Salt 39 



are also great beds of salt in various 

 parts of the United States, notably near 

 Syracuse, 1ST. Y., where large salt deposits 

 were exposed in an old river bed formed 

 in pre-glacial times. The common mode of 

 preparing salt for domestic purposes is by the 

 process of evaporation from brine that has 

 been pumped from salt wells. The quality of 

 the salt is determined largely by the tempera- 

 ture at the time of evaporating the water from 

 it. Ordinary coarse salt, such as is used for 

 preserving meat or fish, is made at a tempera- 

 ture of about 110 degrees; what is known as 

 common salt is made at a temperature of 

 about 175 dgrees; while common fine or table 

 salt is made at a temperature of 220 degrees. 

 Thus it will be seen that the process of granu- 

 lation with reference to its fineness is deter- 

 mined by the rapidity of evaporation. Salt is 

 one of the principal agents in preserving all 

 kinds of meats against putrefaction. It will 

 also preserve wood against dry rot. Vessel 

 builders make use of this fact to preserve the 

 timbers used in the construction of the vessels. 

 Salt at the present day is very cheap, but at 

 the beginning of the present century it was 

 worth from $60 to $70 per ton. The methods 

 of decomposing salt to obtain its constituents, 

 which are used in various other compounds, 

 are very simple to-day as compared with the 

 processes that prevailed in the days before the 



