Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

decision May 11, as sustaining the jurisdiction of the archbishop's court, declaring, after a review of the authorities and precedents bearing

on the case

That from the most ancient times archepiscopal jurisdiction has existed; that in the Church of England it has been from time to time continuously exercised in various forms; that nothing has occurred in the Church to modify that jurisdiction; and that even if such jurisdiction could be used in convocation in the trial of a bishop consistently with the ancient principle that in a synod bishops only should hear such a cause, it nevertheless remains clear that the metropolitan has regularly exercised that jurisdiction, both alone and with assessors.

At a sitting of the court, July 23, the defendant pleaded that the matters charged, seeing that they were charged as being done by him as bishop, were not offenses against the law, constitution, and canons of the Church and realm, and held that a bishop is not bound by the rubrics in the sense that a minister is. He would, however, take His Grace's opinión upon the point, whether the bishop was within the strict rubrical directions of all the rituals and of the Book of Common Prayer, and within the strict letter of the statute. The archbishop decided that the court finds no reason to hold that when a bishop ministers in any office prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer he is not a minister bound to observe the directions given to the minister in the rubrics of the said office." The decision was declared to have the effect of overruling the objection and admitting the articles.

66

The proctors of the defendant, on the 13th of August, filed a "responsive" plea admitting the perjormance of certain of the acts alleged, but denying the allegations complained of in the articles of accusation, and submitting that the acts thus admitted were not, or any of them, illegal; and prayed, therefore, that the suit be dismissed.

The Reredos in St. Paul's Church.-A decision was given, June 2, by the Lord Chief Justice, with Mr. Justice Manisty and Mr. Baron Pollock sitting as a divisional court of the Queen's Bench Division, in the case known as that of the St. Paul's reredos. The case arose over the erection of a reredos of stone behind the altar, which had been advanced forty feet for the purpose, in St. Paul's Church, London. In one compartment of the reredos is a representation in bas-relief of the crucifixion, and above that a representation of the Virgin and Child. Four members of the Church of England, following the procedure prescribed by the Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874, represented to the Bishop of London that the sculptures were unlawful, as tending to encourage superstitious ideas. The bishop-being required under the act to take steps to determine the matter of the complaint, "unless he shall be of opinion, after considering the whole circumstances of the case, that proceedings should not be taken upon the representation," in which case he is required to state his reasons for declining to act-refused to allow the proceedings to go further. His reasons, as given in connection with the refusal, were that it had already been decided in the "Exeter case" that a reredos containing a representation of the ascension was a lawful erection; that the pres

ent litigation was apparently intended to draw some unimportant distinction between the St. Paul's and the Exeter reredos; and that no benefit could result from the litigation that would compare with the harm done to the Church and the religious life of the country by the litigation itself. The complainants, contending that these reasons were not sound, and that they showed that the bishop had not given the consideration to "the whole circumstances of the case" contemplated by the statute, applied to the Queen's Bench Division for a mandamus to the bishop to reconsider his decision. The question at issue turned upon the construction of the words of the statute-whether they confer on the bishop an absolute discretion. While the court were agreed that they gave a discretion of some sort, they were divided as to the extent of it. The Lord Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Manisty held that inasmuch as the bishop had to give his reasons for a refusal to entertain proceedings, the discretion given him was one which could be reviewed by a law court; Mr. Justice Pollock maintained that a discretion capable of review was not known to the law. The decision of the majority, as given by the Lord Chief Justice, was that the mandamus should be granted. The Lord Chief Justice in giving the decision declared that he thought it very mischievous that in such cases as this men honestly wanting to try whether a certain practice is or is not within the law of the Church should be met by the simple will of the bishop, who tells them that the matter shall not even be discussed. . . . A dispensing power can not be lodged in hands entirely irresponsible. . . . Under the old law the bishop had this to say-that he was, in form, a party to the proceedings; that his office was being promoted, and there was some reason, therefore, under the Clergy Discipline Act, which dealt with procedure only, why he should still be allowed to say whether he would or would not permit his discipline to be enforced. Under the Public Worship Regulation Act this is not so. The bishop is not a party to the proceedings, and, therefore, unless there is some real reason capable of being clearly stated, the matter should be suffered to go on.'

