A METHOD OR METHODS OF DISENGAGING AND OBTAINING A MINERAL OR FOSSIL ALKALI, OR SODA AND VEGETABLE ALKALI, OR PEARL OR POT ASH, FROM NEUTRAL SALTS COMPOSED OF THOSE ALKALIES AND AN ACID, OR FROM THE SOLUTIONS OF THOSE SALTS THAT IN PROCESSES PREVIOUS TO THE DISENGAGEMENT OF THOSE ALKALIES, OR IN PROCESSES CONNECTED THEREWITH, SEVERAL ARTICLES ARE DISENGAGED OR FORMED, WHICH MAY BE COLLECTED AND APPLIED TO SEVERAL VALUABLE PURPOSES
Year: 1795

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, ARCHIBALD
Earl of DUNDONALD, sends greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Archibald Earl of Dundonald, did, by my Petition,
humbly represent to His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Third, that I had, by long study and at a great expence, discovered, invented,
improved, and brought to practical use, " A METHOD OR METHODS OF DISENGAGING
AND OBTAINING A MINERAL OR FOSSIL ALKALI, OR SODA AND VEGETABLE ALKALI,
OR PEARL OR POT ASH, FROM NEUTRAL SALTS COMPOSED OF THOSE ALKALIES AND
AN ACID, OR FROM THE SOLUTIONS OF THOSE SALTS THAT IN PROCESSES PREVIOUS TO
THE DISENGAGEMENT OF THOSE ALKALIES, OR IN PROCESSES CONNECTED THEREWITH,
SEVERAL ARTICLES ARE DISENGAGED OR FORMED, WHICH MAY BE COLLECTED AND
APPLIED TO SEVERAL VALUABLE PURPOSES," I therefore humbly prayed His said
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
Royal Letters Patent for the sole use and benefit of the said Inventions
within that part of His said Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called
England, His Dominions of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
Colonies abroad, pursuant to the Statute in that behalf made and provided
and His said Majesty, being willing to give encouragement to all arts and
inventions which might be for the public good, was graciously pleased to
condescend to my request, and therefore, by His Letters Patent, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the thirty-fifth
year of His reign, of His especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said

page_text: Archibald Earl of Dundonald, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Fis
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Archibald Earl of Dundonald, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
every of us, by myself and themselves, and by mine and their deputy or deputics,
servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Archibald Earl of Dun-
donold, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend my said Invention within that part of His said Majesty's said
Kingdom of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Colonics and Plantations abroad, in such manner
as to me, tho said Archibald Earl of Dundonald, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or any of us, should in our discretion seem meet; and that I, the
said Archibald Earl of Dundonald, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity
and advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing and arising, by
reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein men-
tioned; to have hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges,
and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned to be granted unto me,
the said Archibald Earl of Dundonald, my executors, admiors, and assigns, for
and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date
of the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be
compleat and ended, according to the Statute in such case made and provided;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said Archibald
Earl of Dundonald, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my band and seal, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and be void, anything therein
contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Archibald Earl of Dundonald, in com-
pliance with the said proviso, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and declare that the Method or Methods of Disen-
gaging and Obtaining a Mineral or Fossil Alkali, or Soda and Vegetable Alkali,
or Pearl or Pot Ash, from Neutral Salts composed of those Alkalies and an

