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9
???rly oil of vitriol and spirits of salt). I shall speak here of the
???tter only, as it causes the greater nuisance, the former having been
???equently alluded to in my previous reports.
The process of making hydrochloric acid is the following. An
???on pot, about eighteen inches deep and three feet in diameter, is
???tted into brickwork over a furnace, the whole resembling much a
ommon washhouse copper for boiling dirty linen. In this vessel,
???ne hundred and sixty-eight lbs. of sulphuric acid, one hundred and
???ixty-eight lbs. of common salt are mixed. The vessel is then covered
???ith a stone lid, into which is fixed a pipe of potters’ ware, about two
???ches and a-half in diameter, and four feet long, and communicating,
???t its farther end, with four twenty-gallon cylindrical vessels, also of
???otters' ware, and about one-third tilled with water. Heat is applied
???rom the furnace, decomposition of the salt takes place, and the
???ydrochloric acid passes over in the state of vapour from the iron
???essel into the receivers, where it mixes with and is dissolved in the
water they contain. At the end of about nine hours the operation
??? finished. The whole is then allowed to cool for five hours, the
???ceivers are afterwards emptied of their acid contents. Sulphate of
???oda being found in the iron vessel.
There are six such apparatus as that above-described, on the
???remises in the open air.
The nuisance arises from two causes, 1st.—The leakage of the
???pparatus, although the joints are carefully luted, the hydrochloric
???cid vapour attenuated by the heat escapes, and there is always a
???mell of it on and about, the premises.—2nd.—The charging of the?
???easel. When the lid of the iron pot is taken off to empty it and re???harge
it, all the acid vapour contained in the apparatus is disengaged
???uto the air, and the smell of it can be perceived at some distance
???rom the factory, according to the direction of the wind. This vapour
???s highly injurious to vegetable life, withering and destroying the
???maller shrubs, stripping the trees of their leaves, and often killing
???hose parts of them which stand in the direction of the currents of
???ir out of the factory.
It is hurtful to the health of animals and man. The untimely
leath of cats, ducks and canary birds, is attributed to it, by the lady
???nhabitants of the vicinity. I have not, however, been able to obtain
???lirect proof of the truth of their assertions.
When breathed by persons not accustomed to it, it causes a
pasmodic choking sensation in the throat, and an irritative distress???ing
cough, which the inspector and myself have both experienced
??? entering the factory, and during our stay there.
To conclude, I consider the locality unfit for a chemical work of
???his nature, and if the whole were enclosed with brickwork with
???proper apparatus to carry off the acid vapour into a vessel
B