432 Scientific Intelligence. 
per cent. of boracic are then led into the reservoir from 
which they are conducted into lead reservoirs for evaporation, to pro- 
duce concentration ; and to hasten that operation, 1 appy idea was 
the Soffioni. This improvement decided the success of the enterprise, . 
It is surprising that it was introduced at so late a day, since this method na 
was not new and had been long practi 
boilers. Thus the fabrication is exceedingly simple, the locality itself 
furnishing the means of carrying it on. single discharge of the va- 
Tuscan pounds. From 1839 to 1845 the mean quantity has been two 
millions and a half of pounds. 
Thus in estimating the product at 7,500 pounds per day; the quan- 
tity of saturated water upon which they operate daily is 1,500,000 Ibs. 
daily, and annually 547,500,000 Ibs. 
This labor brings to Tuscany 12 millions of pounds (10 millions of 
francs), and it is surprising that it should have remained unproductive 
during so many ages, and that it should have been reserved for the skill 
of M. Larderel, now Count of Monte Cerboli, and before 1818 a simple 
wandering merchant, entirely unacquainted with scientific researches, to 
discover the fugitive vapors and render them a source of inexhaustible 
wealth, : 
The violence with which the burning vapors escape gives rise to 
ddy explosions, when a lake has been drained by turning its waters 
into another lake. The mud is then thrown out, as solid matters are 
ejected from volcanos, and there forms in the bottom of the lake a crow 
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