This is Frontier's nitrogen-flushed double-wall silverfoil pack. Some Frontier packs are double-walled wax-lined paper.

Gum arabic is the sap of the Acacia senegal tree, and some other African species of Acacia, occurring as an exudate from the trunks and branches. It is normally collected by hand when dried, when it resembles a hard, amber-like resin normally referred to as 'tears'.

Gum arabic powder is widely used in the food industry, as an emulsifier, thickener, flavour encapsulator and thickening agent.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Gum Acacia is a demulcent and serves by the viscidity of its solution to cover and sheathe inflamed surfaces.'

'It is usually administered in the form of a mucilage - Mucilago Acaciae, British Pharmacopoeia and United States Pharmacopoeia made from small pieces of Gum Acacia dissolved in water and strained (1 in 8.75).'

Dose: in syrup, 1 to 4 drachms of the gum. Mucilage of Acacia is a nearly transparent, colourless or scarcely yellowish, viscid liquid, having a faint, rather agreeable odour and an insipid taste.'

'It is employed as a soothing agent in inflammatory conditions of the respiratory, digestive and urinary tract, and is useful in diarrhoea and dysentery. It exerts a soothing influence upon all the surfaces with which it comes in contact. It may be diluted and flavoured to suit the taste. In low stages of typhoid fever, this mucilage, sweetened, is greatly recommended. The ordinary dose of the mucilage is from 1 to 4 fluid drachms.'

'In dispensing, Mucilage of Acacia is used for suspending insoluble powders in mixtures, for emulsifying oils and other liquids which are not miscible with water, and as an ingredient of many cough linctures. The British Pharmacopoeia directs it to be used as an excipient in the preparation of troches. Compound Mucilage of Acacia - Pill-coating Acacia - is made from Gum Acacia, 1 in 10, with tragacanth, chloroform and water, and is used for moistening pills previous to coating.'

'Gum Acacia is an ingredient of the official Pilula Ferri, Pulvis Amygdalae compositus, Pulvis Tragacanthae compositus, all the official Trochisci, and various syrups, pastes and pastilles or jujubes.'

'Acacia Mixture, Mistura Acaciae of the British Pharmacopoeia Codex, is made from Gum Acacia (6 in 100) with syrup and diluted orange-flower water, employed as a demulcent in cough syrups and linctures.'

'Dose: 1 to 4 fluid drachms. Syrup of Acacia, British Pharmacopoeia Codex, used chiefly as a demulcent in cough mixtures, is freshly prepared as required, from 1 part of Gum Acacia Mucilage and 3 of syrup, the dose, 1 to 4 fluid drachms.'

'The United States Pharmacopoeia Syrup of Acacia, though regarded as a useful demulcent, is chiefly employed as an agent for suspending powders in mixtures.'

'The French Pharmacopoeia has a Syrup of Acacia and a potion gommeuse made from powdered Acacia, syrup and orange-flower water.'

'As a dry excipient, powdered Acacia is employed, mixed in small proportion with powdered Marsh Mallow root, or powdered Liquorice root. A variation of this is a mixture of Acacia, 50 parts; Liquorice root, 34 parts; Sugar, 16 parts, all in fine powder. Another compound Acacia Powder used sparingly as an absorbent pill excipient, is made of equal parts of Gum Acacia and Tragacanth.'

'Gum Acacia is highly nutritious. During the time of the gum harvest, the Moors of the desert are said to live almost entirely on it, and it has been proved that 6 oz. is sufficient to support an adult for twenty-four hours. It is related that the Bushman Hottentots have been known in times of scarcity to support themselves on it for days together. In many cases of disease, it is considered that a solution of Gum Arabic may for a time constitute the exclusive drink and food of the patient.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'Gum arabic is nutritive and demulcent, and exerts a soothing influence upon irritated or inflamed mucous tissues, by shielding them from the influence of deleterious agents, atmospheric air, etc. On this account it has been used in diarrhoea and dysentery, to remove tenesmus and painful stools, in catarrh, cough, hoarseness, gonorrhoea, ardor urinae, etc.'

'It may be given almost ad libitum in powder, lozenge, or solution, alone or combined with syrups, decoctions, etc. In acute diseases, where it becomes necessary to use the lightest and most readily digested food, there is no article, probably, equal to gum arabic.'

'It may be used for this purpose by dissolving half an ounce of the powdered gum in 5 ounces of water, and sweetening with loaf-sugar, of which a tablespoonful may be given every 2 or 3 hours; in low stages of fever, in typhoid fever, and wherever a mild stimulant is required, 1 ounce of a saturated solution of camphor in sulphuric ether may be added to the above, and administered in the same way; it is diuretic, promotes the action of the absorbents, and does not materially increase arterial action.'

'Equal parts of pulverized alum and gum arabic form a good preparation to check hemorrhages from small cuts, wounds, etc. Externally, the application of its solution to burns and scalds has proved serviceable, repeating it until a complete coating is secured. It is likewise much used for compounding pills, lozenges, mixtures, and emulsions; also for administering insoluble substances in water, as oils, resins, balsams, camphor, musk, etc.'

MUCILAGE OF GUM ARABIC: To 4 ounces of finely pulverized gum arabic add, very gradually, a pint of boiling water, and rub the whole until perfectly blended. Dose, ad libitum. When gum arabic is adulterated with cherry gum, it is not easy to form a good mucilage; the cerasin of the cherry gum will cause it to be ropy. (For the official mucilage, see Mucilago Acaciae).'

Eclectic Materia Medica, 1922 (Felter): 'Acacia is largely employed in the preparation of pills and in the emulsification of oils and resins. It is demulcent and probably slightly nutritive. In the form of a solution or mucilage it is an agreeable lenitive for irritated and inflamed membranes, and for this purpose is frequently used in medicinal preparations for coughs, colds, hoarseness, pharyngitis, gastric irritation and inflammation, diarrhea, dysentery, ardor urinae, etc.'

'It also forms a good mucilage in which to suspend heavy and insoluble powders. When the stomach is irritable in low fevers and in pulmonary tuberculosis, a half ounce of acacia may be dissolved in 5 fluidounces of water, sweetened with sugar, and given in tablespoonful doses occasionally to relieve the sense of hunger when but little food can be taken.'

'Mucilage of acacia is soothing to burns and scalds of the mouth and alimentary canal, and may be used as a demulcent after poisoning by irritant and corrosive poisons. Acacia may be given freely and at pleasure, in the form of powder, troches, mucilage, or syrup, as desired.'