266 ~ Researches on the Commercial Potash 



advantage can by no means make up for the positive injury done to 

 the potash by its addition. 



It was not until I had proceeded in this investigation, that I ascer- 

 tained how general this mode of adulteration had become. Sever- 

 al manufacturers have assured me, that salt is almost always added 

 to the lixivium, in the ordinary method of preparing potash. If this 

 is so, the objection which I have to this part of the patented process 

 will equally apply to the-other. It is proper, however, to state, that 

 while the proportion of pure alkali in the specimens of potash, which 

 I have analyzed, is in favor of those manufactured by the patented 

 process, the chlorides of sodium and potassium, which may be fair- 

 ly set down to the admixture of common salt, are also contained in 

 them in larger proportion. 



There is one consideration in connection with the use of salt, 

 which is deserving of some attention. And it is that at present, the 

 only object of the manufacturer is to produce an article, which shall 

 pass inspection as " first sort." It is by this brand, that the market 

 price is regulated, and the extra time and labor required to manu- 

 facture a more pure potash, would, under the present system of in- 

 spection, be entirely lost. A premium is thus, in effect, set upon 

 ingenious adidterations, and, under all the circumstances, we can 

 scarcely attach blame to those, who endeavor to avail themselves of 

 its benefit. 



In concluding this part of ray paper, justice obliges me to state, 

 that the specimens of potash manufactured according to the patent 

 process, which has been here described, equal, if they do not exceed, 

 in purity, those which have been ordinarily ranked as " first sort." 

 And if the facts, with regard to the increased amount of alkali ob- 

 tained from the ashes, can be at all relied on, it must be considered 

 in many respects, a valuable improvement. But from the very na- 

 ture of the case, its continuance, as such, must depend, in a great 

 degree upon the honesty of the manufacturer, and upon the vigilance 

 and skill of the inspector. 



Analysis of several varieties of Potash. — In the examination of 

 these specimens, my chief object was to determine the proportions 

 which they contained, of what are usually called impurities. The 

 other substances which commercial potash is known to contain, in 

 minute proportions, 1 did not consider it necessary to separate, as 

 it would have occupied much more time, and after all, would have 

 been attended with little practical advantage. My design was, not 

 so much to present complete chemical analyses, as to show, in the 



