8 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 



measure for the prosperity of the entire chemical indus- 

 try, since sulphuric acid is used for many chemical pro- 

 cesses. The following table gives the production of sul- 

 phuric acid in the United States in the last ten years. 



SULPHURIC ACID 50" Be.* 



*The Mineral Industry, 1920. G. A. Roush. Editor, McGraw-HiU N. Y., 1921. 



For many centuries fine porcelain ware was made in 

 China and Persia. Art collectors search eagerly for 

 specimens of old manufacture, and praise them as prod- 

 ucts of a lost art which they represent as flourishing cen- 

 turies ago, and small vessels and vases are sold for 

 thousands of dollars. The fact is that kaolin of a cer- 

 tain composition was used in these goods. Kaolin comes 

 in pockets and in isolated mines, and if the mine was 

 exhausted, the art was lost. The chemist of today has 

 analyzed kaolin and ascertained its composition. By 

 properly mixing materials he has learned to reproduce 

 the finest quality of porcelain at will. 



We mine in Arkansas bauxite (AI2O3 2H2O), a mineral 

 containing almost pure alumina. We ship it to St. Louis, 

 where by the aid of cheap limestone and coal the impur- 

 ities are removed in one of the largest manufacturing 

 plants of the country, and pure alumina is made from it. 

 This we carry to Niagara Falls to produce aluminium 

 by an electrical process. The great discovery of produc- 

 ing aluminium, made by Woehler in 1827, has been 

 improved by Hall, an American chemist. He isolates 

 the metal by an electrical process, and a large part of the 



