16 CHEMISTRY 



school always suffers from proximity to a weaker 

 one in a University. 



It is probably obvious that the resumption of 

 peace conditions will find each great nation less 

 ready than before to be dependent upon any other 

 for essential products. Preparations for this result 

 are already in progress ; thus, whilst the potassium 

 salts essential as agricultural manure have been 

 mainly provided from the salt deposits at Stassfurt, 

 America has recently been particularly active in 

 the search for alternative sources of these materials. 

 One American process for the production of potas- 

 sium chloride, which consists in roasting potash, 

 felspar, lime and calcium chloride and dissolving 

 out the resulting potassium chloride, professes to 

 produce this salt, of 70 to 80 per cent, purity, for {6 

 per ton as against a cost of .7. los. per ton for the 

 imported German material. Great Britain, like every 

 other large nation, must make itself independent of 

 foreign countries for this and every other essential 

 material. This shortage of potassium salts outside 

 the Central nations, which has resulted in the price 

 of caustic potash advancing from about fourpence 

 to four shillings and six pence per pound, calls 

 attention to what is practically the sole natural 

 resource in raw materials enjoyed by Germany. 

 The Stassfurt salt deposits, the solid residue of 

 the evaporation of some primeval sea, have for 

 many years provided potash salts for the whole 

 world; not because those deposits are unique, for 



