ey are using a wire
insulated with paper which gives 0.08 [phi] per mile. We are using in
London Fowler-Waring cable giving a capacity of 1.8 [phi] per mile,
the capacity of gutta-covered wire being 3 [phi] per mile.

* * * * *

THE MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORUS BY ELECTRICITY.

One of the most interesting of the modern applications of electricity
to the manufacture of chemicals is to be found in the recently
perfected process known as the Readman-Parker process, after the
inventors Dr. J.B. Readman, F.R.S.E., etc., of Edinburgh, and Mr.
Thomas Parker; the well known practical electrician, of Wolverhampton.

Before giving an account of this process, which has advanced beyond
the experimental to the industrial stage, it may be well to recall the
fact that for several years past Dr. Readman has been devoting an
enormous expenditure of labor, time and money to the perfection of a
process which shall cheapen the production of phosphorus by dispensing
altogether with the use of sulphuric acid for decomposing the
phosphate of lime which forms the raw material of the phosphorus
manufacturer, and also with the employment of fire clay retorts for
distilling the desiccated mixture of phosphoric acid and carbon which
usually forms the second stage of the operation.

The success of the recent applications of electricity in the
production of certain metals and alloys led Dr. Readman to try this
source of energy in the manufacture of phosphorus, and the results of
the first series of experiments were so encouraging that he took out
provisional protection on October 18, 1888, for preparing this
valuable substance by its means.

The experiments were carried on at this time on a very small scale,
the power at disposal being very limited in amount. Yet the elements
of success appeared to be so great, and the decomposition of the raw
material was so complete, that the process was very soon prosecuted on
the large scale.

After a good deal of negotiation with several firms that were in a
position to supply the electric energy required, Dr. Readman finally
made arrangements with the directors of the Cowles Company, limited,
of Milton, near Stoke-on-Trent, the well known manufacturers of alloys
of aluminum, for a lease of a portion of their works and for the use
of the entire electrical energy they produced for certain portions of
the day.

The experiments on the large scale had not advanced very