in the materia medica, a gum resin. This drug was first recommended to the attention of medical practitioners by Dr Fothergill, as being a very useful vegetable astringent; and in the hands of other practitioners it has been so far found to answer the character he gave of it, that it is now in very common use. It has a considerable resemblance to the catechu; but is much more of a resinous nature, and of a less firm texture: it is also redder and more astringent; its watery solution more decomposable by acids; and its ink less permanent. Its colouring and astringent matter are more perfectly taken up by spirit than by water, though water readily enough extracts a considerable share of both. It is used as an astringent in diarrhoea, hemorrhagies, &c. In proof-spirit it forms an elegant tincture; and it is a principal ingredient in the pulvis stypticus, and some other officinal compositions.