[ocr errors]

The Liberation Society.-The fifteenth Triennial Conference of the Liberation Society met in London, May 1. The Right Hon. James Stanfeld, M. P., presided. The society had received during the year £5,752, and had expended £5,492. It was claimed in the report that notwithstanding the "Irish question" had stood in the way of the society's agitation during the past three years, unmistakable indications existed of the progress of its principles. Among these indications were declarations of the Liberal Federations of England and Wales that disestablishment in Wales and Scotland should have a place among the immediate objects of the party. The movement for disestablishment had grown stronger in Wales since the last conference. For the first time a majority of the Scotch members had voted for disestablishment in their country; and at all the recent five Scotch by-elections disestablishers had been returned. On the question of national education, the society had uttered a warning concerning the report of the royal commission, and had organized the conference held in No

vember, 1888, which had led to the formation of the National Education Association. Information had been collected and diffused relative to acts of persecution in the rural districts. The pressure of other parliamentary business had prevented the passage of measures desired by the society. Other measures intended to deprive Parliament of some of its authority over the Church were referred to as schemes that must be opposed. Resolutions were adopted urging continued efforts to defeat “reactionary" educational designs, and to secure the establishment of unsectarian schools under the control of popularly elected managers, affirming that no changes in the incidence or collection of tithes will remove the injustice attaching to the diversion of national property to ecclesiastical purposes; approving steps by the Executive Committee in view of "cases of intolerance and persecution occurring in the rural parishes, to bring the influence of public opinion to bear against efforts "to effect by insidious methods that which previously was secured by repressive legislation"; urging friends of religious equality to labor to put an end to a system "which in many country parishes practically denies religious liberty to the inhabitants"; and objecting to any legislation calculated to diminish the control of Parliament over the Establishment.

English Church Union. The thirtieth annual meeting of the English Church Union was held in London, June 27. Lord Halifax presided. The annual report showed that 5,870 communicants had joined the Union during the year, and

[ocr errors]

that it now had 27,164 members. Reference was made to the prosecution of the Bishop of Lincoln and the condition of the Church in Wales. The better discharge of her own spiritual work was held up as the remedy against all the evils that affected the Church in Wales or elsewhere. Resolutions were adopted expressing the gratitude of the Union to the Bishop of Lincoln for his maintenance of the ritual of the Church of England in accordance with the ancient canons and the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, and for his defense of the rights and liberties of the Church of England by his refusal to acknowledge the authority of the Judicial Committee in spiritual matters:" also, congratulating the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's upon the erection in St. Paul's Cathedral of a reredos "so well calculated to bring before the minds of those who worship within the walls of that church the great evangelical doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement." Lord Halifax, in the course of his address as president, remarked that the trial of the Bishop of Lincoln involved the right of the Church of England to celebrate the holy communion in the old traditional way, sanctioned and enjoined in its main features by the whole of the Church. What was being attacked under cover of the present prosecution was not merely the doctrine of the real presence, but the whole of the sacramental system and that great revival of Catholic teaching and practice which had reinvigorated the Church of England. If those responsible for these unhappy prosecutions would but consider, they would surely see how groundless were the apprehensions which induced them to act as they did. All that was wanted to secure peace was explanation in the spirit of charity.

The insistence of the dogmatic principle and the essential features of a sacramental Church-the maintenance of the faith against heresy-that was their claim that day.

Church Defense Institution.-The annual meeting of the Church Defense Institution was held in Westminster, June 20. Lord Addington presided. The report referred to the motion of Mr. Dilwyn for the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, and expressed regret at the course that Mr. Gladstone had adopted in the matter in allying himself with the minority. The meeting declared its satisfaction that the motion had been defeated; and, observing the unfavorable reception accorded the new education code, expressed the trust that the Government would withdraw it, and that the changes proposed in the education bill of Mr. F. S. Powell might be accepted by the House of Commons.

