Nicolas Leblanc (1742-1806) RALPH E. OESPER, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio (Continuedfrom December1
w
AS IT patriotism or fear that impelled Leblanc and all the other soda manufacturers to turn in their secrets? They could not do otherwise. A special committee that included Darcet, was appointed to examine the processes and to survey the factories. They did a thorough job; they made trial runs a t the various plants and investigated the availability of raw materials; in short they studied the whole problem in an unbiassed scientific manner. Their lengthy report was printed in June, 1794,by order of the Committee of Public Safety; a most imprudent step because the pamphlet, of course, came into the hands of the enemy and gave them a detailed description of the particulars of the process, drawings of the furnaces and other equipment, and plans of the works. A considerable part of this report dealt with the Leblanc process. "A factory was recently established a t Franciade, but the circumstances of the Revolution and the war that followed have tied up the funds, a n d the operations have been forcibly suspended; this factory has been national property for the past several months. The citizens Leblanc, D i d , and S h e , partners, were the first to offer their process to us, and they did so with noble devotion to the public welfare. We have inspected their establishment-we have verified their process and we believe it is certain t o hesuccessful. This new works has been based on correct principlesfromstart to finish, and has been set up with the prudence and circumspection that was to be expected from the intelligence and good sense of the three partners. I t would be difficult to assemblein an equally small space mare equipment and conveniences than are in this plant: furnaces, mills, carts, storehouses; everything is arranged in the hest order t o give the most efficient senice."
After a detailed descrip-
tion of the process, an account of a trial run and comments on the excellence of the product, the report goes on: "We believe i t will he easy to break the public, and even the launderers, of their former practice of huying crude soda. Since the process requires a considerahle quantity of sulfuic acid, the partners planned a t first to manufacture this acid on the uremises. However. due to the war. it was imoossihle t o obtain
...
postpone the first stage in their process until peace restores the free procurement of these raw materials that are essential to its accomplishment. . . . These men are not turning over to the Committee of Public Safety merely a set of ideas, or a series of experiments that might be tried; they are bringing a large-scale process, operated with uniform success. . . . "To us it seems urgent to establish without delay a large factory to scrve Paris; its daily needs, the steady consumption of soda hy its factories, laundries, bleacheries, etc., all demand production as soon as possible. The factory is all set up a t Fraueiade; citizen D i d , one of the partners, has particularly directed the construction; it is laid out so that it could serve equally well for all sorts of uses and processes of this nature. This factory is in the hands of the Nation, and though it was designed to use common salt by reaction with sulfuric acid, it is no less suitable, now that this acid cannot be procured, to operate with pyrites, vitriols, or lignite. Here, as well a s a t Javelle, the Committee can speedily bring the production of soda into activity; here the Committee can establish a school, where students can receive preliminary training; they can workin this factory and hy personal enperience acquire a knowledge of this new art in all its details. "The partners in this works, as well a s those who, in other parts of the Reoublic. have sacriliced thcir knunlcdge and fruits of thcir labors t o their country are uniformly filled with confidence in the justice of the Committee. They await. with no mis-
givings, the just compensation due them as repayment for their advances of all kinds and for the time they have spent in planning and building their works. They are ready, should the country's need require it, to devote themselves again to this business."
After examining all the processes the committee stated: "The process of citizen Leblanc, which uses chalk a s the intermediate, appears to us to be the one that could be most generally adopted, because this raw material is most widely distributed. The process has the added advantage of supplying a product that can be marketed in the crude state; the product is quite like that which comes from abroad and which is familiar to us; it may he used directly and without preliminary purification for bleaching, for ordinary glass, and for making soap."
Nevertheless, in view of the prevailing conditions, the process of Malherbe and Athenas was declared the most economical, especially if pyrites or pyritiferous lignite should he used to convert salt into sulfate, that in turn was made into soda by Malherbe's method. "Although the judgment of the commission did not hit upon precisely the right thing, it should not he blamed for this. Lehlanc's process at that period had not had time to demonstrate its practical superiority to all others, and even very able men sixty years later reverted, although unsuccessfully, to the process then (1794) judged best."
