LIME 



CALCIUM 



Shell 

 Lime. 



Coral Eeefs. 



Portland 

 Cement. 



CARBONATE 



INDIAN LIMESTONES 





Industrial 

 Uses. 



Manure. 



Disinfectant. 

 Bleaching. 



Resisting. 



With Indigo. 



Waxcloth. 

 Tanning. 



Soap and 



Candles. 



Iron-smelting. 



Pan. 



Defecation of 



(c) Lime, shell and Coral. All over India shells are burned for lime. 

 Away in the interior of the country, wherever annual inundation occurs, 

 a marvellous crop of exceptionally large land shells furnishes an abundant 

 supply for most local necessities. In the Murshidabad district, for 

 example, the following shells are so employed : Unio marginalia, U. 

 flavidens and Ampullaria ylobosa. On the coast tracts of India 

 and Burma, immense beds of marine shells and of raised coral reefs are met 

 with (see p. 989). Holland (I.e. 1904, 21) says that " the returns of various 

 districts in Burma show a production of 67,461 tons valued at 11,852." 

 These deposits, wherever met with, are regularly utilised as sources of 

 lime, and in- South India have mainly given birth to the prosperous in- 

 dustry of Portland Cement manufacture an industry that is likely to 

 be very shortly organised near the mouth of the Ganges, where rich beds 

 of marine shells are abundant, and may be used to supplement the Sylhet 

 limestones. Hooper (Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1904-5, 32) 

 observes that while the proportion of lime in limestone and kanlcar is 

 variable that of shells preserves a uniform high average. A sample of 

 stone-lime examined contained 55*3, while a specimen of shell-lime gave 

 comparatively 96'9 calcium carbonate. 



Industrial Uses of Lime, Limestone and Marble*. Lime is univer- 

 sally present in the ash of all plants. As a manure, therefore, it plays 

 an important part, especially for soils rich in organic matter. [Cf. Trop. 

 Agrist., 1906, xxvi., 70-5, 180-8.] It hastens decomposition of both 

 animal and vegetable matter. In the form of chloride of lime (bleaching 

 powder) it was at one time largely utilised as a disinfectant, but has been 

 considerably displaced by more effectual and less objectionable substances 

 such as carbolic acid. As a bleaching reagent chloride of lime is extensively 

 employed, such, for example, as in the raising of metallic colours, in dis- 

 charging Turkey reds, and in calico-printing, etc. In India lime is made 

 into a resist paste with ordinary gum-arabic, and in that form is utilised by 

 the calico-printer. Lime, in some form, is in fact very generally used in the 

 dyeing and tanning industries. It is, for example, nearly universally em- 

 ployed by the Native manufacturers of indigo. [Cf. Monographs, Dyes 

 and Dyeing : Assam, 4 ; U. Prov., 84 ; Bombay, 24, 30, 34, 37 ; Madras, 4.] 

 Along with sugar it is added to the dyer's indigo vat in order to assist in 

 the production of white indigo. Calcium carbonate is employed as an oil 

 paint for indoor work, and as a water colour mixed with gelatine. The 

 Afridi waxcloth workers (see Carthamus, p. 282) add lime to their roghan 

 to reduce its liquid condition and make it dry readily. The tanner utilises 

 it to remove the hair from hides. [Cf. Monographs, Tanning and Working 

 in Leather : U. Prov., 7, 9 ; Madras, 12, 30-4 ; Bombay, 15 ; Bengal, 

 10-11 ; C< Prov., 68.] Lime was formerly of the greatest importance to 

 both the soap and the candle makers (in the saponification of the fats), 

 though in Europe to-day they mostly purchase a prepared alkali. Lastly, 

 limestone is necessary as a flux in iron-smelting. [Cf. Blount and Bloxam, 

 Chem. for Engin. and Manuf., 252 ; Alder Wright, Oils, Fats, Wages, etc.] 



Food and Medicine. As an article of (what might be called) food, 

 it is largely used by the people of India. In other words, it is an essential 

 ingredient in the preparation known as pan. The lime obtained from 

 shells is objected to, however, for that purpose, by certain Hindus, on the 

 ground that it is derived from animals. It is used in the defecation of the 

 saccharine juices (see pp. 929, 954). The coagulation of the nitro- 



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