182 RICHMOND. 



valuable grades of fossil Kauri resin are found. That the Philippine 

 forest regions do contain widely distributed deposits of mineral resin, 

 irrespective of existing almaciga trees, is hardly to be questioned, but 

 their isolated distribution and the extreme uncertainty of the work makes 

 it very improbable that they will ever be extensively exploited. 



COMMERCIAL GRADING. 



All Manila copal exported from the Philippines directly to the United 

 States is cleaned, sorted, and graded in Manila. In this regard, partic- 

 ular attention is given to cleanliness, color, and size. 



Cleanliness is probably the most important value-determining factor. The 

 resin, even with, the most approved method of blazing trees and care in removing 

 the hardened product, contains adhering or embedded fragments of bark, chips, 

 and leaves, which are the despair of the varnish maker and which are very 

 difficult to remove without materially diminishing the size of the pieces. On the 

 other hand, the mineral resin is not nearly as liable to be contaminated with 

 vegetable matter, and only requires to be chipped or scraped free of surface 

 impurities of a mineral nature. 



Size. — Manila copal, as it comes to the graders, is extremely variable in respect 

 to the size of individual pieces. This is due to its very friable character and the 

 methods of collecting and handling, and the cleaning operations further increase 

 the proportion of the smaller grades. 



Thus, there are shipped what are known as dust, pea, nut, thumb, and first 

 or bold chunk sizes; and to prevent further division in subsequent handling and 

 storage the resin is now shipped in wooden packing cases 76 by 44.5 by 45.70 

 centimeters, and holding 90.718 kilos (200 pounds) net weight per case. 



Color. — The recent resin is always pale yellow in color. The mineral resin is 

 usually reddish-brown, although it is sometimes found in light amber shades. 

 Keeping in mind cleanliness, size, and color, several grades in market value are 

 produced, ranging from No. 1 (first quality), consisting of light-colored, clean, 

 bold pieces to the poorest quality consisting of dark-colored, dirty dust. 



Commercial uses. — The resin is almost exclusively used commercially in varnish 

 manufacture, largely as an ingredient of oleoresinous varnishes, to a less extent 

 as an ingredient of spirit varnishes. The solution of the resin in alcohol dries 

 "flat" or opaque, hence it can not be employed. Manila copal also enters to some 

 extent into the manufacture of sealing wax. 



Other uses to which it appears suitable are for the manufacture of cheap soaps 

 and paper size. Like common colophony, it dissolves for the greater part in 

 alkaline solutions, forming resinates of soda or potash which possess considerable 

 detergent properties. 



Aqueous solutions of the alkaline resinates are precipitated by solutions of 

 all other metallic salts, e. g., aluminum sulphate, in the form of an insoluble 

 resinate which could be used in paper manufacturing to render the paper non- 

 bibulous. 



THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF MANILA COPAL. 



Tschirch and Koch 9 examined two specimens of resin {Dammara orientalis 

 Lamb.) obtained from a firm of copal washers in Mainz, Germany, who guaranteed 

 them to be genuine specimens of commercial Manila copal. The first specimen, 



'Arch. d. Pharm. (1902), 240, 202. 



