CUTCH, TERRA-JAPONICA, or GAMBEER, is an astringent extract prepared from the wood of the Acacia Catechu, from the kernels of the Areca Catechu or betel-nut palm, from the leaves of the Uncaria Gambir, and probably also from other plants. The wood, kernels, or leaves, as the case may be, are boiled in water till their substance is extracted; the decoction is then strained, and the boiling continued till it becomes sufficiently concentrated to form a tough extract on cooling. It is then moulded or made up into the various forms met with in commerce, and dried in the shade. Catechu is imported into Britain from Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Colombo, and Pegu, and the number of its varieties is great. The most valuable variety now brought to the market is known in commerce by the name of cutch (from its native name cutti), and is chiefly imported from Pegu. It is darker and more astringent than the ordinary catechu, and before the Burmese war used to sell from L.7 to L.8 a ton higher than they. In consequence of the deficient supply, its present price (1854) has reached L.50 a ton, the ton of the ordinary catechu being only L.30. All the other varieties of catechu at present in the market are known by the names of Terra-Japonica and Gambeer, the former having a dark-brown or reddish-brown fracture, the gambbeers a yellow or gray fracture. Of the brown catechu, those known by the names of Ball and Lump Catechu, so named from the forms in which they are made up, are prepared from the inspissated juice of the Acacia catechu, and are the varieties most common in the British market. The Colombo catechu, often erroneously termed Columbia catechu, is in flat circular cakes, and is probably the produce of the Areca or betel-nut. The varieties known by the name of gambeers are usually met with in the form of cubical cakes, about an inch in diameter, and are chiefly obtained from the decoction of the leaves of the Uncaria Gambir.

All the catechu are powerful astringents, and consist essentially of tannin, and a peculiar acid called the catechic acid. The uses of catechu in the arts are numerous, and it is now substituted in many cases for oak bark in tanning leather, steeping herring-nets, &c. The commercial cutch, as containing the largest proportion of tannin, is preferred for these purposes. Within the last twenty years catechu is very largely used by the dyer, for cloths, silks, and calicoes. According to the different mordants and reagents used, it gives all shades of bronze, browns, brown-grays, reddish-olive grays, brownish-yellow, &c., and has almost quite superseded madder for giving a golden coffee-brown colour. In medicine catechu is used as an astringent for arresting mucous and bloody discharges; and is hence employed in diarrhoea, dysentery, and in some cases of chronic catarrh. It is also highly useful in ulceration of the gums and throat, and especially in that relaxation and congestion of the throat and fauces to which public speakers and singers are liable.

From the government returns, it appears that for the three years ending 5th January the following were the importations of terra-japonica and cutch.

| Year | Terra Japonica | Cutch | |------|---------------|-------| | 1852 | 4783 tons | 2436 tons | | 1853 | 3244 | 2236 | | 1854 | 3904 | 485 |

CATHECHUMEN, a candidate for baptism, or one who is preparing himself for receiving that rite.

In the primitive church, the catechumens were the lowest order of Christians. They were the children of believing parents, or pagans not fully initiated in the principles of the Christian religion; and were admitted to this state by the imposition of hands and the sign of the cross.

They were of four degrees, viz., those instructed privately without the church, and denied for some time the privilege of entering it; the audientes, or those who were admitted to hear sermons and the Scriptures read in the church, but not allowed to partake of the prayers; the genu-flectentes, so called because they received imposition of hands kneeling; the competentes et electi, the immediate candidates for baptism, or such as were appointed to be baptized at the next approaching festival. These last, after examination, were exercised catechetically during twenty days, and were obliged to fast and confess: some days before baptism they went veiled, and it was customary to touch their ears, saying, Ephatha, be opened, as also to anoint their eyes with clay; these ceremonies being in imitation of our Saviour's practice, and intended to shadow out their condition both before and after their admission into the Christian church.