252 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



made, the pits have been sunk through the salt to the depth of over 

 forty feet, without any indication of reachint^ the bottom. It is 

 supposed that the mine covers at least one hundred acres, and 

 there is at present no means of ascertaining the depth of the de- 

 posits. In one week ten inexptn-ionccd liands recently got out 

 200,000 pounds of salt, — nearly four tons per day to each hand. 

 What will be the product when all the contemplated mechanical 

 agencies are put into elfective ojjeration ? 



" An analysis, made by tlie late Dr. J. L. Riddcll of New Orleans, 

 gives the following result. In one hundred parts by weight : 



" Chloride of sodium (common salt) 98.88 



Sulphate of limo (gypsum) 0.76 



Chlorido of magnesium 0.23 



Chloride of calcium 0.13 



Total 100.00 



" Nothing else present in quantity to be appreciated. This salt 

 is white, or colorless, and visibly consists of aggregations of 

 irreguhir cubical crystals of common salt, averaging a quarter 

 of an inch in diameter. It attracts no moisture from the atmos- 

 phere." 



SALT IN IDAHO AND NEVADA. 



A correspondent of the " San Francisco Bulletin," writing from 

 Soda Springs, Idaho, says : — 



" This community are at present deeply interested in the work- 

 ings of the Oneida Salt Company. The grounds of this company 

 ^re situated upon the Lander Cut-olf Emigrant Road, aljout two 

 .hundred and lifty miles north from Salt Lake City, and about sixty 

 miles north from this place. Upon their land is situated a num- 

 ber of large springs, with a flow of aljout one hundred and lifty 

 inches of water, which, after a thorough test, have been found to 

 yield one-third pure, fine table salt, when boiled. The company 

 have erected works to produce 100,000 pounds per month. The 

 expense which will necessarily accrue in the manufacture of this 

 amount will not exceed one-quarter cent per pound, and for it 

 there is a natural market in the mines of our sister territory, Mon- 

 tana, with a net profit of not less than ten cents per pound. These 

 springs have been known for years, — emigrants passing over that 

 road having spoken of them in the highest terms, — and a mere lack 

 of energy has permitted them to be unappropriated. The con- 

 sumption of salt in mining countries is very great, and the produc- 

 tions of the springs will supply the demand." 



THE BASIN OF THE DEAD SEA. 



]\I. Laitet has recently communicated to the French Academy 

 of Sciences the results of a careful study he has iBade of the 

 entire basin of the Dead Sea, in which work he has had the 

 advantage of the direction of the Duke of Luynes. 



The saitness of many Asiatic lakes, and of the Dead Sea, among 



