Uses.—The uses of borax are already very numerous, and they will doubtless increase in number and importance as the price is reduced by competition. Its chief application is for the glazing of all descriptions of pottery and chinaware, as well as for enamelling clock and watch faces, iron plates, &c. In welding processes, it is employed by blacksmiths, brass-founders, and electro platers ; it is consumed in the manufacture of beads, glass, and cement. Dentists find it valuable in making the plates for artificial teeth ; plumbago pots will last much longer if first annealed in the oven, and then painted with a strong solution of borax. The antiseptic and disinfecting properties of borax have been, perhaps, too little appreciated, and its application in this direotion may be extended indefinitely, especially for the preservation of meats, &c., and for the destruction of insect life on fruit trees. For household purposes, it is of unlimited value, and may with advantage be applied to most of the uses where soda is commonly employed. Its rnedicinal applications are very numerous ; and to the analytical chemist, it is an absolute essential. This part of the subject cannot be passed over witbout referring to Major Ross's discovery (" Pyrology ") of the invaluable assistance rendered by borax in distinguishing the presence of the three natural alkalies—potash, soda, and lithia.
The market prices of the various boracie compounds are approximately as follows :— Tincal, 28s. per cwt. ; refined East Indian borax, 28s. to 30s. ; Californian borax, 32s. ; Tuscan boracie acid crystals, 32s. ; Tisa, 14s. ; English refined borax, 35s. ; ditto ground, 38s. to 40s.
As the imports of borax are no longer naade a specific item in the Custom House returns, statistics on the subject are somewhat meagre and irregular. The total production of the Tuscan
lagoons is estimated at 3000 to 4000 tons of boracic acid annually. The yield of the German boracite beds, from 1864 to 1874 both inclusive, was, at Stassfurt, 3141 cwt., and at Leepolds hall, 203 cwt., or a total yearly average of but little over 300 cwt. of that mineral. The imports of borax from Asia into this country, in 1873-74, were 19,013 cwt., at an average value of 58s. 8id. ; aud, in 1874-5, 8,604 cwt., at 51s. 6d. The export from Bengal ports, in 1874-5, was 8193 cwt., value 21,835/. ; and, in 1875-6, 11,490 cwt., value, 2`c,533/. According to American statistics, the export of borax from San Francisco, in 1873, was estimated at over 80,000/. worth ; and the total production, in 1876, was 46,258 cwt., of which England took 17,961 cwt. ; the Atlantic States, 15,161 cwt. ; Germany, 1261 -cwt. ; China and Japan, 890 cwt. In 1877, the shipments te the Atlantic States were 31,571 cwt.; England, 14,058 cwt. ; Germany, 385 cwt. ; China and Japan, 232 cwt. ; South America, 14 cwt. In the last-mentioned year, arrangements were made for turning out 200 tons per menscm from the Californian lakes ; but this excessive production over charged tho markets, and in August, 1878, tho two chief works in California agreed to limit their production to 120 tons each for the following year. The returns of South American exports are a little startling. In 1874, Chili exported 53i cwt. of borate of lime ; and in the succeeding year, Ptru exported 3240 cwt. of boracic minerals, valued at 12,474/. or at the rate of 3/. 17s. per cwt.