The Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597 — the draft Dutch normalisation standard V 597 — was the draft standard for turpentine oil (terpentijnolie) issued by the Hoofdcommissie voor de Normalisatie in Nederland — the principal Dutch normalisation committee — and circulated for critiek (criticism) in the committee’s Mededeeling no. 25. The standard is preserved — as Bijlage I — in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930, and it was against this draft standard that the Atjeh-turpentine samples were tested by M. A. van Royen in 1930.
The standard
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet preserves the full text of the Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597 as Bijlage I. The standard specifies the purity requirements, the Soortelijk gewicht bij 15° C. (specific gravity at 15 °C, minimum 0.860, maximum 0.875), Soortelijk gewicht bij 20° C. (specific gravity at 20 °C, minimum 0.856, maximum 0.871), Brekingsindex bij 20° (ND) (refractive index at 20 °C, minimum 1.469, maximum 1.478), Verdampingsresidu in gewichtspercenten (evaporation residue in weight percent, maximum 2%), Percentage, dat tusschen 150° en 165° C. bij 760 mm moet overdestilleeren, in volume procenten (percentage that must distil over between 150 and 165 °C at 760 mm, in volume percent, minimum 90%), Percentage, dat beneden 150° C. mag overdestilleeren, in volume procenten (percentage that may distil over below 150 °C, in volume percent, maximum 10%), Residu, na behandeling met zwavelzuur van 96 gewichtsprocenten, in volume procenten (residue after treatment with 96% sulphuric acid, in volume percent, maximum 10%), and Brekingsindex van dit residu bij 20° C. (refractive index of this residue at 20 °C, minimum 1.500).
The standard also specifies that the colour must be the same as that of a sample approved by buyer and seller; that the odour must be the same as that of a sample approved by buyer and seller; and that the buyer-and-seller-approved sample must be kept in a wholly filled, well-closed bottle in the dark. The Uitvoering der keuringsproeven (execution of the testing-procedures) specifies the methods for the determination of the evaporation residue, the distillation test (according to the British Standard Specification for Turpentine type 1, No. 244-1926), and the residue after treatment with 96% sulphuric acid (also according to the British Standard Specification).
The testing of the Atjeh-turpentine
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the testing of the Atjeh-turpentine samples against the Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597 was performed by Mej. M. A. van Royen. The two available samples — H.M. no. 1504 and H.M. no. 1607 — were tested in full against the draft standards; the third sample, H.M. no. 1553, was insufficient in quantity for the full test. The results, recorded in Table VI of the pamphlet, established that the Atjeh-turpentine met every requirement of the draft standards except the refractive index, which fell marginally below the proposed minimum of 1.469. The actual values were 1.4677 (sample 1504) and 1.4680 (sample 1607), against the Pharmacopoeia minimum of 1.468 — which the samples met at the limit — and the draft Normaalblad minimum of 1.469, which they failed by 0.0013 and 0.0010 respectively.
The proposal to lower the minimum
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum submitted to the Hoofdcommissie voor de Normalisatie in Nederland a proposal to lower the draft minimum from 1.469 to 1.468 — door welke wijziging de terpentijn uit de eigen koloniën geheel aan de in het moederland geldende kwaliteits-eischen zou kunnen voldoen — by which change the turpentine from our own colonies would fully meet the quality requirements in force in the mother country. The decision on the proposal could, however, only be taken after 1 April 1931 — the closing date for the submission of criticisms on the draft Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597 — and the result could therefore only become known in the course of the coming year.
Significance
The Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597 is significant in the historiography of colonial Aceh as the draft Dutch normalisation standard against which the factory-scale Atjeh-turpentine was tested in 1930 — the standard that the Atjeh-turpentine met in every respect except the marginal shortfall of the refractive index. The standard’s refractive-index minimum of 1.469 — and the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum’s proposal to lower it to 1.468 — is the principal documented instance of the way in which colonial commodity production could require the adjustment of metropolitan normalisation standards, and the standard’s testing methods (the British Standard Specification for Turpentine type 1, No. 244-1926) illustrate the international exchange of normalisation methods in the early twentieth century.
See Also
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- Atjeh-terpentijn
- Hoofdcommissie voor de Normalisatie in Nederland
- M. A. van Royen
- Afdeeling Handelsmuseum
- Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut
- W. Spoon
- Baleq
- Pinus Merkusii
- 1930
- 1931
Source
Atjeh-terpentijn: tegenwoordige kwaliteit en nieuwe beoordeelingen, by Ir. W. Spoon, Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut No. 57, Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1930, pp. 27–29 (Bijlage I — Ontwerp-normaalblad V 597).