GAMBOGE HEBRADENDRON.
1229
d forms. Pipe gamboge occurs of all qualities,—the finest and therst specimens of gamboge which 1 ever saw having this form. Fine'Jn.boye i s brittle and odourless; it has very little taste at first, but,t»r < r • S ° lne t™e, if causes a sensation of acridity in the throat. Its frac-a ls conclioidal: its fractured surface is opaque, reddish-yellow, withSummering lustre. It is completely dissolved by the successive action1 ether ' ----- - - ■ . . - -
? yellov
for
and water. Mixed with a sufficient quantity of water, it forms°w emulsion, the films of which are excellent microscopic objectsu ^serving the active molecules described by Mr. 11. Brown (Phil.yelf ^° r ^ e Pf- i^28 and 1829). The powder of fine gamboge is bright. ^w. The Edinburgh College gives the following characters of pure
'’ dl »boge : _
h ri
Co 0 i > ra . cture somewhat conclioidal, smooth, and glistening : a decoction of its powder,( ’ * s not rendered green by tincture of iodine, but merely somewhat tawny.”
'll
'Fill' - 10( ^ ne ds employed to prove the absence of starch. Inferior^ of gamboge are harder, more earthy in fracture ; the fracturedth e aCe ' s brownish- or greyish-yellow, frequently with black spots, from,li lienee of foreign bodies which are intermixed. It is not completely(let ', :( J by the successive action of ether and water. Iodine readilyfis e t*" S ’ * n the cooled decoction, starch, by the green colour which it gives
hif' ^ Urn P or Cake Gamboge occurs in masses of several pounds weight.fr a Tiality i s inferior to the finest pipe kind. Internally we observeHp nts °f wood, twigs, and air-cells. In most of its characters its tarc ^ "'ith the inferior qualities of pipe gamboge, and like this contains
' Q-Eylon or Cingalese Gamboge (Cambogia Zeylanica, Pli. Ed.)]<V, ani unacquainted with this kind of gamboge, which is unknown in“ commerce. Dr. Cliristison says, that, as he has seen it, it
ll att i u ^ally in small irregular fragments, but as originally collected, is in
1>0]
i at or upwards ; and it appears to be composed of aggregated irregu-l‘owi s > with interspaces and cavities, which are lined with a darkit ' Uer y matter, or with a powder of an earthy appearance. Altogether»ov a v ery coarse article.” It forms, “ with great ease, an emulsiontint i n t ei 'ior in smoothness, and very little, if at all, in liveliness ofpthat of the very best Pipe Gamboge of Siam .”tie q}} Position.—G ainboge w'as analysed, in 1808, by Braconnot (Ann.ti ^\ . ixviii. 33) ; in 1813, by John (Gmelin, Handb. d. Chem. ii.’ a «d in 1836, by Dr. Cliristison (Comp, to the Bot. Mag. ii. 233).
round masses, as if moulded in shallow bowls, weighing about a
ft fltl .
SSr'T
^‘bre
^01*4.. “.
Siam Gamboge .
Cylindrical orPipe.
Cake or Lump.
Coarse.
First.
Second.
First.
Second.
First.
Second.
74-2
71 ‘6
64*3
65.0
61-4
35-0
21*8
24*0
20*7
19-7
17*2
14*2
trace.
trace.
4*4
6*2
7*8
19*0
—
—
6*2
50
7‘8
22-0
4-8
4'8
4-0
4*2
7*2
10-6
100-8
100*4
99’6
100-1
101*4
100-8
Ceylon Gamboge.
First.
68*8
20-7
6’8
100*9
Second.
\ not ascer-i tained.
96-0
Third.
not ascer-tained.
96-6