Despite recent reactions tui London, the quotation for Spanish mercury has just been raised from U.S.$200 to U.S$250 for a flask of seventy-six pounds. This rise represents the Spanish effort to make up lose through the decline in the quantity sold. Probably the higher price will reduce sales further, for the present notation, the highest in flits century, prohibitive for the majority of civilian uses. Great Britain uses huge quantities of mercury for vital war work, but the present British stocks cover requirements for eighteen months, while new arrivals show a tendency further to increase.
The present short-sighted price policy of the main producers probably will have disastrous effects after the war. The mercury market has suffered seriously from the lack of secured uses in the last ten years and the present excessive price, stimulate ing the further replacement of mercury, may eventually limit requirements to a very low level. Meanwhile, it is signiScant that the rise in the Spanish price is not reflected in British quotations
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.