424 
MANUFACTURE  OF  ARTIFICIAL  SODA. 
in  these  experiments,  Mr.  Deville  states  that  he  is  unable  to 
speak  decisively ;  and  that  the  means  of  working  at  his  disposal 
were  so  defective  that  the  experiments  made  could  not  furnish 
an  exact  indication  with  regard  to  this  particular. 
However,  he  states  that  he  was  able  to  produce  sodium  at  a 
cost  of  three  shillings  and  sixpence  per  pound,  including  only 
the  cost  of  materials,  labor,  fuel,  and  retorts.  The  quantity  of 
sodium  made  by  Mr.  Deville  at  the  Javel  Works  was  from  330 
to  440  pounds. 
The  cost  of  the  chloride  of  aluminium  was  about  one-and-six- 
pence  a  pound.    Alumina  was  prepared  from  ammoniacal  alum, 
and  cost  as  much  as  two  shillings  a  pound.    The  quantity  of 
chloride  of  aluminium  made  was  from  1100  to  1320  pounds. 
London  Pharm.  Journ.  July,  1856,  from  Annal.  de  Qhem. 
EE  PORT  ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
ARTIFICIAL  SODA. 
(From  correspondence  of  M.  Jerome  Nickles,  Paris  185G.) 
The  question  of  priority  as  to  the  process  of  manufacturing 
artificial  soda  has  just  been  the  subject  of  thorough  investigation 
by  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  This  work  was  called  forth  by  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  at  the  request  of  the  children  of 
Leblanc,  author  of  the  process  which  bears  his  name.  Another 
claim,  that  of  the  children  of  Dize,  collaborator  of  Leblanc,  being 
presented  at  the  same  time,  the  Section  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  was  obliged  to  proceed  to  a  historical  and 
bibliographical  research  which  has  resulted  in  a  complete  elucida- 
tion by  M.  Dumas  of  this  important  point  in  the  history  of 
Science. 
The  discovery  of  the  process  which  derives  soda  from  marine 
salt  was  made  by  Leblanc,  who  was  also  the  first  to  give  it  a 
trial.  It  was  not  till  afterward  that  he  associated  himself  with 
Diz£,  then  chemical  assistant  at  the  College  of  France. 
Nicholas  Leblanc  was  born  in  1743,  Toward  1780  he  was 
attached  as  surgeon  to  the  household  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
He  commenced  in  1785  his  communications  upon  crystallization 
which  gave  him  a  distinguished  rank  among  the  chemists  of  the 
time.  His  first  researches  upon  methods  of  obtaining  soda, 
economically,  date  from  1784.    This  problem  had  already  been 
