Gumption

“ In our own country not only do children bite pencils and pen-holders, but they will chew small pieces of india-rubber for hours together. The practice of gum-chewing, so common among our American cousins, evidently comes down from far-off [Pg 128] times, for the primitive Australians chew several kinds of gum, attributing to them nutrient qualities, [17] and the Patagonians are said to keep their teeth white and clean by chewing matri, a gum which exudes from the incense bush, and is carefully collected by the women and children. ”

“ The white is considered the best. It was formerly used in medicine.
GUM. Syn. Gummi, L. The general term for an important class of vegetable products. Gums are more or less soluble in cold water, but insoluble in alcohol, ether, and oils. They are obtained from certain plants in amorphous masses; most of them exude spontaneously, or on puncturing the bark. The most perfect type of this class is the substance called GUM ARABIC, or GUM ACACIA. The gums are employed as demulcents in medicines, and are used as cements, and for giving stiffness and gloss to textile fabrics. ”

“ Gamboge occurs in commerce in cylindrical pieces, known as pipe or roll gamboge, and also, usually of inferior quality, in cakes or amorphous masses. It is of a dirty orange externally; is hard and brittle, breaks with a conchoidal and reddish-yellow, glistening fracture, and affords a brilliant yellow powder; is odourless, and has a taste at first slight, but subsequently acrid; forms with water an emulsion; and consists of from 20 to 25% of gum soluble in water, and from 70 to 75% of a resin. ”

“ Is doubtless O.N. gøyma (geyma) , vb., to pay attention, etc., with a later dropping of i-mutation through infl. of gum2, sb.
gumbet [gombət] and gombet [gȯmbət] , adj., coarse of appearance, repulsive, g.-lookin’. Sometimes also of weather: ill-boding, hazy and windy; g.-like wadder [‘weather’] or sky. Ai. In the first-mentioned sense poss. to be classed with No. gamp, m., a big, coarse (strong) body; a heavy, clumsy person. Might, however, like the syn. gumset (from *gumsa, f., a ewe) , also be associated with “gumma”, f., which in Sw. dial. denotes a ewe. ”

“ The sour or black gum of the South has a wide range, being hardy to southern Ontario and Maine. To the New Englander this is the "pepperidge"; the Indians called it "tupelo"; but the woodsman, North and South, calls it the gum tree, as a rule. "Black gum" refers to its dark gray, rough bark, which is broken into many-sided plates. By this, it is easily distinguished from the "red gum" or liquid amber, which grows in the same situations, but is not related to it. "Sour gum" refers to the acid, blue-black berries, one to three in a cluster, ripe in October. ”

“ The gum is nothing else than the superabundant parts of the sap of this tree, which sap being too small in quantity, and drawn rapidly up by the heat of the sun, swells the fibres of the tree, bursts the imperceptible coats which surround it, and make a passage through the pores of the bark. This never happens when the tree only has the necessary quantity of sap for its preservation and growth; and then, if gum be wished for, it is necessary to use violence, and gain it from the nutriment of the tree by means of incision. ”

“ The alimentary substances in the interior tissues, instead of promoting the plant's growth, are diverted to the production of gum, and a portion of them accumulates about gummy centres, which seem to act as centres of irritation. The production of gum at the expense of nutritive matter has no limit short of the complete exhaustion of the plant. The best remedy is scarification. To cure the disease, the materials appropriated to forming gum must be restored to their normal destination. ”

“ The sweet Gum-Tree, so call'd, because of the fragrant Gum it yields in the Spring-time, upon Incision of the Bark, or Wood. It cures the Herpes and Inflammations; being apply'd to the Morphew and Tettars. 'Tis an extraordinary Balsam, and of great Value to those who know how to use it. No Wood has scarce a better Grain; whereof fine Tables, Drawers, and other Furniture might be made. Some of it is curiously curl'd. It bears a round Bur, with a sort of Prickle, which is the Seed. ”

