Historical information

Angus & Co. was a large ink, gum, and paste manufacturing company established in Melbourne in 1896 by Joseph Armstrong Angus (1860-1936.) The company's premises included a bottle works to supply bottles for its many products. The company supplied various inks, gums, and paste too many business and domestic customers.

Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These micro-organisms include protists who use it for their locomotion. The direction of their movement is always opposite to that of the secretion of mucilage. It is a polar glycoprotein and an exopolysaccharide. The mucilage in plants plays a role in the storage of water and food, seed germination, and thickening membranes. Cacti (and other succulents) and flax seeds are especially rich sources of mucilage.
Mucilage is edible. It is used in medicine as it relieves irritation of mucous membranes by forming a protective film. It is known to act as a soluble, or viscous, dietary fiber that thickens the faecal mass, an example being the consumption of fiber supplements containing Psyllium seed husks.
Traditionally, marshmallows were made from the extract of the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow plant (Althaea Officinalis). The inner bark of the slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), a North American tree species, has long been used as a demulcent and cough medicine and is still produced commercially for that purpose. Mucilage mixed with water has been used as a glue, especially for bonding paper items such as labels, postage stamps, and envelope flaps. Differing types and varying strengths of mucilage can also be used for other adhesive applications, including gluing labels to metal cans, wood to china, and leather to pasteboard. 

Significance

An early item from the late 1920s for office use as a glue by a well-known Melbourne manufacturer of office supplies of inks, glues, rubber stamps, and mucilage gums, etc.

Physical description

Bottle of Mucilage.

Inscriptions & markings

Manufactured by Angus & Co Ltd Aust. Contents 20 Oz