page_text: ACE OF Other of the ass are funy described in COIS
Specification, as likewise are the method or methods of performing other
processes to which these Patents have reference under the words [that in
processes previous to the disengagement of these alkalies, or in processes con-
nected therewith, several valuable articles are disengaged or formed which
may be collected and applied to various valuable purposes.]
In this Specification it will be necessary to begin with the description of
the processes referred to in the Affidavit and Petition as previous to or pre-
paratory to the disengagement of those alkalies; that is, I first prepare and
collect the neutral salts consisting of an alkali and an acid, and I then
decompose those neutral salts, and disengage from them mineral alkali, or
soda and vegetable alkali, or pearl or pot ash. My intentions likewise were, by
the method of wording my Affidavit and Petition, to reserve to myself a power
of manufactoring and disposing of the several articles made in my different
processes in a more or less finished state, particularly Glauber's salt, or
or the sulphat of soda and mineral alkaline hepar, or sulphuret of soda, articles
which, by experiments I had made, I had found might be used to advantago
in various processes, particularly as manures or saline stimulants to promote
the growth of vegetables in certain soils.
My methods or processes for disengaging and obtaining alkaline salts from
neutral salts consisting of an alkali and an acid are numerous. It will
require a long and detailed account to describe them fully, as well as to de-
scribe the various articles formed or disengaged in processes previous to the
disengagement of the alkali, or in processes connected therewith. Prudential
considerations made it necessary that in my Affidavit and Petition I should
study brevity as much as possible, at the same time that what was stated in
the Affidavit and Petition might read with and be fully explained in the
subsequent Specification. And now that the Letters Patent have been obtained
I shall proceed with fidelity and accuracy to describe my different processes,
knowing that not only my duty to the public requires it, but that it is my
interest to do so to prevent others from encroaching on my Patents, or
raising a superstructure on my foundation. I shall now proceed first to give
an index of my different processes, stating what 1 claim as my discoveries,
included in the Affidavit and Petition; and lastly, I shall give the fullest
possible detailed account of each process, and of the article or articles formed
and capable of being collected.
Index 1st. The first and most important of the processes is the making
Glauber's salt or sulphate of soda, being one of those neutral salts consisting
of an alkali and acid from which an alkali salt is to be procured. In this

page_text: process several other articles are formed or disengaged, and may be collected.
These articles ara, muriatic acid, sal ammoniac or muriate of ammoniac, nnd
ochry matter, or carth of iron, mixed with a greater or less proportion of clay
as a pigment.
Secondly, the decomposition of Glauber's salt or.sulphat of soda, obtaining
from it hepar sulphuris, or sulphuret of soda and mineral alkali or soda, either
in a mild or caustic state.
Thirdly, the decomposition of muriat of potash of digestive salt of sylvius,
and preparation from it of sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar.
Fourthly, the procuring from the sulphate of potash either sulphuret of
potash or vegetable alkaline hepar, or mild or caustic vegetablo alkali. The
alkaline salts or sulphurets thus formed or prepared may be applied to various
purposes, particularly for the decomposition and disengagement of mineral
alkali or soda from Glauber's salt or sulphat of soda. This process or
application of the vegetable alkali and sulphuret procured from muriat of
potash, ligestive salt, or from sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar in my
inethod or methods is not to be understood to be limited or confined to the
decomposition of sulphat or soda, or Glauber's salt, mado according to my
processes, but embraces and includes the decomposition of Glauber's salt or
sulphat of soda in whatever manner it has been made or procured.
Fifthly, the sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar reproduced in the decom-
position of the Glauber's salt or sulphat of sodn is recovered by mic after each
process in the state of an alkaline salt or saline matter fit to decompose more
Glauber's' salt or sulphat of soda, and to disengage from it mineral alkali.
Sixthly, the decomposition of or change produced on sulphat of barytes,
terrà ponderosa. The result of this preparation to be applied to the decom-
position of sulphat of potash, or vitriolated tartar and sulphat of soda, or
Glauber's salt, or to the decomposition of preparations containing theso salts
or their solutions. The sulphat of barytes reproduced in this process may be
recovered and made to undergo again the same process, so as to fit it for the
decomposition of more sulphat of potash, or vitriolated tartar, or sulphat of
soda, or Glauber's salt, or preparations or solutions containing these salts.
Lastly, the decomposition of muriat of soda or sea salt or salts, or substances
containing sea salt, by alkaline salts prepared by me or according to my
processes.
I shall now proceed to describe these processes, and the nature of tho
different articles or saline matters fornied or obtained.
General Description of the Glauber's Salt or Sulphat of Soda Process.-I
have discovered that sea salt or muriat of soda is decomposed by sulphat of

