1833.] Asiatic Society. 93 
Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia—Chemistry 1 vol.—veceived from the 
Booksellers. 
Physical, 
Read a letter from Mr. G. Swinton, communicating correspondence be 
tween Mr. Robison, Sec. Ed. Roy. Society, and several paper manufacturers, 
on the subject of the Nipal Paper Stuff. 
The experiments tried by the paper manufacturers at home upon the dried pulp 
of the Nipal paper stuff made up into bricks (as described in the Journal, 1st vol. 
page 10,) and sent home by Mr. G. Swinton in 1831, do not seem to have been 
at all successful. The specimens furnished by Mr. C. Cowan to Mr. Robison 
possess neither the softness nor toughness of the paper manufactured in the valley 
itself, according to the methods detailed by Mr. Hodgson. They are brittle and 
stiff ; transparent, as if impregnated with varnish, and full of gritty brown spots. 
The colour of the specimen marked “ strongly bleached’’ is still far from being of 
a good white. It took about 10 lbs. of strong dry chloride of lime, and two lbs. of 
sulphuric acid, to bleach 90 lbs. of the material, being four or five times as much 
as is necessary with ordinary stuff, and the texture was doubtless injured thereby. 
It retained the water very obstinately on the sieve, and shrank remarkably on dry- 
ing. The thin sheets made in Nipal and sent home in 1829, by Mr. Swinton, were 
on the contrary exceedingly tough, flexible, though not quite white; they more re- 
sembled what is called ‘‘ India paper,’’ and took the minute impression of a bank 
note plate with perfect fidelity. 
Mr. Charles Cowan mentions in his notes on working-up the stuff, that it was 
found to be as tough as any material with which he was acquainted, which proves 
that it must have deteriorated since. The value of the cakes was estimated by this 
manufacturer at £6 to 8 per ton, or if fit for cartridge paper, at nearly double. No 
hopes were entertained of turning it to any more refined purpose. 
Read a letter from the same Member on the subject of the Garjan or 
wood-oil procured in the forests of the Tenasserim provinces, a large quan- 
tity of which he had also transmitted to the Sec. of the Ed. Roy. Society, to 
ascertain its value in the English market. 
This oil is in general use among the natives here for mixing with colors, and is 
chiefly imported from Chittagong, but it would appear on Major Burney’s authority 
to be still more abundantly produced in the Tavyoy district, and at much less cost ; 
the bazar price in Calcutta averaging about 9 or 10 rupees per maund, whereas at 
Tavoy it may be procured at about one-fourth that price. Both in India and in 
England it has been found to be a good substitute for linseed oil, for outside work, 
especially in light colors, being worth for this purpose about £12 to 15 per ton. 
Mr. Dowie, a currier of Edinburgh, read 4 paper before the Ed. Society of Arts, 
on the mode of applying this vegetable oil alone or mixed with tallow to the pre- 
paration of leather for shoes, and he considers it as far preferable to fish oil: this 
application is quite new, and at Mr. Swinton’s suggestions some similar trials have 
since been made in Calcutta, by Mackenzie and Macfarlan, with success. The 
leather absorbs a great deal of the oil, and the specimens presented to the Society 
appear to be very soft and tough. 
Major Burney describes the tree whence the Garjan oil is extracted, as forming 
large forests in Tayoy, growing to a great height and size ; its native name is Ka- 
