

TnE TRADE IK QUICKSILVER. 



^antities. The bark of Euonymus tingens is used in some parts of India 

 in dyeing, on account of the yellow colouring matter which it affords. 



Ukkulbeer. — The bark and woody portions of the root of Datisca 

 cannablna have long been known and used as a yellow dye in Cashmere. 

 A specimen was exhibited from that locality at the Great Exhibition of 

 1851. It is said to be in great esteem for dyeing silks. Dr. Royle also 

 referred to it in his report on the Paris Exhibition. One of the colours 

 most admired by some artists at that exhibition was a kind of lemon 

 yellow, as seen in some silk scarves from the Punjab. It is more than 

 probable that this colour was produced by Ukkulbeer, as Dr. Stenhouse 

 discovered Datiscine in its analysis. 



Two kinds of leaves are exhibited in the East India House Museum under 

 the names of DTion and Usburg, which are used in India for dyeing 

 purposes. 



It is our intention to supplement this paper on a future occasion by an 

 enumeration of the chief blue and red dye stuffs of China and India. 



THE TRADE EST QUICKSILVER. 



This metal, differing from all others, in being semi-fluid, until subjected 

 to an intense degree of cold — 39 g — when it becomes solid, is extensively 

 employed in the amalgamation of the noble metals ; in water-gilding, 

 the making of vermillion ; silvering mirrors, the backs of looking-glasses, 

 for barometers, thermometers, and in medicine. Quicksilver is a substance of 

 paramount value to science. Mercury dissolves all the metals except iron, 

 forming amalgams with them. The nitrate of mercury is employed for 

 the secretage of rabbit and hare-skins ; that is, for communicating to the fur 

 of these and other quadrupeds the faculty of felting which they do not 

 naturally possess. 



Quicksilver was formerly imported into this country in sheep-skins, from 

 which the wool had been removed — of several thicknesses. It has some- 

 times come from China in the joints or internodes of the bamboo, about 

 a foot long, and three inches across, closed with rosin. These ready-made 

 bottles, which held about 201bs., were covered with linen cloth, cemented on. 

 Of late years it is shipped in wrought-iron bottles. These iron flasks or 

 bottles, which weigh about 251bs. each, are made in England. They hold 

 about 761bs. of quicksilver. The quicksilver is dipped up with ladles, and 

 poured into the bottles through an ordinary tin funnel. The opening or 

 neck of the bottle is then stopped with a close fitting screw, put in with a 

 vice, so as to make it as tight as possible. 



Owing to the increased consumption of this article in the arts, and to the 



