W. E. Ayrton, Christopher Gamble 195 



the Church, and while passing through his studies at Glasgow, 

 attended a course of chemistry under Dr. Cleghorn. He 

 became sufficiently interested to carry on privately chemical 

 experiments in his leisure time. After taking up his duties 

 as Presbyterian minister at Enniskillen, he saw hand-loom 

 weavers in his parish working the flax grown by farmers in 

 the neighbourhood, and prepared solutions of chlorine to 

 assist them in bleaching their linen. Finding that he could 

 utilize the residue left over from the production of chlorine in 

 producing Glauber salts, he decided to resign his ministry 

 and establish chemical works in Dublin. Here he manu- 

 factured bleaching powder, using the process patented by 

 Charles Tennant (1768-1838), the owner of the St. Rollox 

 Chemical Works, now merged in the United Alkali Company. 

 He further set up a plant to manufacture the necessary 

 sulphuric acid. Salt or brine, another indispensable ingre- 

 dient, had, however, to be obtained from a distance, and this 

 led him ultimately to leave Ireland, and build works at 

 St. Helens. There he was associated during ten years with 

 James Muspratt, and afterwards with the brothers Cross- 

 field, soap-boilers, of Warrington. The trouble arising from 

 the damage done to the surrounding country by the noxious 

 gases set free in the process of manufacture hampered the 

 work considerably, and Gamble was slow to adopt the proper 

 remedies. The enmity of his neighbours and ill-health 

 ultimately made him abandon his work altogether. 



To appreciate the work done by the chemical manu- 

 facturer in Gamble's time, it must be remembered that they 

 had generally to manufacture all the appliances they required. 

 Earthenware pots of sufficient size had to be produced, and 

 Gamble, blowpipe in hand, made his own thermometers and 

 hydrometers. 



" Alkali " is an Arabic word originally applied to the ashes 

 of plants, and subsequently to the products derived from 

 these ashes, consisting of carbonate of soda and carbonate 

 of potash. The properties of these substances are so similar 

 that at first they were not distinguished as separate bodies. 

 As chemistry advanced, their metallic bases, sodium and 

 potassium, were grouped together under the term " alkali 

 metals," but technically, when the alkali industry is referred 



K 2 



