110 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES  OF  TRAVEL. 
a  love  of  chemistry,  but  in  imparting  its  leading  facts  and  prin- 
ciples ;  the  lad  who  pointed  out  to  me  some  of  the  facts  which 
follow,  was  educated  at  this  Andersonian  school,  and  now  finds 
employment  in  the  largest  chemical  works  in  the  world. 
Every  one  has  heard  of  Tennant's  great  Chemical  works,  and 
such  a  description  of  them  as  my  opportunities  enable  me  to  give 
may  not  be  uninteresting.  They  are  situated  in  the  eastern  part 
of  Glasgow,  in  a  suburb  called  St.  Rollox,  on  a  rail  road  which 
passes  directly  through  the  grounds,  and  a  canal  which  skirts 
them.  The  works  cover  in  about  sixteen  acres  under  roof,  and 
their  enormously  high  chimneys  as  I  first  saw  them  from  the 
top  of  Ben  Lomond,  many  miles  distant,  constituted  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  objects  in  the  panorama  of  Glasgow. 
The  principal  chimney  is  four  hundred  and  sixty  feet  high, 
seventy-five  feet  higher  than  the  top  of  St.  Paul's,  and  even  ex- 
ceeding in  height  the  tallest  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  There 
are  two  other  tall  chimneys,  one,  three  hundred  and  thirty,  and 
the  other  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  They  are  built  of 
brick,  the  largest  being  forty  feet  at  the  base.  The  object  of 
such  immense  altitude  in  the  flues  is  to  carry  the  gaseous  pro- 
ducts so  high  in  the  atmosphere  as  to  prevent  inconvenience  to 
the  surrounding  population. 
These  works  are  more  remarkable  for  the  vast  quantities  than 
for  the  variety  of  the  chemicals  produced.  The  chief  articles 
of  manufacture  are  Soda  Ash,  Carbonate  of  Soda,  Muriatic  and 
Sulphuric  Acids,  Bleaching  Salts,  and  Soaps. 
By  the  action  of  sulphuric  acid  on  chloride  of  sodium,  sul- 
phate of  soda  is  produced  ;  the  muriatic  acid  given  off  is  passed 
into  large,  square,  stone  chimneys,  lined  with  pitch  and  filled  in 
with  charcoal.  Near  the  tops  of  these  are  reservoirs,  from  which 
jets  of  water  are  thrown  into  the  flues,  which  dissolves  the  gas 
in  such  large  proportion  that  the  liquid  as  it  trickles  out  below 
has  acquired  the  strength  of  commercial  muriatic  acid,  and 
marks  a  sp.  gr.  of  1-116.  The  tops  of  these  chimneys  emit  no 
smell  of  the  acid  gas. 
For  the  manufacture  of  bleaching  salt,  the  muriatic  acid  is 
converted  into  chlorine  by  the  use  of  black  oxide  of  manga- 
nese ;  the  gas  is  then  conveyed  into  a  series  of  brick  chambers 
containing  the  lime ;  two  of  these  communicate,  and  after  two 
