MANUFACTURE  OF  ARTIFICIAL  SODA. 
425 
broached,  and  different  processes  had  been  proposed  for  making 
soda  from  marine  salt  either  by  means  of  lime,  or  by  means  of 
the  oxyd  of  lead,  but  without  industrial  results. 
In  1777,  Father  Malherbe,  a  Benedictine,  pointed  out  a  pro- 
cess of  converting  marine  salt  first  into  sulphate  of  soda  which 
he  afterwards  decomposed  by  means  of  charcoal  and  iron  ;  a  pro- 
cess which  has  quite  lately  been  put  in  practice  by  Mr.  E.  Kopp, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned  in  this  Journal.* 
In  1789,  De  la  Metherie  proposed  to  convert  marine  salt  into 
sulphate  of  soda,  and  to  reduce  this  sulphate  by  carbon.  This 
reduction  would  only  have  given  sulphuret  of  sodium.  Leblanc 
was  aware  of  this,  and  according  to  Dize,  trials  were  made  by 
himself  and  Leblanc  to  decompose  this  sulphuret  by  means  of 
carbonic  acid.  This  process,  taken  up  by  Pelletan  in  1827,  be- 
came the  basis  for  establishing  a  manufactory  in  Paris  ;  but  the 
enterprise  was  not  successful,  and  up  to  this  time  the  method  is 
not  employed. 
These  processes  were  brought  forward  in  consequence  of  com- 
petition for  a  prize  offered  by  the  old  Academy  of  Sciences  to 
the  best  work  on  the  fabrication  of  soda  from  marine  salt.  The 
object  was  to  protect  the  arts  of  bleaching,  glass-making  and 
soap-making  against  the  evil  effects  of  a  rise  in  the  price  of  pear- 
lashes  produced  by  the  Revolutionary  War  in  the  United  States, 
and  also  a  rise  in  the  native  sodas  of  Spain,  and  the  scarcity  of 
beds  of  native  natron.  The  prize  was  not  awarded.  The  pro- 
duction of  artificial  soda,  like  so  many  other  inventions,  was  to 
be  accomplished  only  after  obstinate  trials,  the  theory  of  which 
was  not  to  precede  the  results.  It  was  not  foreseen  that  in  cal- 
cining the  sulphate  of  soda  with  chalk  and  charcoal,  an  insoluble 
oxysulphuret  would  be  obtained  containing  all  the  sulphur,  and 
capable  of  yielding  to  water  all  the  carbonate  of  soda  contained 
in  the  product. 
This  is  the  discovery  of  Leblanc.  It  belongs  entirely  to  him 
as  M.  Dumas  has  established  by  means  of  written  documents  of 
incontestable  authenticity,  from  which  it  appears  that  on  the 
12th  February,  1790,  there  was  formed  before  a  notary  a  com- 
pany for  carrying  out  the  invention,  a  company  composed  of  M. 
Leblanc,  Diz<5,  and  as  loaner  of  the  funds,  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
*  Corr.  of  J.  Nickles,  Nov.  1,  1855. 
