What The Ancient Indians Did for Us

[Bhadra]

OPERATION OF INOCULATION OF THE SMALLPOX AS PERFORMED IN BENGALL




The punctures blacken and dry up with the other pustules. The feaver insues later or sooner, according to the age and
strength of the person inoculated, but commonly the third or fourth days. They keep the patient under the coolest regimen
they can think off before the feaver comes on and frequently use cold bathing.


If the eruption is suppressed they also use frequent cold bathing. At the same time they give warm medicine inwardly, but
if they prove of the confluent kind, they use no cold bathing, but (keep) the patient very cooll and give coolling medicine.
I cannot say any thing of the success of this operation or of their method of cure in this disease, but I intend to inform
myself perfectly when the time of this distemper returns which is in April and May.

 

[Bhadra]

THE METHOD OF MAKING THE BEST MORTAR AT MADRASS IN EAST INDIA


(By Hon'ble Isaac Pyke, Esq; Governor of St. Helena (Published 1732).)

Take fifteen bushels of fresh, pit-sand, well sifted; add thereto fifteen bushels of stone-lime: Let it be moistened or slack'd with
water in the common manner, and so laid two or three Days together. Then dissolve 20 lb of jaggery, which is coarse sugar (or
thick molasses) in water, and sprinkling this liquor over the mortar, beat it up together till all be well mixed and
incorporated, and then let it lie by in a heap. Then boil a peck of gramm (which is a sort of grain like a
tare, or between that and a pea) to a jelly, and strain it off through a coarse canvass, and preserve the liquor that comes
from it.

Take also a peck of myrabolans, and boil them likewise to a jelly, preserving that water also as the other; and if you have a
vessel large enough, you may put these three waters together; that is, the jaggery-water, the gram-water, and the myrabolan.
The Indians usually put a small quantity of fine lime therein, to keep their labourers from drinking of it. The mortar beat up, and when too dry, sprinkled with this liquor, proves extraordinarily good for laying brick or stone therewith; keeping some of the liquor always at hand for the
workman to wet his bricks therewith; and if this liquor prove too thick, dilute it with fresh water.


Observe also, that the mortar here is not only to be well beaten and mixed together, but also laid very well, and every
brick, or piece of brick, slushed in with the mortar, and every cranny filled up, yet not in thick joints, like the common English
mortar; and also over every course of bricks, some to be thrown on very thin: And where the work hath stood, though but for a breakfast or a dining-time, before you begin again wet it well with this liquor with a ladle, and then lay on your fresh mortar; for this mortar, notwithstanding its being thus wetted, dries
much sooner than one not used to it would conceive, but especially in hot weather.

 

[Bhadra]

THE METHOD OF MAKING THE BEST MORTAR AT MADRASS IN EAST INDIA


For some very strong work, the same mortar above is improved as follows:

Take coarse tow and twist it loosely into bands as thick as a man's finger (in England ox-hair is used instead of this tow)
then cut it into pieces of about an inch long and untwist it so as to lie loose; then strew it lightly over the other mortar which is at
the same time to be kept turning over, and so this stuff to be beat into it, keeping labourers continually beating in a trough,
and mixing it till it be well incorporated with all the parts of the mortar. And whereas it will be subject to dry very fast, it must be
frequently softened with some of the aforesaid liquor of jaggery, gram, and myrabolans, and some fresh water; and when it is so
moistened, and beat, it will mix well, and with this they build (though it be not usual to build common house-walls thus) when
the work is intended to be very strong; as for instance, Madrass Church Steeple, that was building when I was last there; and
also for some ornaments, as columns, good arched work, or imagery set up in gardens, it is thus made.

Though for common buildings about Madrass, where the rainy season holds not above three months in the year, and
sometimes less, they usually lay all the common brick-work in a loamy clay, and plaster it over on both sides with this mortar,
which is yet further to be improved. Thus far for buildingmortar. Having your mortar thus prepared, as is before described,
you must separate some of it, and to every half bushel, you are to take the white of five or six eggs, and four ounces of ghee (or
ordinary unsalted butter) and a pint of butter-milk, beaten all well together: Mix a little of your mortar with this, until all your
ghee, whites of eggs, and butter-milk be soaked up; then soften the rest well with plain fresh water, and so mix all together, and
let it be ground, a trowel full at a time, on a stone with a stoneroller, in the same manner that chocolate is usually made, or
ground in England; and let it stand by in a trough for use. And when you use it, in case it be too dry, moisten it with some
water, or the before mentioned liquor. This is the second coat of plastering.

 

[Bhadra]

Cont....

