398 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO l66g. 



vein atMiddlewich nearer the river Dane than Weever; which notwithstanding 

 seems not to be out of the line of the Weeverish stream ; and these lie all near 

 brooks, and in meadowish grounds. As to plants, I could observe no singularity 

 at all ; for, where the salt reaches the surface, it frets away all, and upon the 

 turf near the old decayed pits grows the very same as in the remotest place of 

 the meadow ; only where the turf is fretted away, rushes maintain their station 

 longest; yet they grow also in other moist grounds, so that they are no friends 

 to the salt springs, but I perceive they resist them best. 



3. Whether there be any hot springs near the salt ones ? And whether the 

 water of the salt springs be hotter or cooler than other spring water ? — The water 

 of the salt springs here is very cold at the bottom of the pit, so that when the 

 briners cleanse the pit, they cannot abide in above half an hour, and in that 

 time they drink much strong liquor. There are no hot springs (that I can hear 

 of) nearer us than Buxton-well, which is about 30 miles distant. 



4. Whether any shells are found about those springs, and what is the kind 

 of earth ? — I cannot hear of any shells dug up, though of late several new brine- 

 springs have been found by sinking deep pits ; yet no one knows of any shells, 

 but rather a blackish slutch mixed with the sand, which infects the whole spring 

 (like the scuttle-fish) black, when it is stirred, else the water runs very clear. 



5. How strong the water is of salt? — Springs are rich or poor in a double 

 sense ; for a spring may be rich in salt, but poor in the quantity of brine it 

 affords. Thus they have a rich brine in their chief pit at Middlewich, which 

 yields a full fourth part of salt, like the rich Burgundian springs mentioned in 

 Kircher's Mundus Subterraneus ; yet this is so thrifty of its brine, that the in- 

 habitants are limited to their proportions out of it, and their quantity is sup- 

 plied out of pits that afford a weaker brine. Our pit at Nantwich yields but 

 a sixth part ; but then it is so plentiful a spring, that as they seldom make salt 

 in above six houses at a time ; this pit is judged sufficient to supply them all : 

 besides that such quick use of it extremely strengthens the brine, perhaps to a 

 degree little less than that of Middlewich pit : For I have found myself, that a 

 quart of brine, when the pit has been drawn off three or four days first, to sup- 

 ply five or six wich-houses, has yielded an ounce and a half more of salt than 

 at another time, when it has had a rest of a week or thereabout. But I con- 

 clude that the nearest conjecture is, that it yields one pound of salt for six 

 pounds of brine. 



On March 8, l668, I weighed two pounds of distilled water in a narrow 

 mouthed glass bottle, that I might make an exact mark for a quart. This bot- 

 tle being filled with our brine to the very same mark, weighed (besides the tare 

 of the bottle) two pounds three ounces and five drachms. This was taken up^ 



