500 
Catechu  and  Gambier. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1888. 
given  in  the  above  chart  indicate  the  absence  of  intentional  adultera- 
tion. 
It  has  long  been  a  statement  in  the  text  books  that  cutch  and  gam- 
bier are  identical  in  chemical  composition.  It  has,  however,  never 
been  proven,  and  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  entirely  erroneous.  In  the 
above  samples  no  crystallized  catechin  could  be  obtained  from  samples 
1  and  2,  and  only  a  small  quantity  from  3,  while  it  readily  crystal- 
lized from  the  aqueous  solution  of  the  ethereal  extract  of  gambier. 
Both  the  physical  appearance  and  the  analysis  indicate  that  there  are 
important  differences  in  the  coloring  matter  of  the  two.  This  is 
further  emphasized  when  we  consider  their  respective  commercial 
uses.  The  tanner  selects  gambier  for  his  purpose  because  he  wishes 
tanning  material  without  color;  the  dyer  prefers  cutch,  because  he 
wants  coloring  matter  as  well  as  tannin,  the  color  in  some  cases  being 
the  more  important  of  the  two.  From  the  published  accounts  of  the 
methods  of  preparing  these  two  drugs,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  they 
could  be  chemically  identical. 
Apart  from  their  different  botanical  origin,  the  long  continued  heat- 
ing necessary  to  extract  cutch  from  the  hard  heart  wood,  is  so  differ- 
ent from  that  required  to  exhaust  the  more  porous  twigs  and  leaves  of 
the  gambier,  that  the  evaporation  in  the  case  of  the  cutch  is  carried 
directly  to  dryness,  the  decomposition  products  being  such  as  to 
prevent  the  "  setting "  of  the  mass  as  it  does  in  the  case  of  the 
gambier. 
In  the  latter  the  concentration  of  the  liquor  is  stopped  when  it 
reaches  the  consistency  of  syrup,  and  the  liquid  by  stirring  and  cool- 
ing "  sets  on  account  of  separation  of  catechin,  becoming  of  such 
solidity  that  it  can  be  cut  into  blocks,  and  further  dried  at  such  a  low 
temperature  that  comparatively  little  change  takes  place.  When 
gambier  comes  in  cubes  it  precludes  a  kind  of  adulteration  which  is 
extensively  carried  on  with  cutch,  namely  the  admixture  of  small 
stones,  pieces  of  earthenware  and  bricks. 
Such  adulteration  is  liable  to  be  overlooked  in  selecting  samples  for 
analysis,  and  is  best  indicated  when  a  large  lot  is  powdered  and  por- 
tions of  this  analyzed. 
Two  samples  of  powdered  cutch  were  examined  and  yielded  14'01 
and  18' 20  per  cent,  of  ash,  which  was  made  up  of  sand  and  crushed 
stones.  These  samples  had  been  further  reduced  in  value  by  the  heat 
necessary  to  dry  them  previous  to  powdering,  as  is  indicated  by  the 
