3M ON THE SALT SPRINGS OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 



consideration of the importance of coal to the manufacturings 

 prosperity of this great country. It is manifest that, but for the 

 circumstance of coal having been made subservient to evaporating 

 the brine, long ere this the manufacture of salt must have ceased 

 in this county. Instead of that occurrence taking place, subse- 

 quent events liave shewn that commercial enterprizes and well- 

 directed speculations have greatly increased the produce of salt. 

 Until the year 1725 the brine that was procured to evaporate 

 was comparatively weak, and afforded but a small proportion of 

 salt. In fact it was yielded by superficial springs, situated above 

 the bed of gypsum or talc, and the working of the pits afforded but 

 little advantage to the proprietors. In that year. Sir Richard 

 Lane, Mayor of Worcester, made a most important discovery, 

 which added great value to the salt springs, and in consequence 

 of which the quantity of salt procured from these springs has 

 been ever since very much increased. He, being informed by 

 some persons concerned in the salt works of Cheshire, that the 

 strongest brine in that county lay lower than the pits in Droitwich 

 were commonly sunk, ordered the gypsum which was at the bottom 

 of the pits to be sunk through. Upon this the strong brine broke 

 through in rich abundance into the pits. This was indeed a 

 grand revolution in the brine pit speculations, and one which has 

 been productive of most important effects to posterity; but, 

 however, like most other revolutions, it was the occasion of con- 

 siderable evil to many persons who were then concerned in the 

 manufacture of salt, to whom the old or superficial pits belonged. 

 Dr. Nash says, " From henceforth the old pits became of no 

 value at all, which some years before were worth near £5000 per 

 annum, and esteemed the surest property a man could enjoy. 

 Charities designed to be perpetual were funded in it; many 

 women were jointured upon it; and such an estate was in every 

 respect judged far preferable to land. So that the confusion 

 and distress which ensued in the town and neighbourhood cannot 

 easily be described." So it is in the great scheme of communities 

 that changes are continually occurring, ruinous to individuals, 

 but which work together so as greatly to increase the prosperity 

 of the State. We cannot here also help pausing to remark, how 

 singular it appears, that nearly two thousand years prior to the 

 discovery of the strong brine, man should have been directed, 

 probably by the circumstance of the saline springs coming to 

 the surface, to evaporate the weaker brine, and should have gone 

 on for that long period making use of this weak solution to pro- 

 cure the salt, when, if he had onl3'^ dug a few feet deeper, much 

 richer brine would have been found, which would have more 

 amply repaid him for the trouble of working it. The obvious 

 conclusion from this observation is, that we know not what 

 treasures may yet be in store for us buried in the earth's bosom; 

 and it enforces upon us the conviction, that in studying the 

 stratification of the crust of the earth, we are not only doing what 