The Leblanc factory was kept closed. The money on hand and the accounts due were taken by the government, the finished products and raw materials were sold, together with the horses, carts, and part of the equipment. Leblanc had confidently expected to be employed by the government to direct his soda works for the benefit of the Nation; instead he was ordered to vacate the premises. He was also notified that his salary would cease after April 1, 1794, but this meant little because the firm's funds had been tied up when the Duc was arrested in April, 1793, and thereafter no payments were made to the three partners. Thus, within a few months Leblanc's entire outlook was reversed; instead of running his profitable business, he found himself shut out of his own property and dependent on a small government salary to support his ailing wife and their four children. From this time on his life was an almost continuous struggle against poverty, a struggle made no easier by the remembrance of what might have been. During the years that Leblanc was developing his process and bringing i t into commercial production he had not kept apart from the world of affairs. The authorities appreciated his abilities and constantly named him on public commissions. In 1792 he was appointed administrator of the Department of the Seine, and did such fine work that he was reappointed five times. He compiled excellent reports on a variety of topics, such as public health and hygienic measures, poor relief, hospital construction, military, industrial, and engineering problems. For this work he received no pay. On January 4, 1794, Lehlanc was appointed regisseur (commissioner) of powder and saltpeter. This board of four had its headquarters a t the Arsenal, and Leblanc moved his family there after he was forced to
give un their house on the mounds of the soda factorv. %his was one of the few p&l public posts held by ~ k blanc, but the salary did not continue long. After the powerful Commission of Arms and Powder was established on February 1, 1794, the Regie was given a new name, hut it played only a minor role thenceforth. It was completely dissolved in July, 1794. This post naturally turned Leblanc's attention to saltpeter. Pelletier and De Lus were appointed by C a d y "to examine the new method of extracting saltpeter devised by Leblanc, member of the National Agency of Powder." Among Leblanc's effects were found several papers on the large-scale production and purification of potassium nitrate. The cost of living was high; the real value of the assignats was falling steadily and rapidly; the savings accumulated during Leblanc's short period of prosperity were melting away. His daughters opened a little dry goods store, hoping to bolster the family budget, but there was no chance of success in such times of political turmoil and monetary inflation for a small retail business run by two teen-age girls. The Reign of Terror was a t full tide; each day the tumhrels rolled toward the Place de la Revolution. The afternoon of May 8, 1794 saw the twenty-eight fermiers generaux on their way to the guillotine, among them Lavoisier. He, like Leblanc, was a chemist; he too had been regisseur des fioudres, he too had lived a t the Arsenal. What did Leblanc think on that fateful day? He was in no position to risk his post, or perhaps his life by an open expression of horror or protest. There is no record of any meetings between Lavoisier and Leblanc, hut they must have known each other. Leblanc was less than a year older than Lavoisier, hut he was in his middle forties before he sent his first paper to the Academy, in which Lavoisier had been a leading figure for almost twenty years. Lavoisier was rich, successful in both scientific and financial matters; he was an international figure a t a time when Leblanc was no more than a modest physician whose hobby was chemistry. Both of these men headed a revolution in chemistry and i t is hard to determine which has proved the more significant. The Revolution took the lives of both these leaders: one directly by the guillotine, the other indirectly by heaping affliction on him until he could endure no more. On February 11, 1794, Leblanc received notice of his appointment to the "Temporary Commission of Arts, Attached to the Committee of Public Instruction." The duties were to list and collect into warehouses the scientific materials coming from the religious communities, from the houses of emigrds, or from those who had been executed. Leblanc could not draw the yearly salary of 2000 limes, because i t was forbidden to receive more than one public salary. To him fell the unwelcome task of inventorying Lavoisier's laboratory. The better part of a week in December, 1794, was required to list and appraise the items (about 8000) that Lehlanc and his colleagues found in the mansion on the Boulevard de la Madeleine. The material was found
-
in great confusion, and many boxes and packages had not been opened since they were brought from the Arsenal in 1791. The inventory makes entertaining reading; for instance, two pounds of platinum were valued a t 100 limes; one pound of phosphorus was appraised a t 50 livres; 166 pounds of mercury and 60 pounds of mercuric oxide were estimated a t 2030 limes. Again i t would be interesting to know Leblanc's thoughts. In his report he dared no more than to state: "Possibly some of these unlabelled objects were used in certain important operations, which may be found in the various works of Lavoisier, who, as is well known, treated chemistry and many other branches of science and art with rare intelli~enceand success." An unpublished assay, "My Dream," includes his reflections on the effect of excesses of the extremists. ~~
-
~
".
. . that the loss of Malesherhes, Thonret, Kersaint, Lavoisier What will now be the will be made up, this I do not believe. inspiration of our better men, and how can the few of them left to us make themselves heard? I grant you that sparks of the genius of these savants, whose loss France is going to regret for a long time, still glow in the minds of some of their disciples or contemporaries. I agree that there still exist some centers that burn brightly enough to throw their warmth afar and throw out that pure and brilliant flame which so potently develops all the Dowers of genius and gives birth to men of science capable of being an honor to their time and country. I agree that public education, the sole means of raising the level of a small number of the members of a large population, will, sooner or later, be put on a stable foundation and exert a more assured action; when that point has been reached we can hope that each branch of exact and political science will acquire a new genius, who will assemble the materials and build them into an edifice. This genius for organizing and building is rare, but Lavoisier had it, and so created modern chemistry, to which we owe so much, and which is ure~arinafor us still more discoveries and important reforms."
.. .
