Natural Deposits of Potasli in Germany. 419 



years past, but liitlierto without any very great amount of success ; and 

 the occurrence of potash in the salt-formations of Prussia appeared 

 to him to be a matter of vast importance in two ways : lirst of all, it 

 insured a certain supply of potash for our fields at a moderate price ; 

 and secondly, it appeared to him to offer very great inducements and 

 encouragement to continue the search for potash at home. 



In this country we possessed dcjposits of salt in immense quantities. 

 They were to be found in three districts. In Worcestershire they pre- 

 sented themselves in the shape of brine-springs. In Cheshire they had 

 been worked for centuries as rock-salt ; and within the last twenty 

 years they had been found largely deposited on the shores of the Lough 

 of Belfast, at Carrickfergus. Now, all these deposits in the British 

 islands occurred in exactly the same geological formation as the 

 deposits at Magdeburg. That being the case, he had great faith that 

 if carefully sought for similar deposits would be found in this country. 

 No doubt all these deposits of salt had originated in the water of the 

 sea, which, it is pretty well known, always contains about the same 

 constituents. He was firmly impressed with the idea, therefore, that 

 the same salts of potash would be found in the salt-deposits in England 

 as had been discovered in Prussia. So strongly had the necessity 

 of obtaining fresh sources for the supply of potash been felt, that 

 in the year 1851 a very eminent French chemist, who happily for 

 science was still alive — he referred to M. Balard — brought before the 

 Juries of the Great Exhibition of Hyde-park his process for obtaining 

 these salts from the mother-liquor {eau mere) of sea-water. On the 

 coast line of the Mediterranean, salt was obtained by the evaporation 

 of sea-water, the chloride of sodimn crystalising out of it, when it was 

 evaporated to a certain density. Then the mother-liquor, which 

 was of a bitter character, was usually thrown away, just as those sub- 

 stances were formerly thrown away in Prussia. M. Balard, thinking- 

 it ought not to be so treated, investigated the subject, and brought 

 before the Council a beautiful and simple process for extracting the 

 potash from the waste liquor, then regarded as a noxious product. 

 The proposal was deemed by the members of the Jury (Class 2) to 

 whom it was submitted, to be of such importance that they presented 

 to M. Balard one of the few Council medals that were given at that 

 Exhibition. The manufacture has been conducted since then only to 

 a limited extent, but that was owing to the fact that the evaporation 

 could not be carried on so extensively as to satisfy the requirements 

 of the manufacturers and agriculturists. Here, however, they found 

 the article prepared to their hands. Nature had herself done on 

 a large scale what M. Balard's process could only do on a small one ; 

 and we may look forward to having our fields fertilised by the addition 

 of potash, as we had been for many years past endeavouring, to enrich 

 them by the addition of phosphoric acid. 



With regard to the difference in quality in these substances, he 

 agreed with Dr. Voelcker, that the low-priced salt would probably be 

 best fitted for agricultural purposes. We did not want to pay for 

 manipulation or for any special purity, provided there was nothing 

 noxious in it to counteract its good effect. He had only one remark 



