344 
ON A DIRECT METHOD OF OBTAINING IODINE. 
The subsequent steps of the operation will be much in- 
fluenced by circumstances. If the object be merely to save 
the iodine, a variety of methods may be adopted to effect 
this purpose, one of which will be mentioned in the sequel; 
if, on the other hand, it be a consideration to obtain the 
potash salts, evaporation and probably repeated crystalliza- 
tions, must be resorted to ; and the facility of obtaining 
fuel at a little expense will of course become an important 
element for consideration. It will however at once occur, 
that the cellular tissue which remains after pressure will 
render important service in this case ; at all events, but lit- 
tle experience and ingenuity will be called into requisition 
for combining all the favorable circumstances in such a 
manner as to insure a profitable arrangement. Whilst the 
use of iodine remains a matter of importance only in a 
pharmaceutical point of view, the demand must necessari- 
ly be limited ; and such a supply as could easily be obtain- 
ed by the above method would materially affect the market; 
but should any means be discovered of rendering it adapted 
to the purposes of dyeing, the application of sufficient 
capital would doubtless be attended with very profitable 
results. 
Another case presents itself, in which a modification of 
the above plan, carried out on a limited scale, may be of 
extensive practical benefit. On all coasts similarly circum- 
stanced with that to which we more especially allude, nu- 
merous creeks occur, which for the most part either belong 
to farms in their immediate neighborhood, or do so virtual- 
ly, as access to them can only be obtained by a right of 
way through such farms ; in these, immense quantities of 
drift-weed accumulate after every storm, which in many 
cases are entirely wasted, and in many others have to be 
conveyed to the land by roads almost impassable. Now it 
will be seen in the sequel, that, by a little attention, the 
agriculturists may convert these natural disadvantages into 
sources of profit ; on the one hand, eliminating an impor- 
