Dr BowTing on the Boracic Acid Lagoons of Tuscany. 89 



Though to the present proprietor (the Chevalier Larderel*) 

 the merit attaches of having given to the horacic lagoons the 

 great importance they now possess, a succession of adven- 

 turers had made many experiments, and had produced a con- 

 siderable quantity of boracic acid, but at a cost (from the ex- 

 penditure of combustible) which left little profit, t The small 

 value that was attached to them may be seen in the fact, that 

 the largest and most productive district of the lagoons, that of 

 Monte Cerboli, was oifered in perpetuity, so lately as 1818, 

 at an annual gi-ound-rent of L.6 : 13 : 4 per annum, though 

 it now produces several thousand pounds Sterling. The im- 

 mense increase in their value arose from the simplest of im- 

 provements, the abandonment of the use of charcoal, and the 

 application of the heat of the lagoons or soffioni to the eva- 

 poration of their own waters. Improvements, however, and 

 very important ones, particularly by subjecting the waters 

 to a succession of impregnations, had been gradually intro- 

 duced by a Signor Ciaschi, and the importation of boracic 

 acid from Tuscany into France, before 1817, had been be- 

 tween 7000 and 8000 pounds, of a quality gradually increas- 

 ing in purity ; but Ciaschi perished miserably, in consequence 

 of falling into one of the lagoons which he himself had exca- 

 vated, leaving his family in a state of extreme poverty. His 

 death (which happened in 1816) naturally threw a damp upon 

 adventm*e. The experiments Avere resumed in the following 

 year, and in the midst of violent claims and controversies, M. 

 Larderel has become the monopolist of the boracic productions 

 of Tuscany. 



With the increased production of boracic acid has arisen an 

 increased demand, gi'owing out of the more extensive appli- 

 cation of it to manufacturing purposes. In about four years, 

 the quantity has been quadrupled by superior modes of ex- 



* While those sheets have been passing through tUe press the Grand 

 Duke of Tuscany has conferred on M. Larderel the title of Count de Pomc- 

 rance. 



t Hoefer first announced the presence of boracic acid in the Maremiiian 

 districts, and Mascagni in his Commentaries suggests tlie manufacture of 

 borax as an object worthy of attention. Professor Gazzeri in 11507, made 

 experiments, which, however, see^iod to shew that the quantity of boracic 

 acid contained in the waters was too small to promise much success. 



