JAMES MUSPRATT 79 



charcoal, Guyton de Morveau and Camay 

 made their mixture of common salt and lime, 

 and were so sanguine of their invention as to 

 erect works at Croisac, in Picardy, in 1782. 

 De la Metherie heated sulphate of soda and 

 coal in close retorts; sulphurous acid was 

 given off, which was condensed in leaden 

 chambers. Athe'nas decomposed the salt 

 with copperas, and decomposed the sulphate 

 formed by employing Malherbe's method. 

 Finally, in 1787, Nicolas Leblanc projected 

 his process of decomposing common salt with 

 oil of vitriol, condensing the muriatic acid in 

 ammonia water : then after the sulphate had 

 been well heated, it was mixed with half its 

 weight of chalk and quarter its weight of 

 charcoal, these were intimately ground 

 together and heated in a crucible; then the 

 contents were powdered and lixiviated ; the 

 soda evaporated and dried in hot air. The 

 patent was obtained on the 25th September, 

 1791, and the works of "La Franciade " were 

 built by Leblanc and Dize at St. Denis the 

 Duke of Orleans having found the capital of 

 200,000 livres. 



When the Duke was executed on the 

 6th November, 1793, the works were 

 confiscated. Leblanc was not awarded the 



