ON THE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS. 703 
common salt and some sulphate of soda. Their chief supply was obtained 
from the Messrs, Jamieson and other soap-boilers at Leith. They purchased 
their sulphuric acid at first, but between 1809 and 1810 they got the plans 
of chambers from Messrs. Tennant, of Glasgow, and erected the first chamber 
on the Tyne at Bill Quay. They imported the first cargo of sulphur from 
Sicily about the same time, and its arrival in the river excited great atten- 
tion. At first, the Government returned them the import duty on this sul- 
phur, which was used in making acid, and the present Mr. Doubleday re- 
members having received, at the end of the year, as much as £1500. This, 
however, only lasted some three or four years, when the duty was repealed. 
This firm, then trading under the name of Doubleday and Easterby, also 
erected the first platina retort for making rectified oil of vitriol. This retort 
cost them £700, and before long they had three retorts in operation. The 
alkali which they made was used, in the crude state, in the manufacture of 
soap, in which they were also engaged. In 1816, after the conclusion of 
peace, Mr. Losh returned to Paris, where he learned the details of the present 
plan of decomposing sulphate of soda, which he immediately introduced in his 
works at Walker, and thus may be said to have been the father of the modern 
alkali trade in this country. Mr. Doubleday gave the plans of his chamber, 
furnaces, &c., to the Messrs. Cookson when they commenced their alkali- 
works at South Shields. This trade has been developed in an extraordinary 
manner in this locality, where about 47 per cent. of the whole produce of the 
United Kingdom is now manufactured. The peculiar advantages of the dis- 
trict are also being recognized by the fact that the celebrated firm of Messrs. 
Tennant have purchased land with the intention of removing the greater part 
of their works from Glasgow to the banks of the Tyne*. 
The following details will embrace a brief account of the source of the raw 
materials, and the various improvements which have been recently intro- 
duced :— 
Source of Sulphur.—Until within the last few years, Sicilian sulphur was 
almost exclusively employed in this district for the manufacture of sulphuric 
acid,—the pyrites from Wicklow being the only other source of supply. This 
latter, however, was not sufficiently abundant to render the manufacturer 
independent of the great fluctuations which have recently taken place in the 
price of sulphur, on account of the demand consequent on the vine disease. 
During the last few years, the following additional sources of supply have 
been available :—1st, the Belgian; 2nd, Norwegian ; 3rd, Spanish or Portu- 
guese ; 4th, Italian; 5th, Westphalian pyrites. 1. The Belgian pyrites has 
the advantage of being shipped at Antwerp at a moderate freight to the Tyne. 
It is a very hard, compact material, containing about 50 per cent. of sulphur, 
and therefore nearly approaches a pure bisulphuret of iron. The burnt 
residue from one manufactory on the Tyne (the Walker Iron Works) after 
being roasted in a lime-kiln, to burn off the small remaining portion of sul- 
phur, is regularly used as an iron ore at the adjoining iron-works. It con- 
tains no copper, and from 3 to 5 per cent. of arsenic. 2. The Norwegian 
* Charles Cooper, an overman at Walker Colliery, informs us that he was employed by 
Mr. Losh in 1798, and that crystals of soda were then manufactured and sold by Mr. 
Losh. The salt obtained from the brine-spring on the premises was evaporated in small 
lead pans, and was afterwards decomposed by litharge. The soda so produced was ery- 
stallized in small lead cones; and when it had stood sufficiently long to crystallize, the 
cones were turned upside down to run off the mother liquor. The crystallizing process 
was then only. carried on in the winter months. Mr. C. Hunter, of Walker, further 
informs us that in 1816 he sold about half a ton of soda for Mr. Losh, to a Mr. Anderson, 
of Whitby, at £60 per ton. , 
