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stand that in the course of time an immense quantity of sahne 

 matter would accumulate at the bottom of the lagoon. Then a 

 depression of the coast would cause a layer of sand or of sedi- 

 mentary matter to cover it, and produce all the conditions of a 

 bed of rock salt, such as occurs in Cheshire and elsewhere. But 

 the deposits of saline matter from which the Brandley and Saltwell 

 springs are supplied could hardly have been formed in that way, 

 because the sedimentary rocks where they occur are such as would 

 be deposited in a moderately-deep and tranquil sea, rather than on a 

 storm-beaten coast. And if we suppose that they were formed at the 

 head of a narrow estuary, along which the tides flowed, the evidences 

 of tidal action could not have been entirely obliterated. Then, 

 if their surroundings do not warrant the assumption that they were 

 formed near a sandy beach, could they have been deposited at the 

 bottom of a deep sea ? Sir Charles Lyell states that Dr. Wollaston 

 ascertained by analysis, that water taken from the Mediterranean 

 at a depth of six hundred and seventy fathoms, contained four 

 times the amount of salt that was found in water near the surface ; 

 and he endeavours to account for the fact that the amount of salt 

 in the water of the ocean does not increase, notwithstanding the 

 immense quantities that are constantly poured into it from rivers, 

 by supposing that the saline matter gravitates towards the deepest 

 parts of the ocean, until it becomes so dense that it crystallizes, 

 and is precipitated on the bottom. This theory would just suit 

 the case of our Brandley and Saltwell Park deposits, but unfortu- 

 nately, I believe that more recent investigation has tended to 

 prove that water taken from great depths in the sea, contains very 

 little more salt than it does near the surface. 



Chloride of Sodium is one of the products of volcanic emanations, 

 of hot springs, and most of the mineral water in volcanic districts ; 

 and some scientific gentlemen have been led to suppose that salt 

 springs, although at a great distance from any active volcano, may 

 have their origin in deep-seated volcanic sources. We might have 

 found in this theory a solution of the difficulty, by assuming that 

 the sources of the springs at Brandley Mine and Saltwell Park 

 are as deep seated as that whence the materials which form the 