The Revolutionary tornado was blowing itself out. The authorities took steps to revive commercial enterprise, which, lacking capital and markets, had been largely halted. The mining industry particularly needed attention. In June, 1795, Leblanc was sent on mission by the Committee of Public Safety to the Departments of Tarn and Aveyron. His principal task was to revive the manufacture of alum. The Agency of Mines requested him to send papers for their Journal des Mines; likewise the Agency of Mines requested reports. Leblanc sent in several papers and collections of ores, crystals, and minerals. The temporary Commission of Arts also had work for him on this trip. For them he visited scientific and literary collections, and suggested methods of speeding up the cataloging of the books seized from the religious communities. The work was being done by volunteers; he recommended that they be paid so that they could devote full time to the task, and so make thousands of books and manuscripts available to the public more quickly. The Committee of Public Safety had appointed Leblanc chemist-director to Morlhon, who had a large concession in the copperas and alum mines a t St. Geor~es: the Committee ruled that the concessionaire was to pay Leblanc's salary and expenses. Nothing ~
0
,
was paid, and after thirteen months Leblanc returned to Paris impoverished. He later secured a judgment for 5000 livres against Morlhon, but i t was never collected. Two years after his return he sent the Agency of Mines a full report of his findings, a lengthy docnment that demonstrates his capabilities. Leblanc belonged to a number of learned societies. To them, and to the Institut, he sent papers on a variety of topics, and these discussions reveal that he was constantly on the lookout for commercial applications of chemistry. He devised a good method of making mercuric oxide, which was then almost worth its weight in gold. He was a skilled glass blower, and one of the family treasures was a double-wall flask; the inside opaque, the outer wall transparent, the space between filled with beautiful red oxide, all of his own handiwork. The manufacture of sal ammoniac a t St. Denis drew Leblanc's attention to the ammonia obtained bv heating organic materials. He found that the fertilizing value of animal and vegetable matter is roughly proportional to the ammonia content, and he came to the conclusion that ammonia should be one of the essential bases of a fertilizer. Animal wastes and sewage were locrical, cheap sources of ammonia, and he demoustrated"the of his ideas in a small-scale apparatus devised for this purpose, In 180%he sent the Instituta long paper On this of utilizing such wastes. It was well received and highly praised. Encouraged, Leblanc petitioned the government for a grantof 1200 to 1500 francs to cover of his and the cost of an he also asked for a free fifteen-year patent "to compensate for the one I obtained for the manufacture of soda, and whose benefits were taken from me by the revolutionary government." He likewise petitioned for the sole rights to utilize the animal offal and liquid wastes from the cesspools of the Prefecture of the Seine. He received neither the grant, the patent, nor the monopoly. He can be given credit for being one of the pioneers in the scientific study of fertilizers, and he was one of the f i s t to propose the recovery of the values in sewage and other noxious wastes. Impoverished by the mission to Tam and Aveyron, Leblanc was forced to seek a living for his family where he could find it. For a time he worked for his brother-in-law who made colored enamels, but the wages were not much above a bare subsistence. He canvassed all possibilities to secure a position more in keeping with his needs and abilities. He wrote: "My situation is most discouraging. I have continued to hope that I could tell my friends that a t last Fate has ceased to weigh me down with all the burdens that I have borne for so long." A place on the faculty of the Ecole Centrale a t Alby (chief city of Tarn) was offered to Leblanc in December, 1796. He was grateful, but despite insistent urging he declined: "The chair of natural history requires a profound store of knowledge that is far beyond me." In 1797 he was slated for a place on the Council of Conservation
but the Minister of the Interior himself was out of "The Committee of Public Safety is of the opinion that office before the appointment was made and Neuf- you are entitled to compensation in proportion to the chateau's successor disregarded the previous nomina- disinterestedness of which you have given proof in tion. Leblanc, in 1798, ran for the office of second revealing to it your process for making soda." Some deputy to represent St. Denis in the Council of Ancients. of the inventors did receive indemnities; Malherbe, He received sufficient votes but the election was con- for example, was granted 10,000 francs. Leblanc was tested, and the candidates of the other party were awarded nothing, probably because his process was not seated. He then sought appointment as counsellor operated. The Council of Arts and Manufacturers of the prefecture; the place was promised to him, but in 1797 and again in 1798 recommended that Gomething nothing more was done. This series of disappoint- be done for Leblanc, but the Minister of the Interior ments was climaxed by a family tragedy. The younger postponed action. Finally in March, 1799, Leblanc daughter, a healthy girl of sixteen, suddenly lost the was granted 3000 francs as a national recompense; use of her limbs; she died six months later. 600 francs were paid a t once. In July he petitioned Throughout these years of incessant struggle and for the remaining 2400 francs. Quiuette, who in the frustrated hopes Leblanc was making efforts to secure meantime had succeeded Neufchateau, replied: "Citian indemnity for the revelation of his soda process and zen, I have the greatest interest in your situation, but the loss of his patent. He also hoped to be given the no matter how favorable my wishes, the state of the privilege of reopening the factory a t St. Denis. finances simply does not pennit me to pay you the Berthollet, in February, 1795, wrote to him in the remainder of the sum due you. I trust, Citizen, that name of the Commission of Agriculture and Arts: the conditions will become more favorable." Leblanc addressed a long petition to the Directory in October, 1799. He set forth all his 7j. % reasons for believing that he merited their good will and just treatment. "The man who advances the sciences, who extends the horizons of our knowledge by discoveries or improvements in the various branches of industry, acquires rights which his country cannot disregard."
Quinette replied: "The Executive Directory has sent to me the petition concerning your claims t o a soda-works a t Franciade.. . You ask + that this factory definitely e f l W p be awarded to you or that the Nation allow you damages. You further re& q 4 ~ ~ , & .-+ $I quest the payment of the 2400 francs still due you from the 3000 francs granted to you as a token of encouragement. The needs of the war and the ~w~~~ straitened state of the public treasury I are the only things that prevent the '--huh&P A & F ~ , paymentof themoney still due you.. I felt obliged to transmit the other item of your request t o the Minister of Finp i , ance. I have strongly urged him t o give particular consideration to the 8 &euutU~L+&,(IILW (e general benefit that would follow the revival of your labors.. I have also stated to him that if the works are sold, the proceeds, no matter how high they may he, will never he an adequate compensation for the service you could render the public if you are allowed t o take over your factory and put it into production." Rbb. 17. Rnerkenntnis teblancs oom IO..RpriI 1794
;do& JY-~
~ . , & J A
-
.
e
&q,& &.."~*y-F,'
*
6%&auf, b
(-cmj
@--
Synf& P O -?
&
..
-
..
Leblanc waited; nothing was
DECLAEATION BY LEBLANC THATHE HASRETURNED 4000 LNRES TO TAE STATE, HOLDERdone. a sop he was offered OP TAR INTERESTS OF TAE LATEDUCD'ORLEANS, IN REPAYMENT OP A LOAN the job of overseeing the nut Note that this document speaks of the process invented by Leblanc. harvest in several districts. De(From the Darmsteedtcr Colllsrtion. Prussian State Library, Berlin.)
spite his need, he spurned this thinly disguised charity. He continued to send out petitions. The Consulting Committee of Arts and Manufacturers in 1797placed his invention a t the head of the list of the discoveries deserving national recompense. These encomiums brought no tangible results. In 1800, Chaptal became Minister of the Interior. He was a successful chemical manufacturer; Leblanc consequently addressed him with renewed hope. Fourcroy also wrote to Chaptal in Leblanc's behalf. A token grant of three hundred francs resulted. Encouraged, Leblanc sent a second letter to Chaptal. "When you took the office of Minister, I had the honor to address a petition to you. You replied that no funds were available to cover the arrears for 1799 and 1800.. It is painful to be compelled to speak of one's self, hut this is a case in which modesty carries too msny embarrassments, since it harms children who are already miserable and to whom we owe all the care wecan give. I have served my country, if not with brilliance, a t least with zeal and all the devotion of which I was capable. I t is obvious that I have not busied myself with building up a personal fortune.. The condemnation of Orleans resulted in a sequestration which still exists; this has paralyzed the soda works that I established a t Franciade and whose importance you knew well. I trust, Mr. Minister, you will pardon this general review of my services. I have no job. I am without any means of existence. I cannot bring myself to believe that I have ever deserved a fate like this."
..
..
J. J. M. DlzB (1764-1852)-WAX MEDALLION (1793) DizC was Preparateur in Chemistry and Physics (1784-1790, Chief Pharmacist of the Military Hospitals (1796); Professor of Natural History a t the &ole de Phamacie (1797); National Refiner a t the Mint (1802). He invented a method for desiccating and preserving meat; a safety ink for lottery tickets.
