496 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



abortive attempt extending over thirty years to plant the alum 

 industry in this country. 



It appears that in 1610 the grand-nephew of the Earl of 

 Huntingdon contemplated reopening the works on the Canford 

 estate, but by this time the centre of interest of the alum trade 

 had passed to Yorkshire. 



The discovery of the alum shales in the Upper Lias in the 

 North Riding of Yorkshire was due to Sir Thomas Chaloner, 

 who, in association with Lord Sheffield, Sir David Foulis, and 

 John Bourchier, in 1607 obtained the grant of a patent for the 

 monopoly of the manufacture of alum in England for thirty-one 

 years. They had made out a case showing " how necessary 

 alum was for cloth and leather, how much the Pope would 

 suffer, that £40,000 would be saved in money and commodities 

 annually, that many hundreds would be set on work, clothed, 

 fed, and receive religious and other instruction, and that ships 

 and mariners would be maintained to carry coal, urine, alum, 

 etc." 



The patentees proceeded to set up works and open the mines; 

 their projects were on an ambitious scale, and formed the subject 

 of much discussion. James I. became interested, and arrived at 

 the conclusion that large profits were to be made, and that the 

 enterprise was a fit subject for a royal monopoly. Accordingly, 

 in 1609 an arrangement was made whereby it was transferred to 

 the Crown, and the importation of alum from abroad was for- 

 bidden by proclamation. James, from first to last, expended 

 large sums upon the works — according to one account as much 

 as £120,000 — and the alum monopoly was one of the few ex- 

 plicitly reserved from the operation of the Statute of Mono- 

 polies. 



In spite of all this, many years passed before the industry 

 was established on a satisfactory basis. Difficulty was experi- 

 enced on the technical side, which was surmounted only by the 

 introduction of trained workmen from abroad. 



Then again James was, to say the least, singularly unfortu- 

 nate in his choice of agents and farmers for the undertaking. He 

 seems to have failed entirely to secure a combination of ability 

 and honesty in the same man. 



Perhaps, however, the most serious obstacle in the path of 

 the enterprise at the outset was the exaggerated ideas which 

 obtained as to the scale upon which it was to be carried out and 



