246 A HISTOEY OP THE SODA MANUFACTURE. 



Dammar from Oriental ports, as many of us have hitherto believed, is 

 really the produce of the above-named coniferous tree. 



Manila Copal, or Mastic. — Occasionally parcels of copal arrive 

 here from the Philippines, sometimes under the name of Mastic, at 

 others as Copal. Excellent specimens of all the varieties produced in 

 Manila are exhibited in the Technological Museum at the Crystal 

 Palace, which were received direct, but no indication is given of their 

 sources, and here again is a fair field for inquiry. 



The above " notes," are merely what they profess, and are rather sugges- 

 tive than exhaustive. Only the most important of the resins ol Asia have 

 been alluded to, these being produced in sufficient quantities to supply a 

 large export trade should a demand arise. Other allied substances, un- 

 known to the writer, probably also fulfil the above conditions* Borneo, 

 or Sumatra, may possess indigenous trees, yielding valuable copals. Other 

 islands of the Archipelago very likely have their dammars yet unknown 

 to Europeans. It is not supposed that the few above enumerated can be 

 accepted as the whole copalline resins of Asia ; India alone is known to 

 produce as many others, but these are of secondary importance. The 

 subject thus opened is an interesting, useful, and practical one, and 

 claims further investigation and development. 



HISTORY OF THE SODA MANUFACTURER 



BY WM. GOSSAGE, F.C.S. 



Baron Liebig has suggested that the wealth and civilisation of a 

 country may be measured by its consumption of sulphuric acid. I am 

 of opinion that if soda were substituted, in the place of sulphuric acid, 

 for this test, the estimate would be more correct ; in fact, the greater 

 part of all the sulphuric acid made is applied to the manufacture of 

 soda, or mineral alkali ; and when we refer to the various purposes for 

 which this alkali is essentially necessary, such as the production of 

 glass, of soap, of bleached and printed fabrics, of paper, of glazes for 

 porcelain and earthenware, &c, we see that all its applications are 

 those closely connected with the civilisation and refinement of the 

 human race ; to which we may add the fact, that this is the most ex- 

 tensive of all chemical manufactures, both as regards the employment of 

 capital and labour. 



Previously to the establishment of the French Republic, in 1703, 

 soda was obtained almost entirely from the ashes of certain plants 



* The Hymencea Cowrba/ril which has been introduced into Asia, yields no copal 

 known in local commerce ; and none reaches this country even from South Ame- 

 rica, where the tree is indigenous. 



t Eead before the British Association. 



