SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
plaice in this column duo net necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
An article on " Sources of Potash" in Nature for January 3rd reveals the fact that Germany's monopoly, through her vast deposits at Stassfurt in Prussian Saxony, is being seriously threatened by new discoveries and new processes. In Upper Alsace, near Mulhouse, large potash deposits were found in 1909, but the development of them has been rigorously limited by the German Government. There are potash beds in Spain, but German influence has prevented them from being worked. A new process, invented independently by Mr. E. Bassett and Mr. E. A. Ashcroft, for extracting potash from potash-felspar, promises to establish an entirely new industry in Sutherlandshire and other parts of the kingdom. The importance of potash as a fertilizer for our soil and as raw material for our chemical industries is so great that the possibility of obtaining it outside Germany, and even in this country, deserves attention.
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