§2 Indian Forest Records. [Vol. VIll 
From time to time the suggestion has been made that the export 
trade could be conducted more cheaply and more efficiently in the 
form of grain-lac. Shellac appears, however, to be the most suitable 
form from the point of view of foreign manufacturing industries 
requiring pure lac. It is true that a large proportion of these indus¬ 
tries require that lac shall be dissolved before use, and that the im¬ 
purities, normally present in grain-lac, can then be strained off. But 
conversion into shellac reduces these impurities to a minimum, and 
facilitates the appraisement of colour. Moreover it is believed that 
the natural resin and wax are not intimately mixed in grain-lac which 
has not therefore the important property of a good flux, required by 
gramophone record and other manufacturers using lac in powdered 
form and not in solution. Finally grain-lac is said to lose its 
solubility more rapidly than shellac and on this count alone would 
be less popular with the consumer. Both the United States 
Shellac Importers’ Association of New York and the London Shellac 
Trade Association have definitely stated their views that lac arrives 
in a cleaner and generally more convenient form as shellac than 
as grain-lac. 
On the question of admixture of rosin, the opinions of foreign 
consumers are divided. The New York market works on a clean basis 
free from rosin, whereas London works on a basis which allows 3 per 
cent, of foreign matter. The admixture of rosin in the manufacture of 
shellac with a view to lowering the melting-point has been a recognized 
practice for many years past. For some purposes, eg., the hat trade } 
the presence of rosin is generally preferred. Where rosin is used in 
manufacture, the proportion is generally 10 to 12 per cent, and this 
proportion is reduced by the dealer or broker to 3 per cent, by blend¬ 
ing with pure shellac. Pure shellac is just as freely available as 
shellac manufactured with rosin, and the view that rosin is invariably 
used, in smaller or greater proportions, is wholly incorrect. 
The same remarks apply generally to the use of orpiment, which 
is frequently employed in the manufacture of shellac in order to 
improve the colour. Dark colour in shellac usually indicates that the 
dye has not been completely washed out, and gives rise to the suspi¬ 
cion that other impurities also, such as dust, are present. This 
suspicion is not always well-founded. It is hoped that the prejudice 
in favour of light colour shellac, encouraging as it does the admixture 
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