ARSENIC: 



REALGAR 



WHITE, YELLOW AND BED ARSENIC 



Food. 



Palm-wine. 



Yield of Sugar. 



Yield of Sago. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 321-2; 

 v., 496-7; 

 vi., pt. i., 

 399. 

 Arsenic. 



White Arsenic. 

 Orpiment. 



Sources. 



Mines. 



Imports. 

 Exports. 



Poisoning. 



fibres said to be in great demand in China for caulking boats. It is also used for 

 kindling fires and in Manipur to filter water. It has been recommended .for ropes 

 intended for use under water and even as covering for submarine telegraph 

 cables. The coarsest fibre is only fit for brush-making. For this purpose the 

 leaves are first washed and then soaked in an alkaline solution (Morris, Cantor 

 Lect., Journ. Soc. Arts., Oct. 18, 1895, 931). Sandals are made from the leaf- 

 sheath. [Cf. also Roxb., Obs. on Substitutes for Hemp and Flax, 1809 a paper 

 which gives some results of a comparative test with eju fibre.] The sago from 

 the interior of the stem, although inferior to that obtained from the true sago 

 palm (Metros/ion Sagit, ffottb.), is nevertheless an article of FOOD. It is the 

 source of the Java Sago, which is of considerable importance throughout the 

 Malaya, although the palm is chiefly cultivated for its sap from which palm-wine 

 (toddy), spirit (arak), sugar and vinegar are prepared (see Malt Liquors, p. 760). 

 A long and interesting account of the process of extraction of the sap 

 (Simmonds, Trop. Agri., 248) will be found in the Dictionary (i., 303), and 

 Tschirch (Indische Heil und Nutz-Pflanzen, 159-161, pi. 97) describes the uses 

 and appearance of the palm in Java. The latter observes that it is not worth 

 while to grow the palm for sugar because its production per acre is insufficient. 

 He gives the yield for Java as about 8,000 Ib. per hectare (say 2J acres). The 

 estimate quoted by Simmonds is about 6,600 Ib. to the acre. Jumelle (Lea 

 Cult. Colon. PI. (Aliment.), 27) says that about 400 trees can be planted to the 

 acre and from each tree can be had 1 54 Ib. of sago, giving the enormous total of 

 61,600 Ib. to the acre. Roxburgh remarks that one palm gave about 150 Ib. of 

 good sago-meal. The palm will grow on soils where the cultivation of cereals 

 could not succeed. " The palm dies after ripening its whole crop of fruit, and 

 the stems, which speedily become hollow, are then useful for troughs and water- 

 channels, lasting well underground " (Gamble, I.e. 728). [Cf. Milburn, Or. Comm., 

 1813, ii., 310; Der Tropenpflanzer, iii., 498-500; v., 364-5.] 



A. Wightli, Griff. ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 1902, 340. This is the dadsel, a palm 

 which according to the excise reports is often tapped for toddy. 



ARSENIC (Oxide), including Orpiment and Realgar 5 Ball, 

 Man. Econ. Geol Ind., 1881, 162, 592, 606 ; Holland, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 

 xxxii., 97. This metal is met with commercially in India in either of the 

 three forms : the Oxide, commonly called White Arsenic or Arsenious 

 Acid, safed sambul, somal, etc. ; the Sulphides, known as Orpiment, Yellow 

 Arsenic, haritala, hsae-dan, etc. ; and Realgar, Red Arsenic, mansil, etc. 



White Arsenic is purely a manufactured article obtained by sublimation in 

 the smelting of arsenical pyrites. The sulphides are natural minerals, though 

 they can be artificially produced. Of orpiment there are two qualities, (1) the 

 medicinal and criminal form, consisting of smooth shining scales, which is chiefly 

 imported into Bombay from the Persian Gulf ports, and (2) the coarser and 

 less poisonous form, which occurs in opaque masses. The sulphides of arsenic 

 are regularly drawn from Munsiari in Kumaon, from Chitral and from Upper 

 Burma and Yunnan. An interesting account of the orpiment mines of Chitral 

 will be found in The Pioneer (Sept. 9, 1898). That from Munsiari is brought by 

 the Bhutias to the Bagesar fair. Orpiment is also carried from the Swat country 

 and Kashgar to Peshawar, and from Herat to Kandahar. All three forms of 

 arsenic have always been imported from Burma and China, and although white 

 arsenic is now mainly brought by sea, the sulphides still form a valuable transit- 

 trade from Western China through Upper Burma. There has been some trade, 

 both export and import, in arsenic. The average export of Indian arsenic (ex- 

 cluding orpiment) from 1897 to 1903 was about 334 cwt., valued at 525, 

 whilst the average import was 2,346 cwt., valued at 3,110. In 1906-7 the 

 exports were 106 cwt., valued at Rs. 2,233, and the imports 1,925 cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 44,196. The imports of orpiment into Burma from Western China averaged 

 in 1897-1903, 9,551 cwt., valued at 11,470. The tendency seems to be for the 

 trade to increase whilst prices fall. 



It may be mentioned of white arsenic, that of all poisons it is the most fre- 

 quently resorted to, especially in the Panjab, which has about 50 per cent, of the 

 recorded cases of such poisoning. In the Annual Report for 1902 the Chemical 

 Examiner, Panjab, observed that 64 per cent, of the cases of human poisoning 

 in that year were with arsenic. However, by the Poisons Act of 1904 very wide 



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