1832.] Scientific Intelligence, 205 



during a hot day ; and when used skilfully, the following I find to be the quan- 

 tity required for reducing the temperature. 



Ice. 



Claret, French bottle 1 "} 



Water, ditto >3 chitaks (as cold as can be 



Soda Water, stone ditto ) j drunk. 



Sherry, in English ditto, 4 chitaks J 



Jelly, in a large wide mouthed glass 1 &y ^ hard> 



bottle J 



Butter, 1 chitak to 4 of butter ditto. 



W. 



3. — Mergui Dye Wood. 



Several specimens of a red wood were lately sent to Mr. G. Swinton, by Mr. 

 Maingy, Commissioner on the Tenasserim coast, with a view to its examination 

 as a dye wood. The Rebecca, on which the first samples of the plant were ship- 

 ped, having been burned, nothing was then known of the tree. It was stated by 

 Mr. Maingy, to differ from the Theet-tsee or Burmese varnish tree, which is also 

 used in dying clothes of a red color. The effects of the juice of the red wood 

 tree were described as similar to those occasioned by the Theet-tsee. The Burmese 

 were said, when employed in collecting the wood, never to fell a tree for that pur- 

 pose, but to search for trees that have been blown down, and in which no 

 sap is to be found. It only bears seed once in 7 or 8 years : the Burmese 

 do not extract the dye (probably from their having another tree which yields it in 

 great abundance). The same tree is said to abound in Penang, but there the 

 wood is red throughout, and is constantly employed as a dye by the Malays 

 and Chinese. 



A number of experiments made at the request of Mr. G. Swinton, by 

 Mr. Thomas Speir, upon the Mergui dye wood, prove that it affords, with 

 the mordants commonly used by dyers, colors equally bright and of a 

 more permanent nature than those of most other dye woods. On the other 

 hand, there seems a material objection to its success in the small quantity 

 of coloring principle it contains, as compared with the generality of other 

 woods and roots now in use : and it appears that the color is only found 

 in trees of full growth, and only in the heart of the wood ; the young trees 

 are of a white or light straw color : indeed the branches of grown trees 

 are white and the stems also, until their size exceeds that of the human body. 

 The colors imparted to silk with different mordants were as follows : 



1. — Muriate of tin, sp. gr. 1.185, with 5 parts water. Three shades of orange, 

 varying with the temperature of the bath and the time of immersion. 



2. — Acetate of alumina, sp. gr. 12. of Twaddle's Hydrom. Two shades of 

 flame color. 



3. — Acetate of iron, 7% of ditto. Two shades of drab. 

 4. — Ditto, with a weak decoction of galls. A fine black, two shades. 

 5. — Mixed with manjit, a variety of red and pinks are obtained, but not 

 perhaps equal in intensity to those of the manjit alone. The chief attraction 

 of this wood as a dye, is the orange color which it yields with the aid of 

 muriate of tin and acetate of alumina, of a great variety of shades. 



These results shew that the Mergui wood is deserving of further attention, and 

 that it may become eventually an important article of commerce with our posses- 