page_text: alumine or alum by sulphat of iron, green vitriol, or vitriol of iron, and by
sulphat of magnesia or Epsom salt, with the aid of heat, when a due propor-
tion of clay or ferruginous argillaceous earth is mixed with the salts which arc
intended to be operated upon. I have likewise discovered that murint of soda
or sea salt is decomposed in considerable proportion by sulphat of magnesia
or Epsom salt, with the aid of heat, without the intervention of clay or
argillaceous earth. I have likewise discovered that muriat of soda or sea salt
may be decomposed by sulphat of lime or gypsum, with the aid of heat, when
a due proportion of clay or argillaceous earth containing much iron is mixed
with the sea salt and gypsum sulphat of lime. The above account of my
discoveries and processes is intended by me to embrace and include not
only all the saline matters above mentioned when used singly, but likewise
when these saline matters are found mixed, or when they are mixed together
in different proportions, as when they are contained in alum rock or schist,
calcined or uncalcined, in alum, raw liquor obtained by lixiviating alum rock or
chist, calcined or uncalcined, lixiviated either with fresh or salt water, in alum,
boiled liquor, mother liquor, alum washings, or tun liquor, or in alum slam,
or the refuse saline matters of alum works, in vitriolic sulphurcous or pyrituous
chist or substances, or in their solution, such as are or may be used for making
sulphuric or vitriolic salts with metallic or earthly bases. In this description
I include the saline matters arising from a mixture of substances capable of
producing any of the above saline matters, such as sulphur and iron, or sulphur
and the earth of iron, with or without water. And lastly, under the article of
muriat of soda or sea salt I include rock or fossil salt, and all other substances
containing it, such as kelp, sandiver, or the refuse from glass works, soapers'
leys, salts, ashes, or refuse materials, or the solutions of any of these substances.
Particular or Detailed Description of the Glauber's Salt or Sulphat of
Soda Process.-Take a given quantity of sea salt, rock salt, or muriat of
soda, or any salt containing sea salt or muriat of soda, or or sea water,
or solutions of salts containing muriat of soda or sea salt. Add to any of the
above salts, or their solutions, such a quantity of sulphate of alumine or alum,
or sulphuret of alumine, sulphat of iron, or green vitriol or vitriol of iron,
sulphat of magnesia or Epsom salt, or sulphuret of magnesia or salts, or saline
mixtures or solutions containing any one or more of these salts or substances,
as that the sulphuric acid or vitriolic acid contained in the particular sub-
stances, salt or salts, or solutions used, shall be sufficient to produce the effect
hereafter described. Let the muriat of soda or other salts first mentioned, or
their solutions, and the sulphuric substances or salts above described, or their
solutions, be mixed together; add to or mix with them a due proportion of

page_text: argillaceous earth or clay, or rather ferruginous argillaceous matter. The
materials are then to be dried or deprived of moisture, ground to a powder,
the finer tho better, and then submitted to the action of heat in a reverberatory
or other furnace, pot, or crucible, until the muriatic acid is expelled. The
residuum after calcination consists of sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, of clay
and the earth of iron or clay, and the earth of magnesia, according to the
nature of the sulphuric salt or salts used in the process. The Glauber's salt
or sulphat of soda is to be separated by lixiviation or washing. It may be
crystallized or boiled to dryness, kept in a state of solution according to the
particular purposes to which it is to be applied. The earthy matter, when it
contains much iron, when properly levigated, washed, and dried, may be used
as a pigment. The muriatic acid expelled in the before-described process
may be collected, using the vessels or apparatus adopted for that purpose
by chemists or others that may be found proper for the purpose; or tho
muriatic acid may be applied for making muriat of ammoniac, or sal animo-
niac, by conducting or conveying the muriatic acid or muriatic acid gas
with volatilo alkali or volatile alkaline gas obtained from coal tar, water,
bones, soot, urine, or other materials, into a proper receiver. This Patent is
intended to include all and every one of the products above mentioned. I
likewise decompose muriat of soda or sea salt, or solutions of salts containing
muriat of soda, by the means of sulfat of magnesia or Epsom salt, without the
use of clay or earth of iron, simply by the application of a properly regulated
degree of heat. But the decomposition in this process is not so complete as
in the processes above mentioned: Murint of soda or sea salt is likewise in
part to be decomposed by sulphat of lime or gypsum, with the aid of heat,
when a due proportion of ferruginous clay is used, preceeding in all other
respects in those two last-mentioned processes as when sulphat of iron, of clay,
or of magnesia is used. The more free the clay or argillaceous earth used in
the above-described processes is from quartzose or siliceous earth the better
it answers for the promoting the expulsion of the muriatic acid. What I
have found to answer best is alum schist or rock, particularly that part which
abounds most in sulphat of iron or vitriol of iron. The more earth of iron it
contains the more readily and completely the process proceeds. I have
operated with so large a proportion of the earth of iron, that to guard my
Patent from encroachment 1 must here, to the former directions for the
addition of clay or argillaceous earth to muriat of soda or sea salt, and any of
the before-mentioned sulphuric or vitrolic salts, subjoin the words carth of
iron, in which case my Specification will run,-clay, ochre, or earth of iron,
or clay and ochre, or earth of iron, in any different proportions.

