382 ON THE SALT SPRINGS OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 



which declare his glory and shew his handy-work, speak the same 

 language with those which announce his providence and his will 

 to man. 



But apart from these sublime reflections, I have also shewn 

 the intimate relation that subsists between geological and 

 statistical investigations. The salt formation of Worcestershire 

 is in an economical view of great consideration : and it is not 

 too much to expect that the members of a society formed for the 

 express purpose of investigating the effects which our natural 

 productions have upon the prosperity and happiness of the com- 

 munity, should endeavour to ascertain how far the discoveries 

 of science are, in our own neighbourhood, applied to the 

 advancement of manufacturing enterprize, and to the pro- 

 gressive development of the benefits of modern civilization. 

 That our own county is not deficient in taking part in those 

 efforts which are now being so universally made to apply the 

 discoveries produced by modern inquiries to the useful arts of 

 life, I have adduced the strongest possible proof in the ingenuity, 

 the comprehensiveness, the aptitude, and the invention, by which 

 the spirited and enlightened managers of the Salt Works at 

 Stoke Prior have succeeded in procuring from one natural pro- 

 duction — common salt — such a variety of useful and valuable 

 commodities. 



This affords the strongest encouragement to the members of 

 the Worcestershire Natural History Society, and the inhabitants 

 of the county generally, to attend to their own local history. It 

 is full of interest, and deserves their most assiduous attention. 

 The productions of this singularly fertile county present to the 

 naturalist objects in every way demanding investigation, whilst 

 they, at the same time, offer to the statistical inquirer a variety 

 of circumstances in a political point of view deeply interesting. I 

 cannot, therefore, but hope they may successively become the 

 subjects of research. 



