Aug. 17, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



161 



Alkali Works Regulation Act, 1881. Twenty-fourth 

 Annual Report on Alkali, etc., Works, by the Chief 

 Inspector. Proceedings during the year 1887, pre- 

 sented to the Local Government Board and to the 

 Secretary for Scotland. (London : Printed for Her 

 Majesty's Stationery Office.) 

 There still exist educated and intelligent persons not a 

 few to whom the nature and the necessity for the so-called 

 Alkali Act are perfectly unknown. The case is this : in 

 the manufacture of alkali from common salt by the 

 Leblanc process, the salt is converted into sulphate of 

 soda, or salt-cake, by heating with sulphuric acid. During 

 this process all the chlorine of the salt, which is more 

 than half its entire weight, is given off in the state of 

 hydrochloric acid gas. In the earlier days of this impor- 

 tant manufacture this acid was allowed to escape freely 

 into the atmosphere, when it became the cause of abun- 

 dant mischief to all kinds of vegetation in the districts. 

 An Act was therefore passed, compelling manufacturers 

 of alkali to condense the acid vapours given off. Similar 

 enactments were made to control the escape of other acid 

 and corrosive fumes, and the working of this Act was 

 placed in the hands of a Chief Inspector and a number of 

 assistants. It was feared at first that this legislative in- 

 terference would gravely compromise the position of an 

 industry of great national importance. But, thanks to 

 the scientific resources, the practical judgment and the 

 tact of the first Inspector, the late Dr. R. Angus Smith, 

 the end desired — the protection of the public — was 

 attained without any injury to the trade. It may even be 

 said that the vapours which were once simply a nuisance 

 have now become the main source of profit of the alkali 

 manufacturer. 



The total number of works registered under the Act 

 was, in 1887, in England and Ireland 927, and in Scot- 

 land 198. 



It is a very gratifying feature, brought out in the report 

 before us, that the escape of acid gases is considerably 

 less than what the law stipulates. Thus the maximum 

 amount of hydrochloric acid tolerated by the Act is one- 

 fifih of a grain per cubic foot of chimney-gases. The 

 quantity actually escaping is only half that limit. The 

 escape of sulphurous acid from the lead chambers is very 

 little more than one-third of the limit laid down. An 

 additional ground for congratulation is the fact that this 

 improvement has been effected not by a system of prose- 

 cutions, but by an investigation of the causes of any 

 irregularity complained of and by suggestions as to its 

 removal. Only four prosecutions under the Act have 

 taken place during the year, three of them for neglecting 

 to register works liable to inspection under the Act, and 

 the fourth at a manure-works, for neglecting to use the 

 best practicable means of arresting noxious gases. 



The report duly notices the struggle now taking place 

 between the process of Leblanc and the so-called 

 ammonia-soda process of Solvay. About three millions 

 of money are supposed to be invested in the Leblanc 

 process in this country, which will be to a great extent 

 wasted if that process has to be abandoned. 



The total quantity of salt used in the United Kingdom 

 in the Leblanc process is 649,867 tons yearly, whilst 

 158,636 tons are consumed in the ammonia-soda process. 



A fearful nuisance connected with the Leblanc process 

 is the production of so-called " vat-waste," a material 

 which on contact with any acid, even the carbonic acid of 



the atmosphere, gives off sulphuretted hydrogen, whilst 

 an offensive liquid drains away from the mounds of this 

 refuse, often finding its way into water-courses. 



Of this offensive material there are now 1,500,000 tons 

 produced annually. At Widnes, in Lancashire, these 

 deposits cover 450 acres of ground, and contain above 

 8,000,000 tons, to which r,ooo tons are added daily. 

 Such being the condition of things, it is very satisfactory 

 to learn that two processes are being elaborated, each of 

 which bids fair to extract the sulphur from these 

 mounds, thus rendering what is now a nuisance to all 

 parties, harmless to the public and profitable to the 

 manufacturer. 



The present Chief Inspector, Mr. Fletcher, points out 

 a number of inconsistencies in the provisions of the Act. 

 Thus any escape during the manufacture of sulphuric, 

 nitric, or hydrochloric acid (above the proportion legally 

 fixed) renders the proprietors liable to a penalty. But 

 an escape of these acids to any extent whilst being used 

 — not made — falls outside the provisions of the Act, and 

 the inspector cannot interfere. But suppose the manu- 

 facturer, in order to abate the nuisance, attempts to con- 

 dense the fumes, he then becomes a " maker " of the 

 respective acid concerned ; the works must be duly 

 inspected, and if the method of condensation adopted is 

 insufficient, he is liable to prosecution. 



It appears that the production of sulphurous acid is 

 regulated by the Act only when it is generated in order 

 to be ultimately converted into sulphuric acid. If it is 

 made for any other purpose, or with any other result, it 

 is exempt from inspection. Thus the production of acid 

 fumes from the combustion of fuel rich in sulphur is the 

 cause of a frightful nuisance, but it completely escapes 

 control. The inspectors, therefore, suggest that the 

 present Alkali Act should be superseded by a general 

 Noxious Vapours' Act — a very desirable step. 



Model Engine-making. By J. Pocock. London: Swjn 

 Sonnenschein, and Co. 



A book intended to help ingenious boys to make un- 

 mechanical model steam-engines with the least possible 

 apparatus. We confess to a horror of those hissing 

 little monstrosities called " model " steam-engines ; the 

 manufacture of them serves no useful purpose, unless it 

 be to keep idle hands from mischief, as their educational 

 effect en the manufacturer must be nil, the builder's 

 efforts appearing to be chiefly directed towards making 

 something as unlike any engine that was ever made, 

 since the days of Newcomen and Trevithick, as possible. 



The model engines illustrated and described in this 

 little book are just what amateurs have kept on making 

 for the last thirty years, neither better nor worse, faulty 

 in construction, crude in design, and " sloppy " in work- 

 manship. 



Cannot the amateur be instructed how to make some- 

 thing a little more modern than oscillating cylinder 

 locomotives and table-engines ? 



The Navigable Balloon in War and Peace. By General 

 W. N. Hutchinson. Eastbourne : Farncombe and Co. 

 There exists a very general belief that every invention, 

 if only practicable and successful, should be greeted as a 

 boon without sufficient regard to the character of its 

 possible results. This belief will, on careful considera- 

 tion be found to be a grave mistake. There are, of 

 course, inventions — it would be invidious to point out 

 instances — which are unmixed benefita to mankind. 



