242 Mr.. CJr.ASSFOitD's History a ptton o/ (fa 7wfy> Manufacture. 



its manifold bearings. The subject is intimately associated with our social 

 and commercial progress as a people ; and being so, deserves some of our 

 attention. I have endeavoured in the remarks which I will lay before 

 this Society, to bring forward those details which will be of immediate 

 interest, and also the most important facts connected with its history. 



The burnt ashes of plants have been long used and manufactured under 

 I variety of names, and for a variety of purposes. On the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, barilla, varec, salicor, and blanquette have been prepared 

 by burning the plants which grow on or near the shores, and applied to 

 such uses as soda is at present. Kelp has likewise been manufactured 

 on the shores of Ireland, Scotland, and the North Sea, and was chiefly of 

 value in former times from the soda it contained. Potashes are likewise 

 formed from the ashes of large timber, and are applied to purposes where 

 potash is required. The variety of the composition of those products 

 depends on their source, whether obtained from land or sea plants, or 

 from plants growing contiguous to the sea. I shall have occasion to 

 allude to this more particularly again ; kelp, which is entirely made from 

 plants growing in the sea, at present demands our attention. It is 

 upwards of a century since this article was first prepared as a regular 

 object of commerce on the shores of Ireland, and subsequently in Scot- 

 land. But it was not until the beginning of this century that it became 

 an object of very great importance, or was extensively made on our own 

 shores. The elevation of the price from a comparatively small sum of 

 about £3 to £4, to £20 and £22, caused the proprietors of our island 

 shores to exert themselves, and devote some share of their attention to 

 its produce. The result was a great increase on the quantity made, and 

 in many instances a vitiated article. The demand was raised by the 

 gradual increase in number and extent of our manufactures requiring soda 

 or alkali, which followed the troubled and warlike times of last century, 

 and from improvements resulting in these manufactures from the combined 

 influence of talent and capital then exerted. Glasgow, then as now, 

 exerted herself to the utmost, and became the cradle of Scottish manu- 

 facturing industry. Manufactures, chemical and mechanical, were then 

 established, and these have since increased and prospered with astonishing 

 rapidity. Soda and potash being largely required — and the demand 

 increasing with our wants, and with our energetic trading propensities — 

 the kelp manufacture flourished. The manufacture was pushed to the 

 furthest limits by the makers, and for years their prosperity continued. 

 From the high price, however, which it then attained, it was doomed — like 

 almost every other manufacture — to meet with competitors. Barilla then 

 entered the market, and notwithstanding the very high duty imposed on 

 it, entered into successful competition with kelp. This product having 

 once reached our shores, and found out the nature of its opponent, and 

 the uses to which it was applied, continued steadily to oppose and increase 

 in quantity, and latterly to reduce the price of kelp considerably, so much 

 so, indeed, that for the 22 years ending 1822, the average price was only 



