ABSTRACT
In dealing with the possible influence of protective duties on the English chemical industries it is necessary to specify first what is to be included in this category. As regards the first group mentioned, the common acids, such as sulphuric, muriatic, and nitric acid, their very nature and their relatively low price make them products in which competition by importation from foreign countries is practically excluded. Chlorate of potash and soda and caustic potash come into much the same category as bleaching powder. Here even more effectually the change from the old method of manufacture to electrolysis has revolutionised the industry. The large amount of electric energy consumed, and the high price of the product, have led to the establishment of works near cheap sources of electric energy, such as waterfalls, and have made places formerly undreamt of for such purposes valleys in Switzerland and Sweden the site of new works.
