TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY. 325 



and air, nearly all the cloth being sent to Holland or 

 Germany for this purpose, where it remained for the 

 summer, and was brought back for sale in the winter. 

 In the year 1789 a large establishment for bleaching by 

 chlorine was erected near Bolton in Lancashire, and lime 

 was very soon employed in place of Berthollet's hypo- 

 chlorite of potash, or eau de Javelles ; and in 1799 Mr. 

 Tennant obtained a patent for the manufacture of chloride 

 of lime in dry powder. In 1798 an Act was passed to 

 permit a drawback of the duty on salt consumed in making 

 hydrochloric acid necessary for the production of chlorine 

 for bleaching purposes. It was required, however, that 

 the residue of sulphate of soda should be thrown away, 

 thus effectually preventing its application to the manu- 

 facture of soda ; this restriction was not done away with 

 till the year 1814. It is singular to find that, although 

 the hydrochloric acid evolved in the first part of Leblanc's 

 process was needed for, and had been already applied to 

 the manufacture of chloride of lime, the early alkali- 

 makers did not see the necessity of incorporating the 

 manufacture of this bleaching compound with that of 

 their alkali, but on the contrary allowed the whole of 

 their hydrochloric acid to pass into the chimney without 

 any attempt at condensation. 



The quantity of this acid gas which was evolved from 

 Mr. Muspratt's chimneys at Liverpool became so large 

 that he was proceeded against by the corporation of that 

 town as causing a nuisance ; and he was compelled to 

 remove his works from Liverpool to Newton. 



The effectual remedy for this evil was found by Mr. 

 William Gossage in the year 1836. He passed the hydro- 

 chloric acid gas up condensing towers, filled with coke or 

 broken bricks, down which a current of water passed. By 

 this means a perfect condensation of hydrochloric acid is 

 effected ; for, as you are all aware, this gas dissolves in 

 water in very large quantities, and so completely is this 

 solution effected that the escaping gases when passed 

 through nitrate of silver frequently show no trace of hydro- 

 chloric acid. So completely can this be carried out that 

 an Act was passed in the year 1863 compelling manu- 

 facturers to condense within 5 per cent, of the total amount 

 of hydrochloric acid they evolve; whilst the second Act, 