“ As to the way in which the gum is obtained, it appears from the statements of Maltass, that in July and August the peasants clear away the earth from around the stem of the shrub, and then make in the bark several incisions, from which during the following 3 or 4 days the gum exudes and dries in flakes. In some localities they also puncture the bark with the point of a knife. Whilst engaged in these operations, they pick from the shrubs whatever gum they find exuded naturally. ”

“ Uses.—The root bark is pounded up and applied locally in orchitis and in severe contusions with supposed fracture of the bones; native charlatans pretend to cure the latter condition by this treatment.
The trunk exudes a sort of gum, which with water forms a sort of colorless, odorless gelatin which dissolves at the boiling point. I do not know to what use this gum is applied in therapeutics, but it is often found mixed with the Senegambian gum acacia. ”

“ To an ordinary observer the trunk of the spruce tree seems like any other tree trunk—no rougher, and perhaps somewhat smoother than many; but Tom now found that on every tree almost there were little round excrescences, which, on being picked at with the knife, came off readily, and proved to be gum. Vast quantities of a substance which goes by the name of spruce gum are manufactured and sold; but the pure gum is a very different article, having a rich, balsamic odor, and a delicate yet delicious flavor ”

“ Gum is capable of being dissolved in water, and forming with it a viscid transparent fluid; but not in vinous spirits or oil; it burns in the fire to a black coal, without melting or catching fire; and does not dissolve in water at boiling heat. The name of gum has been inaccurately given to several species of gum-resins, which consist of resin and various other substances, flowing from many kinds of trees, and becoming hard by exposure to the air. ”

“ The growth of red gum during the early part of its life, and up to the time it reaches a diameter of eight inches breast-high, is extremely rapid, and, like most of the intolerant species, it attains its height growth at an early period. Gum sprouts readily from the stump, and the sprouts surpass the seedlings in rate of height growth for the first few years, but they seldom form large timber trees. Those over fifty years of age seldom sprout. ”

“ Governor Phillip (Despatch, May 15) in `Historical Records of New South Wales', vol. i. pt. ii. p. 128:
"What seeds could be collected are sent to Sir Joseph Banks, as likewise the red gum taken from the large gum-tree by tapping, and the yellow gum which is found on the dwarf palm-tree."
1789. Captain Watkin Tench, `Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay,' p. 119:
"The species of trees are few, and . . . the wood universally of so bad a grain, as almost to preclude the possibility of using it. . . . These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum (not unlike the Sanguis draconis) ." ”

“ They require a long time to set or become hard.
Resins and Gums include a great number of substances, such as resin or hard pitch, which is distilled from pine-trees; shellac, mastic, elemi, copal, kauri gum, amber, gum arabic, dextrine made from flour, the gum of the peach and cherry, and of many other trees. To these may be added frankincense and tragacanth, which is less an adhesive than a stiffener and dresser. Gums are generally rather brittle; this is remedied by combination with oily substances, volatile oils, or caoutchouc. With these gums Lehner includes asphaltum. ”

“ The Swamp Gum grows to the largest size of any of this family in Van Diemen's Land. Its growth is nearly twice as rapid as that of the Blue Gum: the annular layers are sometimes very large; but the bark, and the whole tree indeed, is so like the Blue Gum, as not to be easily distinguished from it in outward appearance. It grows best in moist places, which may probably have given rise to its name. Some extraordinary dimensions have been recorded of trees of this species. ”

“ The Pharmacopœia directs the use of powdered gum and of boiling water, whereas gum, in its ordinary condition or coarsely broken, and cold water make a clearer solution. Cold water is directed for the solution of the gum by the Edinburgh process, and in our present formula for “Syrup of Gum Arabic;”—if appropriate for the latter, it is quite as much so for the forming of mucilage. When the gum has been ground in a mill it appears to have been a little charred and forms a somewhat turbid solution; if powdered by hand, and rather more coarsely, its solution is clearer. ”

“ The finding of it, collecting and bringing to market, affords a sufficiently profitable occupation to have constituted a distinct class of men, who go by the name of gum-diggers.
Gum-fields are poor lands usually, though some are adapted for settlement. The country lying between Riverhead, Helensville, and Ararimu, which I described when relating our journey up-country, is a fair example of a gum-field. But gum is also found in the kauri forests, round the roots of the trees, especially of old, partly decayed, or wholly dead specimens. ”

