  names. 
It  may  be  that  they  are  synonyms. 
AFRICAN. 
(Several  species  are  described  in  the  "  Flora  of  Tropical  Africa.") 
8.  Barteri,  Mast.  (op.  cit.,  219),  is  reported  to  have  "  resinous"  bark, 
but  this  is  probably  an  instance  of  the  commonly  loose  way  in  which 
the  words  "  gum  "  and  "  resin  "  are  used.    A  "  whitish  gum  "  exudes 
from  the  follicles  of  an  undetermined  species. 
8.  Tragacantha,  Lindl.    Lindley  calls  this  the  "gum  tragacanth  of 
Sierra  Leone."    According  to  Lock  (Spoil's  "  Encyc"),  it  bears  the 
