Mk. Glassf< l\>lpManufa< 



Clo IDs. per Um. IJ-irilla at the HIM ttine, being an article richer in 

 alkali, that is, in sod:i, tlian kelp, commanded a higher price and a pre- 

 ference. The value of these commodities being then entirely dependent 

 upon the soda or alkali they contained, and this alkali being in the form 

 of carbonate, the kelp trade was yet doomed to greater changes; for on 

 &C reduction of the duty on barilla in 1822 from £11 Gs. 8d. to ,£8 10s. 

 pel ton, ami in 1831 to £2 per ton, and also on the removal of the salt 

 <lntv in 1828, the price of kelp gradually fell to £2 10s. and £3, at which 

 point it may be almost supposed it would have been extinguished. Not 

 so, how ever ; a considerable quantity was yet prepared by a few of the 

 1 [igbland proprietors, and annually sent into the soap and glass manufac- 

 turers and bleachers of Glasgow and neighbourhood. It may be supposed 

 that at this very low price it ceased to be an object of any interest. Not 

 so, however, for many of the landlords found it their interest to maintain 

 the manufacture among their tenants, even although the price realized 

 barely covered the cost of the support of the kelpers. In this way a great 

 responsibility was removed from the shoulders of the landlord, the poor 

 tenants were enabled to pay their rents, and probably a portion of their 

 food, while the landlords, besides the removal of the possible responsibility, 

 profited somewhat at the same time. From 1822 till 1845, ma: 

 remained in this position, but immediately thereafter a new and important 

 aspect was to be presented by kelp, — it had again to experience a change, 

 a temporary increase in value and in the quantity produced, and a new 

 feature was to be presented. The value of iodine and its demand wm 

 the new cause, and from the sudden and unexpected, almost unexplained 

 cause of a great increase in the value of that curious substance, the kelp 

 was for a time seriously influenced. The value of iodine rose from 6s. 8d. 

 per lb. to about 40s. per lb. The attention of our chemical manufac- 

 turers and speculators was drawn to it, and the result was a considerable 

 increase in the value of kelp. But this increase in value being now 

 determined by the value of iodine, the worth of the kelp was stamped 

 upon it by the quantity of that substance which it contained, and not by 

 the soda as before. It was now found that the kelp made and sent into 

 market, contained very variable quantities of iodine, depending on the 

 manner in which it was made, but more especially upon the peculiar weeds 

 employed. That prepared in Ireland, and on the north and north- 



l n shores of that island, was the richest in iodine. So much wtl 

 this the case that the manufacturers of the salts from kelp, and particu- 

 larly of iodine, found it frequently better to pay £10 10s. for good Irish 

 kelp, than to pay £4 4s. or £5 for Highland kelp. Indeed, generally 

 speaking, the Irish kelp contains more than twice as much iodine as 

 ordinary Highland kelp. The increase of price on the Highland kelp — 

 from CI os. to £4 5s., and occasionally to £5 5s. — caused many of the 

 proprietors of kelp shores to turn their attention to the subject, and to 

 increase its manufacture. This they did, however, without the slightest 



enoe to the oanse of the increased value of kelp, and without any 



