THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



ON THE BORACIC ACID OF CENTRAL ITALY. 



BY W. P. JERVIS, F.G.S., 

 Assistant-General to the Special Commissioners for Italy at the International 



Exhibition. 



Of all the mineral resources of Central Italy, none have been deve- 

 loped of late in so remarkable a manner as that of boracic acid, the very 

 existence of which in Europe was unknown a century ago, while now 

 100,000?. worth of crude acid are annually exported from Leghorn to 

 England alone, besides a considerable quantity sent to France. It will 

 not be without interest to trace the history of the discovery of boracic 

 acid in Italy as a scientific curiosity, and to follow its introduction into 

 the manufactures, detailing the various steps taken to improve the 

 method of collecting it, until it may be said to have almost reached per- 

 fection. 



In 1742, Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, a scientific Tuscan traveller, 

 and one of the earliest geologists of Central Italy, visited the salt 

 works of Volterra (Pisa) in his rambles through the Maremme, and pro- 

 ceeded southward through Pomarance to Monte Cerboli, in order to ex- 

 amine the curious phenomenon of hct vapours which abounded in the 

 neighbourhood. He relates how he took a stroll through the valley 

 which stretches south-east from Monte Cerboli, and reached the little 

 torrent Possera : all around him was a scene of desolation, well fitted 

 to strike dismay on the ignorant, but eminently suited to the contem- 

 plative mind of the naturalist, to whom the most dreary plains and barren 

 rocks yield ample subject for useful and agreeable study. Targioni's 

 attention, was attracted to the examination of the strange scene around 

 him ; he stood close to a yawning gulf, from which issued rumbling 

 noises and disagreeable odours ; he wished to look down and peep into 

 the mysterious chasm to learn something of its nature, but his temerity 

 was rewarded by a surly growl from within, and his guide told him 



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