ANDREAS KURTZ 147 



in the van, and secured for all the articles 

 there produced a world- wide repute. Although 

 neither Andreas Kurtz nor his successor ever 

 saw their way to become local residents, a 

 misfortune to St. Helens, still the duties that 

 devolve upon employers of labour have never 

 been neglected; religious bodies, irrespective 

 of their creed, have received assistance, 

 liberal support has been afforded to various 

 educational institutions, the firm erected the 

 only public baths the town has ever possessed, 

 and the same hand founded and endowed the 

 St. Helens Cottage Hospital. 



In the story of the growth and progress of 

 St. Helens, the business, so reluctantly taken 

 over by Andreas Kurtz, will ever hold a 

 prominent position ; and we have sought to 

 bring back out of the shadows of the past, a 

 man who was probably the most remarkable 

 representative of the French school of 

 practical chemists that Lancashire has had. 

 There is only one patent of Kurtz's to be 

 found in the records of the Patent Office, and 

 that was not completed ; it was " My Patent 

 Fourneau, for concentrating vitriol." He 

 seems to have laboured almost incessantly at 

 his chemical studies and operations in labora- 

 tories and works, but patents were not his 



