UTILISATION OF COAL WASTE 



COCCUS 



CACTI 



Cochineal 

 Briquettes. 



Coal: Patent Fuel and Briquettes. In connection with the 

 itions alreadv made iv^ardiu- I'.ikarnr. Kashmir and other coals it 

 plained that an industry has Iit>cii oi'L'.tni-cd in tlie production 

 liri(|uctti"> from t!i<-so interior coals. This overcomes their excessive 

 u-tmv and makes them useful fuels. In Europe ami America briquettes 

 produced in manv different wavs and of widely different materials. 

 would lie beyond tlie scope of this work to deal with all the forms of 

 'irii|uettes, but the subject receives interest in India through the possibility 

 led of utilising coal waste and working up inferior coals. 

 ier methods of utilising the waste coal and bituminous materials Coal waste. 

 lie mentioned, such as the manufacture of what is known as 

 gas," nioud gas" or "heating gas." [Cf. Imp. Inst. Tech. 

 . h<>.">. .J45-6.] The conversion of the accumulation of combustible 

 material, near the Indian mines, into gas and finally into electric 

 mvr mi>dit become of infinite value not only to the mines but to 

 lerous possible future industries likely to be originated in their 

 lediate vicinity such as chemical works, potteries, etc. 



ItaoWe 

 PWNC 



COCCUS CACTI, Linn. ; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, ii., 208 ; 

 Board A</ri. Madras, Nov. 18, 1895, COCCID.S;. The Cochineal- 

 harlach-worm, kirmddna, kirmaz, kiranda, kirm, etc. A Scale 

 ct native of Central and South America, Mexico, Guatemala, etc., and 

 tributed by cultivation to the West Indies, Teneriffe, the Canary 

 inds, Algeria, to some extent even to Spain and also to Java, India, etc. 

 There are said to be two forms or qualities of this insect, the grana fina and 

 sylvestris. The former is generally spoken of as the cultivated and the 

 sr as the wild cochineal. The cultivated insect is both larger and more valuable 

 the wild, but whether these are distinct species or only races of the same 

 ct cannot even now be said to have been definitely settled. The grana fina is 

 srted to be a native of Mexico, whilst the grana sylvestris comes from 

 ith America. As against all this confusion only two certain facts can be 

 the first being that recent and properly authenticated attempts to cultivate 

 true grana fina in India have utterly failed ; the second that on three 

 sions a Cot-run (possibly grana sylvestris) has, so to speak, broken loose 

 India and utterly destroyed the Ojinfi throughout largo tracts of the 

 itry. 



The Cochineal insect was discovered by the Spaniards in Mexico in 1518 

 " made known to Europe in 1523, but it was not until 1703 that Leeuwenhoeck 

 jsed the error of regarding the insect as a seed (grana). It is just possible that 

 Portuguese may have attempted to introduce it into India in the 17th 

 itury, since in 1786 Dr. Anderson of Madras sent to Sir Joseph Banks specimens 

 r dye-yielding t'oeena which may have been a form of cochineal ; and this seems 

 have determined the East India Company to endeavour to introduce the true 

 t. Accordingly in 1795 Captain Neilson (Royle, Prod. Res. Ind., 1840, 60) 

 )ught from Brazil some ffpuntia leaves with the insects still adhering. This 

 apparently, however, the grana eylvestris. But, as already stated, there 

 10 knowledge of the acclimatisation of the grana fina in India. I may express 

 indebtedness to Major D. G. Crawford, I. M.S., for having called my attention 

 a passage in Seton Karr's Selections from the Calcutta Gazetteer (ii., 602) : 

 lov. 10th, 1796. Rishra advertises for sale 'that pleasant and well-known 

 of Rissura, about 50 bighas of ground and 120 bighas of Nepaulry, fully 

 ited and now ready to receive the insect.' The well-known villa may have 

 i-ii \\ arren Hastings' house at Rishra." It is not known whether a purchaser 

 B ever found, but there is no doubt that about the time indicated, Indian 

 public opinion was greatly concerned with the prospect of a satisfactory acclima- 

 n of the true cochineal. The chemical achievements of subsequent years 

 letely obliterated, however, all interest in the dye, and Rishra is no more 

 ular resort but a jungle of Opuntia and other weeds. [Cf. F. Brandt. Cult. 

 /:, resum6from Rec. Madras (Jovt. and Board of Rev., 1871, 2 (Cochineal 



347 



D.E.P., 



ii., 398-400. 



Cochineal. 



Two Forms 

 of the Insect. 



Habitat. 



History. 



Introduction 

 into India. 



Nepaolry. 



Warren 

 Hastings' House. 



