FACTS IX METEOROLOGY. 29 



food of many a heathen festival. The true descendants of the ancient 

 Wends still carry on these salt works. They constitute a distinct class 

 of the population of Halle, preserving the features, many of the customs 

 and even the dress of their ancestors. They are called Halloren and 

 enjoy many privileges and immunities not granted to the other inhabi- 

 tants of Halle; such as fishing in the river Saale that flows by the town; 

 burying all the dead, for which they receive regular fees; freedom from 

 many taxes, 8tc. It was the Halloren that, as the rightful representatives 

 of the city, arrayed in their flowing black robes, small clothes and cha- 

 peaux d' honneur, first welcomed the King of Prussia on his visit to 

 Halle, in 1842. They have also the exclusive privilege of laboring iu 

 the salt works. 



As at Gnadau, the water is here pumped up by steam. Twelve hours 

 the current flows into the reservoirs of the salt companies of Halle, and 

 the succeeding twelve hours into the reservoirs of the royal works on 

 an Island in the Saale. The evaporation of the Sole^ as it is called, is a 

 simple process. It is received into cauldrons twenty-five or thirty feet 

 square and three feet deep, supported by iron pillars. A fire of brown 

 coal (a sort of peat dug near Halle*) is constantly kept up beneath. The 

 salt crystallizes on the surface of the water and then is instantly broken 

 up by the ebullition and sinks to the bottom, where it is constantly stir- 

 red to prevent its consolidation. Raked to the sides of the cauldron, it 

 is then shovelled out by half naked Halloren, who move about with great 

 dignity amid the volumes of vapor that continually ascend, and is thrown 

 into troughs immediately above, where it is allowed to drain ofl'. It is 

 then conveyed to the lofts where it is thoroughly dried in an atmosphere 

 of from 120° to 130° Fahrenheit. 



FACTS IN METEOROLOGY, NO. II. 



BY PROF. JACOBS, OF PENNSYLVANIA COLLEOE. 



In the preceding number of this Journal an effort was made to de- 

 rive a general law of atmospheric change from a consideration of some 

 particular facts. That law was stated nearly as follows : '•'■During ev- 

 ery seven days and a half two changes^ upon an average^ in the condi- 

 tion of the atmosphere lake place.,'''' or during that period two seasons of 



* This brown coal is almost the only kind of fuel used at Halle. It is dug in 

 deep pits and is a soft friable mass when first obtained, and must be made into a 

 paste with hot water and cast into moulds about the size of a brick before it can be 

 used. This operation is generally performed by females of the lowest class who 

 stamp it into a paste with their feet. 



