INDUSTRIAL ANI> POLITICAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 



cheap gem. It in found aa green crystal- 



t!ir..u:,'li tli" rook. Its conuioNitinii i-> 1 I 

 in.l :t of mutfnoHui; iron, manganese, and alumina all 

 :ho composition <>f difforent pooimi'in. Wln-n thi! 

 ,| pi |,-r cent., the mineral is Olifi"''; ami when it 



;.lno<* tho lllil.,'lii-.M:l, JYri'/" ult. 



is a light -coloured mineral, usually pale blue, 

 >r light rod. It occur* in diinotrio prisms in granite and 

 :!im> roi-k*. It is composed of 4 atoms of silica, 

 2 of alumina, and 1 of lime. 



are other silicates, but they do not present sufficient 

 interest to have a place in an elementary manual. 



SULPHATES. 



Gypsum is sulphate of lime. When it is found crystallised 

 and transparent, it is termed Selenite. It belongs to tho 

 mnoi'linio system, and appears usually in tabular prisms. It 

 possesses a very perfect cleavage, allowing very fine lamina) to 

 be separated, which are flexible, but not elastic. It is very soft, 

 being easily out with a knife. When massive it is sometimes 

 found fibrous, and then presents a very beautiful appearance, 

 which has procured for it tho name of Satin Spar. It is usually 

 associated with rock-salt, and may have been tho result of tho 

 evaporation of sea-water. For a notice on this the lesson on 

 iassio period, in the geological lessons, must be consulted 

 (V, 1. V., page 328). 



;/ Spar is the sulphate of baryta. It occurs in tabular 

 prism* belonging to the trimetrio system. It is generally white 

 or tinged with brownish yellow. As its name indicates, it is 

 peculiarly hr:ivy : sp. gr. = 4'8. It is found as tho matrix in 

 which galena and copper pyrites are embedded. When ground, 

 a dead-white powder is the result, which is used to adulterate 

 white lead, it being found to give an opacity to the colour. 



Celestine is the sulphate of strontia. Like heavy spar it is 

 trimetric, but its crystals are long prisms, and not tabular. It 

 is also much lighter. It is generally white, but if coloured the 

 tint is blue, hence its name. Its use is to make the nitrate of 

 strontia with which tho rod-fire of the pyrotechnists is produced. 



Alum. There are several alums, all having a similar com- 

 position. They contain 24 parts of water, 1 of sulphate of 

 nJnmina, and 1 of some other sulphate, the base of this last 

 salt being the distinctive characteristic of the alum. Thus 

 In Ammonia Alum it is the Sulphate of Ammonia. 



copper pyrites, and is frequently in solution in water flr.winf 

 _'h bed* of that ore. 



note of Lead, or AngUtiU, i al*o formed durum th 

 decomposition of galena, the snlpboret of lead. It 



Soda Alum 

 Potash Alum 

 Magnesia Alum 

 Iron Alum 



.< Alum 



Sulphate of Soda. 

 Sulphate of Potash. 

 Sulphate of Magnesia. 

 Sulphate of Iron. 

 Sulphate of Manganese. 



There is also Feather Alum, which is hydrous sulphate of 

 alumina without the second sulphate. 



All these minerals are only formed under peculiar circum- 

 stances. Sulphuric acid is never found " native," if we may 

 use the expression, but is always produced by the oxidisation of 

 some sulphuret as iron pyrites. During the decomposition of 

 the pyrites the iron and sulphur become oxidised, and thus 

 sulphate of iron is produced ; if clay be present, some of the 

 sulphuric acid attacks the alumina, making a sulphate of that 

 earth. This cannot proceed except moisture be present ; hence 

 tho water is also ready to take part in the composition of the 

 iron alum thus formed. Alums frequently impregnate clay 

 slates, which are then known as aluminous slates or shales. At 

 Whitby, in Yorkshire, alum is extracted from such slates. For 

 the description of the process, see our " Lessons in Chemistry." 



Soda Alum is found at the Solfataras, in Italy; Magnesia 

 Alum at Iquique, in South America ; Ammonia Alum at 

 Tschermig, in Bohemia. 



Alum is monometric. Beautiful crystals may be obtained by 

 supersaturating boiling water with tho salt, and hanging in 

 the solution a buncn of thread, then allowing it to cool in a 

 dark place. Tho crystals will bo found to be octahodra. 



