JAMES SHANKS 223 



methodical lixiviation, as perfected by 

 Shanks, in continuation of Desormes' ever- 

 memorable improvements, is undoubtedly 

 entitled to rank among the most valuable 

 and beautiful of the great typical processes 

 in applied chemistry ; and it will probably be 

 regarded by posterity as one of the most 

 important industrial bequests of our age." 



Associated with Shanks in the working of 

 the business was Simon Crosfield, who was 

 a kindly, easy-going man ; he attended to the 

 commercial routine, but it was Shanks who 

 put all fire and "go" into the concern. 



He took into his employ, as a young man, 

 in the year 1857, Mr. John Brock, in whom 

 he found a man after his own heart, and 

 whom he trained to be his successor ; what 

 the character of that training was, is seen in 

 the establishment and management of the 

 British Alkali Works at Widnes, which has 

 been under Mr. Brock's direction and manage- 

 ment from its commencement. 



Shanks and Simon Crosfield were both 

 generous men ; the devouring competition of 

 the present day, with its watchword of " The 

 survival of the fittest," and its policy of 

 crushing down into extinction the weak, 

 would have ill accorded with their natures or 



