ASTRINGENT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Astringent

... not know how the other half lives. Noticing a pot of areca nut toothpaste on a chemist's counter, I asked him what the peculiar properties of the areca nut were—in short, what was it good for. He replied that it was an astringent and acted beneficially on the gums, but he had never heard that it was used for any other purpose than the manufacture of an elegant dentifrice. I felt inclined to question him about the camel in order to see whether he would tell me that it was a tropical animal, chiefly noted ...

— Concerning Animals and Other Matters • E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)