Notes  on  some  Gum  Samples. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       April,  1890. 
ment  in  pharmacy.  Oomra  gum,  or  according  to  Prebble,  "  Babool 
gum,"  was  shown.  This  gum  gives  a  dark-colored  adhesive  viscid 
mucilage,  which  for  many  purposes  might  be  useful.  Referring  to 
the  relative  value  of  the  different  gums  for  pharmaceutical  purposes, 
the  author  said  that  the  dark-colored  gums,  or  gums  which  gave  a 
dark-colored  mucilage,  might  be  at  once  dismissed  from  their 
notice,  for  however  valuable  many  of  them  might  be  in  the  arts,  or 
for  the  purposes  of  the  confectioner,  it  was  obvious  that  they  were 
unsuitable  in  pharmacy.  There  remained  not  very  many  to  pass  an 
opinion  upon,  and  these  he  was  disposed  to  place  in  this  order  : 
Cape  gum,  Senegal  gum,  Barbary  gum,  the  paler  varieties  of  E.  I. 
Amrad  gums  and  Ghatti  gum.  All  of  these  possessed  good  emulsi- 
fying properties,  and  gave  a  clear  good-keeping  mucilage.  A  sum- 
mar)7  of  the  transactions  in  gum,  recorded  in  The  Chemist  and 
Druggist  market  reports,  was  given.  According  to  this,  there  had 
been  sold  during  the  last  few  months  : 
£ 
Brazilian  gum,  at  from  I 
Aden  gum,  scented,   "  i 
"       "     unscented,    ...  "  3 
Oomra  gum,   "  2 
Australian  gum,   "  1 
Ghatti          "   "  1 
Geddah  and  Talca,   "  4 
Amrad  gums,   "  2 
Cape        "    "  2 
Barbary  or  Alogadore  gums,  .  "  2 
Senegal  gum   "  4 
Turkey     "    "  5 
s.  d.  £  s.  d. 
8  o  to  3  00  per  cwt. 
10  o  "  3  00  " 
o  o  "  4  10    o  " 
o  o  "  2  19    o  " 
5  o  "  3  40 
8  o  "  4  14   o  " 
5  o  "  4  15  o 
o  o  "  5  5  o 
o  o  "  5  5    o  " 
2  o  "  5  12    6  " 
2  6  "  5  15  o 
o  o  "  16  10    o  " 
In  addition  to  these,  parcels  of  Cape  gum  have  been  sold  for 
£14  10s  ,  and  Mogadore  for  £14  $s.,  while  £25  per  cwt.  was  asked 
for  a  parcel  of  fine  Turkey. 
The  reactions  of  the  various  mucilages  were  gone  into.  All  the 
samples  gave  precipitates  with  alcohol  and  ammonium  oxalate, 
although  with  the  latter,  Brazilian  and  Australian  gums  gave  only 
faint  reactions.  With  borax,  acacia  mucilage  hardened  into  a 
gummy  mass ;  similarly  with  basic  lead  and  ferric  chloride,  while  it 
gelatinized  and  formed  a  softer  mass  with  silicate  of  potash.  Gen- 
erally speaking,  similar  reactions  were  obtained  with  Senegal  gums, 
the  E.  I.  Amrad  gums,  white  Barbary,  the  Cape  gums  and  Geddah 
