ALKALIS 



AMMONIA 



ALKALIES AND ALKALINE EARTHS 



Classification. 



Distinctive 

 Features. 



Indian Crude 

 Methods. 



Materials here 

 dealt with. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 219-20. 



Ammonia. 



Not 



Manufactured 

 in India. 



Essence of 

 Ginger. 



Hatters' Varnish. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 167 ; 

 ii., 152-4; 

 vi.,pt.i.,332. 

 Potassium. 

 Pearl-ash. 



Vernacular 

 Names. 



Sources. 



In its restricted sense the term Alkali might be said to denote AMMONIA, 

 POTASH, SODA, LITHIA the alkalis proper. But in a wider signification 

 it embraces the ALKALINE EARTHS, viz. the hydrates of the metals BARIUM, 

 CALCIUM and STRONTIUM. These all possess to a certain extent the pro- 

 perties usually attributed to the alkalis. In like manner the ALKALINE 

 ASHES are very largely crude alkalis obtained by burning certain plants. 

 Lastly the ALKALOIDS such as ACONITINE, MORPHINE, QUININE, etc., 

 have been described as the ORGANIC ALKALIS, but of course have nothing 

 alkaline about them. 



The distinctive features of the alkalis compounds may be said to be 

 their solubility in water, their neutralisation of acids, their corrosion of 

 animal and vegetable substances, and lastly their property of changing 

 or inverting vegetable colours, such as litmus. 



In all fairness it may be said of India that it does not possess any 

 industry (pursued on modern scientific methods) for the production or 

 refinement of the alkalis, alkaline earths and their salts. Such manu- 

 factures as do exist (if common salt be for the moment left out of con- 

 sideration) are a century behind the times, and consist mainly in the 

 production of saltpetre, pearl-ash, barilla and the like. 



It is intended in this place to deal more particularly with the collective 

 aspects of the alkalis and alkaline earths and to discuss, in such detail as 

 may be necessary, the minor products, but with those of commercial value, 

 simply to indicate the positions where separate articles on these will be found. 



ALKALIS. 1. Ammonia and its Salts. This alkali is in 

 Europe and America very largely prepared from "gas liquor" (see Coal, 

 p. 344) or " bone liquor " or from " volcanic salts." It is not manufac- 

 tured to any appreciable extent in India, for the simple reason that none 

 of the crude materials named are to be had in sufficient abundance. 



The chief preparations and salts are (a) LIQUOR AMMONIA used as medicine, as 

 a chemical and as a solvent for resins and for certain active vegetable principles, 

 thus forming varnishes and ammoniated tinctures. Of the latter class may be 

 mentioned the " Essence of Ginger," employed in the manufacture of gingerade 

 and ginger beer ; of the former the Hatters' Varnish, which consists of shellac 

 dissolved in ammonia and alcohol. 



The salts are (b) the CHLORIDE (narasdra or nausaddr), of importance as a 

 material from which to manufacture other salts of ammonia, also essential in 

 galvanising, in galvanic batteries and as an alkaline flux, (c) The SULPHATE, 

 which is largely employed as a manure (see Coal and Coke, p. 346). [Gf. Mollison, 

 Textbook 2nd. Agri. i., 117.] (d) The CARBONATE, SULPHIDE, OXALATE, 

 NITRATE, PHOSPHATE and BROMIDE, all of which take important places in the arts 

 and industries of every country and may be said to be entirely imported by India. 



2. Potassium OP Potash and Carbonate of Potash. J. H. 



Brough, Cantor Lectures in Journ. Soc. Arts., 1903, lii., 144. This is the 

 chief source of CAUSTIC POTASH, and the two compounds may, therefore, 

 be dealt with collectively in this place. The carbonate in its crude 

 form is often called POTASHES or PEARL-ASHES and in Bengali sarjika, 

 in Hindustani jon-khar or ivdk-chdr, and in Sanskrit Yavak-shdra. Of 

 the other provincial names the following may be quoted : jhar-ka-namak, 

 jhadicha-mitha, mara-vuppu, manu-vuppu, budide-vuppu, kdram, etc. 



Sources. Formerly the European supply of the crude material from which 

 this substance is manufactured was very largely the PEARL-ASH or WOOD-ASH 

 obtained from America, Canada and Russia, etc. While the production of pearl- 

 ash has steadily declined with the advance of traffic in more scientific and less 

 wasteful materials, the imports into Europe of pearl-ash have not been entirely 

 discontinued. Caustic potash is usually manufactured from the carbonate, and 



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