^°'sipt.!il?8^''""'}  0^  ^^^^  Indian  Gums.  457 
yields  a  quantity  of  furfurol  which  is  also  obtained  from  a  {glucose 
solution  containing  at  least  0*5  per  cent. 
By  means  of  these  two  tests  carbohydrates  were  detected  in  all 
urines  examined  ;  albumen  perfectly  free  from  carbohydrates  heated 
with  concentrated  acids  formed  furfurol  which  was  recognized  in  the 
distillates,  establishing  for  the  first  time  by  chemical  reactions  a  close 
relationship  between  the  albuminoids  and  the  carbohydrates. 
In  testing  urine  for  carbohydrates,  if  albumen  be  present  in  larger 
quantities  it  must  first  be  removed,  small  quantities  do  not  introduce 
appreciable  errors,  owing  to  the  small  quantity  of  urine  taken. 
Fehling's  solution  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  failed  to  detect 
less  than  0*00012  gm.  glucose  in  aqueous  solution;  testing  urine  by 
the  three  tests  the  bodies  other  than  carbohydrates  decrease  the  deli- 
cacy of  Fehling's  test  to  a  greater  degree  than  the  first  two  tests. — Dr. 
L.  V  Udrdnszky,  Zeitschr.f.  Phys.  Chem.,  May  1888. 
NOTES  OJST  EAST  INDIA^^  GUMS. 
By  J.  G.  Prebble,  Bombay. 
During  the  last  few  years  large  quantities  of  gums,  the  production 
of  Indian  trees,  have  been  exported  from  Bombay.  About  three- 
fourths  of  these  exports  go  to  the  United  Kingdom,  and  always  I 
think  to  London,  under  the  names  of  "ghati,^^  "amrad,''  "oomra- 
wutty,^^  etc.  In  a  recent  paper  on  these  gums,  published  in  this 
Journal,^  these  names  and  the  origin  of  the  gums  do  not  appear  to  be 
well  understood.   Hence  some  notes  on  these  points  may  be  of  interest. 
"  Ghati,'^  an  aboriginal  or  purely  Indian  word,  has  the  primary 
meaning  of  a  strait  or  pass  through  a  mountain.  Drugs  or  vegetables 
of  country  or  local  production  are  sometimes  distinguished  as  '^ghati" 
from  those  which  are  imported  from  foreign  ports  or  from  a  distance ; 
thus  there  is  "  ghati-pitpapra  (Justicia  procumbens),  which  is  used 
as  a  substitute  for  the  true  pitpapra  (Fumaria  officinalis)^  imported 
from  Persia,  and  ghati-mirchi  (Capsicum  annuum),  country-grown 
<}hillies,  as  distinguished  from  a  variety  resembling  the  West  Indian 
and  imported  from  Goa  and  known  as  "  gowar-mirchi,"  ^  and  lastly 
^  "Ghatti  and  other  Indian  Substitutes  for  Gum  Arabic,"  Pharm.  Journ., 
April  14,  1888;  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  June,  p.  301. 
2  Dymock,  "  Materia  Medica  of  Western  India." 
