CHAPTER XIII. 



SULPHURIC ACID MANUFACTURE SKETCH OP ITS PAST HISTORY 



PYRITES BURNING GLOVER'S TOWERS HINTS ON 



THE CONSTRUCTION OF LEADEN CHAMBERS CHEMISTRY OF 



THE PROCESS DENITRATION GAY-LUSSAC TOWERS 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



Until Mr. Rod well published his book, " The Birth of Chemistry," 

 we had always been led to believe that the discovery of sulphuric 

 acid was due to Basil Valentine, but we have now reason to suppose 

 that it was known long before his time. 



Pliny teaches us that sulphur was used for making matches and 

 that sulphurous acid was employed for bleaching purposes, and 

 produced by burning the mineral in contact with the air. Pyrites 

 were also well known, and owe the origin of their name to their hav- 

 ing been used for lighting fires by means of the sparks which they 

 emit when struck by steel. 



In the 8th century an Arab named Geber made sulphuric acid 

 from the distillation of alum, and at the beginning of the 15th century, 

 Basil Valentine commenced to manufacture it by submitting green 

 vitriol (sulphate of iron) to distillation and made use of it in various 

 processes and dissolutions. 



After his time, several of the old chemists were engaged in in- 

 vestigating its properties and endeavoring to find out its true chem- 

 ical composition, and among these, Paracelcus, the great Swiss 

 alchemist who died in 1541, declared, as the result of his labors, that 

 it was "nitre air mixed with sulphur.'' 