Protestant Churchman's Alliance.-At a meeting of Churchmen held in Exeter Hall, June 19, a union was formed called the "Protestant Churchman's Alliance," to have branches in every diocese in England and Wales, the objects of which were declared to be:

sultation and concerted action for all Churchmen who To afford a basis of union and opportunities for condesire to maintain the principles of the Reformation, the present Prayer-Book and Articles, and the acts of uniformity as their standards of doctrine and ritual, and especially the non-sacerdotal character of the ministry of the Church of England; to adopt whatever means may from time to time seem desirable to inform ples of the Church of England and the Book of Comand instruct the public as to the true history and princimon Prayer as based on the teaching of God's Holy Word, with a view to secure and maintain their attachment to the Established Church, and to prevent the alienation of the people by the misrepresentation of her doctrine and discipline; to obtain by parliamentary action the abolition of the episcopal veto on suits for the maintenance and enforcement of the law; deprivation, with a view, as far as possible, to avoid and in cases of contumacy to provide for summary imprisonment; to make better provision for the furtherance of the above objects in Parliament and the press, and, while recognizing the comprehensiveness of the national Church, within the limits of her authorized standards, to deprecate and discountenance is taught or practiced in violation of the principles of

as inimical to her maintenance and defense whatever

the reformation, the directions of those standards, and the decisions of the Queen's courts thereon.

A provisional council, covering the whole country, was appointed to draw up rules and regulations for the government of the alliance; union in prayer for the maintenance of sound doctrine and spiritual worship was recommended; and measures were suggested for enlisting the sympathy and co-operation of the laity, especially of the workingmen, by the compilation and dissemination of literature, oral teaching, and every possible means "to explain to the people the Protestant character of the Church of England."

Congratulation to the Russian Church.A letter of congratulation was addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, July 14, 1888, to the metropolitan of Kiev, on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the conversion of Russia to Christianity. The archbishop felicitated the metropolitan on the benefits that the Russian Empire had derived from Christianity, and on

the fact that its civil jurisdiction and the Russian branch of the Church were coextensive; expressed regret that the meeting of the Lambeth Conference, demanding the undivided attention of all the Anglican bishops, would prevent any of them from participating in the ceremonies of the celebration of the anniversary, and added that

The Russian and the Anglican Church have common foes. Alike we have to guard our independence against the Papal aggressiveness which claims to subordinate all the Churches of Christ to the See of Rome. Alike we have to protect our flocks from teachers of new and strange doctrines adverse to that holy faith which was handed down to us by the holy apostles and ancient fathers of the Catholic Church. But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, and by mutual sympathy that we may one by one ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς τοῦ Εὐαγ yeaíov we shall encourage each other, and promote the salvation of all men. Praying, therefore, earnestly in the Spirit for the unity of all men in the faith of the Gospel laid down and expounded by the ecumenical councils of the undivided Church of Christ and in the living knowledge of the Son of God, we ever remain your Grace's most faithful and devoted servants and brother in the Lord. EDW. CANTUAR.

At the festival (in Kiev) at which this letter was read, Mr. Pobedonostzeff, the Procurator of the Holy Synod, giving a toast to the Archbishop of Canterbury, bore witness in the name of the metropolitan and the assembled guests—

To the consolation which it afforded us to hear the contents of this letter, coming to us from a Church which heartily perceives in this our present festival the reality of our faith and of our religious and patriotic feelings. . . . It is not the first time that we have heard a Christian greeting from the midst of the English Church. It is with feelings of satisfaction that we recall to mind the foet that it was from England that a conscientious study and appreciation of the ancient Eastern, and of our Orthodox Russian Church was for the first time re-echoed back to us in the learned investigations of her ecclesiastical historians and theologians; it is from there, and perhaps from there only, that expressions of sympathy have reached us, and aspirations toward Christian communion

with us.

The Church Congress.-The twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Church Congress was opened at Cardiff, Wales, Oct. 1. The Bishop of Llandaff presided. The agitation in Parliament and before the people for the disestablishment of the Church in Wales caused the subjects of episcopacy and the establishment in the principality to be the most prominent subjects discussed. The first day's sessions were occupied with the reading of papers on the Church's mode of dealing with rapidly growing populations; the respective merits of the division of parishes, the use of mission rooms, and lay co-operation; and community life for the clergy, in which Mr. Richard Foster, the Rev. Charles Mackeson, the Rev. Canons Terbutt and Medd, and the Bishop of Salisbury were the principal speakers; on the relations of Church and state, by the Dean of Manchester, the Rev. T. Hancock, Mr. Raikes, M. P., Postmaster-General, the Dean of Llandaff, and others, in which assertions were made that the Church, rather than dissent, was the victim of inequality from the operation of establishment; and "Church Finance and Clergy Pensions," by Mr. J. A. Doyle, the Rev. T. Warren Trevor, and others. The same general subject

66

was continued in the second day in papers on "The Church in Wales; its Past Progress, its Present Needs," by Mr. J. T. D. Llewellyn; "Increase of the Episcopate," by Mr. W. S. de Winton; "Parochial Missions," by the Rev. J. P. A. Bowers. Topics relating to public education were discussed in papers on "Elementary Education," in which Lord Norton and the Rev. J. R. Diggle, chairman of the London School Board, opposed the free, or gratuitous system; "The Proposals of the New Code," by Prebendary Roe: "Definite Religious Teaching," by Canon Evan Daniel and Canon Gregory, and the Rev. E. F. M. MacCarthy, Mr. Whitnill, school inspector, and sidered by Earl Beauchamp, Mr. G. F. Chambers, other speakers; "Sunday Observance" was conthe Rev. Dr. Linklater, the Rev. C. E. T. Roberts, with voluntary addresses; "The Literature of the Day and its Attitude toward Christianity," by Sir G. C. Stokes, the Rev. J. M. Wilson, Mr. W. L. Courtney, the Rev. H. C. Shuttleworth, Mrs. De Courcy Laffan, with offered remarks; Missions to Seamen," by Commander Dawson, R. N., the Rev. Charles Griffiths, the Rev. E. J. Wolfe, and the Bishop of Gibraltar; "Home Reunion," by Earl Nelson, the Dean of Peterborough, the Bishop of St. Asaph, the Dean of St. Asaph, and others; "Popular Amusements in Relation to the Christian Life," by Major Seton Churchill, Mr. Edward Terry, the Rev. H. A. James, Canon McClure, and Sir Lawrence Jones; "The Ministry of the Christian Church," considered under the heads of "The Witness of Holy Scripture," "The Witness of History," and "Orders in the Church of England," by Canon Luckock, the Rev. J. J. Lias, the Dean of Peterborough, Major Seton Churchill, with further discussions; "The Church's Duty with Regard to the Temporal Well-being of the Working Classes," by Canon Blackley, who explained a scheme of compulsory insurance, the Bishop of Bedford, Mr. H. W. Hill, the Rev. H. C. Shuttleworth, Miss Edith Barnett, the Rev. W. Morr Ede, and others; "The Church's Care of Children," considered under the head of " Waifs and Strays," by Mr. J. Trevarthen, "Children in Workhouses and Factories," by the Dean of Worcester and Mrs. Henry Kingsley, and "Boys who have left School," by the Rev. W. S. Carter, with voluntary addresses; "Continuation Schools and Intermediate Education," by the Hon. G. T. Kenyon, M. P., and Archdeacon Emery; "How to meet the Spiritual Needs of Young Men," by the Rev. V. S. S. Coles and voluntary speakers; "The Christian's Relationship (a) to God," by Canon Bulstrode, Archdeacon Norris, and Canon McCormick; "(b) to the Church," by the Rev. W. H. Hutchings; "(c) to the World," by the Rev. M. E. Welby, Rev. H. C. G. Moule, and Rev. C. J. Ridgeway; "The Reciprocal Relations between the Church at Home and its Foreign and Colonial Missions," by Sir John Kenneway, M. P., the Bishop of Ballarat, Archdeacon Farler, Bishop Barry, and the Bishop of Melanesia; and "The Linguistic Condition of Wales; its bearing on Church Work and Education, and the Difficulties arising from it," by the Dean of St. Asaph, the Archdeacon of Llandaff, Canon Bevan, and Mr. T. Morgan Owen, H. M. I.

The Church in Canada.-The Provincial Synod of Canada met in Montreal, Sept. 11. The

body meets triennially, and originally represented the entire Church of the Dominion; but the settlement of the Northwestern Territories has resulted in the erection of dioceses without its jurisdiction. Bishop Bond presided in the Upper House, the metropolitan having been prevented from being present. The Rev. John Langtry was chosen prolocutor of the Lower House. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society returned an increase for three years of $81,315. A committee appointed three years previously to confer with other religious bodies respecting union reported the proceedings of a conference held in Toronto in April, 1889, at which the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, as well as the Church of England, were represented. The subjects were considered of "Corporate Unity," "The Amount of Unity in Doctrine, Worship, and Modes of Action," "The Holy Scriptures," "The Creeds," and "The Administration of the Holy Sacraments." A hope was entertained that a basis of agreement might be arrived at regarding the first three points in the resolutions of the Lambeth Conference, namely, "As to the Holy Scriptures containing all things necessary to Salvation," "The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds as the Sufficient Statement of Christian Faith," and "The Two Sacraments," with the use of the words of Christ's institution and the elements ordained by him. The appointment of a joint committee for future conferences was recommended. The resolutions of the Synod having been presented to the Congregational Convention, that body insisted upon recognition of its ministerial orders as a condition precedent to union. A report on the "Incorporation of the Provincial Synod" showed that the Church had already the power to insure uniformity of procedure, canons, and discipline, and a united Church in the Dominion. Steps were taken and a committee was appointed to invite a conference of representatives of all the dioceses of British North America respecting the consolidation of the Church. Uniform Sunday-school lessons were recommended. Certain methods of obtaining money for Church purposes were condemned as "questionable." A canon was adopted directing the formation of a board of examiners to examine candidates for degrees in divinity.

APATITE, OR PHOSPHATE of Lime, is the purest form of phosphate of calcium that is at the disposal of the manufacturer of fertilizers. It is a definite chemical compound, consisting of either 3(Ca, P20)CaF2, known as fluor-apatite, or of 3(Ca, P20)CaCl2, known as chlor-apatite, or else of the two united in indefinite proportion. It is produced, so far as known, only in Norway, Spain, Russia, and Canada. Phosphates differing from apatite are found elsewhere, the localities of which are given below. The Norwegian article is a chlor-apatite, found in primary rocks near Kragero, but the amount exported is very slight. The Spanish is a fluor-apatite, largely produced in Estramadura and the neighboring districts of Portugal. There are large deposits in Russia, between the Volga and the Desna, but very little is known respecting them. Canadian apatite is looked upon as the best in the trade, and, being more largely used than any other, is here fully described. The name apatite, taken from the Greek, and signifying “deceptive," ori

ginated from the similarity it bears to certain other minerals, such as pyroxene, beryl, etc., for which it has frequently been mistaken. In its chemical composition it is a tricalcic phosphate, the formula of the Canadian product being 3Ca3(PO4)2CaF2, showing the presence of calcium fluoride, which in much of the European product is replaced by calcium chloride. This makes the Canadian the richer of the two in phosphoric acid. It is found associated with granitoid gneiss, quartzite, pyroxenite, and crystalline limestone.

