ABSTRACT
Between 1820 and 1822 List found time - despite his various academic and political activities - to become involved in two industrial enterprises, both of which failed. In 1817, a former mining inspector named Glotzge had discovered some deposits of pyrites at Ottendorf,196 which lies on the highway between Schwabisch-Hall and Gaildorf. He set up a small chemical works to manufacture sulphuric acid but he made little progress owing to lack of capital. In 1820 List, with his friends Eduard Schiibler of Stuttgart and Heinrich Kessler of Heilbronn - who were already associated in running the Volksfreund aus Schwaben - bought sufficient shares to gain control of the enterprise. Early in 1821 List wrote enthusiastically to Schiibler that he would turn the Ottendorf works into "the equal of any in Germany" .197 But nothing came of these high hopes and the undertaking collapsed in 1820, owing to a fall in the price of sulphuric acid. The works were sold at a loss.
