252 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 28, 1875 



But the most destructive industry, so far as the forests 

 are concerned, is the manufacture of bast mats, bark 

 boots (Japti), cordage, and other articles prepared from 

 the liber or inner bark of the Hme, birch, and willow, 

 chiefly of the former tree. It is computed that 100,000,000 

 pairs of lapti are made annually, each pair requiring the 

 bark of four young trees; thus 400,000,000 trees are cut 

 down every year for shoes ! Lime-trees from five to ten 

 years of age, and half-grown birch, are employed for this 

 purpose. Such reckless waste is much to be regretted ; 

 and Mr. Werekha observes that the pines are tapped for 

 their resin and bled to death in from ten to fifteen years, 

 in the same way as the Landes of Gascony were denuded 

 of their pine-forests during the last century. 



The previously almost useless aspen, either for fuel or 

 building, has attained to considerable importance within 

 the last few years as a material for paper-making. There 

 are already ten manufactories actively engaged in the 

 preparation of this paper in Russia, and two in Finland ; 

 and as vast reserves of this tree have accumulated in the 

 forests, it is expected to prove a source of great riches for 

 many years to come. Timber, of course, is the most 

 valuable article exported, though resinous products and 

 bast mats bring in a large sum. The Scotch pine, spruce 

 fir, birch (for coach-building), and the oak, are the 

 principal and almost the only timbers exported. Speak- 

 ing of the giant oaks of Russia, Mr. Werekha becomes 

 almost sentimental, for they form the strength of British 

 and French shipbuilders, and occasionally revisit their 

 native country in a form by no means flattering to national 

 pride, as the Russians are still very small shipbuilders. 



THE INDIA MUSEUM* 



THE India INIuseum, at present located at Whitehall, 

 has long been known for its extensive and valuable 

 collections of Indian products, a collection too valuable, 

 indeed, not to have been made more available, both for 

 scientific and commercial purposes, than it has been. 

 The removal, however, of the specimens to the galleries 

 at South Kensington will bring them within the reach of 

 ordinary mortals who have neither bodily strength nor 

 inclination to make a pilgrimage to the topmost floor of 

 one of the highest buildings in London. 



The importance and value of these collections has to 

 some extent been shown in the several reports which 

 have from time to time been issued from the Foreign 

 Office. Dr. Forbes Watson, as Reporter on the Products 

 of India, has done much service in this respect, and Dr. 

 M. C. Cooke, who has drawn up the present report, is no 

 novice amongst Indian gums and resins, having gained an 

 extensive experience from his long official connection with 

 the Museum. 



There are, no doubt, many products of the Indian forests 

 that ought to be included in European commerce, but, 

 from the want of a proper knowledge of their uses, have 

 never established themselves in the market. Individually, 

 we have often deplored the prevailing prejudice amongst 

 commercial men in favour of old and well-known com- 

 modities, amounting sometimes even to the absolute 

 rejection of new products, without giving such products 

 a fair trial. Dr. Forbes Watson, in an introductory note 

 to the report under consideration, in reference to this, 

 says it should "be remembered that gums or resins sent 

 over for valuation in the London market are necessarily 

 subject to comparison and competition with the very best 

 qualities of the same substances which come into any of 

 the European markets, and that careful collection is not 

 a too frequent characteristic of Indian products;" Dr. 

 Watson further points out that it is of very great import- 

 ance to the existing and future trade of India that 



• Report by Dr. M. C Cooke, on the Gums, Resins, Oleo-rcsins, .ird 

 resinous products \'\ the India Museum, or produced in India. Prepared 

 under the direction of the Reporter on tlie Products of India. 1S74. 



samples should be sent home in sufficient quantity for 

 report, since this is the only means by which they can be 

 brought under the notice of competent authorities. For 

 this purpose it is suggested that in the case of gums, 

 resins, &c., quantities of from 20 lbs. to 25 lbs. would be 

 sufficient for distribution amongst brokers and traders, as 

 well as for analysis and experiments. The necessity, also, 

 of obtaining accurate information on the botanical source 

 of the plant yielding any particular product is strongly 

 urged. The value of accurate specimens gathered at the 

 time of collecting the article itself, whether it be gum, 

 resin, wood, or fibre, must be apparent to everyone, and 

 is strongly advocated in the article " Botany " in the 

 " Admiralty Manual." In all cases such specimens should 

 consist of leaves, flowers, and, where possible, fruits also, 

 securely labelled and numbered, so that no mistake may 

 occur. 



This report of Dr. Cooke's is valuable, as it brings 

 together nearly all that has been written on the gums and 

 resinous products of India. The botanical synonymy of 

 each species, with references, is first given ; next, a short 

 botanical description ; then its habitat, native names, 

 history, description, and uses ; and finally, in the case of 

 the most important products, references to the works 

 where the sufsject has been treated of. Dr. Cooke has 

 brought his report down to the most recent period, for we 

 find under the genus Garcinia, of which the species are 

 described as yielding gum, a description of G. Griffithii, 

 with the following note : — " Anderson says of this plant 

 that there is in JSIaingay's herbarium a plant very like it 

 in habit, but described by him as having a circumsciss 

 anther, which is cultivated in Singapore as the true gam- 

 boge of Siam. There still appears to be some doubt as 

 to the source of Siam gamboge, which Dr. Hooker seems 

 disposed to attribute to this tree." The fact is, that in the 

 most recent revision of the order, Garci)iia Griffitliii of 

 Anderson has been considered identical with G. morclla, 

 var. pcdiiL'llaia, to which Siam gamboge has been referred 

 by Hanbury, and which Dr. Hooker thinks has sufficiently 

 distinctive characters to raise it to the rank of a species 

 under the name of G. Ilaiibmyi. Again, Dr. Cooke refers 

 to the very recent work of Fliickiger and Hanbury, in 

 which Siam gamboge is attributed to G. nioiclla, var. 

 pedicellata, as stated above. Indeed, throughout the 

 report there are frequent references to the " Pharmaco- 

 graphia," but we are not a little surprised that Stewart and 

 Brandis's " Forest Flora " is not quoted. Thus, for 

 instance, at p. 24 of the report, the Marking Nut, Seme- 

 carpus anacardium, is dismissed with very few lines ; 

 while in the " Forest Flora" is an excellent description of 

 the tree ; of the wood, which '■ is full of an acrid juice 

 which causes swelling and irritation, so that the timber 

 cutters object to fell it unless it has been ringed for some 

 time ; " and of the fruit and the black varnish, which is 

 prepared from the pericarp, and which is used mixed with 

 lime-water for marking cotton. Small consignments of 

 these fruits occasionally arrive in this country, and not 

 long since a quantity of a very fine kind came into the 

 hands of a London house. J. R. J. 



UMBELLULA, OR CLUSTER POLYP 



A BOUT six months since (vol. x. p. 142) we referred 

 -'"^ to a letter from Prof. Wyville Thomson, in which he 

 mentions having brought up from a depth of nearly 

 1,500 feet, between Prince Edward's Island and the 

 Crozets (Kerguelen's Land), specimens of an UmbcUula. 

 When the Challenger was between the coasts of Portugal 

 and Madeira, several specimens of another species of the 

 same rare genus, but from a depth of about 2,000 feet, 

 were also dredged up. The history of these curious 

 Clustei' Polyps is interesting. Some hundred and twenty 

 years ago, and some one and twenty years before M. 

 Kerguelen discovered the land now bearing his name. 