“ Starch and artificial gums always leave the cloth somewhat harsh in “feel” unless they are treated specially, and are moreover incapable of yielding the beautifully clear and perfectly even tints resulting from the use of natural gums. Very dark colours cannot well be obtained with gum senegal or gum arabic thickenings; they come away too much in washing, the um apparently preventing them from combining fully with the fibres. ”

“ CAROLINE.
Is that the gum so frequently used instead of paste or glue?
MRS. B.
It is; almost all fruit-trees yield some sort of gum, but that most commonly used in the arts is obtained from a species of acacia-tree in Arabia, and is called gum arabic; it forms the chief nourishment of the natives of those parts, who obtain it in great quantities from incisions which they make in the trees. ”

“ Thus, on our farm and in the surrounding bush, although these are distinctly not gum-lands, there are little patches of ground, of a few acres in extent, whence we have got a ton or two of gum at times.
It is worthy of remark that the fresh resin of the living trees is not of any commercial value. Great masses of gum are often found in forks and clefts of the trees, and about the roots ”

“ A central gumma may eat away the surrounding bone to such an extent that the shaft undergoes pathological fracture. In the rare cases in which it attacks the articular end of a long bone, gummatous disease may implicate the adjacent joint and give rise to syphilitic arthritis. ”

“ The gumma does harm by displacing and replacing the normal tissue elements of the part affected, and by involving these in the degenerative changes, of the nature of caseation and necrosis, which produce the destructive lesions of the skin, mucous membranes, and internal organs. ”

“ Bloodwood has the same characteristics as gum. Stringy bark always runs free, and is by far the easiest of all to work. There are many other varieties of wood, but all spring from the four I have now mentioned, for instance, there is blue gum, spotted gum, red gum, all equally suitable for building. ”

“ The Woggle-Bug had taken from its position over the mantle-piece in the great hallway the head of a Gump, which was adorned with wide-spreading antlers; and this, with great care and greater difficulty, the insect had carried up the stairs to the roof. This Gump resembled an Elk's head, only the nose turned upward in a saucy manner and there were whiskers [Pg 186] upon its chin, like those of a billy-goat. Why the Woggle-Bug selected this article he could not have explained, except that it had aroused his curiosity. ”

“ A very simple imbedding agent, and one of the greatest practical value, is a strong solution of gum arabic, which, upon being dehydrated either by ordinary drying or the action of alcohol, soon acquires such a degree of hardness as to permit it (with the imbedded tissue) to be cut with ease. ”

“ But if we value trees according to their capacity for cavities,—the naturalist has a right to such a scale of valuation,—then these gums rank first. The deliberate purpose of a swamp-gum, through its hundred years of life, is to grow as big as possible, that it may hollow out accordingly. ”

“ The blue and red gums are nearly of the same texture; they are very tough and strong, and in ship-building are adapted to framing; the best size is from two feet to two and a half, for when larger, the timber is generally unsound in the heart. The blue gum, while standing, is subject to be pierced by very minute worms, which make innumerable holes scarce visible to the naked eye.
Black butted gum and stringy bark differ very little either in quality or appearance; they are much tougher and stronger than English oak, and are particularly adapted to planking. ”

“ He moved aside and saw a man in a heavy fur-lined overcoat, with a muffler loose about his neck; a thin, unhealthy-looking man, with sharp eyes, rather bloodshot, which turned timidly this way and that, and a high-bridged nose. As soon as he caught sight of the face Gammon drew himself up, every muscle strung. ”

“ Gambeson (Saxon wambe, the belly) . A quilted tunic, stuffed with wool. It answered the purpose of defensive armour, and was subsequently called a pourpoint.
Gamboge. A gum-resin of a forest tree called Garcinia Cambogia, generally imported in cylindrical rolls. It forms a beautiful yellow pigment, used for water-colour; it is used to stain wood in imitation of box, and the tincture enters into the composition of the gold-coloured varnish for lacquering brass; it also gives a beautiful and durable stain to marble. ”