46 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



solution. Most of the salt produced in the United 

 States is either mined or taken from wells. Some, 

 however, is prepared from sea-water by solar evap- 

 oration; in 1925 Cahfornia produced 2,089,171 

 barrels of sea-salt, while in Utah 629,679 barrels 

 were obtained in the same way from the Great Salt 

 Lake. 



All salt deposits are the remains of dried-up seas. 

 In many cases, arms of the ocean were cut off by 

 the elevation of certain areas. The inland seas 

 formed in this way slowly dried up, leaving immense 

 beds of salt which later became covered with rock. 

 High pressures changed the salt deposits to rock- 

 salt. 



The Manufacture of Salt in the Orient 



It is often said that the amount of soap used by 

 any people is a measure of its degree of civilization. 

 It may also be said that the purity of the salt used 

 is a similar criterion. Savages are not particular 

 about their salt and often use salty earth in season- 

 ing their food. The ancient civilizations seldom 

 prepared clean salt, and pure salt was unknown. The 

 ancient Hebrews used salt containing much earth. 

 This accounts for Jesus' parable: "Ye are the salt 

 of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, 

 wherewith shall it be salted?" If, in some way, the 

 earthy salt had become wet, the salt was washed out, 

 leaving the earth ; thus the salt had "lost his savour." 

 In many Oriental countries very impure salt is still 

 used in cooking. Dirty salt is almost the only salt 

 used by the Filipinos, Chinese, and Indians. Wet salt 