page_text: cold water.
Decomposition of Sulphat of Soda or Glaubers Salt, and Disengagement
of Mineral Alkali or Soda.-Tako sulphate of soda or Glauber's salt made in
any of the above described processes. Add to it such a proportion of poarlash,
potash, or vegetable alkaline salt as will combine with the sulphuric acid of
the sulphate of soda or Glauber's salt. Let the liquor be properly concen-
trated by boiling or evaporation, and the separation of the sulphat of potash
or vitriolated tartar be performed by crystallization and cooling. The proportion
of the mineral alkali adhering to or which humects the surface of the crystals
of sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar may be separated by washing the
crystals of sulpbat of potash or vitriolated tartar with a small proportion of
The mineral alkali may then be crystallized or boiled to dryness,
or submitted or not as may be required to the action of a reverberatory or
other furnace. I do not lay claim to the exclusive privilege of applying
pearlash, or potash, or vegetable alkali for the disengagement of mineral
alkali from sulphut of soda or Glauber's salt, a process well known to every
chemist; but I lay claim to the exclusive application of pearlash, or potash,
or vegetable alkali, for the separation of the alkali contained in sulphate of
soda or Glauber's salt when the sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt is made
according to any of my processes. It is the more necessary to insert this
claim here, as I may have occasion to dispose of large quantities of sulphat of
sola or Glauber's salt, or preparations from sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt,
for other purposes than for making mineral alkali; and it is intended that
the claim here lodged shall guard my interest against those who should
attempt to manufacture mineral alkali in the manner above described, or in
any manner or method, from the sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt prepared
by me or by others under my Patent and sold or disposed of.
Thirdly, the decomposition of muriat of potash or digestive salt of sylvins,
and preparation from it of sulphat of potash, or vitriolated tartar, comes next
in order to be described, and is to be performed in all respects and with the
sane materials as have been stated and enumerated for preparing Glauber's
salt or sulphat of soda from muriat of soda or sea salt, substituting only
muriat of potash for muriat of soda or sea salt. The results or products of the
process are sulphat of potash, or vitriolated tartar, muriatic acid, muriat of
ammoniac or sal-ammoniac, when volatile alkali or ammoniac is used, and
ochre or earth of iron mixed with a greater or less proportion of clay.
Fourthly, the process which comes now to be described is the procuring
from sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar sulphuret of potash and mild or
caustic vegetable alkali. These are are to be procured by several different
processes, and this sulphuret and these alkalis may be applied for the decompo-

