, 1877-05-05
NEW DISCOVERY OF BORAx IN M.
MENSE QUANTITIES.

of barax, Of which the following description IS
given in The Phdrmaccuticak Journal Of 10Th
ull :-"During tbs last two or three YEARS the
price Of borax has fallen from about se70 or
ESQ Il tOn 20 about ef35 OF Gao Hitherto
the supply Of borax had been derived almost
entirely from Tuscany, b-ing derived from The
boracio aaid obtained from the sufiJni in that
district. A small quantity had been imported
from Thibpt in the form Of what was commonly
known az tincal, which is naturally cry>tal}ized
kib,rate OF soda, and this had been shipped TO
England through India. There had been also
a small quantity produced from The lakes in
Nevada, situated at The south western part Of
North America. Two OF these salt lakes,
called Trpl'4 March and Fish Lake, had been
Tor a considerable Time sources Ut supply of
borax, not so much for the European rs the
American market. These lakes had been
worked for six or seven years but HE cost Of
land carriage had been too heavy to admit Of
the working being confined. AMI he believed
that thry were nN& abandoned The particular
source that he wished 10 ca Their atJrn' ion t.,
from which lh4 borax now came, was in Cali
fnrnia, close IT, the river Colorado. Ii was a
large lake If lhe same character Is the two
th.i had been worked in Nevada, which ap-
rearel to he tho remains Of previous volcanic
action. This par jcnlar lake was about Is
miles in length, and eight miles across. Il
was entirely dried up. bat The whols area Of
The lake was occupied with beds Of c5mmOn
salt, s0diam sulphat+, bDrate Of soda, and blue
mad. Tha ratiy8 b0rax is now hriag worked
by TWO American c'mpani-S, and i'm nense
Qlan'itles Of il are being shipped over TO this
nntry, NJ. RDhottom. VIII discovered this
SAX, and who bal been manly Instrumental 10
bringing it into the market, waS present. aud
exhibited SOM specimens OF auimsl and vegs-
table substances preserved in a solution OF
horax. A 9.nss mad been preserved in a
strong solution, and retained its colour and
characteristics. a fish had also been pre-
served for some months in the same manner
and was now perfectly sweet. Mr.. RObottOm
said that his reason for bringing the subject
forward was to endeayoar to utilize The immense
quantity of borax wnjcl existed in the deposit.
IL h4d M occasion to 60 into iIs uses for me.
diuinal purposes, as to which those present
were better able TO speak than himself. Apart
from This, however, it was proved desirable to
hring borax into the laundry to s|upnlant sJda,
for it was found to be one Of the finest washing
substancps in the world. 1t could be used also
with great advantage IN s~tarching and in
getting mp Of lace and fine linen. WOOl.en
materials were washed by il better than by
anythin! else. Soda turned wool quite yellow,
Will borax made it perfectly white the same
remark would apply to hlnneIS aud the col
ours Of prints aud ribbons were not affected by
it in any way. In The district where he resid-
ed there were thc1San1s Of rabbits, and the
skins Of these animals were there generally
sold 70. u snail sum-about a farthing he
had induced poor people to preserve these
skins with d little borax, and then make them
into small mats, The whole cost Of which was
only a few pence. These skins had been util.
ICED TO replace blankets, for which they were
a very good and cheap substitute. Next,
there was the preservation of meat. In cOnnec-
tion with this he would mention a circumstance
which first led him to think Of using borax for
that purpose. The last time he was at the
lake he was fixing sone boundary stakes.
when his attention was drawn to a brown OBJ.
ieot lying on the surface of the bOrax, which
on inspection proved to be a dead borse. On
that day the thermometer stood at ITO deg.
in the shade, but upon examination the fssh
of the horse was found to be quite fresh. Fur
Their, upon inquiry of the men how long the
horse had been lying there. he was informed
that it had dropped down dead on the borax
six months previously, and had been lying
there since. This suggested TO him the idea
CT preserving the different things he had shown.
Borax was also valuable for cleaning paint /;
AMI glass globes were SO we'll cleaned by the
borax that he had ssved a considerable guam
si;y Of gas by it. It would be found that by
using 1t 10 tee . considerable saving would be