A subsidiary manufacture which does not appear on the 1818 list at all is that of borax. Borax, or as it was originally called “tincal,” had been first introduced about 1796 when it was brought from Thibet. In that year Ralph Wedgwood (see p. 87), who spent his life inventing things, and was then a master-potter at Ferrybridge in Yorkshire,[171] took out a patent for “making glass upon new principles” by using this tincal. By Hickling’s patent of 1799 it was also applied to the enamelling of metal vessels, and it appears again in the leadless glaze of Mr. Rose of Coalport in 1820.[172] All this time, however, the price was almost prohibitive of the commercial use of borax. In 1815 it cost 3s. to 4s. a lb., and it was only on the development of the Etruscan borax deposits in 1828 that it came into general use as a flux for the glazes, partially displacing the lead oxides. As the borax—as well as the soda used in the glaze—is soluble in water, glazes containing these have to be “fritted” or vitrified before being ground with the other components into a slip for dipping the ware. This melting or fritting, besides making the glaze insoluble in water and suitable for dipping, will, if the lead be fritted with the other components and not just ground in afterwards, make the lead more or less innocuous. Unfortunately, however, the fritted lead requires more exact firing to produce a good glaze, and can hardly compete commercially at present. Glazes can be made without any lead at all by using borax alone as a flux, but the surface is always full of imperfections and less glossy than that given by a leaded glaze. The first important manufactory of borax in the Potteries was that of Wood, Kuntz & Co.,[173] a firm in which the sons of Enoch Wood were interested. Because the risk of lead poisoning is always present in the preparation and uses of the lead glazes, attempts have been made for 100 years to produce a good glaze free from lead—or rather free from unfritted lead—soluble in hydrochloric acid. Josiah Wedgwood produced such a glaze, but it gave a rough surface wherewith it was useless in those days to try to compete. The Society of Arts awarded its gold medal in 1823 to Job Meigh of Hanley for his invention of a leadless glaze. But Meigh’s leadless glaze was only to be applied to coarse red pottery.[174] Of recent years Mr. Furnival and Mr. William Burton have done most to make safe glazes commercially practicable. There is no doubt but that by the use of borax a safe glaze, free from lead, can be made; it will not be mechanically perfect perhaps, but artistically it need not be considered inferior to the heavy smooth lead glaze.