Note, when your first coat of plastering is laid on, let it be well rubbed on with a hardening trowel, or with a smooth brick,
and strewed with a gritty sand, moistened, as occasion requires, with water, or the before mentioned liquor, and then well hardened
on again; which, when half dry, take the last mentioned composition for your fine plastering, and when it is almost dry,
lay on your whitening varnish; but if your work should be quite dry, then your chinam liquor must be washed over the work with
a brush.


The best sort of whitening varnish is thus made. Take one gallon of toddy, a pint of butter-milk, and so much fine chinam,
or lime, as shall be proper to colour it; add thereunto some of the chinam liquor before mentioned, wash it gently over
therewith; and when it is quite dried in, do the same again. And a plaster thus made is more durable than some soft stone, and
holds the weather better in India, than any of the bricks they ake there.


In some of the fine Chinam that is to endure the weather, and where it is likely to be subject to much rain, they put
gingerly oil (Oleum Sesami.) instead of ghee, and also in some they boil the bark of the mango tree, and other barks of
astringent natures, and aloes, which grow here in great plenty by the sea-shore; but to all of the fine chinam, that is for outside
plastering, they put butter-milk, which is here called toyre. And for inside work they use glue made very thin and weak, instead
of size, for white-washing; and sometimes they add a little gum to it. N.B. Whereas sundry ingredients here mentioned are not to
be had in England, it may not be amiss to substitute something more plentiful here, which I imagine to be of the same nature.
As to all the astringent barks, I take oaken-bark to be as good as any. Instead of aloes, either turpentine, or the bark and
branches of the sloe tree. Though turpentine be not so strong, yet if used in greater quantity, may serve the same purpose.
But there is a sort of Aloes Hepatica, often very cheap. Instead of myrabolans some juice of aloes (Sloes.); also instead of
jaggery, coarse sugar, or molasses, will do; instead of toddy, which is a sort of palm wine, the liquor from the birch tree comes
near to it.

Note, that in China, and some other parts, they temper their mortar with blood of any sorts of cattle; but the ingredients
before mentioned are said to be as binding, and do full as well, and does not make the mortar of so dark a colour as blood will
do. The plastering above described, is thought in India vastly to exceed any sort of stucco work, or plaster of Paris; and I have
seen a room done with this sort of terrass-mortar that has fully come up to the best sort of wainscot-work, in smoothness and in
beauty.

 

[praneet.bajpaie]

Oh yes, I am impressed !!!!!!

1- ( 1/6 + 1/5 + 1/3 + 1/10) = 06




No, I am making readymade Notes for friends like you....

It is strange members are not responding and it has become a monologue

I used a different formula

Let the total number of pearls be x

we have,

1/6x + 1/5x + 1/3x + 1/10x + 6 = x

Solve for x gives us 30

You are doing great work Bhadra Da and I can say that on behalf of all the Indian members of this forum. Please continue. I'll do the same.

 

[Bhadra]

I used a different formula

Let the total number of pearls be x

we have,

1/6x + 1/5x + 1/3x + 1/10x + 6 = x

Solve for x gives us 30

You are doing great work Bhadra Da and I can say that on behalf of all the Indian members of this forum. Please continue. I'll do the same.

Good...

I used that formula since "Lilawati" of Bhaskaracharya (which he supposedly wrote for entertainment of his daughter) is treaties on Arithmetic and fractions etc.

Thanks for encouragement .... I was also astonished at the simplicity and profoundness of the book.

 

[Bhadra]

THE PROCESS OF MAKING ICE IN THE EAST INDIES
(By Sir Robert Barker. F.R.S. (Published 1775).)

The process of making ice in the East Indies having become a subject of speculation, I beg permission to present you with the
method by which it was performed at Allahabad, Mootegil, and Calcutta, in the East Indies, lying between 25½ and 23½ degrees
on North latitude. At the latter place I have never heard of any persons having discovered natural ice in the pools or cisterns, or
in any waters collected in the roads; nor has the thermometer been remarked to descend to the freezing point; and at the
former very few only have discovered ice, and that but seldom: But in the process of making ice at these places it was usual to
collect a quantity every morning, before sunrise (except in some particular kinds of weather, which I shall specify in the sequel),
for near three months in the year: viz from December till February.

The ice-maker belonging to me at Allahabad (at which place I principally attended to this enquiry) made a sufficient quantity
in the winter for the supply of the table during the summer season.

Refrence is to same book by Dharampal cited earlier

 

[Bhadra]

The methods pursued


The methods he pursued were as follows:

on a large open plain, three or four excavations were made, each about thirty feet square and two deep;

the bottoms of which were strewed about eight inches or a foot thick with sugar-cane, or the stems
of the large Indian corn dried.

