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Indian Steel or Wootz, is very lightly prized in Europe, and the objection to it is the great expense required to fuse it in England, in consequence of the imperfect state in which it is manufactured by the Native workmen, who are ignorant of the principles of the process.

Sulphuric Acid may be made in India much cheaper than in England, because the Sulphur and Saltpetre required are both mineral products of this country, and of course its application in the manufacture of Nitric Acid, Muriatic Acid, and Acetic Acid. In making Chloride of Lime for use in bleaching, in dyeing, &c., and numerous others will follow of

course.

Pyroxalic Spirit is another product in the decomposition of wood, which fetches a high price in England, and might be useful for producing light in India, where wood is so plentiful and cheap.

Acetate of Lead is another form in which Acetic Acid might be combined as an article of commerce, (vide process.)

Acetate of Alumina is another form in which Acetic Acid might be combined as an article of manufacture of great request in dyeing. Phosphorous is a product which might be made in India, and afford an instance of the application of Sulphuric Acid.

Citric Acid is very expensive in England, being made exclusively by decomposing an Alkaline Citrate, but which might be cheaply made in India from Limes.

Citrate of Soda or Lime might be cheaply made in India, (vide process), and as the fruit is so abundant and cheap, could be made at less expense than Tartaric Acid.

Vinegar cheaply and readily made by the fermentation of a solution of sugar, and as the sugar is so cheap in India, the coarse inspissated juice selling in many places for eight annas per maund, which yields by fermentation parts of vinegar of the common strength, it can be

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The Pipe Clay of Arcot, and probably of other parts, affords the means of making Pottery of the finest kind in India.

The Kaolin of Mysore affords the means of making the very finest kinds of Porcelain at little expense, and may be more generally employed in making crucibles and melting pots for metals, or fire bricks for lining furnaces.

Glass also may be an article of manufacture, as the finest kinds of

quartz are abundant in South India; and soda required for a flux and wood-fuel are abundant.

Tartaric Acid may be produced as an article of manufacture by saturating the excess of Tartaric Acid in the [illegible] of the fruit of the tamarind tree with lime, (vide process,) and will be a useful article much required in dyeing; or perhaps the Tartrate of Lime might be introduced into England as an article of commerce.

Alum might be made from the Aluminous Shale said to abound upon the Western Coast.

Prospectus.

Part I. Introduction, Principles of Chemistry, Explanation of Nomenclature.

Sect. 1st. Chemical combination.

Modes of

Solution

Chemical mixture.

Effects of

Change of form.

Change of density or bulk.

Change of temperature.

Alteration of the action of Heat.

Change of Colour.

Sect. 2d. Affinity and tables of,

Sect. 3d. Laws of combination-Atomic.

Theory.

Theory of volumes.

Sect. 4th. Table of equivalents and use of.

Part II. Description of chemical elements and their properties.

Part III. Dictionary of tests.

Part IV. The use of tests, and the practice of quantitative analysis of inorganic substances.

Part V. Description of apparatus.

Part VI. Chemical manipulation, and mode of operation generally.

(Signed)

Royacottah, 5th October, 1841.

J. CAMPBELL, Captain,

Assistant Surveyor General.

303

Report of the death of Mr. CSOMA De Koros, made to G. A. BUSHBY, Esq., Officiating Secretary, Political Department, from A. CAMPBELL, Esq. Superintendent, Darjeeling and communicated to the Society.

It is with much regret that I repor the death at this place, on the 11th instant, of Csoma de Körös, the Hungarian traveller and Thibetan scholar. He fell avictim to fever contracted on his journey hitherto, for the cure of which he would not be persuaded to take any medicines until it was too late to be of any avail.

Mr. De Körös arrived here on the 24th ultimo, and communicated to me his desire of proceeding to the residence of the Sikim Raja, and thence to Lassa, for the purpose of procuring access to stores of Thibetan literature, which he had been taught to believe, from his reading in Ladakh and Kansun, were still extant in the capital of eastern Thibet, (Lassa,) and might have thence found their way into Sikim.

