The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862.

Date:: 1898-

Credit: The British pharmacopoeia / published under the direction of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Acts XXI & XXII Victoria, cap. XC, 1858 and XXV and XXVI Victoria, cap. XCI, 1862. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$GUMMI INDICTJM. Indian Gum. A gummy exudation from the wood of Anogeissus latifolia, Wall. [Bed-dome, Flora Sylvatica, plate 15]. Characters and Tests.—In vermiform or rounded tears of varying size, pale amber or yellowish-white in colour, trans- lucent, with a somewhat dull surface and breaking with a bright glassy fracture. It has a faint odour ; taste insipid and mucilaginous. Entirely soluble in water, forming a viscid, adhesive mucilage. Insoluble in alcohol (90 per cent.). The aqueous solution is gelatinised by the addition of alcohol (90 per cent.), solution of borax, or solution of lead subacetate ; but it is unaffected by the addition of test-solution of ferric chloride (distinction from Amrad and certain other gums) or of solution of lead acetate. It is not coloured blue or brown by a small quantity of solution of iodine (absence of starch or commercial 1 dextrin '). On incineration Indian Gum should not yield more than 4 per cent, of ash. In the under-mentioned divisions of the Empire, Indian Gum may be employed in making the official preparations for which Gum Acacia is directed to be used, one part of the former being taken for every two parts ordered of the latter (see ' Mucilago Gummi Indici'). India. Eastern Colonies. HIRUDO ATJSTRALIS. Australian Leeches. Hirudo quinquestriata, Schmarda [Neue wirbellose Thiere, II., P. 2, plate xvi. fig. 140] (Hirudo australis, Bosisto ; Lim- nobdella quinquestriata, B. Blanch.), the Five-striped or Australian Leech. Characters.—Dorsal surface greenish-yellow-brown, with five longitudinal stripes. Ventral surface greenish-yellow, not spotted. Jaws large, with forty-eight to fifty teeth, the inner being the larger. Australasian Colonies.$