nd, was not it rather an incitement to a somewhat
high and difficult step in an upward direction towards the attainment,
on a higher platform of knowledge and skill, of a blessing for the whole
province of Tuscany? What was true in the history of that industry and
its development is every whit as true of the much-lamented slackening of
trade through foreign competition or other causes now in this country,
and coming home to yourselves in the hat-manufacturing industry. The
higher platform to which it was somewhat difficult to step up, but upon
which the battle must be fought and the victory won, was one of a higher
scientific and technological education and training. The chemist Hoeffer
made the discovery of boric acid in the vapours, they would no doubt
take note; but Hoeffer went no further; and it needed the man of both
educated and practical mind like Count Lardarel to turn the discovery to
account and extract the blessing. In like manner it was clear that in
our educational schemes for the benefit of the people, there must not
only be the scientific investigator of abstract truth, but also the
scientific technologist to point the way to the practical realisation of
tangible profit. Moreover, and a still more important truth, it is the
scientific education of the proprietors and heads we want--educated
capital rather than educated workmen.

_Borax._--A good deal of the Tuscan boric acid is used in France for the
manufacture of borax, which is a sodium salt of boric acid. Borax is
also manufactured from boronitrocalcite, a calcium salt of boric acid,
which is found in Chili and other parts of South America. The crude
boronitrocalcite or "tiza" is boiled with sodium carbonate solution,
and, after settling, the borax is obtained by crystallisation. Borax
itself is found in California and Nevada, U.S.A., and also in Peru,
Ceylon, China, Persia, and Thibet. The commercial product is obtained
from the native borax (known as "tincal") by dissolving in water and
allowing the solution to crystallise. The Peruvian borax sometimes
contains nitre. For testing the purity of refined borax the following
simple tests will usually suffice. A solution of the borax is made
containing 1 part of borax to 50 parts of water, and small portions of
the solution are tested as follows: _Heavy metals_ (_lead_, _copper_,
etc.).--On passing sulphuretted hydrogen into the solution, no
coloration or precipitate should be produced. _Calcium Salts._-