Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c6.s2.14

c6.s2.14

The composition of the ‘Madrass Mortar’ (Chapter IX) is very curious, while the process of making paper (Chapter XI) is perhaps not very different from that currently in use in the manufacture of hand-made paper. Chapter X, on the process of making ice, however, is still more fascinating. It was first published in 1775 in London. But it appears that this subject and the manner in which ice was made had been observed even earlier by a number of Britishers in India and had given rise to considerable scientific curiosity in England. The artificial making of ice seems to have been till then unknown in Britain (and perhaps also in other European countries). The observation that ‘boiling the water is esteemed a necessary preparative to this method of congelation’ aroused particular interest. Sir Robert Barker, the author of this article, while referring to this point wondered ‘how far this may be consonant with philosophical reasoning’ (i.e., with scientific proof). As a consequence, after carrying out various experiments, the professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University provided the following explanation: