HARGREAVES, JAMES English industrial chemist, was born at Hoarstones, Pendle Forest. He received his early instruction in chemistry from his father who was a chemist and druggist. Hargreaves's ability in devising new chemical processes may be gathered from the fact that he obtained more than 200 British and foreign patents to protect his inventions. In 1856 he tried to devise a method of recovering sulphur from alkali waste; this brought him in contact with Gossage, the soap manufacturer. Hargreaves was employed by Gossage until 1865 ; during this period he discovered a method of bleaching the brown soap in common use, he invented blue mottled soap, and devised a method of recovering chromates from the fats and oils used in soap manufacture. Hargreaves also worked out a process for the recovery of phosphates from the slag of blast furnaces, he obtained chlorine and peroxide of iron as by-products of this process. Soon after he left Gossage he tried to use sodium nitrate in place of air in the Bessemer steel process. A factory was erected but the method proved too costly and had to be aban doned. In 1873 he erected works for the manufacture of hydro chloric acid by the action of the gases from pyrites burners on common salt ; these works were eventually acquired by the United Alkali company. In conjunction with one of his employees, Bird, he invented the Hargreaves-Bird process for the manufac ture of soda by the electrolytic decomposition of salt. This method has been extensively adopted in Europe and America. In addition to his chemical investigations Hargreaves invented an engine which ran on gas-tar and was called the Hargreaves Thermo motor; this was the forerunner of the Diesel engine. Hargreaves died at Widnes on April 4, 1915.