ALKALIS 



GLAUBER'S 

 SALT 



Ceramic Art. 



Black Salt. 



Medicine. 



Phuli. 



Flavouring 

 for Tea. 



Caustic 

 Soda. 



Imported, 

 paper Mills. 



Decomposition 

 of Common Salt. 



Sulphuric 

 Acid. 



Glauber's 

 Salt. 



ALKALIS AND ALKALINE EAKTHS 



increase the weight. In Native medicine these salts are supposed to be digestive 

 and hepatic. The effort to utilise in the potter's art tho peculiar clays that are 

 in association with carbonate of soda has not as yet received the consideration 

 that it deserves, although the ceramic art of India has been the subject of special 

 study. As a historic fact, that has escaped the attention of most writers on this 

 subject, it may be said that some GO years ago Sir William O'Shaughnessy sub- 

 mitted to the Government of India the results of an inquiry which included 

 extensive trials of Bengal clays, such as Kolgong khari, Saban miti, Rotas clays, 

 Moulmein clays, Singapore clays, etc., as also numerous experiments in glazing 

 the pottery turned out. [Cf. Beng. Dispen., app., 700-17.] 



6. Black Salt (kdla-nun, kdla-nimak) is an article of some impor- 

 tance in the local markets of India. It is prepared in Upper India, 

 chiefly at Bhiwani in Hissar. 



Common salt is heated with the chebulic and emblic myrobalans together 

 with saji, until a sort of fusion takes place. The article so manufactured is used 

 as a MEDICINE. Dr. Warth favours me with a note on this subject from which 

 he would appear to regard sodium sulphate as an indispensable ingredient. He 

 writes : "I have produced perfect specimens by fusing a mixture of pure common 

 salt with sodium sulphate, a little sodium carbonate and organic matter repre- 

 sented by sugar. According as the proportion of anhydrous sodium sulphate 

 varied from 1 to 3 per cent., a more or less strongly medicinal salt was produced 

 varying from pink to a decided vermilion colour, whilst as much as 15 per cent, 

 of the sulphate yielded a very dark purple-coloured salt. All these had the 

 characteristic sulphuretted-hydrogen smell, and gave the same chemical reactions 

 as the Native-made product. The jungle fruits which they add can have no 

 special influence on the salt because they are completely carbonised and serve 

 only as reducing agents for the sulphate to sulphide, the characteristic material 

 of the prepared medicinal (or black) salt." 



7. Phuli. This is believed to be a form of carbonate of soda. 



It is imported into Leh from Changthan, Rupshu and Nubra in Ladakh. It 

 is said to be extensively used for mixing with tea to bring out its strength. It 

 is exported to Kashmir and Kullu and into Lower India. The Bhotyas are said 

 to use it for washing clothes and for dyeing wool. The average imports appear 

 to be from 50 to 120 tons, and the average cost about Rs. 6-4-0 per maund. 



8. Barilla or Sajji-khar (see Barilla and The Indian Saltworts, 

 pp. 112-4). 



9. Borax or Sodium bi-borate (see Borax, p. 171). 



10. Caustic Soda (= kshard in Sanskrit). So much space having 

 been devoted to carbonate of soda and a further article to sodium bi- 

 borate, the present salt must be disposed of in the briefest possible 

 manner. At the present day it may be said that India's supply comes 

 entirely from foreign countries. One of the Indian paper mills is 

 believed, however, to have attempted the preparation of its own supplies 

 from the reh salts found in the neighbourhood, but it is not known whether 

 its endeavours in that direction were successful. 



The greatest possible interest has been aroused in Europe and America 

 through the discovery of a method of direct decomposition of common salt into 

 caustic soda and chlorine gas by means of electricity. With regard to Electro- 

 chemistry the reader might consult The Mineral Industry (New York, 1900, 

 763-72). 



The Indian press have hailed the discovery of the direct decomposition of 

 salt as bringing a cheap supply of alkali to the doors of our Indian soap-works, 

 paper-works, etc., owing to the possession of a limitless supply of sodium chloride. 

 The great recommendation to India of this new method lies in the fact that 

 sulphuric acid is not required. Without sulphuric acid Le Blanc's manufacture 

 of soda-ash could not be brought to bear on our supplies of common salt or of 

 reh efflorescence hence in all probability the backwardness of India in chemical 

 enterprise. 



11. Sodium Chloride (see Salt, pp. 963-71). 



12. Sodium Sulphate, or Glauber's Salt. This is generally 

 known in India under the name khari or kharinun, and as already ex- 



56 