Upon this bed were placed in rows, near to each other, a number of small, shallow, earthen pans, for containing the water intended to be frozen. These are unglazed, scarce a quarter of an inch thick, about an inch and a quarter in depth, and made of an earth so porous, that it was visible, from the exterior part of the pans, the water had penetrated the whole substance.

Towards the dusk of the evening, they were filled with soft water, which had been boiled, and then left in the afore-related situation. The ice-makers attended the pits usually before the sun was above the horizon, and collected in baskets what was frozen, by pouring the whole contents of the pans into them, and thereby retaining the ice, which was daily conveyed to the grand receptacle or place of preservation, prepared generally on some high dry situation, by sinking a pit of fourteen or fifteen feet deep, lined first with straw, and then with a coarse kind of blanketing, where it is beat down with rammers, till at length its own accumulated cold again freezes and forms one solid mass.

The mouth of the pit is well secured from the exterior air with straw and blankets, in the manner of the lining, and a thatched
roof is thrown over the whole.


It is here necessary to remark, that the quantity of ice depends materially on the weather; and consequently, it has sometimes happened, that no congelation took place. At others, perhaps, half the quantity will be frozen; and I have often seen the whole contents formed into a perfect cake of ice: the lighter the atmosphere, and the more clear and serene the weather, the more favourable for congelation, as a frequent change of winds and clouds are certain preventives. For I have frequently remarked, that after a very sharp cold night, to the feel of the human body, scarce any ice has been formed;
when at other times the night has been calm and serene, and sensibly warmer, the contents of the pans will be frozen through.

The strongest proof of the influence of the weather appears by the water in one pit being more congealed than the same
preparation for freezing will be in other situations, a mile or more distant.

 

[Bhadra]

I cannot declare that the thermometer has not descended to the freezing point during the night, because I never
made the necessary observations; but the water in every other situation, excepting in the pans, has not appeared to be in a
freezing state. The climate may probably contribute in some measure to facilitate the congelation of water, when placed in a situation free from the
heat of the earth, since those nights in which the greatest quantity of ice has been produced, were, as I before observed,
perfectly serene, the atmosphere sharp and thin, with very little dew after midnight. Many gentlemen, now in England, have
made the same remarks, in their frequent visits with me to the ice-pits. The spongy nature of the sugar-canes, or stems of the
Indian corn, appears well calculated to give a passage under the pans to the cold air; which, acting on the exterior parts of the
vessels, may carry off by evaporation a proportion of the heat. The porous substance of the vessels seems equally well qualified
for the admission of the cold air internally; and their situation being full a foot beneath the plane of the ground, prevents the
surface of the water from being ruffled by any small current of air, and thereby preserves the congealed particles from disunion.
Boiling the water is esteemed a necessary preparative to this method of congelation; but how far this may be consonant with
philosophical reasoning, I will not presume to determine. From these circumstances it appears, that water, by being
placed in a situation free from receiving heat from other bodies, and exposed in large surfaces to the air, may be brought to
freeze when the temperature of the atmosphere is some degrees above the freezing point on the scale of Fahrenheit's
thermometer;

 

[Bhadra]

A Blessing

and by being colected and amassed into a large body, is thus preserved, and rendered fit for freezing other fluids,
during the severe heats of the summer season. In effecting which there is also an established mode of proceeding; the sherbets,
creams, or whatever other fluids are intended to be frozen, are confined in thin silver cups of a conical form, containing about a
pint, with their covers well luted on with paste, and placed in a large vessel filled with ice, salt-petre, and common salt, of the
two last an equal quantity, and a little water to dissolve the ice and combine the whole. This composition presently freezes the
contents of the cups to the same consistency of our ice creams & c. in Europe; but plain water will become so hard as to require a
mallet and knife to break it. Upon applying the bulb of a thermometer to one of these pieces of ice, thus frozen, the quicksilver
has been known to sink two or three degrees below the freezing point: so that from an atmosphere apparently not mild
enough to produce natural ice, ice shall be formed, collected, and a cold accumulated, that shall cause the quicksilver to fall
even below the freezing point. The promising advantages of such a discovery could alone induce the Asiatic (whose principal study
is the luxuries of life, and this may well be called such, when I have often regaled with ices when the thermometer has stood at 112°),
to make an attempt of profiting by so very short a duration of cold during the nights in these months, and by a well-timed and
critical contrivance of securing this momentary degree of cold, they have procured to themselves a comfortable refreshment as
a recompense, to alleviate, in some degree, the intense heats of the summer season, which, in some parts of India, would be
scarce supportable, but by the assistance of this and many other inventions.

 

[praneet.bajpaie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCFck3laziI

 

[praneet.bajpaie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_0NuOBNobk

 

[praneet.bajpaie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUnmAhXe9bg