Boiling. 



Decoction. 

 Pods. 



tG^ESALPINIA 

 BRAZILIAN (BAKAM) WOOD SAPPAN 



Dye 

 Properties and Uses. The wood yields a valuable red DYE, which, 

 fort- tin' days of aniline, was exported very largely from India to 

 rope. Recently the traffic has declined very materially. But the 



muv also be obtained from the pods (torn) and from the bark, 

 ce the necessity of not confusing the pods of this species with those 

 < . ttii/1/nn, which are nowadays also called teri or ton. The 

 omits given by both Rheede and Rumphius of the methods pursued 

 tin* dyers of India or of the East might be given as a modern 

 finent, so very accurate are these writers in most particulars. The 

 of lodh(leha)\)&Tk (Si/in/t/ocos rtn-cntomt, p. 1053) as a dye auxiliary, 

 ,1 of ohalk to deepen the colour and of alum to fix it, as also the circum- 

 ,nce that the colour is bleached or destroyed by acetic acid these 

 d such other circumstances are fully detailed. Rumphius tells us 

 t in preparing the decoction the Natives throw a few grains of paddy 

 the boiling liquid. If the husk scales off, the boiling is regarded as 

 cient, not otherwise. 



Sir Thomas Wardle speaks very favourably of sappan in wool-dyeing Preparation 

 in calico-printing. Of the pods, he observes that they are astringent 

 d much used in dyeing and tanning since they produce with salts of 

 m a rich black. It may be doubtful whether the pods alluded to are, 

 wever, those of this plant; they may be those of C. <li</(/ii(t. Sule, 

 ling of Berdr, describes the manufacture of a special dye called 

 hai from the wood. Giles similarly says that in the Karenni country 

 lant known as the sawku (possibly sappan) affords from the powdered 

 t a brick-red dye that on being boiled with cotton becomes permanent 

 requires no mordant to fix it. 



By the Sanskrit authors sappan is often treated as a form or quality of 

 dal-wood. It is not generally recommended as a medicine either by Medicine. 

 .e Hindus or by the Muhammadans of India, but has for years been 

 employed by Europeans in India as a useful substitute for logwood. [Cf. 

 Rept. Cent. Indig. Drugs Comm., i., 156.] Ainslie speaks of the emmena- 

 gogue properties of a decoction of the root. 



According to the Pharmacographia there are two qualities of the wood Trade 

 met with in Indian shops, viz. the Singapore and the Dhunsari, with a 

 third and less valuable obtained from Ceylon. It sells at from Rs. 30 to 

 Rs. 42 per kandy of 7 cwt., according to quality. Fawcett (Monog. Dyes 

 Bomb., 15) calls it by the old name " Brazilian- wood," and speaks of 

 it as imported from Siam and Malabar. It sells at Rs. 2 per 12 seers (24 

 b.) and is largely used in preparing gulal. Formerly it was extensively 

 ployed in Ahmedabad in cotton-dyeing but has been superseded by 

 iline, which is sold under the appropriated name of patanga. In this 

 ection it may also be remarked that in Lahore I found a yellow aniline 

 id in packets under the name piorina : illustrations of the direct adapta- 

 >n of the aniline wares to the markets of India, the former being intended 

 supplant the classic patang and the latter the piori. [For chemistry 

 cf. Pharmacog. Ind., i., 500 ; Journ. Chem. Indust., 1898, xvii., 691 ; 

 Hanausek, Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 

 252, etc.] 



[Cf. Marco Polo, Travels, 1290, ii., 312, also n. 315; Varthema, Travels, 

 1510, 205 ; Garcia de Orta (though often cited, does not apparently allude 

 to it) ; Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1598, i., 121 ; Banerjei, Agri. 

 Cuttocfc, 199; Monographs, Dyes and Dyeing: Hadi, 78; Fawcett, 15; Holder, 

 1896, 2 ; Banerjei, 1896, 13, 17, 23, app. ii. ; J. D. Fraser ; F. H. Giles, 4 ; 



195 



Aniline 

 Imitations. 



Chemistry. 



