ON THE SALT SPRINGS OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 377 



manufacture from fiscal restriction and official interference was 

 perhaps never more strikinf^ly manifested. When the highest 

 rate of duty was paid, there were only two establishments for the 

 manufacture of salt in this county. These were conducted by 

 Messrs. Stuckey and Farley, at Droitwich, and the duty paid by 

 them amounted to about £370,000 per annum, which sum, after 

 the rate of £30 per ton of salt, would be equivalent to 12,333 

 tons of salt; and about one-fifth of this quantity was exported 

 duty free, making the annual product 14,400 tons. At the 

 present time, 1835, there are several establishments at Droitwicli, 

 producing- together about 30,000 tons, and two at Stoke Prior 

 yielding about 15,000 tons per annum, making a total of 45,000 

 tons, in place of 14,000 tons produced in 1823, being an increase 

 of more than 300 per cent, in twelve years. 



In connexion with this account of the manufacture of salt, T 

 must not omit noticing the establishment of Messrs. Fardon and 

 Gossage, at Stoke Prior, for the decomposition of this substance 

 and the preparation of British alkali, crystallized soda, soap and 

 chloride of lime. This manufactory must be regarded with great 

 interest in a political view, as yielding a product obtained from 

 the salt, which is manufactured on the same premises, and 

 possesses all the qualities of the foreign barilla, formerly imported 

 to so great an extent. It is also exceedingly interesting to the 

 man of science, as affording an extensive example of the practical 

 application of those discoveries in chemistry and mechanics 

 which have conferred so much honour on the philosophers 

 of the present age ; and which it is the humbler task of the 

 manufacturer to make available to the wants and conveniences 

 of common life. This undertaking was commenced by the 

 present proprietors in the year 1829, and it has already attained 

 such a magnitude, as to afford employment to more than 200 

 work people. 



The first decomposition of salt is effected by treating it with 

 sulphuric acid, which is prepared at the manufactory in immense 

 leaden chambers. The combustion of sulphur by atmospheric 

 air, is conducted in vessels connected with these chambers, and 

 the vapour produced being mixed with nitrous gas and water 

 becomes converted into liquid sulphuric acid. By decomposition 

 with the sulphuric acid the salt is converted into sulphate of 

 soda, which is next mixed with the requisite proportions of lime 

 and ground coal, and then submitted to igneous fusion in furnaces 

 of brickwork. The product from this operation consists chiefly 

 of carbonate of soda, but mixed with sulphur and lime. It is 

 dissolved in water, and by subsequent processes is rendered 

 nearly pure, and at length obtained in beautiful crystals which 

 occasionally shoot out to an astonishing size. In this state the soda 

 is adapted to the use of manuAicturers and to common domestic 

 purposes. A j)ortion is submitted to a further purification, and 