Finally, in April, 1801, Leblanc's persistence and the reports in his favor bore fruit. The Minister of Finance ordered the works a t St. Denis to be provisionally turned hack to Leblanc and his associates. They had a new partner, thestate. Diz6 had become Chief Pharmacist to the Military Hospitals; Shee had entered politics and was Councillor of State. Neither of them was interested in actively participating in a manufactory, whose rosy prospects had turned to gray ashes. By mutual consent the partnership of 1791 was dissolved two days after the Minister's order. Leblanc was now in sole charge, but the factory was to remain under sequestration until the claim of the State was fully paid off. The Leblanc family moved back into the house on the factory premises. The resumption of production presented tremendous problems. The plant had lain idle for seven years and a chemical factory depreciates faster when not used than when it is kept in operation. The government had taken what it wished. The total value of these seizures was 120,000 francs, and the remainder (80,000 francs) of the Duc's original in-
vestment plus the accrued interest became a first charge on the business. Leblanc found himself in competition with other manufacturers, whose plants were better situated and in good running order. They had years of valuable experience and had built up good will among their customers. Leblanc had nothing that would attract investors; he could borrow the essential funds only a t ruinous rates. He made every effort to increase his income, and in addition to soda started the manufacture of table salt, tin chloride, mercury oxide. He also set up a cotton hleachery. Each of these new enterprises brought its own problems. They consumed more and more of his time and energy, each required money. His debts threatened to devour him; the more he struggled, the more critical his financial position became. He appealed for aid in June, 1803, to the newly organized Socidtd d'encouragement and on the recommendation of de Moweau, Mollard, and Vauquelin he was given a loan of two thousand francs. Perhaps
this help would have been adequate if Leblanc's hopes for real recompense by the government had been fulfilled. The fact that the details of his process had been published and his patent thus devitalized seemed to bother no one but Leblanc. Eventually he was offered gratis a patent covering all improvements on his process in lieu of a national reward, but this was a meaningless gesture. The process had been public knowledge for years, the original patent had only a few more years to run, and most important of all, the process was so good that any improvement was insignificant. Leblanc continued to ask for the 2400 francs still due him from the award made in 1799. He was informed that this sum could not be paid until the item was put on the Book of the Public Debt, but this could not be done because the claim was below the sum that could be entered there, and consequently he would have to wait until he had enough additional claims so that the total would reach the specified minimum figure. Is it any wonder that he seriously considered emigrating? Among his papers was found the draft of a petition to the Emperor of Russia, offering his services as chemist and mineralogist. He stressed the great advantage his soda process would be to the Russian economy, and also pointed out that he was capable of directing large-scale installations for the bleaching of textiles and the manufacture of chemicals to do this quickly and cheaply. This impulse to leave France was never translated into positive action. In 1805 he was asked to reorganize the alum works a t Cuissy and to install his improved methods there. To his daughter he wrote: "We have just made a cake of alum weighing about one thousand pounds. I do not believe a more beautiful one can be seen anywhere." Leblanc told his story to every one whom he thought could promote his cause. Over and over he recounted his services to the State, and bitterly reviewed the reception given to his "constant presentation of petitions to the authorities; petitions which seem never to be successful." When the world has wronged an individual i t appears to be a law of nature that the proper reward for him is to heap indignity upon wrong and neglect on both. "The method of decomposing sodium sulfate by the action of chalk is mine. This is the process that is used successfully today in all the works, ever since the revolutionaty government eonsidered it wise to publish it, and by so doing deprived me of all the benefits from my patent. MY factory is still burdened with theclaimsof theNation; these incumbranceshave been my mination. Am I not justified in saying that I was the one who supplied the processes and initiative to the manufacture of soda in France? My factory is turning out soda, hut under circumstances to which I have been forced to submit, and which do not permit me to develop my process sufficiently so that I can pay offthese claims and acquire definite ownership of the factory."
Leblanc had come to almost the end of his resources; one by one his hopes weredashed. Through all the disappointments he was sustained by the thought that
his case had never yet been decided by the courts, rather than by the fiat of a single official. In the spring of 1801, the authorities of the Department of the Seine ordered the Tribunal of Commerce to examine Leblanc's claims and to fix damages, if any. This court held the case for four years and then declared itself incapable of handling down a well-founded decision. Thereupon the Minister of Finance assigned the claim to the Prefect of the Seine, who was authorized to set up a board of experts to determine the indemnity. Vauquelin, the eminent chemist, and Bellacq, business man, were appointed by the Prefect; Deyeux, professor of pharmacology, and Cardinal Beaxepaire, who owned a Pmssian blue factory, were named by Leblanc and his former associates. To this board of arbitrators came a long memoir composed by Leblanc, setting forth in detail his estimate of the losses suffered by him and his partners. The losses were discussed under five captions: capital value of his patent; unpaid salaries; profits on soda; estimated profits on sal ammoniac and white lead; probable profits on soda during the remaining life of his patent. After certain legitimate deductions, the total loss, according to Leblanc, amounted to 2,243,000 francs, that is, roughly $500,000. "Though this figure may appear high, it is far below the profits that could have been expected from this enterprise." The arbitrators did a thorough piece of work, and pursued their labors through six months. They handed in their decision on November 8, 1805. In their opinion, the business was entitled to 280,777 francs. Of this, the Nation, as owner of the Duc's interests was credited with 164,169 francs, leaving to the three associates 116,608 francs. Leblanc's share was 52,473 francs ($10,000), "the reward of twenty years of toil, and the founding of one of the most important industrial processes of a whole century." Even this inadequate