114 
Editorial. 
\  Am.  Jour.  Pbarm, 
\    February,  1896. 
EDITORIAL. 
PRODUCTION  OF  SODA  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Some  facts  with  regard  to  the  American  production  of  soda  have  been  recently 
published  in  the  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  for  January  4th,  which  are 
sufficiently  interesting  to  reproduce  for  our  readers. 
The  production  of  soda  in  the  United  States  is  increasing  rapidly,  and  the 
output  for  the  year  1895  was  about  161,000  metric  tons,  counted  as  58  per  cent, 
ash. 
The  great  Solvay  Works,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  are  preparing  to  increase 
capacity  by  50  per  cent,  through  their  new  Detroit  Works.  The  Mathieson 
Alkali  Company,  at  Saltville,  Va.,  is  also  preparing  to  make  a  large  output  of 
ash  and  caustic  during  the  coming  year,  and  is  now  working  the  Castner  elec- 
trolytic process  with  excellent  results.  This  company  has  a  magnificent  plant, 
and  will,  no  doubt,  become  a  very  important  factor  in  the  market. 
The  neighborhood  of  Detroit  will  shortly  become  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest, 
alkali-producing  center  in  the  United  States.  Besides  the  new  Solvay  works, 
already  referred  to,  the  Michigan  Alkali  Works,  at  Wyandotte  ;  Church  &  Co., 
at  Trenton;  and  two  other  projected  works,  are  all  in  the  vicinity  of  Detroit. 
The  Standard  Oil  Company  is  also  proposing  to  operate  alkali  works  at  Cleve- 
land, O.,  and  there  are  two  or  three  other  projected  works  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.-  There  is  every  prospect  that,  in  a  few  years  more,  the  United  States 
will  not  only  make  all  the  alkali  required  for  domestic  consumption,  but  it  will, 
before  many  years,  export  to  other  markets,  as  the  cost  is  constantly  being 
reduced  by  increasing  production  and  by  utilizing  waste  products. 
The  Castner  electrolytic  process,  above  referred  to,  has  been  working  on  a 
commercial  scale  for  some  time  now  at  Oldbury,  near  Birmingham,  England, 
where  caustic  soda  and  chlorine  are  successfully  produced  from  brine.  The 
alkali  solutions  obtained  contain  20  per  cent,  caustic,  and  yield,  by  direct  evapo- 
ration, solid  caustic  of  almost  chemical  purity  (78*5  per  cent.  Liverpool  test)  a 
product  to  this  time  unknown  in  the  alkali  trade.  The  Castner-Kellner  Alkali 
Company,  who  own  the  patents,  are  putting  in  a  plant  at  Oldbury  of  4,000  horse- 
power capacity,  which  will  produce  i8>£  tons  of  pure  caustic  soda  and  40  tons 
of  bleaching  powder  daily.  The  present  annual  production  of  caustic  soda  in 
Great  Britain  amounts  to  160,000  tons,  while  that  of  bleaching  powder  is 
150,000  tons.  •  S.  P.  S. 
The  Zeitschrift  des  allgemeinen  osierreichen  Apotheker-  Vei-eins,  in  its  issue 
of  January  1st,  celebrates  its  fiftieth  anniversary  with  an  enlarged  number, 
made  up  of  original  contributions  of  a  high  order,  from  the  pens  of  some  of 
the  best-known  writers  associated  with  pharmacy  in  Europe.  Professor  A. 
Vogl  contributes  a  paper  on  Jaborandi  Leaves;  Professor  A.  Hilger,  one  on 
Columbin  and  Colombic  Acid;  Professor  Dr.  J.  Wiesner  writes  on  the  Source 
of  Dammar;  Professor  J.  Moeller,  on  Liquidamber  and  Storax,  and  Dr.  S.  F. 
Hanausek,  on  Cinnamon  Chips.  A  number  of  these  papers  are  accompanied 
by  illustrations. 