Sulphate of Iron, or green vitriol, is usually found with 

 iron pyrites ; it is due to the decomposition and oxidisation of 

 the pyrites. When the sulphur becomes sulphuric acid, this 

 Combining with tho iron forms the mineral in question. 



Sulphate of Zinc, or white vitriol, is produced in precisely 

 the same way by the decomposition and oxidisation of zinc 

 Bulphuret, or blende, with which it is generally associated. 



Sulphate of Copper, or blue vitriol, is similarly found with 



often as leader white crystal*, and 



ve. 



INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY 



OF COM .\IK I ICE. 



CHAPTER rXV.-THE COMMERCE OF VHE VETHEHLAXDa 

 NORTH NETHERLANDS. 



HOLLAND, or tho North Netherlands is referred to by Tacitus 

 as the country of the BataviaiiH, a tribe claiming to be the 

 auxiliaries and friends, but not the subjects of the Tt "*"*ft. 

 They served faithfully in Caesar's armies, and acted also as par- 

 veyora of corn to his legions. Thus early do wo trace the 

 elements of Dutch commerce. The country was at that time 

 a wide marsh, more or leas saline an alluvial deposit from tho 

 Rhine and the Maaa, and subject to constant changes of form 

 from the action of the sea ; it is still destitute alike of minerals 

 and of timber. Niebuhr says the prevalence of bog tendered 

 any distinctive term for that substance unnecessary in the old 

 dialect; aa though no < ther soil were known. The bind is 

 now remarkable for its great fertility. 



The Frisians and Zealandera mingled with the Batavians, 

 and constituted tho principal part of the population of the 

 northern Netherlands. 



Dutch history is, to speak generally, one long " wrestle for 

 existence." Plodding, beaver-like labour, had first to enclose a 

 country to live in, and then to found a commerce. Such indus- 

 trial discipline waa severe, but every step was sure. We are 

 told that the Emperor Charlemagne chose Frisian robes, both 

 white and of purple dye, as Easter presents to hia favourites, 

 and to the princes in alliance with him ; amongst them the 

 Caliph Haronn a\ Raschid. The interweaving of figures in their 

 textures was an art in which the Frisians seem to have excelled. 

 Their provinces in the middle of the fifth century embraced all 

 the "sea binds" between the Weser in Germany and the Zwin 

 in West Flandera ; their name waa afterwards applied only to 

 the northern districts of Holland ; but the western part of 

 Schleswig is still Frisian. The Norse sea-kinga found in them 

 a different people to attack from the inhabitants of many other 

 coasts. The Frisians not only repelled the rovers, but daringly 

 pursued them on the North Sea, and even to the Baltic. Under 

 Charlemagne, they also served on the Danube against the 

 Avars. 



In order to secure their commerce, they fixed upon Stavoren. 

 a town conveniently situated on the Znyder Zee, which then 

 covered but a small part of the land now submerged, and made 

 it their capital. Stavoren rapidly rose to commercial greatness. 

 It was the mart at which Eastern and Western commerce met. 

 Traditions of the opulence of its ancient burghers still linger in 

 the epithet applied to them by the villagers, viz., " the lamented 

 children of Stavoren." Numerous records of Frisian hardihood, 

 both on sea and land, are met with. The Frith of Forth is 

 called by Nennius the Mare Frisecum, because of its exposure to 

 their early incursions. They reached the Orkney Islands in the 

 year 1088, and even claim to have discovered the North-West 

 Passage. Every year the North Sea waa covered with their 

 herring-boats. Along with other Netherlanders, they were active 

 by sea and land during the crusades, though with but little ad- 

 vantage to themselves, commercially speaking. 



The principal period of the growth of the towns of the Nether- 

 lands waa between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries. The 

 provinces wore ruled by feudal lords, whose vassalage to the 

 German emperor waa more nominal than real, and at length was 

 no longer acknowledged. As a means of revenue the rulers took 

 toll at every town, and thus they hampered trade, but greater 

 injury was inflicted upon the nascent commerce by the jealous 

 and almost incessant strife of tho provinces amongst them- 

 selves. Tho south and the north Netherlanders, especially, were 

 always rivals. The mouths of tho rivers being in Holland, the 

 inhabitants were enabled to exact any tolls they pleased from 

 tho Flemish and German merchants. Such imposts led to resist- 

 ance, in which the Flemings were often successful. 



The trade of Holland divided itself into the trade of the aouth, 

 with Venice by way of Germany, and the trade of the nortn, 



