In the 1780s and 1790s, the East India Company surgeon Helenus Scott sent specimens of Indian alkali from Bombay to England. He had observed the local population procuring the substance from brown earth and making it into soap. Recognizing Britain’s need for alkali in the arts, Scott petitioned the Court of Directors of the East India Company to bring the material to England. What was useful in the fields of India, however, was not guaranteed to be beneficial in the factories of England. Contacting the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Scott incited trials by British chemists and manufacturers who confirmed the potential utility of the Indian alkali. From his chemical manufactory, James Keir reported on the strength and purity of the material as ideal for local plate glass and hard soap. Nevertheless, Keir tempered his optimism by saying that most English manufacturers were wary of new raw materials that might injure their products. This paper teases out the complexities of ‘translating’ a material across geographic regions by acknowledging the cosmopolitan yet local nature of Indian alkali. It is also a narrative that contributes to our understanding of Europe’s ‘Industrial Enlightenment’, which involved engagement with products and processes from India. Scott contrasted the ‘experience of India’ with the ‘science of Europe’, but both labels signify equally important ways of knowing. The case of Scott’s alkali also emphasizes the governing role of institutions in circulating useful substances from East to West.