sum was never paid. "Of all injustice, that is the greatest which goes under the name of law; and of all sorts of tyranny, the forcing of the letter of the law against the equity is the most insupportable." This statement by L'Estrange sums up Leblanc's feelings. He was crushed; his whole character was altered. The kindly father became morose, his fortunes had reached bottom, the family dared not even try to assuage themisery that was so nlainlv ,oictured in his face. He withdrew into himself and more; his dog, ~ i d ~was l ~his, only welcome He little and 'pent most of the nights in his office writing. He became obsessed with the fear of burglars and kept loaded iirearms a t hand. On January 16, 1806, he sent Diz&a note: "please give my daughter the packet you received for me from the Minister of the Interior as per your note of yesterday. My health does not permit me to come to Paris in person." These are probably the last lines he ever wrote. This same day he sent a bullet through his head, and was dead when the family reached his study. He was buried a t St. Denis, and his ill fate pursued him even after death. The town grew, the cemetery was ~
engulfed, and by 1840 his grave was lost and not even his tombstone was saved. Leblanc's daughter was in Paris when her father committed suicide. The next day she wrote, or dictated, the following to D i d : "When I left you yesterday I came to St. Denis and went straight to M. Polard, a close friend of my father and our family. How great was my surprise and sorrow! Alas, the death of my father! . . .The signer of this letter in the name of my mother, my brothers and myself, asks you to come to St. Denis as quickly as you can to bring help to this family in tears. Knowing you to be a just and fair minded man she can seek your advice, knowing full well that you will never take advantage of their unfortunate situation." In 1801, when the partnership was dissolved, Leblanc and D i d were, of course, treated as equals. The factory was appraised a t 39,000 francs and when Leblanc took possession he gave D i d , for his half, a mortgage for 19,500 francs secured by the property. As there were never any profits, Leblanc paid neither interest nor principal, and consequently a t Leblanc's death, his estate owed Diz621,OOO francs. Diz6 bought the factory for 25,000 francs, but Leblanc's family received none of this, because the other debts contracted by Leblanc totaled about 5000 francs. Consequently, the Leblanc family had to sell most of their personal property to pay the debts and to meet the death dues. Reduced to poverty they moved to Paris, and struggled valiantly, sustained by the hope that something would be done for them eventually. It has been suggested that Leblanc killed himself in the hope that a shocked and sympathetic public would compel the authorities to grant his family the just deserts that had been denied to him. If this hypothesis is correct, his sacrifice was in vain. The victories of Napolean overshadowed everything in the public eye; Leblanc's death attracted no attention; nothing was done. Madame Leblanc appealed directly to the Empress, "the mother of the French," but Josephine, busy with her own troubles, took no notice. In August, 1806, the Minister of Finance approved the verdict of the arbitrators. The award, however, was reduced to 110,443 francs to conform to the new rate of exchange; the Liquidator-General was empowered to issue non-redeemable five per cent bonds in this amount, but he took the matter into his own hands and delayed payment. In November, 1807, he ruled that the indemnity in no case could exceed the value of the factory, and consequently the account had been squared when the soda works had been turned back to Leblanc and his partners. Another appeal to the Mmister in 1808 resulted in a favorable report to the Council of State. But again de Fennont blocked any real action. He admitted that, in the eyes of some, the plaintiffs had a case, but he could not agree with this opinion. The attorneys for the Council of State acknowledrred the claim to be well-founded, but they cited a decree that forbade them to plead any case
seeking to recover damages arising from actions taken because of the Revolution. They therefore refused to proceed. All avenues of hope for the Leblancs were exhausted; the combination of bureaucratic sluggishness, arbitrary rulings, and legal formulism effectively heat down their resistance. The case was closed, and when the matter was reopened a half century later, all principals were dead. When the last appeal failed, Madame Leblanc, who had always been sickly, collapsed and became a permanent invalid. Nonetheless she lived twenty years longer (d. 1829). The younger son was lost in 1812 in the retreat from Russia. The other son, who had exceptional talents, attracted the favor of Heron de Villefosse, an eminent mining engineer, who later hecame a cabinet officer. He provided means for an excellent education and Cesar Nicholas Leblanc eventually became professor of drawing a t the Consematoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris. He died in 1835. The daughter (d. 1839) was the mother of August Anastasi, whose biography of his grandfather has been the source of most of the personal data used in this paper. Thefactoryat St. Denis was rented in 1807 by D i d to a group that had been struggling with an inefficientsoda Drocess in Paris. One of them was a son of Darcet, kho, in a sense, was the godfather of the Lehlanc process. This group changed to this process and secured excellent results as did other French manufacturers, Payen in Paris and Carny a t Dieuze, for instance. In 1807 the St. Gobain glass works exhibited mirrors made with Leblanc soda. From this time on, this method of manufacturing sodium carbonate developed rapidly in various parts of France. An important factor in this growth was the abolition, in May, 1809, of the onerous salt tax. The Leblanc process was installed by Losh in England in 1814 but on a very small scale. The exorbitant import duty on salt ( £ 30 per ton) was abolished in 1823 and this action enabled Muspratt a t Liverpool to embark on the large scale production of Leblanc soda, which could now be sold a t a reasonable price. His product had one disadvantage; it contained about twice as much active material as that to which the buyers were accustomed. He soon overcame their prejudice by giving away large quantities to the soapmakers, and soon the demand was so great that the crude soda "black ash," had to be delivered to the customers straight from the furnaces, hardly cool enough to he handled. Muspratt built additional plants, others followed his example, and Great Britain became, far and away, the chief beneficiary of Leblanc's invention. Soda works were later constructed in Germany, Austria, and other countries on the European continent. No Leblanc soda was ever made in the United States. The annual production rose rapidly, and reached a maximum about 1880, when the world output of Lehlanc soda was 545,000 metric tons, as opposed to 136,000 tons produced by the Solvay ammonia soda process.
