Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1890. 
Cedar  Gum. 
459 
When  pyrethrotoxic  acid  was  hypodermically  injected  into 
animals,  it  was  observed  that  the  poison  produced  its  effects  in  two 
distinct  stages.  In  the  first  there  was  an  excitement  more  or  less 
pronounced,  proportional  to  the  quantity  administered ;  in  the 
second  there  was  a  complete  prostration,  accompanied  always  by 
paralysis  of  the  lower  extremities,  which  might  disappear  after  a 
time,  or  be  the  precursor  of  a  fatal  issue,  the  respiration  and  circu- 
lation being  affected  only  in  the  latter  case. 
ON  CEDAR  GUM  (CEDRELA  AUSTRALIS,  F.v.M).1 
By  J.  H.  Maiden,  F.L.S.,  F.C.S. 
The  well-known  "  Cedar  "  or  "Red  Cedar,"  of  New  South  Wales 
and  Queensland,  is  the  produce  of  a  Cedrela,  but  in  regard  to  the 
species  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion.  Bentham  (B.F1.,  i,  387) 
considers  it  to  be  identical  with  C.  Toona,  Roxb.,  the  Indian  toon 
tree,  which  produces  "  Moulmein  Cedar "  and  one  of  the  "  Chittagong 
woods."  Baron  von  Mueller,  on  the  other  hand,  created  a  new 
species  for  it  (C.  australis,  F.v.M.)  It  is  very  certain  the  affinities 
of  the  two  trees  are  very  close,  and  it  becomes  interesting  to  see  if 
examination  of  any  of  their  products  tends  to  throw  any  light  on 
the  subject. 
The  writer  is  not  aware  that  the  finding  of  gum  on  the  New 
South  Wales  cedar  has  hitherto  been  recorded,  but  a  collector  sent 
to  the  Technological  Museum  a  small  quantity  recently.  An  old 
cedar-getter  says  that  trees  well  exposed  to  the  sun  (?  in  unsuitable 
situations)  yield  most  gum. 
It  is  a  very  pale  yellow  gum,  almost  colorless,  and  in  thin  tears 
about  an  inch  long.  Between  the  teeth  it  almost  feels  leathery.  It 
swells  up  largely  in  cold  water,  but  in  the  course  of  twenty-four 
hours  it  nearly  wholly  dissolves,  forming  a  solution  colorless  and 
faintly  cloudy,  like  good  gum  arabic,  and  leaving  a  small  percentage 
of  metarabin. 
It  is  one  of  the  gums  which  form  a  connecting  link  between  the 
arabin  group — those  gums  which  dissolve  almost  immediately  in 
water,  and  the  metarabin  group — those  which  merely  swell  up  in 
that  liquid.    It  forms  a  fair  mucilage,  and  on  account  of  its  freedom 
1  From  vol.  iv.  (series  2d),  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New 
South  Wales.    Reprinted  from  Phar.  four,  and  Trans.,  June  28,  1890,  p.  1063. 
