ON  TRAGACANTH  AND  ITS  ADULTERATION. 
423 
or  four  times  a  day.  The  tincture  which  I  used  was  prepared  by 
myself;  and  as  I  have  seen  no  account  of  its  use,  I  claim  the 
first  preparation  of  it,  as  well  as  the  first  experiment  with  it. 
My  brother,  Dr.  H.  J.  Shaw,  has  since  tried  it,  with  the  same 
good  effect ;  in  fact,  his  experience  coincides  with  mine  through- 
out. In  closing  this  short  and  imperfect  essay,  I  indulge  a  hope 
that  it  will  prove  of  some  service  to  the  profession. — Nashville 
Journal  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  July,  1855. 
ON  TRAGACANTH  AND  ITS  ADULTERATION. 
By  Sidney  EL  Maltass,  Esq. 
(From  a  Communication  addressed  to  Mr,  Daniel  Hanbury.) 
According  to  your  request  I  have  obtained  from  various  sources 
some  information  respecting  gum  Tragacanth ;  that  regarding 
the  mode  of  collecting  is  from  eye-witnesses — that  upon  prepar- 
ing it  for  the  European  market,  from  personal  experience. 
The  small  prickly  shrub  which  produces  tragacanth,  grows  wild 
in  many  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  particularly  in  Anatolia.  It  is 
termed  by  the  Greeks  Ketre,  but  is  also  known  to  the  educated 
Greeks  by  its  real  name,  TpayctudvQtvcx ;  the  gum  is  in  Anatolia  like- 
wise called  Ketre,  but  to  the  Greeks  it  is  also  known  as  T^^av0/foy 
KO/U/Ul. 
The  principal  places  in  which  tragacanth  is  collected,  are 
Caissar  or  Kaisarieh  (the  ancient  Caesarea,)  Yalavatz,  Isbarta, 
Bourdur  and  Angora.  The  gum  from  Yalavatz  and  Caissar  is 
considered  the  best. 
Formerly  the  proportion  of  flaky  or  leaf  gum  in  the  whole 
quantity  collected  was  very  small,  as  the  peasants  contented  them- 
selves with  picking  oif  from  the  shrubs  the  natural  exudation  ;  of 
later  years,  a  more  systematic  process  for  obtaining  the  flaky 
gum  has  been  adopted  at  Yalavatz,  and  has  since  been  followed 
by  the  Caissar  and  other  districts.  Gum  tragacanth  is  now 
collected  in  the  following  manner  : — 
In  July  and  August  the  peasants  clear  away  the  earth  from 
the  lower  part  of  the  stem  of- the  shrub,  and  make  several  longi- 
tudinal incisions  with  a  knife  in  the  bark ;  the  gum  exudes  the 
whole  length  of  the  incision,  and  dries  in  flakes ;  three  or  four 
days  are  sufficient  for  this  purpose,  and  the  gum  is  then  collected. 
