stated that his opinion could not be made public. Mr. Seaver said in reference to aluminium: Some of the best minds in Europe have been studying for years the problem of producing the metal cheaply. Scientists in France and Germany and one in Geneva have been at work on it a long time. As to the possibility of producing it so that it could be used as an alloy for iron and steel, that is not to be expected unless it could be produced at much less than a dollar per pound. As to the possibility of doing that by this process, I am not at liberty to speak. The work here has so far been merely on an experimental scale. As scientific men know by many experiences, disappointments are sometimes met with when they leave the experimental field and work is attempted on a commercial scale for business purposes. I am, however, very much pleased with what I have seen here, and, as I have said, while scientific men all over Europe have been investigating the problem, it seems to be solved here. I am certainly satisfied that aluminium can be produced by Frishmuth's process, there is some metal made by it, and there will be a display of it at the New Orleans exhibition. Even if it can be made very cheap by this process, it is not probable that anything more would be done by the parties I represent than to supply the market at a fair price, just as the Rothschilds, who own the great quicksilver mines of the world, regulate the supply by the demand.""

Colonel Frishmuth's works are at Rush and Amber streets, near the Richmond coal wharves, Philadelphia. He seems to be kept busy, and his metal is on the market; an analysis of it will be found in the Appendix. It can be bought from Bullock & Crenshaw, Philadelphia. He cast the tip of the Washington Monument, which weighs one hundred ounces, one of the largest single castings of aluminium ever made. As far as is known, he is at present the only producer of pure aluminium in the United States. His metal is sold in bars at about fifteen dollars per pound. In the Philadelphia city census of 1884 he is placed as employing ten men, and his annual product is valued at $18,000. Mr. Frishmuth melts down quantities of aluminium scrap, and the author has been unable to learn, except from Mr. Seaver's statement, that Mr. Frishmuth produces any aluminium by his process. Mr. Seaver represented an English syndicate which stands ready to buy out all patents of any value which appear on aluminium; they possess large capital, and are said to be ready to pay an immense sum for any practical, cheap process for producing the metal.

In the Mineral Resources of the United States, 1883-4, we find a few statistics as to the amount of aluminium made in recent years. It is there stated that in 1882 there were 2350 kilos made in France. The price of the American metal ranged from $0.75 to $1.00 per troy ounce in 1883; and

from $0.50 to $1.00 per ounce in 1884, according to quantity. The amount imported and entered for consumption in the United States from 1870 to 1884 is as follows:

Until recently the aluminiun sold in the United States was entirely of foreign origin, but it is now produced in this country by Colonel Frishmuth, of Philadelphia, who turned out 1000 ounces of the metal in 1883, and 1800 ounces in 1884. The aluminium cap or apex of the Washington Monument was cast by him; it is of pyramidal form, 10 inches high, 6 inches on a side of its base, and weighs 8 pounds (see p. 53).

Within the last two years a process has been invented and brought into practical use which has served to bring the metallurgy of aluminium into.

very general attention. The Cowles' process, the discovery and details of which will be given further on, is due to two Cleveland gentlemen, and they seem to be developing all that is in their process. They make no pure metal, but sell the alloys, principally aluminium bronze, the latter of good quality, and at a much lower price than it was ever sold before. If they can make it profitable to sell the bronze at the price which they now quote, the permanent success of their process is assured. Mr. Charles F. Mabery, of the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, is their consulting chemist, and Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, of Montreal, seems to be very much interested in the process from a scientific point of view. Mr. Mabery gives his views as to the present state of the aluminium industry as follows: "The aluminium of commerce has been made chiefly in France by Deville's old method. Several patents have been issued for its production by electrolysis, and although it can be deposited in small quantities from solutions, there is but one electrolytic method that can be worked on a commercial basis, and that is Bunsen & Deville's method of electrolysing molten Al2C16.2NaCl. Large works have recently been erected in France for obtaining the metal by this method, and it is claimed that it can be produced for about $7 per pound. A company has recently been formed in London to manufacture aluminium alloys on the basis of the Webster patents. The

chief improvement on the old process, according to the patent specifications, is in the preparation of the pure A1203. Frishmuth, of Philadelphia, attempts to produce sodium in one retort, volatilize aluminium chloride from another, and allow the vapors to meet in a third. The assertion made by him at first that he could place the metal on the market at $1.25 per pound has not been verified." Dr. Hunt, in reply to an inquiry as to the present state of the industry, replies: "Webster, of Eng land, is the chief, perhaps the only, manufacturer in that country of the metal and its alloys. Messrs. Cowles manufacture the alloys, and they can now make pure aluminium, but the method is not yet perfected or made public. The process of Frishmuth is not new, but is mentioned in Watts' Dictionary. So far as I can learn, and so far as Messrs. Cowles are informed, there has been no pure aluminium made commercially save from the chloride by use of sodium. Messrs. Cowles' work with their large new dynamo has been very satisfactory."