December 14, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
465 
In the hands of more skilful investigators, aided by 
the refined scientific appliances of the present day, there 
is every reason to hope that the obscurity still surround¬ 
ing this subject will be dispelled, and that we shall here¬ 
after be enabled to recognize more fully the nature of the 
intimate and beneficent connection undoubtedly existing 
between the solar and vital forces. 
INDIAN RESINS AND GUMS.* 
BY P. L. SIMMONDS. 
The progress of our manufactures and chemical indus¬ 
tries leads to increased demand for gums and resins, 
which are only received in any quantity from two quar¬ 
ters, India and Africa, where they are abundant anc. 
labour is cheap. In soluble gums, Arabic, etc., there 
has been a small increase in the imports in the last few 
years; but, notwithstanding the large employ of dex¬ 
trine and gum substitutes, the natural gums, at mode¬ 
rate prices, are still much wanted; of the various lac 
products, for which we are solely dependent on India, 
the supply is decreasing; and of the resins for varnish, 
copal and kowrie are the only ones of which steady 
supplies are maintained; animi has fallen off consider- 
ably. In view of the growing deficiency in the supply 
of gums and resins for commerce, the Government of 
India has set on foot, through its officials, inquiries as 
to the yearly amount that could be obtained of the more 
easily procurable kind of gums and resins, and the price 
per ton at which they could be put down at the pro¬ 
vincial commercial centre most convenient for export to 
Europe, or for transmission to a suitable port. The ex¬ 
portation of these products, and especially of gums pro¬ 
per, has only to a very small extent engaged the atten¬ 
tion of traders. They are now generally gathered for 
local consumption merely. A large foreign demand 
would develope the trade in each kind to an immense 
extent, as gum-producing trees are abundant all over 
the provinces. We have not all the replies before us, 
but from the report of the Commissioners of the Central 
Provinces, some useful facts may be gleaned. 
About 180 tons of dammar or ral, at from 160 to 190 
rupees per ton, could be put down yearly at Nagpur or 
Jabalpur. This would come from the district of Mandla, 
Balaghat, Raipur, and Bilaspur. Formerly, a good deal 
of ral was procurable. It is easy to get. The hillman 
selects the finest trees, hacks a circle on the bark round 
each, and removes the ral when formed. This process, 
though, kills the tree, and entire forests have been de¬ 
stroyed by it. Of late years a stop has been put to the 
practice in the Government jungles, and but little ral 
now finds its way into the market, and that is procured 
from the Malguzari jungles. In addition to the above, 
a large quantity could be exported yearly from Sambul- 
pur, and put down at the port of False Point, at 135 
rupees a ton. The vast extent of sal forests ( Shorea ro- 
busta ), Government and zemindari, in these eastern dis¬ 
tricts, would admit of enormous quantities of ral being 
produced, were there a call for it, at a fairly remunera¬ 
tive price. The hill tribes would readily carry on the 
industry, and, could they be induced to tap the trees 
judiciously, the timber would not suffer. These pro¬ 
vinces, at.a rough guess, could readily supply 25,000 
tons of stick lac. The price at which it could be put 
down on the railway, and a part of it at False Point, is 
from 280 to 500 rupees per ton. All districts produce 
lac, but it is particularly abundant in the eastern ones. 
Large quantities of it are consumed in the different 
towns in the making of bracelets, etc.; but most dis¬ 
tricts also export it, to a greater or lesser extent. 
In Jabalpur there is a European lac factory that con¬ 
sumes most of the lac produced in the district. It 
comes, too, to Jabalpur and Mirzapore in large quan¬ 
tities from Raipur, Bilaspur, Sagar, and Mandla. In 
* From the ‘ Joumal of the Society of Arts.’ 
the last-named district, the Jabalpur lac firm has bought 
the right, for the next three years, of collecting lac in 
the Government jungles, for 950 rupees a year. In the 
Sambulpur district, a European firm, from Mirzapore, 
has for a Jong time held practically the monopoly of the 
lac collection. Burhampur and Bombay receive supplies, 
though of less quantity, from the Narbada and Nagpur 
divisions. The whole exports of the Central Provinces 
for the year 1868-69 amounted to 1492 tons, and for 
1869-70 to 1348. Of this amount in the two years re¬ 
spectively, 1417 tons, valued at 386 rupees a ton, and 
1290 tons, at 269 rupees a ton, were exported to Mirza¬ 
pore and Central India; 66 tons, at 540 rupees, and 53 
tons, at 350 rupees, were exported towards Bombay; 
and nine tons, at 205 rupees, and five tons, at 252 ru¬ 
pees a ton, were sent down to the eastern coast. 
Stick-lac is procurable in immense quantities all over 
the provinces. In years of excessive heat the out-turn 
is said to be less. The low price at present paid for it 
hardly repays, it is said, the cost of collection, and in 
consequence much that is in existence is not gathered. 
A large demand at a good price—and this it is confidently 
expected will not be long in coming—would call all thiti 
at once into the market. Moreover, by inducing better 
methods of cultivation, collection and cleansing, it 
would vastly increase the supply, which would be limited 
only by the extent of the demand and the size of the 
forests. The valuable industry, too, that it would esta¬ 
blish would tend to develope the resources of the most 
backward parts of the Central Provinces. The increase 
of the supply by artificial propagation thus becomes a 
subject of much interest. Major Lucie Smith reports 
that lac is found abundantly in the zemindaries to the 
east of the district of Chanda. The incrusted twigs are 
broken off and sold by the Gonds to the dealers in lac. 
The people believe that the lac insects are born of the 
morning mist, and no efforts are made to propagate them 
artificially. But were there a large demand, the rearing 
of the insect would be systematically carried on, and re¬ 
sult in a very great increase of the product. Mr. Grant, 
the Commissioner of the Jabalpur division, states that in 
two places only is the production of lac assisted by human 
agency in propagating the insect from tree to tree. The 
great bulk of the lac is produced witliout any artificial 
assistance, and left entirely to tlie unaided exertions of the 
insect, and its migration from tree to tree. The question 
whether it would pay the Government to undertake the 
establishment of lac-producing tracts of forests is one 
which naturally suggests itself in any discussion of an 
increased supply of resins. On the practicability of a 
scheme of this nature, the Deputy-Commissioner quotes 
a passage from a letter received by him from Mr. Micliia, 
a French gentleman of some scientific attainments, who 
possesses a very intimate knowledge of the forests of 
die Jabalpur and Mandla districts, and who is himself 
die proprietor of a large tract of productive forest land 
in the latter district. Mr. Michia says the production 
of stipk-lac might be indefinitely increased in the Central 
Provinces, if more attention were paid to the rearing of 
the cocoons. If, instead of trusting to chance for the 
annual propagation of this valuable insect, and relying 
altogether on the agency of birds in transfering young 
broods from tree to tree, without which lac would alto¬ 
gether disappear from our forests, we were to establish 
in the wilds of Balaghat and Mandla lac plantations 
for rearing the cocoons, the supply would be enormously 
increased. Palas ( Butea frondosa) and cusam ( Schleichera 
trijuga), the only necessary trees, are found in great 
abundance all along the whole of that line of country. 
The plan suggested by Mr. Michia appears feasible, and 
worthy of a trial. 
The Beejasal ( Butea frondosa) and dhak (Tterocarpus 
marsupium) that yield kino are fairly plentiful in these 
provinces. At present there is no demand for Icino, 
except to a small extent for medicine. Large quantities 
could, if required, be supplied for export. The Deputy- 