page_text: sition of sulphate of soda or Glauber's salt. The same processes may be
extended to the procuring sulphuret of soda or mineral alkaline hepar, as well
as mild and caustic mineral alkali, from sulphat of soils or Glauber's salt.
Take sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar produced in the last process, or
produced in disengaging the mineral alkali from sulphat of soda or Glauber's
salt; or tako sulphat of potash prepared in any other manner, and to it a duo
proportion of carbonaceous, ligneous, vegetable, or inflammable matter; let
the materials be brought to fusion in a pot, crusible, reverberatory or other
furnace, and the fusion continued until a proper liepar or hepatic alkalino salt
is formed; let the melted matter be run or taken out of the furnace, pot, or
crucible; let it cool; break the hepar into pieces or grind it to powder.
To sulphate of soda or to a solution of sulphat of soda made in any of the
before described processes, or to sulphat of soda, or solution of sulphat of soda
made in any other process, or anyhow procured, add as much of the hepar
or alkaline liver of sulphur, or hepatic alkaline salt above described as shall
bo requisite to decompose the sulphat of soda. The sulphat of potash formed
in the process may be separated by priority of crystallization. After the
separation of the sulphate of potash there will remain a carbonate of soda or
mild mineral alkali, and a sulphuret of soda or mineral alkaline liver of
sulphur. These remaining salts may be applied in the manufacture of soap,
altho the alkali is not so pure as that which is procured in processes formerly
and afterwards to be described.
Fifthly, under this head are included a variety of processes for recovering
and procuring a perfectly pure vegetable alkali from sulphat of potash or
vitriolated tartar however procured; and these processes may also be applied
for making a sulphuret of soda, or mineral alkaline liver of sulphur, from
sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, made in any of my different processes, as
well as for making from sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, prepared in my
processes, or made or procured in any other manner, a mild or caustic mineral
alkali or soda, substituting, only where necessary, the words sulphat of soda or
Glauber's salt, and sulphuret of soda or mineral alkaline hepar for sulphat of
potash or vitriolated tartar, and sulphuret of potash or vegetable alkaline hepar
respectively.
Ligneous Process in the Wet Way in Close Vessels.-Take hepar or liver
of sulphur made from sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar; dissolve it when
newly made in water; add a due proportion of sawings of wood or any
ligneous or vegetable matter, their juices, gums, resins, or extracts, or vege-
table matter, such as peat; or the hepar, or sulphuret, or liver of sulphur,
may be mixed with the before described vegetable substances, and then

page_text: dissolved in a due proportion of water. The materials when thus mixed, from
the action of air, and in that situation a due degree of beat may be applied to
them. The liquor after standing a due time is to be drawn off, and the
residuum repeatedly lixiviated with water to separate the saline matter. The
lixivia or leys must be boiled to a due consistence; the proportion of sulphat
of potash (if any) contained in them must be separated by crystallization, and
the remaining liquor must be boiled to dryness and then calcined in a rever-
beratory or other furnace. The saline matter remaining after calcination will
consist of mild vegetable alkali or carbonate of potash.
Ligneous Process in the Wet Way in Open Vessels.-This process is per-
formed with the same materials, and is in all respects similar to the process
last described, excepting that the access of air is not excluded. A less pro-
portion of vegetable alkali and a larger proportion of sulphat of potash or
vitriolated tartar is obtained in this than in the last described process, which is
therefore preferable.
Ligneous Process in the Dry Way.-Take hepar, or liver of sulphur, or
sulphuret recently made from sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar; dissolve
it in water, draw off the clear liquor, and mix it with a due proportion of
sawings of wood, or any ligneous or vegetable matter, their juices, gums,
resins, or extract, or vegetable matter, such as peat; boil the materials to
dryness, or otherwise bring them to a dry state; submit them to calcination in
a pot, crucible, or reverberatory or other furnace; lixiviate the ashes; boil down
the lixivium or leys to a dry salt, which will consist of mild vegetable alkali,
with a proportion of sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar. These salts
may be separated by solution and priority of crystallization. The preparations
of sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar, according to these three ligneous
processes, may be used with greater advantage than hepar or sulphuret of
potash in decomposing sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, or muriat of soda,
and disengaging from them the mineral alkali.
Ligneous Preparation of Sulphat of Soda or Glauber's Salt.-Let sulphat
of soda or Glauber's salt be made into a hepar or sulphuret, and treated either
by the first, second, or third ligneous process directed for the sulphat of potash
or vitriolated tartar, the result will be carbonate of soda, or mild mineral
alkali and sulphat of soda, or Glauber's salt. But I do not so much recom-
mend this process, from the difficulty of separating the mineral alkali from
sulphat of soda; but as the same objection does not apply to the separation of
mineral alkali from sulphat of potash or vitriolated tartar, I recommend that.
the above processes for treating the solution of hepar with vegetable matter
shall either be applied to bepar or sulphuret made from sulphat of potash, or

