370 



THE TINCAL OF ASIA, 



Cork-tree bark 

 Hemlock bark 

 Divi-divi 



Valonia, Smyrna 



Myrobaloms 



Shuniac 



Palermo 



5) 



J> 



Malaga - 

 Carolina 

 Virginian 

 Catechu, Bombay, light colour 



Jj 

 JJ 



Pegu, dark brown colour 



Bengal 



12-16 

 13-92 



29-80 

 49-25 

 34-78 

 20-91 

 19-35 

 2437 

 16-20 

 10-40 

 5-0 

 10-00 

 26-32 

 55-00 

 46-88 

 44-00 



Mulligan & Dowling. 

 » » 



G. Mtiller. 

 Mulligan & Dowling. 



G. Muller. 



Mulligan & Dowling. 



Davy. 



Frank. 



Cadet de Gassincourt. 



Mulligan & Dowb'ng. 



Davy. 



Mulligan & Dowling. 



Davy. 



THE TINCAL OF ASIA, AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 



BY ARTHUR ROBOTTOM. 



The question has often been put to the writer, " "What is tincal ? where 

 does it come from ? and what are its uses ?" — and probably not one person 

 in a hundred knows what the product so extensively sold under this trade- 

 name really is. Articles of commerce are frequently advertised for sale in 

 the ' Public Ledger,' ' Commercial Daily List,' or other special class publica- 

 tions, which are, no doubt, puzzling to many, unless they have at their 

 elbow Mr Simmonds's ' Dictionary of Trade Products and Trade Terms.' 

 Many a timber-merchant, wool-spinner, wholesale grocer, or other dealer 

 or manufacturer, into whose hands these trade prices-current pass, naturally 

 would inquire, " What is tincal T They can scarcely be expected to be so 

 well informed on this matter as the Mincing-lane brokers, the brokers and 

 merchants of the Liverpool Exchange, or the pottery manufacturers, and 

 others, who deal in and use this substance. With the view of diffusing a 

 little more information on the subject, I shall condense and arrange such 

 information as may convey a correct idea of this important natural product 

 of the East. 



Tincal is crude or rough borax, which is imported from Calcutta in 

 crystalline masses, which contain borax, combined with soda and a fatty 

 acid. The salt is never termed borax until refined or purified. It was 

 very early known to the Arabians ; but they applied the term " baurach " 

 indifferently to carbonate of soda, the nitrurn and natron of the ancients, also 

 found as an efflorescence on the soil. 



Baurach is among the many chemical preparations noticed by the 

 Arabian, Geber, who lived in the eighth century. It was employed by him 

 for one of the same purposes for which it is used at present ; namely, to 

 assist in reducing the oxides of certain metals to the metallic state. 