As the eldest son of the Sikim Raja is by the usage of the family a Lama, and as the present Tubgani Lama is a learned priest, and said to be in possession of an extensive library, I had some hopes that by making the Raja acquainted with M. De Körös' unobtrusive character, and known avoidance of political and religious subjects in his intercourse with the people of the countries he has visited, I might have contributed to procuring him permission to proceed into Thibet, and to this end I sent the Raja's Vakeel to visit M. De Körös, that he might satisfy himself as to the extent to which he had prosecuted his studies into the language and literature of Thibet, as well as of the objects he had in view in desiring to visit the Tubgani Lama and the city of Lassa. The Vakeel, who is a man of intelligence and some learning, was altogether amazed at finding a Feringhee a complete master of the colloquial language of Thibet, and so much his own superior in acquaintance with the religion and literature of that country. I endeavoured to answer his numerous questions about M. De Körös, by detailing the particulars of his early life and later travels in Asia with which I was acquainted; by stating his devotion to the prosecution of his lingual and literary studies; my certain knowledge that in permitting him to visit Sikim and Lassa, the Raja would have nothing to apprehend from ignorance of the usages and religion of the people, or an indiscreet zeal, in the attain

ment of his objects; that he was not at all connected with the service of our government, or any other power in India; but, that the Governor General had granted him his permission to travel through India, and that any facilities afforded him by the Raja, would be noted approvingly by His Lordship and myself.

The Vakeel at my desire addressed the Raja, explaining fully my wishes, and Mr. De Körös resolved to remain here pending a reply from Sikim. He was full of hope as to the favorable result of the reference, and in the most enthusiastic manner would dilate on the delight he expected to derive from coming in contact with some of the learned men of the East, (Lassa,) as the Lamas of Ladakh and Kansun, with whom alone he had previous communion were confessedly inferior in learning to those of eastern Thibet. He was modest and almost silent on the benefits which might accrue to general knowledge from the results of his contemplated journey, but, "what would Hodgson, Turnour, and some of the philosophers of Europe, not give to be in my place when I get to Lassa," was a frequent exclamation of his during the conversations I had with him previous to his illness.

He had arranged, in the event of his getting permission to proceed, to leave with me all his books, papers, and bank notes to the amount of Rs. 300, to be cared for on his behalf; and a complete copy of the Journal of the Asiatic Society, which he had received from the Society. He said he should ask me to keep in the event of his never returning. How soon were all his enthusiastic anticipations clouded, and his journeyings stopped for ever!

On the 6th instant I called on him, and found him feverish, with foul tongue, dry skin, and headache; I urged him to take some medicine, but in vain. He said he had suffered often from fever and other ailments, from which he had recovered without physic, that rhubarb was the only thing of the sort he had ever used, except tartar emetic. The former had been recommended to him by Moorcroft, and the latter by a Persian doctor. He took out of his box a small bit of decayed rhubarb and a phial of tartar emetic, and said, with apparent distrust in their virtues, "As you wish it, I will take some to-morrow if I am not better, it is too late to-day, the sun is going down." I sent him some weak soup, and returned to see him on the 7th. He was then much better,

got off his pallet, entered into conversation, chatted animatedly with me for an hour on his favourite subjects of thought and enquiry. For the first time since I had seen him, he this day shewed how sensitive he was to the applause of the world, as a reward to his labours and privations. He went over the whole of his travels in Thibet with fluent rapidity, and in noticing each stage of the result of his studies, he mentioned the distinguished notice that had been accorded in Europe and India to the facts and doctrines brought to light by him. He seemed especially gratified with an editorial article by Prof. Wilson, in the Supplement to the Government Gazette of 9th July, 1829, which he produced, and bid me read; it related to the extreme hardships he had undergone while at the monastery of Zemskar, where with the thermometer below zero for more than four months, he was precluded by the severity of the weather from stirring out of a room nine feet square; yet in this situation he read from morning till evening without a fire, the ground forming his bed, and the walls of the building his protection against the rigours of the climate, and still he collected and arranged forty thousand words of the language of Thibet, and nearly completed his Dictionary and Grammar. Passing from this subject, he said, in a playful mood, "I will shew you something very curious," and he produced another number of Wilson's paper of September 10th, 1827, and pointing to an editorial paragraph, desired me to read it first, and then hear the explanation. It run thus: (after noticing some communications to the Asiatic Society from Mr. Hodgson :) "In connexion with the literature and religion of Thibet, and indeed of the whole of the Bhoti countries, we are happy to learn, that the patronage of the Government has enabled the Hungarian traveller, Csoma De Körös to proceed to Upper Busahir to prosecute his Thibetan studies for three years, in which period he engages to prepare a comprehensive Grammar and Vocabulary of the language, with an account of the history and literature of the country. These objects are the more desirable, as we understand Mr. De Körös considers the recent labours of Klaproth and Remusat, with regard to the language and literature of Thibet as altogether erroneous. Mons. Remusat, indeed, admits the imperfectness of his materials, but Klaproth, as usual, pronounces excathedra, and treats the notion of any successful study of Thibetan by the English in India with ineffable con

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