The price reflected the advantage of the Leblanc process, particularly operated on a large scale, In soda (NazC03'10Hz0) for 71 per ton. in 1814 for E 60. in 1824 the price dropped to i2 18, and the average for 1868 to 1878 was E 4. 10s. promthen on, the of the ammonia soda process became serious, and the Leblanc soda makers indulged in unprofitable price cutting. But despite
'
Burnt
Sulfur Dioxide (SOX)
Pyrite (Fe,O, &CuO)
"After the war, the chemical industries had to readjust themselves. Efficiency was the watchword; and the ~ e b l a n cprocess which involved much labor, high cost of manufacture, low purity, and a complex line of products had to give way to a newer, more process."
The end came in 1923, when the last Leblanc soda in was scrapped. "Born of necessity during the War in France, and superseded
Steam & Air
i
Nitre (NaNO,)
nsatinu
I
Lamhino
Residue (FenOa)
Chlorine
Oxidation
Acid (HCI) "HYPO" Liquor
rreatino mith
Courlery
Reinkold Pub1;lish;ng Cornpan?
RAMXRICATIONS OF THE LEBLANC SODA PROCESS
such measures the production curve of the Leblanc soda production began to take a downward course in 1885, and the decline became more rapid after 1890. World War I hit the Leblanc process hard, especially because of the shortage of coal and the restrictions on the use of sulfuric acid, which was vitally needed for the manufacture of munitions. Leblanc's process was used for more than a century. in spite of its undeniable great drawbacks. It went ahead by leaps and bounds and for many years practically all artificial soda was made by this method. However, its disadvantages were real. "It is v& intelligible why the world did not rest and he thankful for the Leblanc process, but that innumerable inventors attempted to direct alkali manufacture into other channels. But during three-quarters of a century the Leblanc process easily triumphed over all its rivals. Only then it met with a dangerous competitor in the ammonia soda process and from 1870 there was little doubt that the Solvay process was superior and the end of the Leblanc industry as a producer of soda was definitely foreshadowed.
because of the necessity caused by World War I, the Lehlauc process, which had served mankind for fully a century had completely fulfilled its mission."
The Leblanc process, as such, has now become merely a chapter in the history of applied chemistry, but its influence is still tremendously in evidence. Modern inorganic chemical industry owes its beginning to this process, which involved most of the heavy chemicals. What were originally by-products later became the principal products. It demanded large quantities of sulfuric acid, and in general the Leblanc soda makers made their own supplies of this important raw material; to them, in large measure, is due the enormous advances in sulfuric acid manufacture. "If Leblanc's soda process was the Adam of industrial chemistry, sulfuric acid, made of its rib, was its Eve." Its chief by-product was hydrochloric acid. In the early days some of this was converted to chlorine, and then into bleaching powder, which found extensive application in the textile and paper industries. However, the sup-
ply far exceeded the demand, and the excess gas was sent into the atmosphere. "The present generation can hardly form an idea of the intensity of feeling and prejudice aroused against chemical and alkali works during the first forty years of their existence, that is, up to the passing of the Alkali Act in 1863.'' The manufacturers were thereby forced to scrub the stack gases and to recover what later was to become a valuable chemical. The calcium sulfide constituted another nuisance. and eventually a method was worked out to recover exceptionally pure sulfur from this "tank waste." The apparatus developed in connection with the Leblanc process has been of the highest importance. As soon as it passed the "handicraft stage," mechanical equipment to handle the material more effectively and in larger hatches began to be devised. Scrubbers, rotary kilns, mechanical furnaces with revolving beds. mechanical evaporatingpans, counter-current lixiviating systems a l l these can be traced back to the Leblanc soda industry. Another extremely important product was the company of "brilliant men whose contribution to chemical technology, either in the discovery of a chemical process or in the invention of chemical equipment laid the foundation for many modem chemical industries. These men helped to make the Leblanc soda industry what it was. The very difficulties these pioneers encountered and their methods of attack solved once and for all, or offered solutions to similar problems in other branches of chemical industry." During his lifetime the propriety of calling this method the "Leblanc" soda process was not challenged. Leblanc freely acknowledged that he was indebted to Lametherie, and the latter in 1809 published an historical review. After giving the text of his proposal of 1789 Lametherie continued: "These were my ideas which led Leblanc to embark on his excellent enterprise in which he entered into a partnership with Diz6. He often consnlted me during the course of his studies, and he followed all the procedures that I had indicated." However, Lametherie certainly had no thought of claiming any credit beyond this. In 1810, D i d published an account of the course of the experiments camed out in Darcet's laboratory. He claimed the principal credit for the crucial step of adding calcium carbonate to the Lametherie mixture. No one paid attention to his assertions. He presented his claims again in 1819 on the occasion of an exhibition of industrial products. The jury decided against him. "It knows how small was the part played by M. Diz6 in this discovery." The government was urged by the
jury to do something for the Leblanc family. In 1852 Boudet published a long paper based on notes furnished by D i d who was still living, but like its predecessors it was built on personal statements and was backed by no documents. In 1855, the descendants of Leblanc petitioned Napoleon 111. "Has not the time come, Sire, to render to the memory of Leblanc the testimonial due him for so many reasons; it would be both aconsolation to his family and a reparation for thesufferings inflicted on him by his contemporaries? France and Europe owe him a recognition which Your Majesty alone can voice and of which You alone can be the expositor."