page_text: vitriolated tartar, for the purpose of afterwards decomposing the sulphat of
soda or Glauber's salt, or that both the hepar of the sulphat of potash and
that of the sulphat of soda shall be treated in the same manner with vegetable
mintters, their solutions afterwards mixed in the proportions requisite to
produce a complete double decomposition, and the ultimate formation of
only two salts, to wit, the carbonate of soda and the sulphat of potash,
which are capable of being easily separated. The discovery of making uso
of vegetable matter and of the combination of the alkali of the hepar with
the previously not disengaged acid or acids of vegetable matter is perfectly
new and has been made by me. A Patent therefore not only secures to mo
the use of such vegetable matters, with hepars made of sulfat of soda formed
in my processes, and sulphat of potash recovered, and sulphuret of potash formed
in my processes, but likewise for sulphat and sulphuret of soda and sulphat
and sulphuret of potash, however made or procured. Besides the use of the
ligneous and vegetable substances above-mentioned containing an acid not
disengaged, I claim an equal right with others to the use of the vegetable
acids, or acids produced by fermentation, or of the carbonic acid, for the
purpose of separating sulphur from hepars of potash and soda, such hepars
of potash and soda being made of their respective sulphats, got or prepared
in the processes now practised by others. But I claim the exclusive use of
the vegetable or fermented or carbonic acids for separating sulphur from tho
sulphurets or hepars of soda and potash made from the respective sulphats
of soda and potash procured in the already described processes. This Patent
is likewise intended to protect me in my Invention or Discovery of disengaging
the carbonic acid or fixed air from calcareous earth by the means of
muriatic acid or muriatic acid gas expelled from muriat of soda or muriat
of potash in the processes for making the respective sulphats already
described, of exclusively applying the carbonic acid thus disengaged to any
purpose I may think proper, and of exclusively making, using, and disposing
of the muriat of lime formed in the process which is thus described.
The muriatic acid or muriatic acid gas expelled from the muriats of soda
and potash is to be conveyed into a vaulted chamber, vessel, or receiver, con-
structed for the purpose, containing a sufficient quantity of chalk or mild
calcareous earth, and of water. Carbonic acid gas will be expelled, which
may be collected and applied to the purposes above described, or any other.
Exclusive of the uses already mentioned, and several others not here par-
ticularized, the muriatic acid or muriatic acid gas disengaged in my processes
may be converted into oxygenated muriatic acid, or oxygenated or dephlogisti-
cated muriatic acid gas, by means of manganese. I claim the exclusive benefit

page_text: of this as well as other modes of applying or using the muriatic acid or
inuriatic acid gas disengaged in my processes.
Process for Decomposing Depar, or Sulphuret of Soda, or Potash by Mould
or Soil.-Take a quantity of rich black vegetable mould; provide a vat or
cistern, having a tap hole at the bottom; fill it with the mould to within a
foot of the top, putting it in as loosely and keeping it as open as possible.
The cistern is then to be filled with a solution of hepar, or sulphuret of potash,
or of soda, observing as the liquor is run in that it does not run too fast, so
as to sodden, furrow, or compress the mould, which is best prevented by
causing the ley to run first into a vessel of a sufficient size, sunk to the level
of the mould in the lixiviating cistern. The cistern should have a cover to
exclude the action of air. The liquid should be kept on the mould without
being run off, until by trial it is found to have combined with the vegetable
acid, and that the sulphur is precipitated or left in the mould. The liquor
is then to be boiled down to dryness and submited to calcination, previously to
which it may be proper to separate the phosphoric acid formerly contained
in the mould (and with which it, the alkali, may be combined) by the means
of lime or calcareous earth, and then to boil down and calcine the clear ley
with vegetable matter to give the carbonic acid. The process answers best
when a proportion of carbonate of soda, or of potash, or mild mineral or
vegetable alkali is mixed with the solution of the hepar or sulphuret before
pouring it on the mould, in which case, when the vegetable acid of the mould
combines with the alkali, the carbonic acid is expelled, and acts in separating
the sulphur from the solution of the hepar or sulphuret.
Sixthly. Preparations of Sulphat of Barytes or Heavy Spar.-Sulphat of
barytes or heavy spar, when formed into a sulphuret or hepar, more especially
when that hepar is made to undergo one of the ligneous processes, may be
used for the decomposition of sulphat of soda, or sulphat of potash, or their
sulphurets. Carbonat of barytes is in part to be procured by making it undergo
first the hepar, then the ligneous process; I therefore claim this discovery,
and the exclusive application of the carbonate of barytes or aerated ponderous
earth thus obtained to the decomposition of all sulphat of soda and sulphat
of potash, whether made in my processes or procured in any other manner;
and I likewise claim the exclusive application of carbonate of barytes, however
procured, whether native or artificial, for the purpose of decomposing and
disengaging the alkalies from sulphat of soda, or Glauber's salt, and sulphat
of potash or vitriolated tartar, made in any of my processes.
I further claim
the exclusive application of hepar or sulphuret of barytes to the decom-
position of sulphat of soda or sulphat of potash made in my processes.

