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.