414 Mr. J. Wilson's Researches into the Alum Manufacture. 



Europe was imported from the East. In the fourteenth century 

 an alum work was in operation at Rocca in Syria. There were 

 also several near Constantinople. In 1459, Bartholomseus Pernix 

 or Perdix, a merchant of Genoa who had frequently been to Rocca, 

 discovered the mineral of alum in the island of Ischia, which 

 is situated at the entrance of the Gulf of Naples. About this 

 time Johannes de Castro, having visited the alum-works at Con- 

 stantinople, discovered the alum stone at Tolfa. It is said he 

 was led to this observation by the similarity of the trees at Tolfa 

 to those which he had seen growing upon the hills of Turkey ; 

 and experiment showed the two minerals to be equally adapted 

 for preparing alum. 



At Viterbium the attempts made by the Genoese had great 

 success, and the manufacture increased greatly, especially as 

 Pope Pius the Second strictly forbade the use of oriental alum. 

 But the art did not remain within the bounds of Italy, in the 

 sixteenth century a work having been set up at Alcmaron near 

 Carthagena. In Germany, in the year 1544, several existed ; 

 and in the time of Agricola there was an alum-work at Com- 

 moton in Bohemia. Bergman says that at this time (16th cen- 

 tury) the art had scarcely penetrated into Sweden. The first 

 alum-work in that country was founded in 1637 at Andrarum, 

 where the alum shale is of great depth, being upwards of 360 

 feet. 



In Queen Elizabeth's reign alum-making was introduced into 

 England by Sir Thomas Chaloner of Gisborough in Yorkshire. 

 It is said that he observed the trees in his neighbourhood tinged 

 with a peculiar colour, and suspecting that this was owing to 

 some aluminous mineral, caused a search to be made, the result 

 of which was the discovery of alum shale. It was towards the 

 end of the sixteenth century that his works were commenced ; 

 and in a short time so great was their success, that sixteen works 

 of the same kind were soon established in the neighbourhood. 



Alum was first made in Scotland in the year 1766, by Messrs. 

 Lightbody and Co. at Hurlet, but their process was found to be 

 unprofitable, and abandoned in 1768-69; and it was not till the 

 year 1797, when works were erected at Hurlet by the late Charles 

 Macintosh of Campsie, and John Wilson of Hurlet, and their part- 

 ners, that the manufacture of alum was successfully established. 

 In consequence of the success of the Hurlet works, the same Com- 

 pany in the year 1808 commenced a larger work at Campsie, 

 where a shale similar to that at Hurlet is found in abundance. 



In the year 1820, the alum made in England and Scotland 

 amounted to from six to seven thousand tons annually ; namely 

 four thousand five hundred to five thousand five hundred in 

 England, and fifteen hundred tons in Scotland. At present 