The Laurentian rocks of North America have for many years been known by mineralogists to contain apatite (commonly known as phosphate), sometimes disseminated in minute green crystals, sometimes sufficiently abundant to make up a large proportion of the rock. Of late years the increasing demand for phosphate as a fertilizer of the soil, in the prepared form of superphosphate, has excited much interest in the economic deposits of this mineral that have been discovered in Canada. It is also irregularly distributed through the New England States, but no effort has been there made to utilize it. The Laurentian rocks cover a vast area of Canada, both in Ontario and Quebec, extending from Labrador to the Arctic Ocean, skirting the north shore of the Ottawa river for nearly two hundred miles, and stretching thence down to the St. Lawrence, between Kingston and Brockville. The origin of these rocks is undecided, but they are generally conceded to be metamorphic. Their materials, deposited in paleozoic seas, are supposed to have been subjected to intense heat, vapor at high pressure, and eruptive overflows. As they have been thus metaphorphosed, and often much folded and contorted, their origin can only be guessed at by their stratification and chemical composi

tion.

The various forms in which apatite presents itself are: 1, crystals, sometimes of large dimensions; 2, masses or irregular beds; 3, veins running with the stratifications; 4, strata of a lamellar texture; and 5, in a granular and friable form, fairly abundant, known as "sugar phosphate." The disturbed condition of the Laurentian rocks explains the irregularity of the apatite deposits, layers, and veins, which, before the great folding and kneading together of these rocks, may have possessed regularity and uniformity, but which have been dislocated in every sense, leading to the production of large "pockets and irregular masses connected only by narrow and twisted seams, and even occupying completely isolated positions. The crystals consist of six-sided prisms, the usual color of which is blue or sea-green, while a few are brown, pink, yellow, or white. In the veins, beds, and pockets the same colors are met with, arising from impurities. The blue and green varieties contain scales of chlorite; the pink and brown, minute portions of hematite; while the yellow and white owe their tint to organic substances. The ordinary thickness of the beds varies from one to five feet. In some places they are entirely surrounded by dead rock, with a sharp line of demarkation, and in others it is hard to define where the phosphate ceases and the dead rock begins. The important question of the continuity of both veins and beds is occupying the

attention of the Geological Survey of Canada; for, although veins filling rock-fissures have been followed to a considerable depth, experience shows that different regions and different rocks afford great variations, and most of the workings are as yet comparatively superficial. The nature of the yield from veins is uncertain, being sometimes solid and pure apatite, and again only layers of the mineral mixed with calcite, pyroxene crystals, and magnesian mica. These latter constitute the principal impurities in the commercial article, calcite especially lowering the percentage of calcic phosphate, and acting injuriously when acid is applied for conversion into superphosphate.

The origin of this mineral is a matter of controversy, scientists holding different theories. Dr. G. M. Dawson, assistant director of the Canadian geological survey, suggests metamorphic action on the sedimentary deposits in the earliest ocean of which we have any trace; that these deposits, originally resembling those of later seas, have been so completely altered that their materials have entered into new combinations, and have become entirely crystalline, resembling the original deposits as little as do the crude ingredients of glass the finished product. The sedimentary origin of the Laurentian rocks, such as mussel mud, sand, and coprolite layers, would be changed by volcanic action to wholly crystalline rocks. To substantiate this-limestone thus acted on would assume a crystalline character as marble; peaty or coal substances would pass into crystalline carbon or graphite; and phosphatic layers would appear as crystalline calcic phosphate or apatite. All these substances are found in close contiguity in the apatite district. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, who has made the Laurentian rocks his study for more than thirty years, looks upon them as the deposition of materials derived from the adjacent strata; and as apatite is closely associated with pyroxene, the latter may be, to a large extent, the source from which it is derived. There are two districts in Canada that furnish this mineral. One is in the province of Quebec, in the county of Ottawa, where the chief deposits exist, in the townships of Templeton, Bowman, Derry, Portland, and Buckingham. A village of the latter name has come into publicity lying about twenty miles east of the city of Ottawa, as the point at which the mineral floated thence down the River Lievre, is shipped by rail. The other district is in the province of Ontario, and extends north from Kingston and Brockville, on the River St. Lawrence, in a belt through the counties of Leeds, Lanark, and Frontenac, comprising the townships of Burgess, Bedford, Crosby, Storrington, and Loughborough. This has not been much worked, except in the vicinity of Sharbot lake, near the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In both provinces the face of the country where apatite is found presents a succession of small, isolated, rounded, rocky hills, alternating with small lake-basins. With the demolition of the original forests, fire followed, destroying the undergrowth; and the layer of soil on this formation, being thin, was soon washed away by rain, leaving the bald rocky strata so exposed as to render the region sterile. The mining operations are very simple, and in some instances might rather be styled quarrying,

except at a few of the larger mines, where shafts have been sunk for underground workings. Steam-power for drilling and hoisting is employed, and tramways facilitate transport.

The magnitude of this industry appears from the following figures, taken from the "Trade and Navigation Reports" of Canada, showing the exports of the mineral for ten years: 1879-'80, 7,974 tons; 1880-'81, 15,601 tons; 1881-'82, 17,181 tons; 1882-'83, 14,478 tons; 1883-'84, 21,471 tons; 1884-'85, 18,984 tons; 1885-'86, 25,974 tons; 1886-'87, 23,943 tons: 1887-88, 21,849 tons: 1888-'89, 23,158 tons. This shows an export of more than 190,000 tons in the ten years since the trade began. The market value varies with the purity of the article, and although a large quantity turns out 85 per cent. of tricalcic phosphate, the average yield of the Canadian apatite is officially calculated to be 72-62 per cent. A report of the United States Consul at Ottawa, in 1885, says that much of the material mined in Canada, sold and exported to Europe, has been, and is still, reshipped to the United States, either raw or manufactured, where it is used to aid in producing the very high grade superphosphate by firms in the Northern States. The reason assigned why Canadian phosphates thus cross the ocean twice is, probably, that, since American dealers were in the habit of importing from England before the Canada mines were developed very little effort has been made to turn the trade to a more direct course. The money basis taken in Europe is by the unit for phosphate that gives by analysis 75 per cent. of tricalcic phosphate, with an addition of one fifth of one penny sterling for each unit above that percentage. Thus, taking 18. 2d. as the unit for that grade, a sample yielding 80 per cent. would be worth 18. 3d., and while a ton of 75-per-cent. grade would bring 87s. 6d., one of 80 per cent. would command 100s., and 85 per cent. 1138. 4d. Prices continually fluctuate. When the material has been poorly dressed, the product will be of a low grade. From the rule adopted by foreign purchasers, the more careful the selection and dressing, the greater the profit. Low grades of 60 per cent. find a market in the pulverized or ground state at the fertilizer works in the Northern States, the result being brought up to a high grade by admixture with blood and offal. Other phosphates which are akin to apatite must not be confounded with it.

South Carolina phosphate, commonly known as "Charleston rock," occurs in rough masses associated with fossil bones and teeth; the river phosphate being dark gray, and the land phosphate pale brown. The former requires careful washing, as the cavities in it, being filled with sand, would otherwise deteriorate its quality. It is obtained by dredging Beaufort, Bull, Ashley, and other rivers, and is superior to that found on the land, the iron in the former existing as pyrites, while in the latter it assumes the form of ferric oxide. Carolina phosphate rates in commerce with the coprolite deposits of the greensand formation of the eastern coast of England and near Boulogne in France. Sombrero and Nevassa phosphate comes from the coral islands of the Carribean Sea, and is known as rock guano. It is of high quality, but the predominance of alumina and iron prevents its

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »