378 ON THE SALT SPRINGS OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 



being combined with an additional quantity of carbonic acid, it 

 furnishes medicinal carbonate of soda. A portion of the solution 

 obtained from the rough soda is treated with lime to abstract its 

 carbonic acid, and is then obtained in the state of caustic soda, 

 suitable for the manufacture of soap, of wliich a large quantity 

 is prepared at these works. During the first decomposition of 

 common salt, a quantity of muriatic acid is liberated, and it was 

 for some time a desideratum to obtain a useful application for it. 

 The proprietors have recently applied this to the manufacture 

 of chloride of lime, which is extensively used in the arts as an 

 agent for bleaching linen and cotton cloth, and in medicine for 

 the destruction of contagious miasmata. 



We cannot but feel pleasure in tracing the various pro- 

 cesses through which the brine is thus made available to the 

 production of so many useful articles. In the first stage we 

 observe the brine converted into the various kinds of salt, 

 viz. — table salt, broad salt for the fisheries, bay and agricultural 

 salt. The refuse salt is next decomposed, and one of its elements, 

 viz. sodium, furnishes British alkali, which is converted into 

 various kinds of soap ; also crystals of soda for the arts, car- 

 bonate of soda, and various other preparations of this substance 

 for medicine. The other element of salt, viz. chlorine, is brought 

 into combination with lime, and furnishes chloride of lime, which 

 is extensively employed by the linen and calico manufacturers. 

 The situation of these works on the banks of the Worcester and 

 Birmingham Canal, communicating with the river Severn in one 

 direction, and with the thickly-populated districts of Warwick- 

 shire and Staffordshire in the other ; and the advantages arising 

 from an apparently inexhaustible supply of native brine, seem 

 to afford just reason to expect that this establishment may 

 be extended to a much greater magnitude than it has yet 

 attained.* 



It will doubtless be expected that I should touch upon the 

 applications of salt, but having, already noticed the employ- 

 ment of this article, in the production of various useful com- 



* My anticipations of the probable extension of these works, at Stoke Prior, 

 will be realized, even earlier than I expected. Since this lecture was written, 

 the Proprietors have formed a public company, called The British Alkali Com- 

 pany, for the purpose of extending and carrying on this successful undertaking. 

 I am informed that a supply of export-salt, at the rising port of Gloucester, on 

 the same terms as it is furnished by the Cheshire salt-manufacturers at Liverpool, 

 would command a great increase of commerce ; and the proposals of the new 

 company having been liberally entertained by the proprietors of the Worcester 

 and Birmingham Canal, they are enabled to meet this increased demand with 

 profit to themselves. This correct view of the real interests of Canal Proprietors 

 in affording facilities to the extension of trade, by a reduction of tonnages, is a 

 gratifying example of that true spirit of commercial enterprise which has placed 

 our enviable island so much in advance of other nations ; and, we doubt not, its 

 application to the mineral treasures of our own county, will speedily prove as 

 lucrative as it has already been found in Cheshire. 