page_text: Besides the claims now and formerly stated, I claim the exclusive application
of all the methods now known of decomposing sulpbat of soda or potash, or
hepars of soda and potash, when those sulphats and hepars or sulphurets are
formed of the materials and in the processes described in this Specification. I
apply the sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, sulphat of potash, or vitriolated
tartar, and their respective hepars or sulphurets formed in the processes
described in this Specification, for the decomposition or solution of pent,
fossil coal, and undecomposed inert vegetable matter, frequently greatly
superabundant in soils, or for acting on ground on any other principle.
I claim the exclusive application of the above-mentioned saline substances
prepared by me for the purposes of improving ground. They are all manu-
factured by me under the Patents, and may be applied to purposes which
I have discovered, as is more fully explained in Letters Patent obtained by
me for tho Preparation of Sundry Manures and other Articles.
Lastly, the last process requisite to be described in this Specification is the
disenagement or separation of mineral alkali from muriat of soda, or sea
salt, by the means of pearlash, potash, or vegetable alkali. Tako sea salt,
or a saturated solution of sea salt, or of salts or substances containing sea
salt or muriat of soda, such as kelp, sandiver, soapers' waste leys, or sonpers'
salts; add to any of these as much vegetable alkali, or pearlash or potash
as will disengage the mineral alkali, and combine with and neutralize the
muriatic acid of the muriat of soda; then boil down the solution and separate
the salts by priority of crystallization. The disengagement of mineral alkali
from muriat of soda by vegetable alkali is a fact well known to every chemist;
therefore a Patent is not claimed for this process in general, but only for the
application of such vegetable alkali to this process as is manufactured and
prepared from muriat of potash and sulphat of potash under the Patent.
Remarks on soine of the above Processes.-In describing the
process for
disengaging mineral alkali from sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt by
vegetable alkali, 1 limited my claims on that process to the exclusive mann-
facture of alkali from sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt made in my processes,
but in all repeating processes in which the same sulphat of potash or
vitriolated tartar is recovered and manufactured into a hepar or sulphuret,
or into an alkaline salt, as has been described. I lay claim to the exclusive
use of such hepar, or such vegetable alkaline salt, for the purpose of
decomposing sulphat of soda or Glauber's salt, however prepared or pro-
cured, and for disengaging from it the alkali, or for any other use in the arts
to which the said sulphat of potash, or hepar or vegetable alkaline salt
prepared by me is capable of being applied. This method of recovering

page_text: the vegetable alkali, or vegetable alkaline sulphuret, or hepar, after each process,
must be considered as an important discovery, as the vegetable alkali first
used is thereby rendered capable of producing the same effect an indefinite
number of times. As in the ligneous processes the alkalies, or great part
of the alkalies, enter into a state of combination with the vegetable acid, this
acid may be in part recovered by distillation and a proper application of heat;
and by a further degree of heat it may be converted into the carbonic acid,
both of which acids may be applied for separating sulphur from sulphuret
of potash or of soda.
In witness whereof the said Archibald Earl of Dundonald bath
hereunto and to the annexed Skin of Parchment set his hand and
seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninote-five