COPAL, Pa-ma-yu, Chandras, Holm This very important resin is obtained from trees of America, Africa, Madagascar, India, and Aus tralia. It exudes spontaneously from Rhus copalinum and Elmocarpus copalifer, the first being an American and IV. Indian, and the second an E. Indian tree. Another copal is obtained from the coasts of Guinea ; and several species of Hymentea, on the Amazons, are said to produce kinds of copal, one of the plants being Hymen= verrueosa. Vateria Indica furnishes the resin called in India copal, which in England is known by the name of gum anime, and very nearly approaches the true resin of that name ; in its recent and fluid state it is used as a varnish, called Piney varnish, in the south of India, and, dissolved by heat in closed vessels, it is employed for the same purpose in other parts of India ; it is extremely tenacious and solid, but melts at a temperature of 971° Fehr. Mineral copal is found in ligniforin pieces near Quilon, under laterite. A copal, called gum anime in the London market, is found on the east coast of Africa, from Panjan to Mboamaji. Au endless supply is obtainable there, and it is largely im ported into Bombay from Zanzibar, the major portion being re-exported to England, and occasionally to France and Calcutta. The copal of Zanzibar is obtained from the Trachylobium Hornemanianum ; but larger quantities are found imbedded in the earth, often where no copal yielding trees DOW exist. This semi-fossil copal is called copalline. Specimens of the leaf, flower, etc., obtained from the semi-fossil gum, agree in all respects with those of the living tree. The peculiar and more valuable properties of the buried gum anime are supposed to be from a chemical action, the result of a long retention in the earth. It
is classed as raw or jackass copal, and ripe or true copal. The value of the latter is estimated by its colour, the clearest and most transparent pieces bring the highest prices, after them the light amber, lemon, dark yellow, and red. Sometimes the gum, like amber, contains drops of water, bees, tics, flies, and other insects. The diggers do not excavate more than the depth of a man's waist, and the copal occurs in a red sand under lying blue clay.
Copal is generally imported into England in lutnps about the size of small potatoe.s, of a slightly yellow tint, and often including insects and animal remains. It is often covered with a clay-like substance, from which it is freed by the dealers by scraping. The finest and palest lumps are selected for what is called body-guin ; the next best forms carriage-gum; and the remainder, being freed from wood and stoucs, forum what is called third, or worst quality, and is used for gold-size or japan-black. Fracture conchoidal ; it is transparent, and tasteless. Copal is liable to be confounded with anime, when the latter is clear and good ; but the solubility in alcohol fur nishea a useful test,—the aniline being readily soluble in this fluid, while copal ia sparingly ti.) Copal is also brittle between the teeth, where..s anime softens in the mouth. The American copal occurs in commerce in flat fragments; whereas the East Indian is generally obtained in roundiali masses. The latter furnishes the finest varniahes. —Dr. Kirk, in Madras Agri-llorticult. Proc.