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fail of meeting with strong brine." In 1769, in a "Description 

 of England and Wales," it says, "the pits seldom exceed 

 four yards in depth, and are never more than seven." In 

 Holland's " General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire," 

 published in 1808, we have an excellent description of the 

 brine sj)rings : he says, "At Nantwich the brine is met with 

 about ten or twelve yards from the surface." At Winsford 

 it was necessary to sink 55 to GO yards to reach brine, but 

 when found "it has its level 12 yards from the surface." 

 At North wich the level of the brine was "about 20 yards 

 from the surface." In 1865, Mr. John Thompson, of North- 

 wich, an authority on the subject, wrote, "Fifty years ago 

 I weU remember the brine springs, when at rest, more than 

 thirty yards higher than they now are, when at rest. I know 

 also that the lowering of the brine head has been gradual 

 but constant, year by year, with some variations, arising, no 

 doubt, from the larger or smaller quantity used." Coming 

 down to the present time the brine is very low, being in 

 Winsford and North wich nearly at the level of the rock salt 

 bed, and many of the shafts are nearly exhausted. It is 

 quite evident that the enormous supply of brine that had 

 accumulated during countless ages and which filled up 

 nearly the whole of the Cheshire salt basins has been 

 pumped down, and brine is now being consumed as fast 

 as produced, whilst many pans are not worked owing to its 

 scarcity. I will now try to trace the course of a drop or a 

 stream of fresh water from its first origin as rain till it 

 comes up the brine pump as brine. It may be pretty safely 

 taken for granted that, speaking generally, the rainfall 

 supplies the fresh water. (In the Northwich district, as 

 I shall point out, there is another way by which fresh water 

 reaches the salt bed.) The rain percolating through and 

 amongst the overlying strata at last reaches the bed of 

 rock salt. Judging from the strata immediately overlying 

 the salt — most part of them impermeable marls — it would 



