JAMES MUSPRATT 87 



who became Master of the Mint, and whom 

 he had been instrumental in getting appointed 

 to the chair of chemistry in University 

 College, London, and where James Young, 

 in later years so celebrated in connection 

 with paraffin, was assistant. 



Troubles gathered round the Leblanc soda 

 manufacturers ; Liverpool, St. Helens, and 

 Newton rose against them, and they found 

 themselves beset with legal proceedings. On 

 James Muspratt the chief burden rested, for 

 he was attacked by the Liverpool Corporation, 

 and also by Mr. Leigh and other landowners 

 and farmers at Newton. 



From 1832 to 1850 his business was 

 harassed by almost continuous and most 

 expensive litigation, which finally resulted in 

 his being compelled to close and abandon 

 both his works. He had hoped that by the 

 erection of very tall chimneys he could carry 

 his fumes so far into the air that before they 

 alighted on the earth they would be so 

 diffused and diluted as to be no longer 

 noxious and injurious. This certainly did 

 to some extent mitigate the evil, especially in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the works ; 

 but at Newton it was found that, although 

 the chimney was 400 feet high, in damp, 



