Volume 2
Cyclopædia of India and of eastern and southern Asia, commercial, industrial and scientific : products of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / edited by Edward Balfour.
- Date:
- 1857
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Cyclopædia of India and of eastern and southern Asia, commercial, industrial and scientific : products of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures / edited by Edward Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.
69/872 page 1265
![MUSLIN. small portion of nuwang and arsenic. Each article was well beaten up with water,then the whole mix- ed together, and in the form of a thick paste rolled on a slip of bamboo. On exposure to the air the substance dried quickly, and was then put away for sale. When finished the sticks are somewhat like the common joss-sticks of the country, or about the thickness and length of a light walking canc. Another substance, much cheaper than the last, is found in every town and village in the central and eastern provinces of the empire where 1 have been, and no doubt it is in use over the greater part of China. Long, narrow bags of paper—say half an inch in diameter and two feet long—are filled with the following substances, namely, the sawings of pine or juniper mixed with a small portion of nuwang and arsenic. The proportions are thirty pounds of sawings, two ounces of nu-wang, and one ounce of arsenic. This mixture is not made up in the form of a paste like the latter but simply well mixed,and then run into the bags in a dry state. Each bag being filled is closed at the mouth, and then coiled up like a rope and fastened in this position with a bit of thread. Many hundreds of these coils neatly done up and placed one above another, may be seen exposed for sale in shops during the hot season, when mosquitos are numerous. When about to be used, the thread which keeps the coil together is cut, then the coil is slightly loosened, so that its sides do not touch each other, for if this happened it would ignite at va- rious parts and soon be consumed. The outer end is then lighted, and the whole is laid care- fully down upon a bit of a board, when it goes on burning for the greater part of the night. One hundred of these little coils may be bought for a sum equivalent to three pence of our money, and two of them will suffice for a night in an ardinarv sized room. A. third substance cheaper than either of the above, is made of species of artemisin or wormwood (A. indica) which grows wild on every hill in this part of China. It is the same kind I have already noticed as forming 3ne of the ingredients in the genuine mosquito obacco, and is that which was used in taking :he honey from the bees in the temple of Tein :ung. It is gathered and thoroughly dried, then .wisted or plaited into ropes, in which condition it is fit for use. Although cheaper and conse- juently more in use amongst the poorer classes, -ban the other kinds, it is not so efficient and it jives out more smoke than is agreeable to a European.—/! Res. among the Old. p. ] 13. See Bane, also Mosquito. (5514) MUSLIN. Neteldoek, Dut. Mousseline, Fn. Musselin, Ger. Guz. Muslin, Eng Saila Hind. Moussolina, It. Kissea, Hus. Moselina, Sr. Sana Sella Pei.. A fine cotton fabric, extensively manufactured MUSTARD, BLACK. at Manchester, Glasgow, in France, &c. There are a great variety of kinds and qualities, as* book-muslin, cambric-muslin, mull-muslins, 8rc. Formerly all muslins were made in the East, and Dacca in Bengal was formerly celebrated for “ its webs of woven wind.” The Dacca muslin manufacture, which once employed thousands of hands, is quite at an end, so that it was with great difficulty that the speci- mens of these fabrics sent to the Great Exhibi- tion of 1851, were procured. The kind of cot- ton (which is very short in the staple) employed, is now hardly grown, and scarcely a loom exists which is fit for the finest fabrics. The jewellers still excel in gold and silver filagree.—/looker. Him. Jour. Vol. 11. p. 254. At the Madras Ex- hibition of 185.1, the Cambric Muslin bleached and the Isree exhibited by Veerabomma Krist- nama Chetty were of a very superior quality and the Jury considered the Manufacturer entitled to a reward of a 2d Class Medal.—M. E. J. R. The most celebrated of Indian muslins was that of Dacca Cotton grown in the vicinity, the thread from which does not swell. Chicacole, Upadn a few miles north of Cocanada formerly produced fine muslins and at present a strong muslin, ge- nerally checked, is procurable at Chicacole at 3 to 6 Rupees per piece of 8 yards, l have had it made to order of very good quality at 11 Rupees the piece. The famous Arnee Muslins, of which Book Muslins are an imitation, are prepared near and at Arnee in the Chingleput district: they sell according to quality from ? to ? the piece of ? yards ? inches broad.—Rhode, M. S. S. (5515) MUSQUASH. Is the skin of the musk-rat, a diminutive species of beaver, which is largely used as a hatting fur.— Waierston. (551.6) MUSSiENDA WALLICHII. A spe- cies of mussaenda with corymbs of orange-colored flowers, and a single sepal expanded into a large white leaf, is not the least interesting shrub to the eye of the curious. In Calcutta an allied species is cultivated in the gardens, but its abund- ance in Tenasseiim forests prevents its intro- duction into European gardens on this Coast.— Mason. (5517) MUSTARD, BLACK. Tetradynamia Siliquosa, Linn. Sinapis, L. Semina, L. Sina- pi E. 1). Pul vis Seminum, D. Flour of the Seeds, E. Sinapis Nigra, I.inn. Common Mustard consists of the flour of the seeds of the Black Mustard, though generally mixed with that pro- cured from the seeds of the White Mustard, or Sinapis alba, and deprived of fixed oil by ex- pression. Both species have been long used in medicine, being the v*kv of Hippocrates, and the Sinapi of the Romans. The Black Mustard is indigenous in almost every part of Europe. Bot. Ch. The root is thick and fleshy, the stem about 2 to 3 or 4 feet high, hispid below, with smooth round brandies above. Lower leaves large, rough, Jyrate, variously lobed and toothed ; upper 65 o 6](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28708921_0002_0069.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