The Emperor instructed the Minister of Public Education to gather the data necessary to a decision, and he, in turn, asked the Academy of Sciences for aid. A report would have been prepared quickly if the Academy had not received a communication requesting that the widow and children of D i d be included in any recommendations sent to the Emperor. This request made i t necessary to institute a detailed study of the beginnings of the process; an eminent committee was appointed. It consisted of Thenard, Chevreul, Pelonze, Regnault, Balard, and also Dumas, who acted as secretary and wrote the voluminous flowery report that was given to the Academy on March 31, 1856. The conclusions reached by the committee were founded mainly on a careful examination of the orginal documents. The committee's findings were: (1) the discovery of the process was due solely to Leblanc; (2) Did's collaboration was limited to help in determining the best proportions of the raw materials, and to aid in laying out and starting the factory. They recommended that any testimonial to the inventor of the process of making soda should be made to Leblanc's memory and addressed to his descendants. If any indemnities were granted to compensate for the sequestration of the factory, the divulging of the patent and its cancellation, the grant should be divided according to the terms of the partnership agreement of January 27, 1791. The report was adopted, sent t o the Emperor, where i t was pigeonholed. Chevreul was the only dissident. He promised to give a detailed explanation for his belief in Dize's claims in his projected "History of Chemistry." This volume was never published. Many years later (1906) the claims in favor of D i d were again advanced, in the biography, "Le chimiste Did," where no new evidence is produced. No one but Schelenz seems to have taken seriously this latest and perhaps last attack on Leblanc's title to his own process.
LITERATURE CONSULTED
(1) ANASTASI, "Nicolas Leblanc, sa vie, ses travaux et l'histoire de la smde artficielle." Paris. 1884. The author. Leblanc's grandson, had access to the family papers. The text is biased, but it has served as the sole source of much that has been written about Leblanc. (2) ANON.,"Chemical industv," Forcune. 10, 83, 157 (1937). (3) ANON.,Chem. Ind.,14, 354 (1891).
(4) BLOCH, Essay on Leblanc in Bugge's "Das Buch der grossen Chemiker," Vol. 1, Berlin, 1929. (5) Boumr, "Notice historique sur la decouverte de la soude artificielle par Leblanc et Did." 3. pharm. chim., (31 22, 99 (1852). ( 6 ) D a ~ ~ s r a e o r s nEssay . an Leblanc in Natvrforscher urP6 Erfcnde~,Berlin, 1926.
(7) D I Z ~ "Memoire , historique de la decomposition du sel marin e t sa preparation en soude brute," Journal de hhu.~inue. , ,-.- (18101. ~ - - - ~ , ~ r .~,-= ~ ~ ~ . 70.291 (8) DUMAS,"Rapport relatif A la decouverte de la saude artificielle." Compt. rend., 42, 553 (1856). Chevreul's diss a t i n g opinion is given on page 576. .(9) "Extrait d'un rapport sur les divers moyens d'extraire avec avantage la soude du sel marin. Par les citoyens Lelievre, Pelletier, d'Arcet et Giroud," Ann. chwn., [I] 19, 58 (1797). (10) FL~~CKIOER, "Zur Geschichte der Soda." Arch. Pharm., 131 23, 865 (1885). (11) Hov, "Manufacture of soda." 2nd ed., New Yark, 1942. E, preliminaire," Journal de phyripe, (12) L A M E T ~ R I"Discours 34, 44 (1789). This contains the proposal which Lehlanc developed. Ibid., 69, 421 (1809). This consists mostly of quotations from Leblanc's "Memories sur la fabrication du sel ammoniac et de soude," a report made to the LycPe des arts an 17 Germinal. An. 8 (April 7, 1800). I n this Lehlanc says of the original proposal: "Le citoyen Lametherie insera dans le Journal de Physique vers l'an 1785, je crois. . . Actually the publication was made in ~~
."
1789, an important date because it fixes the time of Lehlanc's h a 1 experiments. 1131 LUNGE."Manufacture of sulfuric acid and alkali." 2nd ed.. VOI. 2, ond don, 1895. (14) MAINDRON, "Les fondations de prix A I'Academie des Sciences," Paris, 1881. (15) MUSPRATT, "Chemistry, theoretical, practical and analytical, as applied and relating t o arts and manufactures," Vol. 2, London, 1860. (16) PATTERSON."Soda, Nicolas Lehlanc and the FrenchRevolution." Proc. Rov. Phil. Soc. Glasmw. 53. 113 11925). (17) PELIGOT,Compt. ;end., 100, 1570
