CASSIA 



MADRAS TANNED SKINS AURICULATA 



Tanner's Bark 



nn<jly often inn. h adulterated. It would appear that about 5,000 

 .iv usually taken \>\ India and again re-exported under the name of 

 East Indian Senna or Moka or Aden Senna, and is thus no doubt the true Adn senna. 

 sun mi (aona) -kokki (tnaki) or sanna hajazi. For many years past, 

 lumever, the imports from Arabia have been declining and the exports of 

 Tumevelly senna improving. The purity, high quality and low price of 

 the Indian article place it in the front rank. In 1887-8 the total exports 

 mi India of locally ^ro\vn senna came to 21,376 cwt., valued at Rs. 

 H9. More recent figures are given by some writers, such as 5,000 

 oandiesannuallyfrom Tuticorin, but the data for an exact and detailed state- 



' of the total trade are not available. Quite recently a new form of Export*. 

 ia has appeared in the London markets from India. This has been 

 io\vn by Barber to be <'. nt<>nt<tn(i, but as a drug it has been found inferior 

 ( '. tint/nsfi/nlitf, and should therefore be discouraged. [Cf. Hooper, 

 Labor. Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1903-4, 30 ; Gibson, Journ. 

 i.-Hort. Soc. Ind., ii., 193; vi. (Select.), 128; Pharmacog. Ind., 1890, i., 

 ; Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 29, 290 ; Capital, May 1902 ; Pharm. 

 , 1901, 397.] 



auriculata, Linn. ; the Tanner's Cassia, tarwar, tarota, tangedu, D.E.P., 



jhedi, tangadi, avala, avari, etc. A tall shrub found plentifully in " 215-6. 



itral and South India as far north as Rajputana and also in some 0Tg 

 of Burma. It is common on dry stony hills and on black soils. 



The bark is largely used in tanning and gives a buff-coloured leather. 



has been remarked that Madras is favoured in the possession of this Merit* 

 ing material. But it is feared the discovery of the method of chrome 

 ig has even already given a totally new turn to the subject of Madras 

 or dressed skins and rendered the special advantage mentioned 



comparatively little avail. (See Hides Chrome Process, p. 637.) It 

 always, however, been contended that the raw skins of Madras are 

 naturally well fitted for a high-class tannage. They possess some special 

 properties much liked by the curriers into whose hands they eventually 

 pass to be transformed into the morocco leather used for book-binding, 

 furniture, carriage lining, and many other such purposes. Experts have, 

 moreover, reported that the colour of leather prepared with this bark alone 

 changes into murky brown, further that compared to its merits the 

 price is too high (Rs. 20 a candy of 500 lb.). With a view to ascertaining Price, 

 more precise particulars as to supply, price, and property of this tanning 

 bark, the Reporter on Economic Products to the Government of India 

 issued a circular letter to Forest and other officers of India in which samples 

 of the bark and full particulars were called for. The result was rather 

 disappointing, and has been reviewed in The Agricultural Ledger (1896, 

 No. 9). The Scientific Staff of the Imperial Institute also published some of Receni 

 their investigations with the bark (reprinted by Dunstan, Imp. Inst. Tech. Inve8tl 8 tlons - 

 Repts., 1903, 184-5), from which it would appearthat the samples examined 

 gave extreme variations in amount of astringent principle and therefore of 

 commercial value. Some time subsequently Hooper (Agri. Ledg., 1902, 

 No. 1, 27) pointed out that one source of diversity was in the age of 

 the plant from which the bark had been collected. In young plants 

 he found the bark to contain only 11*92 of tannin and 22*35 extract, 

 while in old plants the corresponding figures were 20*12 of the former 

 and 29'0 of the latter. In another part of his report (I.e. 3) he places 



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