Mr. A. B. Northcote on the Brine-springs of Worcestershire. 33 



perial gallon. It will be seen that the analysis which he made 

 coincides more nearly with mine of the Stoke brine; but it 

 must be remembered that at that time no shafts had been sunk 

 at Stoke, a circumstance which might materially influence the 

 neighbouring brine-springs. Mr. Horner also had the choice of 

 five brines, of which he naturally selected the strongest. Con- 

 sidering, however, the lapse of time (more than forty years) 

 between the two analyses, and the change which the methods of 

 manipulation have undergone in the interim, they seem to me 

 to bear sufficient resemblance to each other to prove that no 

 material alteration has taken place in the composition of the 

 brine ; and among many similarities, two are worthy of remark. 

 The temperature which he gives as that of the brine is 55° F., 

 whilst that which I observed, it will be remembered, was 54°-5 F.; 

 and he also states in his qualitative examination, that by the 

 addition of ammonia to the water, a slight turbidity was occa- 

 sioned, due doubtless to the presence of a small quantity of the 

 phosphates of lime or iron (alumina being absent, and silica 

 virtually so) . This is a circumstance which I also observed, and 

 subsequently found enough phosphoric acid to account for its 

 occurrence. 



Table of constituents calculated to the gallon. 



In that excellent paper of Dr. Holland's on the deposits of 

 rock-salt in Cheshire, to which I have before referred*, he states 

 that the beds in that county have their longitudinal extension in 

 a line drawn from the N.E. to the S.W., and that their greatest 

 thickness is at the N.E. extremity, from whence they thin out 

 as they approach the S.W. From what is known of the deposits 

 in Worcestershire, it would appear that they also follow some- 

 what of the same method of arrangement. Stoke and Droitwich 

 stand to each other in the relation of N.E. to S.W. ; and from 

 the fact of brine being found at both points, and that of very 

 similar composition, there can be little doubt of a continuity of 

 * Geological Transactions, Old Series, vol. i. 



Phil. May. S. 4. Vol. 9. No. 50. Jan. 1855. D 



