Remarks on the Crude Sodas of Commerce. 45 



assume the form of a paste. By allowing the combustion to 

 continue a little longer, or by adding some salt or saltpetre, 

 the difficulty is easily overcome. The kelp is found to yield 

 from three to six or eight per cent, of pure soda. 



France was in the habit of depending principally upon 

 foreign countries, for the supply of crude sodas, until the 

 period of the revolution. In consequence of the wars 

 lighted up by that event, she found herself cut off from the 

 rest of Europe, and compelled either to abandon some of 

 her most important manufactures, or to find within herself 

 the means of supplying the raw materials. She was entire- 

 ly destitute of many articles of daily, and indispensable use. 

 Surrounded by enemies, she had not even the means of ob- 

 taining nitre for preparing gun powder for her armies. This 

 state of things, and the great political excitement that exis- 

 ted at the time, resulted in prodigious and successful efforts, 

 to supply herself from sources which had not before been 

 thought of. The value of the physical sciences under these 

 circumstances was perceived, nor is there perhaps a period 

 in their history more honorable than this. No longer con- 

 fining herself to the closet and laboratory, philosophy went 

 forth, and relieved with her treasures, the distresses of the 

 state. In the enthusiasm of the moment, the usual motives 

 of human action seemed suspended ; especially among men 

 of science, every thing like private interest seemed lost sight 

 of, in a desire to promote the public good. Important dis- 

 coveries in the arts, which if practised in secret must have 

 yielded immense emolument, were freely promulgated for 

 the good of the republic. In this honorable competition of 

 the sciences, chemistry stood pre-eminent. The most emi- 

 nent chemists in France, were formed into committees, by 

 the committee of public safety ; the results of their investi- 

 gations will be found in the early volumes of the Annates 

 de Chimie, forming the most valuable series of papers on 

 chemistry, applied to the arts, that can perhaps be found in 

 the history of the sciences. 



Among the most important of these papers is the report 

 of Messrs. Lelievre, Pelletier, d'Arcet, and Girard, on the 

 best means of extracting soda from sea salt. This led to the 

 extensive manufactory of artificial soda in France, which is 

 at present, not only principally employed in their own man- 

 ufactories, but has become a considerable article of export. 

 The process recommended by the committee, and which 



