[ 31 ] 



IX. On the Comparative Strength of Salt Springs at different 

 Depths. By Chari.es G. B. Daubeny, M.D., F.B.S., Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry in the University of Oxford. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 



Gentlemen, 

 /~\N turning, the other day, over the pages of a work on the 

 ^^ Rocks of Wirtemberg by Alberti, published at Stuttgard 

 in the year 1826, I met with some statements relative to the 

 comparative strength of the salt springs of that country at 

 different depths, which I do not remember to have seen quoted 

 in any English work. I am desirous, therefore, of giving them 

 publicity, as tending in some degree to elucidate the problem 

 with respect to the manner in which rocks of salt may have 

 been formed from water holding it in solution, which has ex- 

 ercised the ingenuity of many naturalists, and especially of 

 Mr. Lyell in the first volume of his Principles of Geology. 



I say, it may tend in some degree to elucidate that problem, 

 because, after all, it does not seem clear in what way a deposi- 

 tion of salt can take place from a strong or even a saturated 

 brine, without the operation of some assisting cause, such as 

 pressure, heat, or the like. 



Nevertheless, it is something to be able to show the pro- 

 bability that at the bottom of the sea the brine may be in that 

 slate of concentration which is but one remove from the con- 

 dition in which it would begin to deposit salt ; and this will, 

 perhaps, appear from the following statements. 



Well of Salt Water at Friedrichshall, No. 1. 

 From the surface to the depth of 



14 measures 4 <Tf ct. of salt, 



61 



71 



82 



91 



117 



140 



157 



180 



3 



2i 

 2 



h 

 1 



if 



2i 



183 measures 4 <^ ct. of salt. 



184 

 186 

 189 

 191 

 195 

 196 

 197 



71 

 16 

 23f 

 24 { 

 25 

 26 

 27 



From thence to 201 measures there was no increase of salt*. 



* The measure employed was equivalent to 3} feet. 



