worked figured tops, were patented by Wm. Elliott, in 1837.  Porcelain buttons, though not made here, were designed and patented by a Birmingham man, R. Prosser, in 1841.  The three-fold linen button was the invention of Humphrey Jeffries, in 1841, and patented by John Aston.  In 1864 so great was the demand for these articles that one firm is said to have used up 63,000 yards of cloth and 34 tons of metal in making them.  Cadbury and Green’s “very” button is an improvement on these.  Vegetable ivory, the product of a tree growing in Central America and known as the Corozo palm, was brought into the button trade about 1857.  The shells used in the manufacture of pearl buttons are brought from many parts of the world, the principal places being the East Indies, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, Panama, and the coasts of Central America, Australia, New Zealand, &c.  The prices of “shell” vary very much, some not being worth more than L20 per ton, while as high as L160 to L170 has been paid for some few choice samples brought from Macassar, a seaport in India.  The average import of shell is about 1,000 tons per year, and the value about L30,000.—­There are 265 button manufacturers in Birmingham, of whom 152 make pearl buttons, 26 glass, 8 horn and bone, 14 ivory, 12 gilt metal, 3 wood, and 5 linen, the other 45 being of a mixed or general character, silver, brass, steel, wood, and papier mache, being all, more or less, used.  Nearly 6,000 hands are employed in the trade, of whom about 1,700 are in the pearl line, though that branch is not so prosperous as it was a few years back.

Chemical Manufactures.—­About 50,000 tons of soda, soup, bleaching powder, oil of vitriol, muriatic acid, sulphuric acid, &c., are manufactured in or near Birmingham, every year, more than 20,000 tons of salt, 20,000 tons of pyrites, and 60,000 tons of coal being used in the process.

China, in the shape of knobs, &c., was introduced into the brass founding trade by Harcourt Bros, in 1844.  China bowls or wheels for castors were first used in 1849 by J.B.  Geithner.

Chlorine.—­James Watt was one of the first to introduce the use of chlorine as a bleaching agent.

Citric Acid.—­Messrs. Sturge have over sixty years been manufacturing this pleasant and useful commodity at their works in Wheeley’s Lane.  The acid is extracted from the juice of the citron, the lime, and the lemon, fruits grown in Sicily and the West Indies.  The Mountserrat Lime-Juice Cordial, lately brought into the market, is also made from these fruits.  About 350 tons of the acid, which is used in some dying processes, &c., is sent out annually.

Coins, Tokens, and Medals.—­Let other towns and cities claim preeminence for what they may, few will deny Birmingham’s right to stand high in the list of money-making places.  At what date it acquired its evil renown for the manufacture of base coin it would be hard to tell, but it must have been long prior to the Revolution of 1688, as in some verses printed in 1682, respecting the Shaftesbury medal, it is thus sneeringly alluded to: