British and Foreign Salt, I09 



agitation, therefore, is produced it] the brine, and the slow- 

 ness of the process, which lasts from seven or eight to ten 

 clays, allows the muriate of soda to form in large, and 

 nearly cubical crystals, seldom however quite perfect in 

 their shape *. 



For ordinary domestic uses, stoved salt is perfectly 

 sufficient. Common salt is adapted to the striking and 

 salting of provisions, which are not intended for sea voy- 

 ages or warm climates. For the latter purposes, the large- 

 grained or fishery salt is peculiarly fitted. 



On the eastern and western coasts of Scotland, and espe- 

 cially on the shores of the Firth of Forth, large quantities 

 of salt are made by the evaporation of sea water. In con- 

 sequence of the cheapness of fuel, the process is carried on, 

 from first to last, by artificial heat, at a temperature, I be- 

 lieve, equal or nearly so to the boiling point, and varying, 

 therefore, according to the concentration of the brine. 

 The kind of salt, chiefly formed in Scotland, approaches 

 most nearly to the character of stoved salt. In some places 

 a salt is prepared, termed Sunday salt ; so called, in con- 

 sequence of the fires being slackened between Saturday 

 and Monday, which increases considerably the size of the 

 crystals. 



I am indebted to Dr. Thomson of Edinburgh, (who gave* 

 me his assistance with great zeal and alacrity) for an op- 

 portunity of examining upwards of twenty specimens of 

 Scotch salt, prepared by different manufacturers. That 

 distinguished chemist, it appears from a letter which he ad- 

 dressed to me on the subject, was some time ago engaged 

 in experiments on Cheshire salt. The particulars he has 

 lost 5 and he retains only a general rccoS lection of the facts, 

 which confirms, I am happy to state, the accuracy of the 

 results obtained. by my own experiments. 



At Lvmington in Hampshire, advantage is taken of the 

 greater heat of the climate, to concentrate the sea water by 

 spontaneous evaporation to about one-sixth its bulk, before 

 admitting it into the boilers. One kind of salt is chiefly 

 prepared there, which most nearly resembles in grain* the 

 stoved salt of Cheshire. The process varies a little, in some 

 respects, from that which has been already described. The 

 salt is not fished (as it is termed) out of the boiler, and 

 drained in baskets ; but the water is entirely evaporated, 

 and the whole mass of salt taken out at once, every eight 

 flours, and removed into troughs with holes in the bottom. 



* Cheshire Reports, p. 53, &c. 



Through 



