_Second Best._--Slightly inferior to the first quality; bright and
yellow.
_Second Good._--Contains 4 to 5 per cent. of earthy matter, but is of
a bright yellow.
_Second Current._--Dirty yellow, containing more earthy matter than
that last named.
_Third Best._--Brownish yellow; this tint depends on the amount of
bitumen which it contains.
_Third Good._--Light brown, containing much extraneous matter.
_Third Current._--Brown and coarse.
These qualities are decided by color, not by test. The difference of
price is from 3 to 10 francs per ton. Manufacturers prefer the third
best, because of its containing more sulphuric acid and costing less
than the sulphur of better quality.
Sulphur is conveyed to the seaboard by rail, in carts, or on mules or
donkeys. Conveyance by cart, mule, or donkey is only resorted to when
the distance is short or from mines to railroad stations. The tariff
in the latter case is understood to be 1 lire per ton per mile. The
railroad tariff is 0.12 per ton per kilometer; but it is contemplated,
it is understood, to reduce this to 7 centimes in a short time. The
price per ton of sulphur is as follows:
At Porto At At
Grade. Empedocle. Licata. Catania.
Lire. Lire. Lire.
Second best 86.60 87.00 90.70
Second good 84.42 84.50 90.30
Second current 83.90 83.90 88.40
Third best 79.00 79.90 86.90
Third good 77.80 77.80 83.00
Third current 76.80 76.70
Sulphur free on board, brokerage, shipment, export duty, and all other
expenses included, costs 20 lire per ton in excess of the above
prices. Nearly all the sulphur exported from Palermo emanates from the
Lercara mines, in the province of Palermo, the price per ton being as
follows: first quality, 91.60 lire; second quality, 88.40. Sulphur is
usually conveyed in steamers to foreign countries from Sicilian ports.
The average freight per ton to New York is about as follows: From
Palermo, 8.70 lire; from Catania, 13.50 lire; from Girgenti, 16 lire.
An additional charge of 2.50 lire is made when the sulphur may be
destined for other ports in the United States.
Liebig once said that the degree of civilization of a nation and its
wealth could be seen in its consumption of sulphuric acid. Now,
although Italy produces immense quantities of sulphur, it cannot, on
account of the scarcity of fuel, and other obvious reasons perhaps,
compete with certain other countries in the manufacture and
consumption of sulphuric acid.
Sulphur is employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and the
latter serves in the manufacture of sulphate of soda, chloridic acid,
carbonate of soda, azodic acid, ether, stearine candles, purification
of oils in connection with precious metals and electric batteries.
Nordhausen's sulphuric acid is employed in the manufacture of indigo.
Sulphate of soda is employed in the manufacture of artificial soda,
glassware, cold mixtures, and medicines. Carbonate of soda is used in
the manufacture of soap, bleaching wool, coloring and painting
tissues, and in the manufacture of fine crystal ware and the
preparation of borax. Chloric acid is used in the preparation of
chlorides with bioxide of manganese, and with chlorides in the
preparation of hypochlorides of lime, known in commerce under the name
of bleaching powder, and improperly called chloride of lime, which is
used as a disinfectant in contagious diseases, in bleaching stuffs,
and in the manufacture of paper from vegetable fibers, and in the
manufacture of gelatine extracted from bones, as well as in fermenting
molasses and in the manufacture of sugar from beet root. Sulphur is
also used in the preparation of gunpowder and oil of vitriol, and in
the manufacture of matches and cultivation of the vine.
In the year 1838 the Neapolitan government granted a monopoly to a
French company for the trade in sulphur. By the terms of the agreement
the producers were required to sell their sulphur to the company at
certain fixed prices, and the latter paid the government the sum of
$350,000 annually in consideration of this requirement. This, however,
was not a success, and tended to curtail the sulphur industry, and the
government, discovering the agreement to be against its interests,
annulled it, and established a free system of production, charging an
export tax per ton only. At that time sulphuric acid was derived
exclusively from sulphur. Hence the demand from all countries was
great, and the prices paid for sulphur were high. It was about this
period that the sulphur industry was at its zenith. The monopoly
having been abolished, every mine did its utmost to produce as much
sulphur as possible, and from the export duty exacted by the
government there accrued to it a much larger revenue than that which
it received during the period of the monopoly. The progress of science
has, however, modified the state of things since then, as sulphur can
now be obtained from pyrite or pyrite of iron. This discovery
immediately caused the price of sulphur to fall, and the great demand
therefore correspondingly ceased. In England, at the present time, it
is understood that two-thirds of the sulphuric acid used is
manufactured from pyrites. The decrease in prices caused many of the
mines to suspend operations, and as a result the sulphur remained idle
in stock. In 1884 an association was formed at Catania with a view to
buying up sulphur thus stored away at the mines and various ports at
low prices, and store it away until a favorable opportunity should
present itself for the sale thereof. This had the effect of increasing
the prices of sulphur in Sicily for some time, and the producers,
discovering that the methods of the association increased the foreign
demand for their produce as well as its prices, exported it directly
themselves, thus breaking up the association referred to, as it was no
longer a profitable concern.
The railroad system, which in later years has placed the most
important parts of Sicily in communication with the seaboard, has been
most beneficial to the sulphur industry. A great saving has been made
in transporting it to the ports. This was formerly (as stated)
accomplished by carts drawn by mules at an enormous expense, as the
roads were wretched, and unless some person of distinction
contemplated passing over them, repairs were unknown.
Palermo, March 20, 1888.
* * * * *