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ufacture and processes adopted, before reporting on this committee, 

 I visited Syracuse and spent considerable time in critically ex- 

 amining the "works." The gentlemen connected with the va- 

 rious departments afforded me every facility to gain information 

 concerning the manufacture and the precise means employed in 

 treating the brine, preparing the salt and purifying it from those 

 ingredients found in many varieties of commercial salt, and which 

 are deemed injurious. 



It will not be necessary, nor have I the time, to describe at 

 length the general manufacture of the salt. There are, however, 

 certain points which particularly deserve attention, and 



1st. Is the separation from the brine of the oxyd of iron which it 

 contains, in small proportions. The means now adopted are such 

 that the oxyd is rapidly and perfectly precipitated, and without the 

 brine becoming contaminated by foreign matters, prejudicial to 

 the salt, as often happens when lime and certain other substance 

 are used for the same purpose. 



2d. The general treatment of the brine after passing into the 

 kettles, is that adopted for a considerable time in the works, and 

 which experience has shown to be best fitted for securing the re- 

 moval of the larger proportion of the sulphate of lime, &c., and the 

 formation of the salt in a moderately fine, firm grain. 



3d. The chief point which engaged my attention in the manu- 

 facture of the " Factory-filled Dairy Salt," was the means used 

 for purifying and removing from it certain deleterious ingredients, 

 especially thechlorid of calcium and the chlorid of magnesium. 



The presence of these substances in salt causes it to absorb and re- 

 tain moisture, and are considered by most practical men to exert a 

 deleterious effect upon articles preserved by it, especially butter. 

 Hence, other things being equal, it is generally considered that the 

 absence of these impurities is of great importance in dairy salt. I 

 am pleased to say that the process lately adopted at the Onondaga 

 Salt Works, by which these noxious chlorids are attempted to be 

 removed, is a most happy application of well known chemical prin- 

 ciples, and completely effects the purpose for which it was intend- 

 ed. A careful analysis of different specimens of this salt has sat- 

 isfied me that they do not contain any of either the chlorid of calci- 

 um or the chlorid of magnesium. 



It is advisable to consider in this connection the question, How 

 far are the means adopted likely to secure a uniform article? It is 

 evident that this question is of the greatest importance, and that 

 unless it can be answered in the affirmative, the public confidence 

 can not be gained, or if gained is not likely to be long continued. 

 It appears to me that the process is of such a character that with 

 ordinary care a uniform article must be produced, for depending as 



